Sunday, October 22, 2006

"I Give You My Heart"



No matter how important all of the external things are in our worship, the biggest obstacle in worship is what God has to deal with in us. The biggest problem in worship is our heart. As I sit and prepare my own heart for worship I am reminded of these words in Matthew. I am going to sit and meditate on these words to prepare my heart for worship.

Matthew 15:1-20

1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" 3Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, 'Honor your father and mother'[a] and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'[b] 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6he is not to 'honor his father[c]' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'[d]" 10Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. 11What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' " 12Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" 13He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14Leave them; they are blind guides.[e] If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." 15Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "



Lord, I admit right now that worship is all about you. There are so many ways that I have made it in to something else because of my sin, because of my failures and so now as I think about this issue of worship as I look in to your Word, I pray that all of this might honor You, all of this might be part of my worship and all of this might draw me closer to You my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so Lord may the reading of your Word, may the the worship of my heart, be holy and pleasing to you. Tomorrow as I sit under your Word help me to be alert and learn truths that I might grow in You. As I prepare to lead Your people into worship , may the meditation that I do to prepare my heart be pleasing in your sight because you are my God, my creator, my rock, my redeemer. Amen.

This song came to mind as I was preparing my heart for worship.

I Give You My Heart

when the music fades
all is stripped away
and i simply come
longing just to bring
something that's of worth
that will bless your heart

i bring you more than a song
for a song in itself
is not what you have required
you search much deeper within
through the way things appear
you're looking into my heart

chorus
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
and it's all about you
It's all about you, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing i've made it
when it's all about you
it's all about you, Jesus

King of endless worth
no one could express
how much you deserve
though i'm weak and poor
all i have is yours
every single breath

chorus

3 comments:

Linda said...

Bless you Lori. My daughter-in-law leads worship in her church too, and I know this is also the cry of her heart. I think it is the cry of all our hearts. More of Him, less of us. I'm sure He will use you to bless others as You seek to bless Him.

Kerri said...

Lori, thanks for visiting! I'm so glad you enjoyed the fall colors.
Your mom is a beautiful woman and what a lovely picture that is of her and your step-dad.
I hope and pray they'll discover what's wrong with him soon and be able to treat it.
Your song reminds me of one we sang in our Community Concert last Sunday night (just before I lost my voice!). It also contained the words "Lord, I give you my heart". The concert was called "Simply Worship" and was my favorite of all we've done in the past.

Lori said...

mailHosting.com said.

Thanks!


Linda,

Yes, it should be the cry of all of our hearts. Worship went well today! I am very grateful.

Kelli,

Your welcome!

I do love the fall colors.