Friends, here is an article that I wanted to share with you from the 40 Days of Purpose materials This article will appear in its entirety over the next three Grace Notes Editions. Enjoy!
            Pastor Dave

     Worship isn't just a part of your life -- it's everything you do!
     As you’ll discover as you read through Pastor Rick’s section in The Purpose Driven Life on "You Were Made for God’s Pleasure," worship through music is only a small portion of what true, biblical worship is all about. Worship is the process of surrendering our entire life into God’s hands. Everything we do can – and should -- be an act of worship.

     How do we apply that to our life? God designed us to worship Him with our whole lives. Are there actually spiritual habits that we can build into our lives that help us to worship God more deeply? YES! Here are ten habits than can help build worship into your life on a daily basis.

     1. Worship through prayer. We often miss this important component of our prayer life. Think about the issues you usually pray about. How much of our prayer life is about us and how much of it is about God? Without a doubt God wants us to be able to share everything that is going on in our life. He wants us to get to know Him better.
     But he also wants us to get to know Him better. When we affirm who God is through our prayers, we put our prayer life in proper perspective. That’s exactly how Jesus taught us to pray. Look at the Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of Mathew (6: 9-13), Jesus starts the prayer off by saying “Our Father who is in Heaven, May Your name be honored.” (NLT) Jesus teaches us an important lesson with this prayer. Prayer starts with God. Consider including in your prayers a time of focused attention on who God is.

     2. Get in a regular habit of reading the Bible. The Bible says that we worship God in “spirit and in truth.” How can we ever worship God without a clear understanding of who He is? The truth about God is essential to worship. Pay special attention to the books of Psalms. No book in the Bible spends as much time carefully describing who God is.

     3. Obey God. Pastor Rick mentions in The Purpose Driven Life that we worship God when we obey Him. We all need to build the habit of obedience into our lives. Take practical steps to see that this is a part of your life. Whenever you sense God is speaking to you, make it a regular practice to do it immediately. Don’t let procrastination weigh you down. If you can’t do it immediately, write down whatever God has been putting on your heart, so that you can do it SOON!

(TO BE CONTINUED)

     For His Glory,

  Pastor Dave

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