The Heart of Worship

Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said,
“To your descendants I will give this land.”
And there he built an altar to the LORD,
who had appeared to him.
And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel,
and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east;
there he built an altar to the LORD
and called on the name of the LORD.

- Genesis 12:7-9

Today is the first day of March!

I find it hard to believe that 2010 is already in its third month! Wasn't it just two months ago that we celebrated the start of this new year?

This is my birthday month, so there will always be a special place in my heart for March.

And as I write the very first post for this month, I want to share my thoughts on something that is close to my heart.

Worship.

I went to bed last night thinking about what it means to have a heart of worship. Several times during the night I was awakened by these very words: the heart of worship.

There was a special message being downloaded into my spirit. The image of Abraham building an altar kept appearing before my eyes.

My mind was going back and forth to the lines of Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11 tops the list of my favorite Bible passages. It begins with this famous line:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

This chapter is often called the Hall of Faith where the stories of the lives of men and women of faith are written, displayed like life-sized photographs to serve as examples and encouragement for us who want to follow in their steps.

Abel...Enoch...Noah...Abraham, to name a few.

One of the things I love about the Bible is that it never presents its heroes in epic proportions, people who never had to deal with doubt or discouragement or wrong choices.

In fact, these so-called heroes do not even start out as heroes. They are ordinary men and women just like us who had struggles and shortcomings. They end up as our models of faith, but only after we have been made aware that they're also made of the same stuff as we are.


We see Abraham's footprints, and we can identify with his fear, his doubts, his discouragement, his attempts to bring about God's promise on his own resulting in an Ishmael, and his attempts to cover up his tracks.

Yet, today we are recipients of the blessings brought about by this man's obedient responses. Abraham has become the prototype, the paragon, the model of faith, extolled as the man with the altar and the tent. It would do us well to learn from him!

Abraham built four altars:

• At Shechem - Gen 12:7
• At Bethel - Gen 12:8
• At Mamre - Gen 13:18
• At Moriah - Gen 22:9

As we read the account of Abraham in the Bible, we will see that in almost every place where he pitched his tent, he also built an altar.

And I have often asked myself which came first - his faith, his obedience, his altar, or his tent.

Somehow, these four are intertwined:

• Abraham believed that the God who gave the promise was trustworthy, therefore his faith was anchored and rooted in God...
• because of his faith, he obeyed, and his faith grew because of his obedience...
• because of his obedience, he was willing to leave his family and country behind, and to live in tents...
• and his willingness to live in tents set him free, and shaped him into becoming an "altar builder," a worshiper.
  

It does seem that certain things need to happen in our hearts before we can become a true worshiper of God.

And some things do stand out in this amazing faith story.

One is that the call upon Abraham was a call to separation. He had to make some hard choices to be separate from those whose faith was weak or were content with a superficial relationship with God.

It is also clear that the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham was closely related to his life of worship. The waiting period was ordained by God to rid his heart of blockages, equipping him for his crucial role as the father of many nations, enabling him to leave behind a legacy for his future generations.

Abraham's life of faith, obedience, simplicity and worship showed that he took the call and the promises of God seriously!



By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8

Sometime in 1995 God impressed this passage to me, confronted me with it over and over again. I reached the point where I knew I was being asked, being called to go out of the comfortable and the familiar... because He had something better in store for me, my inheritance.

There would be no road maps given for the journey ahead, just a handful mustard seeds of faith, and a heart that was willing to say, "Yes, Lord."

Five years prior to that call, I had entered into my decade of pruning, the start of a season when my husband and I lost almost everything we thought mattered to us. There wasn't really much left for me to hold on to.

I must be honest and say at this point that even relationships we held dear were nowhere to be found. All I had left were my husband, my family, my God...and the school ministry of our church that I headed.

Let it go, God seemed to be saying, referring to my position at the school.

Without knowing what was ahead, I said yes.


The story of Abraham has made such a difference in my life. It was in the obedient, yet painful steps required of me that I discovered the joys of living in a tent and building an altar to my God... And with Abraham as my model, I seriously considered the call to separation, believing that a life of worship was the only fitting response to my God whose promises were completely trustworthy!


It has been said that the names we carry often reflect our identity, and our destiny. My name Lidia literally means "Beautiful Light," but it has an important spiritual connotation that I love. My name also means "Worshiper of God."

