John 12: 1-7, Mark 14: 3-9, 2 Samuel 6: 14, Hebrews 11: 24-27, Romans 8: 28
I read this article by Paul Critchley about being an extravagant worshipper and it coincided with what the Lord spoke to me.
“Ever wondered why you get a bit bored and distracted during church. Could it be our fault rather than the preacher or the worship band? Is it possible that we came to the meeting expecting God to bless us, instead of coming with a mentality of, ‘I’ve come to bring Him my love and adoration today’? To be an extravagant worshipper is to be worshipping God to the max.
When you or I come to worship, it’s our place to please God, not to analyze how good or bad the message was, or to judge the content or style of the music. It’s for us to recognize how amazing it is to have relationship with the King and to be prepared to go all out for Him without fear of what those around might think.
To love God extravagantly is to come before Him with the thought that whether I experience God’s presence or not, my sole purpose is to bring my love and adoration to Him, wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, too many times we base our decision to worship God or not on whether we feel His presence.”
The question I must ask myself about my heart is do I really worship God out of my spirit man or do I plateau at my soulish man (will, mind and emotions). This Sunday the Lord spoke to me this Word “with all of your being worship me”. All of a sudden I felt inadequate; it was such a deep word for me to enter into the thought (the deep ramifications of meaning) that I could be withholding something from my Lord or be so self absorbed in a fleshly worship or soulish worship that I had stopped at “giving” but expected “getting”. I believe the Lord wants to take us away from the superficial experiences of what we have called worship and take the body of Christ into the deep communion of the abyss of our beings. This I believe was the intent of Jesus to show the Church the intimate relationship he had with the Father and the commission of the New Testament Church to the World. Let us be like Paul in Philippians 3:8, What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
In my simple faith and not really knowing where or how, I am counting my experiences of worship in the past as dung and asking the Holy Spirit to lead me into a fresh expression of worshiping in Spirit and Truth. One thing I have realized never become satisfied with where you are at in your walk with God but pursue the heart of God.
Lets us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us to be extravagant worshippers, where deep calleth to deep!