Leaders, Podcasts / Devotionals, Worship Leading, Worship Theology
Six Steps of Drawing Near (Show #65)
#DrawNear (Video Below)
4.5 min read
Drawing Near is an attitude
Worship is more than a song, it’s more than a melody and it’s more than a song set. Worship is drawing near to God. It’s also an attitude, an action and response. God is not a distant God, He is closer that what you realize.However, I know of some worship leaders who do not feel this closeness. In fact, they feel closer to God when they worship outside of their own churches. How can this be? Has the meaning of worship been confused or lost; or maybe, does it need to go deeper as the soul cries out to draw nearer to God?
“My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” – Psalm 42.2
Today begins a brand new theme to our week #DrawNear. We will look at what it means from a biblical and worship standpoint to draw near to God, as we also help others to draw near to Him.
As a worship leader, musician and singer, we have the quest of helping people draw near every week to God. Peronally, who or what is drawing you into worship, and when you get there, what is your response?
What does drawing near to God mean to you? What does drawing near to God mean for His Church?
How can you go deeper and meet with God, to bow at His feet, to gaze upon His beauty and to receive his overflow of mercy?
Worship is an action that speaks more than words.
Worship is more than a song.
There is a greater story being sung. It’s the sound of the broken and redeemed. We hear this melody in our churches and around the world.It’s a familiar song of mercy, in which one person, uses no words at all, but only her tears. You would think that after the healing of a father’s child, raising a widow’s dead son, revealing to that the Prophecies have come true, all the people would be at the feet of Jesus.
There was only one, who unannounced, surpassed everyone’s expectations. In six steps, there was a woman who clearly demonstrated what it meant to worship and draw near without saying one word.
“Go and meet with God.” @BranonDempsey
Six Steps to Worship.
In chapter 7, versus 36-50, Luke identifies her as a “sinner.” She was never invited to the party, but she came anyway. Out of everyone else who traveled miles, it only took her six steps to draw near to Jesus. 1. She boldly approached the Throne: The woman dashed through the courts, entered the room before His presence and kneeled behind Him.
We could only imagine what she must have been thinking. Either reckless in her behavior to crash a party, or reckless in her attempt to be acknowledged by the Messiah, one thing was clear, she wanted to draw near to Jesus. Even if it was by the posture of kneeling behind Him, that’s all that seem to matter.
2. She confessed through her tears: She wept. Without words, but from her heart, the woman acknowledged that He was greater. Through streams of mercy, she poured out her pain and was openly venerable before God. The woman was not afraid to show her emotion.
Where did we ever get the idea that you had to hide your feelings from God, or be afraid of expressing them in the church? Maybe certain influences or authority figures forbade us from revealing our emotions, but you never see these instructions in the Bible.
What we do see is the action of how God uses our emotions to confess with our hearts, mouths and being that He is Lord.
3. Unashamed, she humbled herself. She was not afraid of who was in the room, or who was watching. What she chose was far more important, she washed His feet with her tears. There’s no indication of the amount this woman cried, but each tear was immeasurable. We do not know her emotional circumstance if it was despair, regret, fear, desperation, as well as if it was joy, release and wonder.
All we know is that her actions spoke louder than her tears. Just think of it, a woman of very low social status, was literally crying on the feet of Almighty God who made the heavens and the earth. Her tears alone, were both an offering and a confession.
4. She gave it all. She dried His feet with her hair. She took something that most people would consider something to be adorned. Instead of braiding, or nicely arranging her hair, she used it like a towel to mop his feet. There was no holding back. She could have brought some sort of a cloth or fabric, but what we could assume is that she was saying to Jesus was: have it all. Not even my own hair is of any value to me. No tear is too below You, for you do not overlook or waste the tears of your children.
5. The Lord Jesus was her only focus. According to the passage, she did not look around, take notice of anyone else, nor was afraid. Without end, she kissed His feet.
By remaining in a low position, she did bother to stand, her focus was one Someone greater. You did not hear her say: “Well, I’m done now Jesus, I did my Sunday worship part.” No. The woman abandoned herself to Jesus alone – at His feet.
Even the Messiah even pointed out a starling truth to the host in saying in verse 45: “You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet.”
6. She led the room in worship. By her heart posture, brokenness, and transparency, she turned the dinner party into a worship service. She authentically demonstrated what worship is and what it’s not. She drew near to God by being who she was. Without a care in the world, she modeled what it means to worship, because it was an outflow of from her life. It wasn’t worked up, there was no pep rally – just quiet, sincere focus.
She met with God. She anointed His feet with expensive perfume: this woman gave the very best she had and it was not wasted. It wasn’t the perfume, it was her identity. She did not care who she was before the Lord’s eyes. Her only care was to show Jesus love. The fascinating part was that her past/present identity did not hinder her from drawing near to God. It only drove her faster to the feet of Jesus.
If we were to stop spending so much time caring about what others think, or how we think about ourselves, we would be so caught up in Jesus that time would be irrelevant. All this in saying, it doesn’t mean we need to approach God as this woman did, or do we?
Whether in your heart, spirit mind or body, God wants all of you. Are you giving all that He desires as this woman? Importantly, how are you being led in worship, to the feet of Jesus? [tweetthis]The act of washing Jesus’ feet with her tears, told us everything about worship. [/tweetthis]
Draw Near
Look at the lyrics of our theme song or the week: “Draw Near” by Jason Ingram and Kristian Stanfill Here I quiet my soul You are all that I seek Still within me the worries of life Here my heart is at peace Chorus 1 I draw near I draw near to You (O) Jesus I do You draw near You draw near to me (oh) Verse 2 Here I lay my life down Cast my cares at Your feet Jesus here in this moment with You I have all that I need Misc 1 (Bridge) Jesus You alone are my hiding place My all in all my ev’rything (REPEAT)
A beautiful response to worship.
The woman described above in Luke 7, was a broken soul, an untouchable; and was dubbed as an outcast. The Bible never gives her name, but her response to Jesus was one of the most beautiful responses of worship in the New Testament. Jesus’s act alone in dying on the cross is the most beautiful act of worship – so what is our response? Worship is more about what’s going on in your heart before God. It’s not confined to your worship space. It’s a heart posture. Some cannot worship where they are because something else or someone else is blocking them.The woman in this story serves as a reminder to know what it means to receive the invitation to worship Him. To go and meet with God by the heart, not by the place. Allow Him to lead you into worship. May all that you seek, is the presence of God being at His feet, unashamed in every moment, never missing the sincerity of focus to worship Him. Why? Because He draws us and receives us – just as we are. Go and meet with God.
WATCH SHOW #65!
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