Excellent Worship, Radical Obedience

God-Centered Worship


"But you have come to Mount Zion
and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
to an enumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn
who are registered in heaven,
to God the Judge of all,
to the spirits of just men made perfect,
to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaks better things than that of Abel."

Hebrews 12:22-24

The passage above is one of my all time favorites. It speaks of things so exceedingly glorious, something beyond my human imagination, and yet each time I read these verses I can sense that my spirit comprehends!

And today, with just four days remaining before my 56th birthday, I woke up way before dawn, and realized that God was once again calling me to renew my commitment to intimacy, seeking Him, coming to Him with my heart wide open to receive the throne room secrets that He has reserved for those who search for Him with all their hearts.

These past weeks, it's been easy to be distracted, and to listen to the false voices of the urgent.

"Do this first before going to your prayer room... then do this, oh, and don't forget to do this as well... oh, look, this one needs your attention, too... and oh, there's that other thing over there, well, okay, I guess there's still some time for that... and so on, and so forth... "



After Ernie's passing away, there were even more matters to attend to, a lot of unfinished business, the home repairs, the old clutter, and now, added to all that are his personal things, his books, his files, boxes and boxes of important documents that we removed from his office...

Even before we left for Thailand we had begun sorting through our closets. It was going to be our downsizing and de-accumulating season, in preparation for our eventual home-going... and then God called us to Thailand... and when we came back a year later, within just six weeks, Ernie did go home, leaving me alone to do everything that we had planned to do together.

Honestly, I have accepted all these things with a sense of joy. But they have been crying out for my attention these past months, not to mention the going from government office to government office to pick up legal documents pertaining to his death and other things...

I had already decided that I wasn't going to be pressured in any way, and in fact, I wasn't. But daily, my desire has been to clear up more and more space, to restore the sense of neatness, order, and beauty that my family and I have been used to.


But today, I bit the bullet. "Enough is enough. No more lies, " I told the enemy of my soul.

Getting up very early, I went back to commanding my morning, something I used to do in months past, but somehow, the practice got lost along the way.

In Job 38:12-13, God speaks these lines to Job:

"Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?"

A few years ago, I realized that there is a reason that I am awakened in the middle of the night. I began studying the different watches, I began to understand that there is a dynamic to the four prayer watches of the night, and that we are called to re-claim the night from enemy hands. Now is the time for the maturing of the "watchman anointing," and committed prayer warriors and intercessors are taking their positions and rising up to their divine calling.

Part of this is declaring, during the fourth watch, also called the dawn or morning watch (3-6 a.m.), that the destiny God has prepared for me for this day will not fall into the hands of the enemy.

There is a compilation of faith declarations taken from a book written by Dr. Cindy Trimm, found in various sites on the web. I share portions of it below:

I stand to command my morning and declare it is a new day.

I take authority over my day in the name of Jesus. Every element of my day shall cooperate with purpose and destiny.

Today is the dawning of a new day. My season of frustration and failures is over, and I walk in a season of success and prosperity. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.

Today I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Anything or anyone assigned to undermine, frustrate, hinder, or hurt me, I command to be moved out of my sphere of influence in Jesus' name.

I command my day to fully cooperate with Your plan and purpose for it.

I decree and declare that a new day is dawning for my ministry and job (or business), for my finances, for my relationships, and for my health.

I download success, prosperity, health, wealth, vision, direction, ingenuity, creativity, spirituality, holiness, righteousness, peace, and resourcefulness from Your Spirit into my day.

By this anointing, every yoke is broken off my life and is destroyed; every burden is lifted. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Taken from Strategies of Power

As the morning songbird warbled its lovely melody just outside my bedroom window, it was to me a precursor to the dawn of a new day, indeed a new day, a new season, for me.

And I was reminded of a song I wrote in January 2005.

I read it, and the lines I had penned four years ago, struck my heart anew with a resolve to NEVER let anything, anyone, steal my worship.

Excellent Worship
(written by Lidj on January 18, 2005)

Many times I've had my way
In the things I do and say
In the choices that I make each day

Though they don't seem wrong
Yet my days just fly away
Lord, forgive me, as again I say:

"I didn't really mean to make
Wrong and empty choices
Didn't really want to speak
Hollow, shallow words..."

'Cause I hear my King
Gently callin' me
Yes deep within my heart
I hear His gentle voice:

"Come up higher, nearer to My throne
You've been set apart for greater things
Your heart hungers, yes your heart cries out
For radical obedience to Me."

"Come up higher, nearer to My heart
You've been set apart for things untold
Your heart longs, for secrets to unfold
Through a life that's intimate with Me."

And I know it's true
Yes, my heart longs for
Radical obedience and deep intimacy

I just want to please You
How I long to honor You
Am so tired of livin' only for myself

So I come before You now
And lay before Your throne
Excellent worship flowing from my heart

Here's a life of excellent worship
Flowin' from my heart for You.

This post was re-published on June 10, 2009 for Donna's Blog: Wednesday Poetry Corner.