Focus on Worship

So many things come to take our attention and steal our focus from The Lord. Life can throw many things at us that cause fear, worry, doubt, hopelessness, anxiety and more. Throughout my years of walking with The Lord, I’ve gone through many seasons of highs and lows. It was in one of my darkest seasons that God taught me how to focus on worshiping Him in spite of my circumstances, how to worship Him through the pain, through the tears, through the persecution, the misunderstanding, the disappointments and the embarrassments. Worship is what got me through. In the natural, it’s easy to dwell on how we feel and what’s going on around us instead of keeping our eyes and heart glued on Jesus, but worship is really the only thing that will get us through many of our storms. When things are coming at you left and right, what does your mind focus on? When the enemy is trying to come at you with negative thoughts, do you immediately dwell on them and let them take root, or do you fix your mind on God and worship Him in spite of how you feel and what you’re going through? It’s human nature to focus on our circumstances and how we feel. But God wants to reprogram us to focus our attention on worshiping Him no matter what is going on around us.

I’ll be honest, there have been times where I can push past what I’m going through and just keep my mind on God. But there are other times where the battle is so intense and it’s just plain hard to push past all the warfare. But no matter how intense the warfare is, worship is ALWAYS an option. We can either choose to dwell on the situation, the warfare, and the negative thoughts, or we can choose to lay all those things at the feet of Jesus, release the heaviness, and offer up a sacrifice of worship to Him. No matter how crazy everything seems, we always have the option to rest and worship The Lord through it. In Mark 4:35-41, the disciples were with Jesus on a boat and the winds and waves began to beat upon the boat and they were afraid. Jesus was in the boat with them, but He slept through the storm. You can choose to rest in God through your storms or become anxious and afraid. The One that was with them on the boat had power over what they were going through. There was really no need for them to be afraid. No matter how intense the storm is, it is possible to rest through it. So, be still and watch God protect you and fight your battles.

It’s easy for us to read that story and say they shouldn’t have been afraid because Jesus was with them. But when we go through our own storms that are full of threatening and troubling situations, we can easily forget that Jesus is also with us. We can easily forget that when we are in God’s will, NOTHING can come into our life without His permission. The disciples were on that boat because Jesus told them to get on it, they weren’t on it because they decided to go on it, they were obeying instructions from The Lord Himself. In the same way, if you know that you are somewhere because God led you there and things begin to get boisterous, the One who called you there is well able to keep you and see you through it. He sent you there for a purpose, even if that purpose is to show you how powerful He is. Everything that God allows to happen in our life has a purpose. He has power over every wind and wave that comes into our life. He has power to tell the situation to be still or to become more boisterous. HE has the power, not the devil. He is with us through the storm, so we might as well worship, we might as well rest. We might as well take our attention off of the things we can’t control and focus it on the One who is in control. Focusing on our situation won’t change anything, it will only cause us to move in our flesh more. When we focus on our situation we try to think up ways that we can fix or improve things but those ways may not be what God wants us to do. But by worshipping God instead, He can give us specific instructions on what to do when it’s time. I encourage you to read and meditate on Matthew 6:25-34. Your life is in God’s hands, He saw the storm coming way before you did but He wants you to keep your mind on Him through it – that is true faith. And when your heart gets discouraged and afraid, remember Who ushered you to the place you are at now. God did not bring you to this point to leave you here and die. He wants to teach you to trust Him on a higher level. Don’t focus on the intensity of the situation, focus on the power of your God.

James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” And Romans 5:3-4 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” The testing of your faith is producing something. The storm was sent to produce something in you. It wasn’t sent to destroy you but to build you up in your spirit. God wants each of us to get to the place where we don’t allow the storms of life to consume us but to birth what He’s trying to birth in us. It’s not easy to get to that place but it is possible. He wants us to get to the place where we can literally sleep (rest) through the storm – rest in the secret place, rest in His word, rest by worshipping Him no matter what we are going through; He is worthy of our worship. The same way you would praise, and worship God if a prayer was answered, is the same way He wants you to worship Him if all hell was breaking loose in your life. When everything in your life seems unsteady and unstable, find your stability in the secret place, let your worship and trust in God be steady and unmovable – that’s the kind of worship that God wants. The true test of your faith is proved when you are being tried, not when everything is calm and going your way.

