Intimate Worship

The Call to Worship

There is an urgent call to worship ringing through the church right now. Not just corporate worship in the church on Sundays but worship within the quiet of our prayer closet – our quiet time – time spent alone with the Lord. The psalmist puts it eloquently in Psalm 30:11-12 (NKJV) ^“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” It is in such personal, private, and intimate moments that God answers our prayers without us saying a word to Him other than to worship and praise Him for who He is.

The clue to personal, maybe even private praise and worship is this - that we seek the giver not the gifts. That we seek who He is rather than what He can do for us. Our prayer ‘shopping list’ soon gets forgotten in the joy of personal intimacy with our creator and we just simply worship Him. Yes - We need to stop seeking His hand in order to seek His face.

There is a favourite worship song from Brian Doerksen

Come, now is the time to worship
Come, now is the time to give your heart
Come, just as you are to worship
Come, just as you are before your God
Come

One day ev'ry tongue will confess You are God
One day ev'ry knee will bow
Still the greatest treasure remains for those,
Who gladly choose you now

It’s that final line about gladly choosing Him now which is the clue to our personal worship. As the Word says, we can enter His presence and approach His throne with boldness. Now you don’t approach anything or anyone with boldness unless you have confidence and no fear. In this state of mind, you can be happy and glad that you choose to enter His presence and worship Him with songs and cries of joy at just being there. His presence is so real and so close that you wonder how come you never did this before. It is at such moments that He answers your prayers before you even ask.

Matthew 6:6-8 “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.“ and this is just one reason to enter into His courts with thanksgiving and praise.

Yes - We need to stop seeking His hand in order to seek His face and in seeking His face we find His heart and His love.