Private Worship, Part 7

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

9. Perseverance
Private worship is hard work. It is vitally important to press on through the difficulty as you fight for joy in Christ. There will be days that you wake up, not wanting to spend time in the Word of God and prayer. These are the times when it is most important to persevere, and do it anyway. The great discovery that is often made in times of perseverance is that the Lord is always faithful to reveal Himself to those who take to the battle against the flesh, and resolve to meet with Him. These are the blessings that cause one to press on.

10. Patience
Private worship is a rewarding discipline that takes time to develop. It is important to not get discouraged. There will be difficult days of which the Lord will use to build your faith and trust in Him. Pray for sustaining grace and remember that intimacy with the Lord does not function like a microwave. Sanctification is a lifelong process in which nothing happens overnight. Trust the Lord’s timing and don’t give up. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).

Enduring to the End, For Your Joy

Worship God and be filled with the deep satisfaction that He is lavishing upon you the greatest gift you will ever receive, namely Himself. Worship is for your joy, because rightly placed joy is the greatest means available to glorify God, thus achieving our chief end. Endure in private worship, and you will most assuredly experience a joy-filled life.

There is a lovely story about a father and his newly converted son. “Dad I’m scared of something” said the young boy. “Tell me what it is son and we can pray about it together.” “Well,” he stammered, struggling to put his feelings into words, “I’m scared I might slip away from God.” His father smiled, stretched out his hand, and told his son to put his hand inside, then he clenched it in a grip. “Try and pull away from me” he said. Try as he might, the young boy could not release himself from his father’s grip. “My grip is stronger than yours,” said the father, “and God’s hold of you, is firmer than your hold of God!”

When we experience difficulties with our [private worship], we can persist in the confidence that God has a firmer hold on us than we have of Him. The Old Testament tells us that God loved us with “an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). In the New Testament, Paul says “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and Jude tells us that our responsibility is to keep ourselves “in the love of God” (Jude 21). When the going gets tough, and the Christian life gets dry, we can encourage ourselves with the realisation [sic] that God loves us, and is more eager to meet with us than we are to meet with Him. What an incentive to set aside part of the day for the worship of God, for the reading of the Word of God and for fellowship with God!”[1]

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1.Simon J. Robinson, Improving Your Quiet Time (Leominster: Day One Publications, 1998), 112-13.

Page CXVI Music

I love good music – good words, good instrumental and vocal talent, unique arrangements – it’s a gift from God. One of the groups I have loved listening to over the past several years is Page CXVI. Below are 3 music videos they have just released. I really encourage you to go to their website and purchase their albums – there’s not a single song on any album that I don’t like… and when you’re dealing with new arrangements of old hymns, that’s quite an accomplishment in my book!

(By: Nick Kennicott)

Private Worship, Part 6

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

7. Perspective

Make sure that you private worship is multi-perspectival. In other words, incorporate different elements into your worship that shall serve to draw you nearer to the Lord. Here are a few different elements you might want to try:

Bible – This, as previously mentioned, is most important. Remember to have a plan. You will most likely stay on track when you have a systematic way of progressing throughout the year. Find a good 1 or 2 year through the Bible reading plan, and do your best to stick with it. And if you don’t, just keep reading – don’t read to finish, read the be changed.

Prayer – A vibrant prayer life is an eclectic prayer life. It is helpful to sometimes use lists or written prayers. Pray through passages in the Bible. Sometimes your prayer should be spontaneous, sometimes short, and sometimes long. It is also helpful to use resources that will help you remain mindful of the global work of Christ like Voice of the Martyrs or Operation World.

Journal – Something like the ESV Journaling Bible is useful in private worship, along with, perhaps, another journal for miscellaneous notes regarding your daily life, prayers, and what God may currently be working in your life. Journaling is helpful as you take the time to reflect.

Song(s) – God doesn’t care if you have a bad voice! The bible gives instruction to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to the Lord with your heart (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).

Books – Books are helpful in private worship to get you to think more deeply on specific passages (commentaries), theological points, or various elements of Christian living.

8. Pleasure

Worship is for your joy, because joy that causes worship is joy in God. In the book Desiring God, John Piper writes, ” worship is essentially a way of honoring God… worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth… [but] it is necessary to define worship not simply as a way of reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth, but, more precisely, as a way of doing it gladly.” In all forms of worship, it is important to fight against the tendency to relegate it to a simple duty, and to pray that God would grant the deepest sense of delight. A fundamental aspect of private worship is the delighting of oneself in the Lord: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Fight for joy in God, that your worship may be complete.

Private Worship, Part 5

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

5. Purpose

Remind yourself each day of the need for growth in godliness. The heart will frequently be tempted to not spend the time that is necessary for private worship to be profitable. Therefore, you need a constant reminder. You should seek to enter into private worship with a desire to have joy-filled communion with God, knowing that you will be blessed in each encounter with Him.

6. Preparation

There are several useful things that can be done to prepare the heart for worship. One way is to begin by praying from the Psalms. Here are 4 that I use daily:

“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!” (Psalm 119:36).

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).

“Unite my heart to fear your name” (Psalm 86:11b).

“Satisfy [me] in the morning with your steadfast love, that [I] may rejoice and be glad all [my] days” (Psalm 90:14).

These verses are very helpful prayers to get my heart and mind in focus.

Try beginning your Scripture reading in the Psalms and meditate on the words. Psalms have an uncanny way of calling the heart to worship. Utilize God’s Word to help you rejoice in the glory of God.

It may also be helpful to utilize a prayer book like The Valley of Vision to prepare for private worship. Read and meditate on one prayer each day and allow the puritans to speak for you in marvelous ways!

(By: Nick Kennicott)

One Another

I’ve been really enjoying this series of info-graphics Tim Challies has been producing.  Although this latest one gives me a little bit of vertigo, it is a powerful picture of the responsibilities God has given us one to another.