Day 353: Learning to Worship

This morning while I was getting ready for church, my mom was watching a message from Dr. Charles Stanley, one of the big time teachers in the Bay Area. I started listening about halfway through his message, and he started talking about how he had spent years teaching and preaching, but at one point he got a revelation that he never really learned how to worship. Sure, he believed in Jesus as his savior, he studied the Bible, and he was an anointed speaker; but he was never really shown how to worship. I've accepted for years now that worship shouldn't be limited to the music we play in church; instead, it should be the way we live every day. I've been trying to apply this into my life for years, but I feel like I still haven't quite "got it". Hearing Charles Stanley say that made me really think about what I've chosen to believe. Sure, I believe that worship should be our lifestyle, but have I lived that out? In all honestly, I can say I haven't enough. Yes, I've had those small periods where everything goes well, but then I get one small lazy break, and I find myself in the laid back setting where I just don't follow up to it. Today I set out to work on that; it went well, but I know it could have gone better. I find myself getting renewed energy when I pray; like really sitting down and talking with God. Those moments really show the potential of how my relationship with God can be, and those are the moments that keep me pressing on. My ultimate desire for the last couple weeks of this year is that I can start to be much more consistent with that; I can go well for at most a week, but then it starts to decline thanks to my lazy and procrastinating nature. Now that I think about it, it's amazing that even with 12 days of the year left, I'm still trying to accomplish things in my life. I guess I thought I would have life figured out a bit more by now, hey? But that's life; you can never really have it all figured out, can you? That's why I find myself constantly grateful that I have a God that's got me covered for the long haul. And to think that Christmas is coming up.... time sure does fly....

God bless,
Steven