How long has it been since you took a good hard look at why you do what you do every Sunday morning? Have your priorities of spiritual preparation given way to technical preparation only and success is gauged by the applause and kudos from the crowd?
Each Sunday I challenge you to imagine yourself standing before the throne of Yahweh with only your instrument and/or your voice. There is no congregation to supply the emotional build-up. There are no microphones adjusted to create an ambiance. The only light visible is the light from the face of Yahweh. Musical dynamics are due to what you feel as you offer your song to please and honor Him. You have practiced your song a thousand times, but this one performance is the one that counts. It’s not bought with money or the pleasure of man. All of heaven is silent as you lift your voice or instrument to begin.
Will what you offer the King of the Universe be something that has cost you nothing? Or would you give all you have; your heart, your soul and your talent, in a song that surpasses the finest symphony? Will He stand to bless you when you are done, or will He shake His head slowly knowing that you haven’t yet learned what true worship is? Have you made the connection that it really has nothing to do with you, but is for His glory. You can have every technical detail in synchronized perfection, but if you don’t pour your soul in every phrase, it was just music or merely a song. It wasn’t worship.
Does your worship experience depend on what YOU will experience personally during the worship service? Do YOU have the preconceived notion that worship should make YOU feel better when YOU return to your seat? If YOU’RE having a bad morning and YOU choose to stumble through worship, or not show adoration at all, do YOU think that Yahweh will give YOU an excused absence, like a professor in a class? If what YOU feel is YOUR definition of worship, then perhaps YOU should learn about true worship. Worship is for Yahweh alone, not you. It’s not dependent upon your emotional state, the performance of the praise team, or a stirring sermon from the pastor. None of these things should play a part in determining an authentic worship experience. Yet, how many times do we become a panel of judges holding up score cards at the end of a service? We should never guage our reverence to Yahweh by the accolades received. We should, instead, worship The Almighty without reservation, and without thought of what we will obtain from His Presence. Change the focus of your worship towards Yahweh, not to you.
There are moments in any relationship, in which you become aware that something has changed. You become conscious of the fact that the union has moved beyond what it was into new and uncharted territory. It can be terrifying because you must now explore the unknown; and exhilarating because your past experience has taught you that there is a richness to what is yet unfamiliar, but waiting to be discovered. The more naïve and undeveloped the relationship is, the more likely the moments of discovery will be largely unnoticed. They will appear as casually and quickly as new landscape appears at the turn of a corner. As the relationship deepens, one sharp turn can leave you gasping for air in amazement. You suddenly realize that this is something different than what was - and that to turn back would be as unthinkable as plunging on ahead as if nothing had happened. That is the moment in which faith gives way to trust.
It may be at the sudden disappointment of expectations, or at the discovery of a new and unsettling truth. It could even be the acknowledgment that something different has crossed the threshold of your psyche into the depths of your spirit and demands, yet invites a rearranging of your inner reality. You have moved in that instant from one faith, from one standing in reality, from one pattern of knowing and understanding, to a new and very different, yet wonderful truth. In a friendship, this change marks the beginning, perhaps, of something very beautiful. In a courtship, this transformation pushes you past hazy communication barriers towards the clarity of a commitment that has already been formed deep within. In a marriage, it signals a new phase of freedom in which the other companion is celebrated for their uniqueness. And in a walk with Yahweh, it yields the solid awareness that to know Him is life; that one day in His presence is worth more than a lifetime anywhere else; that no price is too high for the privilege of embracing Him; that all of your life comes down to just this one thing - to know Him more.
 
`Tonya McNair`
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