How to Warm Your Heart
in Worship
by Nick Roen
It seemed like a normal Sunday morning.
I arrived at corporate worship more than slightly
distracted: tests were on the horizon, papers loomed heavy, I was exhausted. I
wanted a nap. I wanted to stay home and watch Netflix.
I didn’t want to think about the Bible. To be honest, I
desired a hundred things other than Christ’s presence.
Then worship began, and we sang this lyric:
“I will glory in my Redeemer,
My life he bought, my love
he owns.
I have no longings for
another,
I’m satisfied in Him alone.”
I felt the cognitive dissonance immediately.
In that moment my heart was not like Asaph’s who sang, “Whom have I in heaven but
you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25).
How then could I sing that I have no longings for another
and not be a complete hypocrite? I felt like crawling under the pew in front of
me.
So what do we do with passages of Scripture — or lyrics
in worship songs — that describe an ideal that does not match our reality?
Is it possible to affirm them from the heart without
pretense or posturing?
Pray: Help My Unbelief!
When
confronted with these types of incongruences, we should not wallow in despair.
Instead, we must remember that God is a God who uses
means to accomplish His ends.
He is the Sovereign Lord who uses prayer to bring about
preordained realities and uses his written Word to create the very truths of
which it speaks.
So when we come across a verse that describes an ideal we
have not yet attained, we can use it as an opportunity to pray that God would
move in our hearts to make it so.
In Mark 9, we are given a helpful and instructive story
from the life of Jesus.
In verse 18, Jesus’ disciples are unable to cast an evil
spirit from a demon-possessed child.
So in verse 22, the father of the child turns
instead to Jesus and pleads, “But if you can do
anything, have compassion on us and help.”
Jesus immediately responds, “'If you can’! All things are possible for one who
believes” (Mark 9:23).
As He speaks these words, notice two things:
- First, Jesus is speaking an ideal; namely,
if you believe, then all things are possible.
- Second, the man realizes that he does not
live up to that ideal. He knows it is true, but he does not perfectly believe
that Jesus can help.
So what does the father do? He cries out to
Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
In other words, he acknowledges that although he believes
the ideal, his faith is deficient and therefore asks Jesus to create the faith
in his heart.
And we see that Jesus answers his prayer: faith is
created and the boy is healed (Mark 9:25-26, 29).
In other words, Jesus reveals an inconsistency between
head and heart, and drives the boy’s father to the very prayer that God uses to
bring about faith.
This is exactly how we should respond as well. “I
believe; help my unbelief!” should be the constant refrain of the
Christian fighting for faith in a fallen world.
When we read Asaph’s declaration, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you,”
And we recognize that is not where we are at,
we cry out, “There is nothing on earth
I should desire besides you; help
me to desire you above all else!”
And in God’s kindness, we trust that our hearts will be
moved to greater affection and worship of the risen Christ.
Sing to God from the Heart
Our
singing on Sunday is about proclaiming magnificent truth about God’s character
and mighty works (Psalm 150:2).
And about making music in our hearts to the Lord together
as his people (Ephesians
5:19).
What do we do when our heart does not match the words we
are singing?
We sing with all our might as a prayer of faith, trusting
God to use these very words to match our heads with our hearts and bring about
the truth we are singing.
This is not hypocrisy. It is — to borrow a phrase from
Augustine — one of God’s ordained means “to
create what He commands.”
It is an honest assessment of the deficiencies of our
hearts, and a declaration of faith in the God who raises our dead affections to
new life.
If we are willing to give grace-driven effort to pray for
God’s help and to trust him in our singing, then the song itself becomes a
faith-creating agent in our own sanctification.
Therefore, we cry, “I
have no longings for another! O God, help me long for you above all else!” This
is not futile; it is faith.
Our present worship on
earth is simply a preparation for the eternal celebration of praise to God.
God will grant us the ultimate gift, eternal life in His
Kingdom through His grace if we repent of our sins and obey His commands.
To experience God as a personal, caring, loving Father,
you have to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You will
become a child of God and begin the fulfillment of the reason you were created
by God.
Say
the following prayer:
“Father God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have
separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a
new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was
resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and
reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank You that according to Your Word,
I am now Your child, and I am born again.
Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do
Your will for the rest of my life. I promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Please use me for Your glory.
RELATED POSTS:
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is the Difference between Praise and Worship?
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Heaven’s Thrilling, All-Encompassing Worship
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Why You Must Fight to Worship
Nick Roen (@roenaboat) is pastor for worship at Sojourners Church in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He writes on
topics related to worship, sexuality, and celibacy.
http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-warm-your-heart-in-worship
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