Have you ever opened your heart to someone only to have it torn apart by disappointment and rejection? God has experienced rejection millions of times by people who deny Him, yet He calls every person on Earth into an intimate relationship with Him, because just one such relationship is worth millions of rejections to Him. That’s how valuable we are. Out of such abundant love comes equally abundant intimacy, if we just dare to come to Him. We are called to worship Him intimately, to allow closeness at a level we might even be uncomfortable with because of our brokenness and pain.
Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.
Psalm. 5:7
Even though God is so powerful that He created the whole Universe simply by speaking, and measured off the heavens with His fingers (Isa. 40:12 NLT), what He really desires is an intimate relationship with you. This is one of the cornerstones of our worship and leading of others. Our Sunday worship times are completely connected to the intimate times of worship we spend with Him during the week. Through this intimacy, we will learn that:
- We are loved by our heavenly Father
- We can do nothing to earn it
- We are already accepted by Him
- The success of our worship times is not wrapped up in our coolness factor or song choices
Understanding the above in our own lives frees us up to worship Him as we lead His people in worship. Our lives must be about cultivating our intimacy with God. We must take time from all the busyness to withdraw and really dig into His word and pray to get to know Him at a more intimate level than ever before. The better we know Him, the more we know He loves us completely. It’s time to step in and get intimate with our Creator.
We can’t afford to fear God’s love because we’ve been hurt by those who were supposed to love us. Yes, there is wisdom in the fear of the Lord (it’s more about being in awe than being scared, right?), but when we confuse it with fearing His love and being truly intimate with Him, our own love will be incapacitated. How can we give what we can’t receive? And if we can’t give love to those we lead in worship, how can we have any intimacy as the church with God and each other?
Music has been called “emotion that you can hear”. When we dare to enter into an intimate relationship with God, it will show in the intimacy of our worship times. It is one thing to play and sing loving words softly, but quite another thing when our singing and playing becomes filled with the sense of intimacy we have actually experienced in His presence as we’ve pursued Him. True intimacy will be achieved on Sunday mornings when we know what we’re singing about. You will see people connecting with God at a much richer and deeper level, and they will be encouraged to follow you into a more intimate place with God in their lives, as well. How will you become more intimate with God this week?