Day 13: "Worship That Pleases God"

Welcome back readers! I found out today that my computer has a virus so this is the first time for me to post from my iPhone! I hope the formatting is fine! Today we continue on our journey to day 13 of Rick Warren's book: The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For?

I'll go thru the bold topics in this chapter & discuss my application/experience.

"God is pleased when our worship is accurate." God keeps leading me to his scripture. Sometimes it's not clear why or what I'm supposed to be taking away from it, but I usually wind up taking several things away from it. I am an experience kind of gal. However this book says: "Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture, not our opinions about God." I am being led to it because the only way I can truly know God is through Scripture...

"God is pleased when our worship is authentic." There is the word AUTHENTIC again. Couple things I learned from this section of the chapter: 1) There is a whole 'nother level to get in tune with...my own spirit...not The Holy Spirit...my own...that is in tune to God's spirit. 2) To really trust my feelings and not try to ignore them. "Heartless praise is not praise at all! It is an insult to God." Important line there... Those people need us to lead them in. This is a cool section and discusses lots and lots of ways to worship God and lots of fun ones.

"God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful." This section encourages you to be specific in prayer and to engage your mind. From the book: "God insists that our worship services be understandable to unbelievers when they are present in our worship gatherings." We should all be trying to bring more people to Christ and to be mindfully aware of that calling. I watched the past season of Vikings on the History Channel. I have to tell you that I really started learning more about God toward the middle of the season. It is a pretty graphic show, and sometimes I felt like it may not be something I should watch. Not to ruin it for people who want to watch it BUT I became hooked when the storyline really began to develop. Pagans/Vikings raided a monastery killing all but one Monk, who was held captive, became a servant to the leader of the Pagan fleet, later became a Viking, Then later was held captive again by a Christian king. The Christian and the Viking leader held so much value in their friendship with the Monk. The series ended with (What I think is) God speaking to the Monk in a way that was clear & Him going back with the Vikings by choice and praying the Lord's prayer with the Viking leader. The Monk lived his life and expressed himself in a way that resonated with some nonbelievers. We are all called to do that. We may not reach everyone but we can all reach someone.

"God is pleased when our worship is practical." This section really goes into how we have to use our mind, spirit, and BODY for worship. I used to wear my body out... I didn't get enough sleep. I ate lots of fast food. I'd wear my mind out stressing out about deadlines... It is SO different now. I can still wear myself out but I know now that I am doing that for the blessings God has given me. Earlier this week I was thinking..."Maybe ease up on me God." He did lots of revealing... Now I am ready for what's next... I think... When you can feel your worship taking effort and using energy you are doing something right.

Today's bullet points:

"Point to Ponder: God wants all of me."

Daily Verse: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30 (NIV)

Daily Question: "Which is more pleasing to God right now - My public worship or my private worship? What will I do about this?"

From my journal the day of reading: My private worship. Worship him more. Acknowledge my gifts and LOVE me as God has made me. I will really begin to study his word and when I start to worry I will read Bible verses.

I am working on my public worship and God sure is helping me with the rest of it.

There will be days when you will feel exhausted, but those days lead to a stronger purpose. Buck up baby and ride your ride! God bless!