Here I Am To Worship

Being a speaker has afforded me with various opportunities for worship in many different venues. I've worshiped at a church camp in the middle of the woods, in a conference room in a swanky hotel, in a small country church, in an elaborate sanctuary at a large church, in a parking lot at a baseball field.

While all of those worship times are special to me in their own way, there is nothing quite like worshiping in my home church with brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I share life each week. I begin looking forward to Sunday morning worship on Monday when I wake from my night of sleep. My church is richly blessed with musical talent ... the worship minister, the musicians and the singers are all gifted and consistently usher us into the presence of our Lord.

Perhaps because my heart is currently in a tender state, yesterday's time of worship was especially meaningful to me. The lyrics of every song seemed to penetrate to the depths of my soul, speaking to me in the very core of my spirit. As I listened to the voices around me, I found myself picturing the joy that must be present in heaven when God's people lift their praises to Him in song ... hands lifted, heads bowed, kneeling before the throne ... offering up the glory and honor that is due the Creator of the universe, the Lord of all, the Savior of mankind.

As I drove to work this morning listening to praise music on my iPod, I realized that while those times of corporate worship are wonderful and important to my walk with Christ, my worship shouldn't only take place on Sunday. My attitude, my heart and my mind should worship all week long ... I should be living my life in an ongoing state of worship and praise to my God. I should be lifting my hands, bowing my head and kneeling before Him every day ... allowing Him to humble me, to change me, to grow me, to break me.

So it's Monday ... and here I am to worship, Lord ... here I am to worship You ... the One who died for me.