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TRUST JESUS TODAY

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Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Worship (05/03/04)
TITLE: Time For Worship
By Sylvia Baker
05/07/04
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Psalm 92:1,2 (Amplified) "It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, to show forth your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night."
Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language provides the following meaning for worship..."to adore, to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration."
Often worship is pictured as the sacred time set aside when we gather in church and collectively offer praise through song, thanksgiving, or prayer. While that form of worship quickens and confirms our faith, Sunday's moon gives rise to Monday's sun and all too often we neglect personal worship in our daily routines.
The alarm rings and it's 5:30AM. I hit the floor running, beginning the race of the new day. I just cannot seem to slow the clock down enough to find that envied quiet solitude, that idyllic moment in time reserved strictly for worshipful meditation on the veranda, accompanied by morning birdsong.
Instead of turning inward with condemnation, I have found reassurance in God's Word. Afterall, Hebrews 12:1 (Amplified) encourages us to "....run with patient endurance and steady, active persistence the appointed course of the race set before us." I know my race well as an elementary principal. I love my race and embrace it with passion and fervency. Yet somehow I secretly long for that time when the earth will stand still long enough for me to just worship God in all of His majesty. I guess most of us have the race part down, but the patient endurance and active persistence requires cultivation of worship within the secret place of our souls, while we go about our Father's business.
By concentrating on God's thoughts toward us, we find that secret place of worship and refreshment in the midst of demanding schedules. I have found that by channeling my thoughts in response to the following questions, I can worship the Lord all day long, with or without birdsong!
1. Who am I in Christ and what has He done for me?
2. How can I best glorify God and reflect His nature of generous kindness today?
3. On what occasions has God surprised me by revealing unexpected blessings?
4. In today's journey, how can I bless others the most?

Because God's nature is eternal, these questions will forever produce a wellspring of praise in the morning, and worshipful thanksgiving for His faithfulness at the end of the day. I have found that it is indeed a delightful thing to offer thanks, praise and worship to the Most High, regardless of the pace of the race.