As I spent time worshiping the Lord today, one thought that seemed to stick with me was how much better I know Him now as opposed to before I began worship. Something has been happening to me over the past months that I did not realize, I have grown in my knowledge of who God is to me. When I close my eyes and begin to worship Jesus I don't have to struggle, as I did before, to focus my attention on Him because He is so much clearer to me now. I remember when I first began to separate myself for worship. I would spend so much time just trying to focus my attention on Jesus or the Father and now I know why; who they were to me on a daily, moment by moment basis was vague and almost not real. It's like knowing you have a heart beating inside of you, but until you focus your attention on it, it remains an abstract idea to your mind and not a living reality. Suddenly, Jesus and the Father have become real to me.
Not only have they become real to me, but I now find myself, especially during times of worship, considering things that before were not important to me. For example, the New Heavens and the New Earth we are told will replace what now exist have become more real to me. It is like His thoughts are becoming my thoughts as I spend time with Him. Think about it, how much of your time do you spend absorbed in trivial things that really have no merit in comparison to your life in eternity which will last forever, and yet most likely your life there gets little if any consideration. Please don't feel condemned in any way, but realize if you will that life here is only a breathe and then it's gone. How will you spend that breathe? I want to spend it getting to know the One I will be spending eternity with and doing here what is important to Him and not me.
All of this has happened to me so gradually. I look back and try to figure out when I began to experience these changes and I really don't know. All I can say is I know that the person I am today is not the person I was before I began spending extended times worshiping Jesus. Little by little His thoughts are becoming my thoughts. What is important to Him is what is becoming important to me. Here it is, the revelation of private worship, "I am becoming like Who I worship."
We all know that we become like the person or even the object we spend time with the most. But, who would have guessed that by spending time worshiping our Creator that we can become more like Him. Thinking the way He thinks. Putting higher priority on things of life that are truly important and less priority on the trivial things that will pass away. Actually contemplating our life in eternity while still on this earth and doing things now that will add to our life then. Who thinks that way? Anyone who is willing to take the time and worship Him. Yes, we can become more like Him if we will continue to separate ourselves and worship Him.
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2 comments:
Love this! This is most encouraging, Mark. Thanks so much for sharing. This blog has been a blessing to me--it is so beneficial to hear from someone else's perspective about the process and how we can all benefit from spending time in the Father's presence. It's a reminder how much farther I have to go and how much of "me" I have to shed to be more like Him in thought and action.
Thanks again...Blessings!
Quote from a recent Billy Graham Interview:
If Graham had the opportunity to live his life over again, he said there are things he would do differently.
"I would study more. I would pray more, travel less, take less speaking engagements. I took too many of them in too many places around the world," he said. "If I had it to do over again, I'd spend more time in meditation and prayer and just telling the Lord how much I love Him and adore Him and [am] looking forward the time we're going to spend together for eternity."
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