Praise & Worship God - Pursuing Intimacy With God
Praise & Worship God – Start Your Prayer & Fellowship Time With God With Praise & Worship
Prayer is the intimate communication with God. One of the keys to having the closest possible fellowship and intimacy with God is good honest 2 way communication. You cannot have intimate, open, honest, transparent, 2-way communication with God until you are able to block out all distractions and be fully and totally focused on God.
Starting your prayer & fellowship time with Praise & Worship God helps you to better focus on Him. It also helps to prepare your heart to hear God’s voice. Praise & worship God at the beginning of your prayer time helps you to realize Who you are with, and it helps you to have a humble heart towards God.
You need to be hungry and ready to hear God’s voice. Your heart needs to be ready and prepared to hear Him and then respond to whatever He tells you. You need to have a worshipful and soft and willing and humble and obedient heart. A heart that loves God fully. That is what a true worshipper of God is.
Praise Means to Highly Value God
The root of the words Praise & Worship God means to “place high value on something or someone (God)”. You are God’s First Love & Treasure & Passion, and now God wants to be your First Love & Treasure & Passion. Your Treasure means that God is more valuable, more important, and more precious than anything or anyone else.
Starting your prayer & fellowship time (and your whole day) with Praise & Worship God helps you to focus on God and get ready to hear His voice. Hearing God’s voice is the most important part of your prayer & fellowship time with God.
GOD INHABITS THE PRAISES OF HIS PEOPLE; YOUR AWARENESS OF GOD’S PRESENCE AND YOUR FOCUS ON HIM IS MADE GREATER WHEN YOU PRAISE GOD & WORSHIP HIM; YOU ARE SENSITIZED TO HIS PRESENCE.
- “… O Thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.” – Psalm 22:3
- ” Surely I am with you always.” – Matthew 28:20
- “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31:8
- “The Lord is near.” – Philippians 4:5
Even though God is always near and always with us, we are not always with Him. Or at least we are not always focused on God and His presence. It will be difficult to hear God’s voice if we are distracted and not focused on Him. Praise & worship God sensitizes us to God’s presence.
YOUR PRAYER TIME & EVERY DAY SHOULD BEGIN WITH PRAISE & WORSHIP GOD SO YOU CAN GET MORE FOCUSED ON GOD’S PRESENCE.
Why do you think church services start with praise & worship ? First to express your love and adoration for God, to glorify and please Him, and also so you can get your focus on Him so you can reverently listen to Him speaking to you and then respond to Him.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 “Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.”
“Being self centered blinds us to God and his love, and hinders the love relationship. We’ll have a hard time trusting God, hearing God, obeying God, experiencing God, and knowing God.” – Experiencing God
It is natural for humans to be focused on self, or to be self-centered. We all need God to touch and change and cleanse our hearts so that we can stop being self-centered and become God-centered and Kingdom-centered people. Then we will be better focused on God and the things that are important to God.
YOU CANNOT INTIMATELY COMMUNICATE WITH GOD UNTIL YOU’VE MADE A CONNECTION & YOU’RE FOCUSED ON HIS PRESENCE.
You cannot have good intimate communication until you first are ready and willing to hear what God has to say. When you can take your focus off of everything around you and fully focus on God, you will be able to hear God’s voice.
In order to hear God speak to you, you need to be ready and willing to hear Him and then follow and obey whatever He tells you or however He leads you. Listening is not merely hearing God speak, but acting upon it.
Review True Worship of God … notice that as you go down the list of what true worship of God is, it involves reverently listening to Him, and obeying Him, and ultimately surrendering and giving all of yourself to Him.
PRAISE GIVES THE GLORY TO GOD. IT LIFTS OUR SPIRITS AND IT SETS THE TONE FOR YOUR TIME WITH GOD AND YOUR WHOLE DAY. ONCE YOU REALIZE WHO YOU ARE WITH, YOU ARE HUMBLED, YOUR HEART IS SOFTENED, AND YOU ARE READY TO LISTEN.
- “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven. THEN I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:1-8
- “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight… Show me your glory.” – Exodus 33:13,18
ONCE YOU FOCUS ON GOD YOU CAN ENJOY HIS PRESENCE
- “I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. 10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” – Psalm 16:8-11
- “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” – Isaiah 26:3
- “My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” – Psalm 25:15
PRAISE IS A “GARMENT” THAT COVERS & PROTECTS YOU FROM BITTERNESS, AND FROM COMPLAINING, AND FROM UNGRATEFULNESS, AND FROM A SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS:
- “… A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” – Isaiah 61:3
A garment is used to cover and protect from the elements. Praise & worship God is meant to be a covering of protection for us from the spiritual forces of evil and our enemy. Praise & worship God helps to protect us from despair, discouragement, heaviness, oppression, bitterness, complaining, and ungratefulness.
In Part 2 we will continue to look at the reasons and benefits of beginning our prayer & fellowship time and our day with praise & worship God.
Pursuing Intimacy With God is committed to helping you with the most important thing in your life… your intimacy with God , your fellowship with Him, and your partnership with God in His Kingdom work & mission.
There are hundreds of Bible verses and great truths & promises in the Pursuing Intimacy With God studies book
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Salvation: The Requirements for True Salvation
Other Links
Preview the Pursuing Intimacy With God Studies Book
The Desires of God’s Heart – Part 2
The Greatest Desire of God’s Heart
Why You Should Pray & Spend Time With God
Why Pray & Spend Time With God – Part 2
Pray & Spend Time With God – Part 3
Seek God With All Your Heart – Part 2
The Names Of God & Their Meanings
8 Keys to Intimacy With God – Part 2
Read God’s Word The Bible – Part 2
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