The following is a guest post from one of the members of my church, Melina. In a recent conversation with her she clued me in on what happens around her house on Sunday morning...she dances, she sings, she worships. It is all how she prepares for the worship at her church.
Here on this site I have posted a number of articles in a series titled "Preparing for Worship." The idea behind the series is to give my readers and especially those at my church reminders about their responsibility to prepare for corporate worship before they arrive.
Melina gets it...she understands corporate worship is group celebration of the attributes and actions of our Almighty God. She also understands true worship comes out of a heart that is already in-tune with God because of an on-going conversation with Him.
Read below to see how Melina prepares, maybe get some ideas to change your Sunday morning routine. Also I would love for you to leave comments below on how your prepare for Sunday or weekend worship at your church.
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...from Melina
Sunday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week....I am not just talking about the time I spend in 'church' but also the time I spend preparing to go to church and preparing for corporate worship. I usually wake up with a sense of excitement and anticipation for gathering with friends who share my beliefs. I love the fact that all week I have spent time with the Father and He continually fills my cup, my heart with His presence and then gives me the privilege to come together with other brothers and sisters to lift His name higher and higher and higher.
After my sophomore year of college I made a decision that I was going to live completely sold out to the Lord, allowing Him to be the filter through which I lived life. My decision to concentrate on being His took me to a place of new hunger for Him and His Word! When I began to spend time each day with God, He opened my heart to how great He is and how He loves me and all of us!! My daily encounters with God gave me a desire to prepare my heart for worship.
Before totally surrendering to God I always took time to prepare for events, tests and even fellowship but gave little thought about preparing for worship. I went not really expecting much. But when I truly got to know Him that begin to change. I acknowledged that I needed to be a ready participant in worship and not just someone that showed up. So, I began to be intentional about preparing for worship, carving out time on Sunday morning to do so.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to it. I start my Sunday mornings by running to Him in personal worship as a warm-up for corporate worship.
So as demonstrated by David my new attitude on Sunday morning is "to become even more undignified than this" My routine Sunday morning includes singing, dancing and making a joyful noise unto the Lord....all before I even leave my house.
I am so thankful that my personal time with the Lord has gotten to the place where I can’t help but praise Him. So in my best effort to prepare my heart for worship I have decided to join David as He danced.
How do you prepare for worship?