Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take a moment to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Use these words from Psalm 18:2 as a breath prayer to turn your hearts to God in worship. As you meditate on the first line of the verse, take a deep breath in. As you meditate on the second line of the verse, breathe out slowly. Do this a few times and let the invitation in these words resonate with you.
“My God, my strength,
in whom I will trust.”
—Psalm 18:2 (NKJV)
Encounter With God
In this first movement, we simply seek to see God for who He is: the One worthy of worship.
”God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.”
—Psalm 46:1-3 (NIV)
The Psalms are a wonderful book to go to when the storms of life seem overwhelming. They serve as a testimony of God’s faithfulness even when the world around us seems to crumble. The truth of God’s steadfastness sits at the center of these prayers, poems, and songs that have lasted centuries.
As we approach God in worship, let’s acknowledge that we sometimes enter a time of praise and devotion feeling heavy and overwhelmed. Don’t fall for the lie that such feelings disqualify us from worship. Quite the opposite—these are the times when we need most of all the reminder of God’s power and faithfulness.
This is why a “vertical” moment at the start of worship is so important. It re-orients us. It gives us space to focus on the attributes of God that transcend every circumstance. Before we bring to him our troubles, we remind ourselves just who it is we’re coming to in the first place.
SONG OF ENCOUNTER: O God Our Help in Ages Past (lyrics here)
Confession
In this second movement, we simply see ourselves for who we are: people who need God.
“For thus says the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble
and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
—Isaiah 57:15 (NRSV)
This verse from Isaiah captures perfectly the flow of worship we seek to embody here. We begin with a recognition that God is the “high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.” Again, that orients us.
But the movement is this verse is striking: the one who is in the “high and holy place” is also alongside us in our humility and contrition. He comes to us in our brokenness, not to shame, but to revive our spirit. He wants to revive our hearts. Whatever the storms in our life have been—whether they of our own doing, or have come from somewhere else—he is present and ready to heal.
What a glorious truth.
SONG OF CONFESSION: I Need Thee Every Hour (lyrics here)
Assurance
In this third movement, we receive the good news of the gospel: we are forgiven.
“The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.”
—Psalm 103:13-14 (NLT)
We live in a world where the tenderness and compassion of our earthly fathers is not a given. How wonderful to know that our heavenly Father is able to transcend our human failure and become for us the perfect father we have always needed.
And like a perfect father, he does not turn us away when we come in broken honesty before him. As Jesus reminds us in the story of the wayward son, the father runs to us to welcome us home.
If you’ve never taken time to simply sit with that beautiful image, do it now. Take a few moments in silence to reflect upon the restoring love God who comes to us as we confess to him our need, who knows how weak we are because he took on flesh and blood as one of us. After all, when the winds and rain of life seem too much, is there any place to find ourselves that can be better than the loving arms of our heavenly Father?
Know his compassion. Sit in the knowledge of his tenderness towards you.
SONG OF ASSURANCE: The Father’s Song (lyrics here)
Commission
In this final movement, we are encouraged and equipped for the work God would have us do.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
—2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)
One of the most powerful illustrations I’ve ever heard came from the mouth of a TV character named Leo McGarry:
“This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out.
A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, ‘Hey you. Can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, ‘Father, I'm down in this hole can you help me out?’ The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on
Then a friend walks by. ‘Hey, Joe, it's me can you help me out?’
And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, ‘Are you stupid? Now we're both down here.’ The friend says, ‘Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out.’
One of the greatest gifts we can give another human being is the knowledge that they are not alone. There is no powerful thing to say to someone in distress than, “I’ve been where you are.” As we reflect on all the ways God meets us in our struggles and storms, let’s spend our final moments of worship in prayer, offering to him our own lives to him in service. How might God use your own experience of brokenness and healing to help someone else?
To offer that is also worship. Spend some time in silence thinking through your life, offering gratitude for those who have been alongside you and offering yourself to one day be alongside someone else in that same way.
Benediction
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
—Jude 24-25 (NIV)