Living Life by Design

Over the last few weeks I’ve seen several social media posts asking if we should worship and praise God because he first loved us or because we really do love God. I thought the question was quite interesting. 

What im going to share is deeply personal. something I’ve not shared before.

When I first became a Christian, I would praise God because it was the thing to do. I knew that God loved me and that he had saved me but to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really know God yet. The more time I spent in His Word, the more time I spent in prayer, the more I got to know God and the more I began to crave his presence in my life.

One evening after spending time in the book of Revelation, I marveled at what the throne room of God was really like. I began to worship from my heart. I felt a deep love and longing to know God in a deeper way. I was still a young Christian and my worship was very sincere. I honestly believe I touched Gods heart. What happened next changed my life.

God brought me into his throne room. I immediately fell prostate. I had to close my eyes because my brain couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. The sheer volume of sound was completely defining. It was unrecognizable so my ears simply stopped working. I could feel an overwhelming heaviness like the sound of billions of voices. My mouth was wide open (a combination of joy, terror and awe), my hands were raised and I wasn’t able to breathe. I sobbed without making a sound or taking a breath. The tears were the only response I could muster being in the presence of pure love.

When God released me back to my living room I felt that I had just completed a marathon. What felt like moments in Gods presence was actually hours. I had started my journey in the early evening between 9:00 PM & 10:00 PM. When I looked at my watch it was 2:00 AM. In Gods throne room time was meaningless.

That experience certainly changed everything I thought I knew about worship. Worship now is not a ritual. It’s not something I do at a proscribed time or place. It’s not something I do when the mood strikes me. I worship because I’m humbled by his overwhelming love for me. I feel a special bond and closeness to God when I worship. I truly, wholeheartedly love God.

I know I’ve been long winded…lol. No scripture references either. 

Gods love is transformative. Once you’ve experienced his presence, you’ll never be the same. You’ll see things differently. You’ll experience things differently. You’ll be in awe. You’ll fall in love…