Week Ten: Worship as a Lifestyle
**Written while pregnant with Sophia**
I just finished listening to a rendition of “To Worship You I Live” by Israel Houghton and New Breed and with each measure as the song progressed, floods of tears would well up and fall from my eyes. It’s such a simple song centered around the same words within the title, but the meaning is so much deeper. It is my purpose. It is your purpose. It’s what sets us apart: our worship.
In another song by the same group titled, “Speechless,” there’s a run that says, “Grace, Lord, your grace, oh I need it, I receive it… I’m amazed, so amazed when I see it I am speechless…” I listened to it right after the first song, and again tears fell from a well deep within me. I felt almost as if God’s grace were cleansing me in that moment.
After I took a moment to just worship God and thank Him for his grace on my life, I looked up and saw the pictures I had taken throughout my son’s first year of life. It’s by grace that he and I have life, and that same grace will carry my current child to term.
Many would define grace as receiving what you don’t deserve. I agree wholeheartedly. I don’t deserve the blessing of motherhood, but God, through the cleansing of His blood has given me this gift. By His grace, I accept the call and the blessing of being a mother and with His strength and faith in His promises, I will bear fruit. You will too.
Reflection:
- Do you take time to worship God outside of your regular church services? Worship isn’t just song and dance, but a lifestyle. How do you worship God in areas outside of musical influence?
- However, worshipping God through song and dance is powerful. What are some of your go-to songs that help you enter into His courts with thanksgiving? Take a moment to listen to one of them today and truly worship the living God whose grace is continually showered upon you.
Scriptures for Meditation and Memorization:
Genesis 4:1 NLT
“Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!””
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT
“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.”
Psalm 102:28 NIV
The children of your servants will live in your presence;
their descendants will be established before you.