I can testify from experience that so much is birthed in your spirit when you choose to worship God through your darkest seasons, even the dark seasons that catch you by surprise. When you choose to have tunnel vision and say, “God though You slay me, yet will I worship…though my flesh is being afflicted, yet will I praise…though it seems like the enemy is surrounding me, I will bless Your name….” and mean it, you can experience supernatural peace – that peace that passes ALL understanding (Phil. 4:7). Breakthrough happens in that place of unrelenting worship. A special intimacy between you and God is birthed that could not be birthed any other way because you now know from personal experience that He can keep you. You experience supernatural rest that does not match your situation. You gain a supernatural strength that enables you to endure and walk through the trial. What you could not carry and handle in the natural, you are able to carry and handle in the spirit because you choose to go into the secret place and worship. There is nothing like worshiping God when all hell is breaking loose in your life. There is a special anointing that is birthed through this type of worship. As you pour out your oil of worship at the feet of Jesus in this place, He pours out a special oil into your spirit that you can then use to minister to others. For some of us, the level of the anointing that God wants you to walk in can only be birthed through great trial. It’s as you hold on to God through those trials and sincerely worship Him (by continuing to give Him your all no matter how much the situation hurts), that the oil is pressed out. Ike Jesus, you have to be crushed, but in your crushing, you must choose to worship God. Though your flesh may want to give up, you must choose to worship Him daily. It’s in this place that you also gain so much revelation and revelation about your situation. You also experience the depth, the height, the width, and the length of God’s love for you (Eph. 3:18). When you get out of the trial and you see all that God birthed in you through it, you can sincerely thank Him for taking you through it because what was birthed was so much more valuable and greater than the pain you endured.

When I look back at certain trails that God took me through, although it didn’t feel good at the time, I would go through them again and I thank Him for taking me through them because I needed what He birthed in me through those trials (it also helps me to endure the trials I am facing now). I needed every bit of what He did in me for where He was taking me next. Had He not taken me through those things, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t be able to teach you about the value of worshiping God through a storm if I didn’t learn to worship Him through a storm. The name Heart of Worship was birthed in one of my most trying seasons. He birthed a worshipper in me, and through my death back then, I am able to pour into others and give them life today. And I continue to die today, I continue to have to trust God through my trials and remind myself to keep my eyes on Him. I haven’t completely mastered this, so I am first partaker of this word. But because of what He’s done in the past, I have more strength to stand today. Until you surrender your spirit and let God do what He wants to do in you, your trials may be extended or repeated, and things can be delayed. You won’t get where He wants to take you if you keep fighting it. He loves us so much that He will not allow us to skip lessons. Yes, He gives us free will. So, we can choose to surrender to the process or we can choose to keep repeating lessons. One day you will look back and thank God for what He is taking you through now.

If you find yourself struggling with worshipping God instead of focusing on your situation, ask Him to deprogram your thinking, ask Him to give you the mind of Christ. It’s human nature to dwell on your circumstances, but God wants to give you the mind of Christ so you can worship Him through anything. Worshiping Him through what you’re going through simply means choosing to have a heart of praise, thanksgiving, and trust in spite of everything. It’s having a heart that says God is STILL worthy to be praised, adored, honored, and glorified through my affliction. A heart that says even if my situation does not change, I will still glorify You through my life and my life still belongs to you. It’s a heart that says I will remain in Your will even if things don’t go my way because you are still worthy. THIS is true worship – to present your life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). A sacrifice has to die first before it can be a sacrifice. God will test your worship by seeing if you’re still willing to worship (offer your life) as you die to your flesh and what it wants. Many people stop giving their all to God when He doesn’t do something they want. You will not be exempt from this type of testing. Ask yourself, what will it take for me to stop offering God my life? Whatever that thing is, prepare your mind to give it up just in case God asks for it. Like Abraham, God will test us to see what we are willing to give up for Him – this is worship. Worship is more than a song, a dance, a feeling, or hands lifted during service at church, worship is willingly pushing past everything we face and feel to serve God with our LIFE wholeheartedly.

If you’re dealing with fear, pain, disappointment, a difficult trial or hardship, persecution, or an obstacle, etc. choose to worship God in the midst of these things. Don’t focus on how you feel or what people around you may be saying or doing, put your mind on the Lord. According to Isaiah 26:3, perfect peace comes when we keep our mind on God. Verse 4 of that same chapter says, “Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” In God alone is everlasting strength, if you want strength for the tests and trials of life, keep your trust in The Lord. Let worship be your immediate response. The evidence that you trust Him is your ability to lay down every burden and rest in Him. The more intense the situation, the deeper your worship can be, and the more your spirit man gains and is strengthened because you choose to worship God so deeply. Find Bible verses that deal specifically with the battles that you are facing. There is a verse for everything we are facing or will ever face, God never leaves any situation up to our own interpretation; His word is life for every situation. When you find verses for your situation, worship with the word, stand on the word and rest in His word. His word is our foundation, it’s what helps us to confidently stand in difficult situations.

So, let us pray for one another on this journey of learning how to live a life a worship. No matter how long we’ve been saved, we never stop learning…continue to be encouraged, what God is taking us through will never be in vain.

This song came in my spirit as I was finishing this post, I pray that it encourages you as it did me.