I used to say that my name has my job description built into it...but today, I have an even better way of putting it. I no longer look at my name as my job description, but as my calling and my assignment.

To be a worshiper is a lifelong pursuit; there are no overnight changes. It is a moment by moment choice of drawing near the heart of the Father; in everything, to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

The truth is that as children of God, redeemed by the blood of His Son, we are all called to be worshipers of our heavenly Father, the King.

Jesus says in John 4:23-24

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

There is a war that is raging, and we are not to be on the sidelines, but at the battlefront.

With the recent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, famines, droughts, blizzards...wars and rumors of wars... there is no mistaking the fact that we are living in the end times. Matthew 24 says that these are just the beginning of the birth pangs. Like a woman about to give birth, the birth pains, the contractions, will become more intense, more severe while the intervals between them will become shorter...and then the end will come.


A lifestyle of worship is what each one of us is being called to. God knows, it is the only thing that will help us to endure and overcome until the end, and enable us to stand strong in the heat of the battle.

Because deception and lawlessness will abound in these last days, worship will rid our hearts of distractions, give us a clearer perspective, divert our focus off our selves and fix our eyes on God alone, fill us with sensitivity and compassion, and shield our hearts from offense.

I truly believe that such a lifestyle will be our protection from the dark schemes and evil strategies of the enemy in the end times.



Watchman Nee has such a beautiful term for this kind of life. He calls it "the life of the altar and the tent."

The life of a Christian is the life of the altar and the tent...

An altar calls for a tent, and a tent in turn demands an altar.

It is impossible to have an altar without a tent, and likewise to have a tent without a return to the altar.

Watchman Nee, The Life of the Altar and the Tent

The altar is the place where we worship, where we draw near to God in communion, where we offer our prayers and intercessions. It is our Tent of Meeting, where we go in to meet with God, to pour our hearts out to Him, to listen to Him speak words of life and hear Him tell us the directions that we need for the journey, one step at a time.

It is in this place that we are transformed, where our priorities are weighed, and where our motives are exposed for what they are. It is a place of sifting, and renewal.


The tent goes hand in hand with the altar. It stands for the life of simplicity that we have chosen to embrace. Like Abraham we are asked to make a choice - to leave behind our comfort zones. To live a life that is not centered on self, but on God... that we may not be encumbered by the things and the cares of this world, and learn what it means to live our lives as an altar builder, a worshiper of the One True God.

The altar doesn't have to be a literal physical place, but it helps to have a tangible place to go to - like a special room, or a special spot in our home.

"Living in a tent" helps us to let go of our encumbrances, to value what truly matters, enables us to travel light, to have a lifestyle of simplicity...not weighed down by things and worldly comfort.


But what is it that will motivate us to live a life of worship like Abraham?

Watchman Nee says that:

A turning point in our spiritual history does not come through our decision to do something for God; it comes when we see Him.

When we meet God, a radical change takes place in the life. We can no longer do what we did in the past..

If God appears to any man, the whole course of his life is altered.

Oh, it is not my decision to serve the Lord that enables me to serve Him.

It is not my will to build an altar that produces an altar.

It is when God comes out to a man that an altar is built.

This explains why a person can go to church Sunday after Sunday but never become a true worshiper. Never become hungry or thirsty for God.

And it explains why people can call themselves Christian and yet never have a deep longing for the things that are on God's heart.


It is when God comes out to a man that an altar is built.

It is when we get a revelation of the glory of God that we are forever changed.


These past weeks, God has been impressing upon me, reminding me, that He is not after what I do.

He is after my heart.

He wants me to live up to my holy calling. To be a worshiper, an altar builder.

He wants the same of each one of us.


Father, unveil my eyes, show me Your glory...

Help me to press on, to live a life in pursuit of You!

Unveil my heart, the dark areas there that keep me from beholding You!


Related post: All I Want Is You


I dedicate this post to these five blog friends:

Matt and Amy of Perspective from the Summit and Blessed Descent
Kat of Heart to Heart
Teresa of Too Many Heartbeats
Jennifer of More Than Just Adam's Rib

By dedicating it to you, it means that as I was writing this post, you were on my heart. I pray that as God allows you to go through times of sifting, the eyes of your hearts will be opened to behold His glory, and lead you on deeper to a lifestyle of worship that you have never had before!