Worship Wednesday: Working up an Appetite

There is something that seems missing from our praise and worship in some churches around the world. We may dutifully stand and sing, and maybe even go through the outward signs of praise, like lifting our hands, but something is missing. What is it? Could it be the Holy Spirit's power that creates in us a passion and a hunger for more of God?!! Where is our passion and hunger? As my husband so eloquently put it a few weeks ago, "We love God politely." How true that is! We often treat a worship service like an etiquette class! How dare we love God passionately with our whole being!! But that is what we are called to do! Our praise and worship should create in us a passion for God and a hunger for more of His Spirit...a desire to grow closer to Him and dwell in His presence.

Look at what scripture says:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.                   

                                                  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV)

Jeremiah the prophet said:

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,”there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

                               Jeremiah 20:9 (ESV)

Jesus and the two men on the road to Emmaus:

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31  And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Where is our burning passion...a passion so strong that we cannot be silent...a passion so strong that we must sing His praise and lift up His name before all people!! Where is our hunger...a hunger that burns within us and invites the Lord to come into our spirit and feed us! Do we love the Lord our God with all that is within us, or do we worship Him out of sheer habit!

True worship will create in us an appetite for more of God, more of His Word, and more of His Spirit.

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

                                                                     Psalm 63:1-8 (ESV)

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.When shall I come and appear before God?

                                                                    Psalm 42:1-2 (ESV)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

                                                                        Matthew 5:6 (ESV)

I have found that the deeper I enter in to worship my Savior, the deeper I want to go and the more I hunger and thirst for His power and His presence in my life! I want others to feel that same hunger and that same thirst! May our worship lead us to love our Savior deeper and more passionately, and may it create within in us a greater hunger for Him and His Word! Lukewarm love will never do!

Here is the worship song for today. Please pay close attention to the lyrics and use the song to enter in to a time of personal worship. Ask the Lord to put a fire within you...a passion and a hunger for more of God!

Savior King

Hillsong