The journey to intimacy

Leading people to worship is like taking them on a journey.

If you’ve ever climbed a hill or even a mountain, you’ll know it often starts quite gently We can compare the top of the hill to the holy of holies or the place the Lord dwells. The Bible says if we come toward God, he will come toward us and meet with us. So, there needs to be a desire in our hearts to go meet with Jesus.

People arrive to worship from many different places- often with their hearts in many different states. Some are already up the mountain, as they’ve made the journey themselves many times during the week. Some are reluctant to even make the journey. Our job is to help them from where they are, right to the top and into the presence of God.

The journey is dependent on many things: the mood of the worshippers, the level of expectation to meet with God and the environment created by the worship leader.

We can’t expect people to get to that place without taking that journey. So for the benefit of the entire group, we’ll often start at the foot of the hill, calling people to worship. Thankfully the more experienced worshippers are often more than willing to make that journey and help the less experienced people in the group.

• Starting out

This usually comes in the form of an invitation to worship – a call to worship, or a lets go for it kind of thing. As we do this we find ourselves making a dynamic connection between ourselves and God. There is a magnified sense of God amongst his people when the church gathers together.

• Moving on up – towards engagement in worship

As we begin to sing praise and adoration to God His presence begins to stir in our hearts and minds. We begin to meditate on what God means to us personally – to think about what he has done for us and the amazing power of his love.
Going back to the mountain picture, you’ll find some people are still with you, some are lagging behind a bit, and some will have raced ahead of you eager to get to that place of intimacy.

• Finding intimacy

As we express our heart to the Lord, he responds by drawing near, coming down the mountain to meet us and walking with us the rest of the way.

The word worship means ‘to come toward and kiss’.

As we spend time in the Lord’s presence, and express our love songs to him, he responds to us and we encounter true intimacy. But as a result of this other things start to happen.

Firstly, we are more aware of our inadequacy compared with the perfection of Jesus. Secondly, we cannot fail to be changed to be more like Jesus the more we spend time in his presence.

Isaiah tells of his experience in the presence of the Lord

Isaiah 6
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory."
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Like Isaiah, when we meet with God in intimacy, it’s like he gets a mirror out and shows it to us. Isaiah cried ‘woe to me, I am ruined’ as he dwelt in the holiness of the Lord. When come into the Lord’s presence, are own sin and inadequacies are revealed before us and it can be an uncomfortable place. But God, by his mercy, comes and cleanses us from our sin when we let him, as Isaiah did.

Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ‘With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.’

Intimacy with God is a dangerous place to be if we don’t want to be changed. When we open our hearts to him, we can’t help but be changed into his likeness. Quite often we see a change in ourselves after a time of worship when we’ve opened ourselves to the Lord. This is why we do it. It helps in our mission to become more like him, and one of the reasons why worship is our first priority.

• Our response – A life of worship
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
The more we worship God, the more our lives become a response to Him - a life given over to Him in service and gratitude. As we allow God into every area of our lives, allowing him to change us, our lives begin to reflect Jesus and his generosity to others.
For I have come to serve and not to be served
A life of worship, induces a life of servant hood