21 In Twenty-One Devotional

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
Romans 12:1

Psalms 84
“I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord. With my whole being, body, and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God.

Hebrews 12:28
“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.”

Hey guys! Fasting Day 10! What! What! You’re halfway there “whooaaa living on a prayer” or in our case, no food. All jokes aside, I hope everyone’s fast is going great so far! Without a doubt, I know God is doing some great things through this. Let’s dive in today and talk about our prayer focus which is Worship.

Worship is such a huge topic to try and pinpoint what it is or what it’s not. I’ve always liked to think of worship as a simple submission to God.
I think sometimes we can find ourselves falling short of this because we base our submission on what everyone around us is doing at the time. Now let me explain:
We go to church wanting to experience God but, the first song just isn’t on your current top 5 favs and the worship team energy wasn’t doing it for you AND your wife keeps on nudging you, giving you that “look”. 😒 So, to get her to claim down, the moment you start seeing hands flying in the air, you follow suit and now you’re “worshipping” but you’re also thinking about that steak and bacon taco you get to have for lunch because you went to church today. Trust me, I’ve been there and done that.

Isaiah 29:13 says “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”

Don’t know about you but, I never want to be the one God is talking about in this scripture. I never want my worship to be something based solely off of what I saw someone else do before, and because I’m told to worship God, I do it. I don’t want to be all talk and no walk. I want my heart to long for him, I want to be all into the one who’s been all into me since day one. Nothing can separate us from God’s love, so why would I let myself separate my heart from truly worshipping him?  

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 NLT

I say all this to encourage you to open up. Don’t allow anyone or anything to define YOUR praise to GOD! When I stopped worrying about if I was raising my hand at the right moment or how I looked during worship, is when I learned how to not hold back. I truly went after God and found my heart truly worshipping him. Give full voice to the praise and joy that you feel in your heart.
So, what’s holding you back? Is it pride, anxiety, lack of reason? My favorite lyric in this season is from Maverick City Music, ‘Promises’ when it says “ I got a reason to bless you”. We all do. What is yours at the moment?

Prayer: Lord, I pray as we continue with our fasting your praise inhabits our heart more than ever so that we may come to you with open hearts and open minds for what you have for us. I pray that you teach us how to truly worship you from our hearts and not from the worldly status. Let us honor you with everything we have. I pray that I live a life full of worship that is pleasing to you Lord. Thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice. Thank you for allowing me to have a relationship with you.

DON’T STOP THERE: I encourage you during this fast, find some time, It doesn’t matter if you only have 5 minutes, but get alone with God.
Sing whatever song is on your heart in that moment, put on your favorite worship song and submit everything you have to God. Sing praises to him from the heart. Through our praise, through our submission, the breakthrough will happen. “God Inhabits the Praises of His People” Psalm 22:3

Love you guys,
Shelby