Worship
“His Name is Wonderful” by Chris Tomlin
Scripture
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people” -Luke 1:68 (ESV)
“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior'” -Luke 1:46-47 (ESV)
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'” -Luke 2:13-14 (ESV)
“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” -Luke 2:20 (ESV)
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” -Psalm 51:15 (ESV)
The Biblical Response to Christ’s Coming
He is so worthy of our praise and adoration! Will you declare with me this Christmas, “Praise be to the Lord!”?
It’s been a month of preparation for our hearts to receive our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and King of Kings. We come in just a few days to the birth of the Savior of the world—a historical moment of awe and wonder and worship. Everyone who encountered the Son of God that Christmas day, worshipped—it was what welled up in them. This was the deepest expression of emotion and response that they could give. Worship was due to this King of Kings, and oh, that our hearts would be provoked this week to worship and adore and love Him because He is most worthy of it!
The burdens, complexities, griefs, and joys we carry today are worthy to be placed at His precious feet. The wise men brought gifts, and we can bring offerings from the inner sanctum of our hearts to our precious King. Our dreams, desires, longings, and hopes can be brought this Christmas to our Jesus. He is worthy of it all, and He receives it all gladly. He will take despair and exchange it for joy. He will take grief and exchange it with hope. The contents of our hearts can be poured out simply because He is worthy this Christmas to be entrusted with what is sacred to us. It is known and loved by Him because you are so intimately known and so deeply loved by Him. This truth is more wonderful than we can even fathom with our human understandings.
The Call to Intentional Worship
We don’t want to just get through Christmas this year and miss a moment to praise the One our hearts adore. If shepherds left their fields, Mary and Joseph left their comforts, and wise men left their countries to go encounter the Son of God, what can you leave for a moment to go and worship? What can you place in your hands that you have been holding on to with a death grip and deem Him worthy enough to receive from you in total surrender? What can you lay beside that manger this Christmas as your gift to Jesus?
We are preparing our hearts to encounter our Immanuel this Christmas, God with us. From that encounter comes a message of hope and peace that we take with us to a desperate world. We cannot take to others what we ourselves have not personally experienced nor embraced! And in just a little over a week, we enter into 2023—a year in which we could grow ever closer to Jesus or fall away from Him one trial at a time. The world is intensifying its pursuit of Christ followers. The enemy wants you silenced and destroyed. He has studied you and knows exactly what to throw at you this next year to cause you to stray from Jesus—unless you enter into this inner sanctuary with your coming King with your whole heart and take this week to prepare. Prepare to be consecrated afresh from this place of worship and adoration. The line in the sand has been drawn, and I believe we are going to have to choose with even greater surrender and conviction that this King is worthy of our whole lives—in life and in death.
While you have breath, praise Him. While you have life today, praise Him. While you have the freedom to gather in public and worship, praise Him. While you have strength in your legs and words on your lips, go and praise Him. Go and tell it on the mountains who this Jesus is! May this Christmas season catapult you and me into a year of radical consecration, devotion, and worship. May praise be the anthem of 2023 for all of us, by His sustaining grace, outstretched arms, and wooing voice.
Receive Your Gift
You have freedom to go to Him with the confidence that He is with you, and He is for you. So, bring the gifts of your burdens and your joys and lay them before Him this Christmas. Then, receive in exchange a fresh revelation of your Light of the World, your King of Kings, your Messiah, who came to save you. He goes before you as you leave the nativity place and head out with a new song of praise on your lips. This gift of praise, enabled by the Spirit who lives in you, shifts everything in the life of the Christ follower. You don’t want the rocks to cry out this Christmas in the absence of your praise. Open your mouth, and He will fill it!
So, come! Open your hands today for the great exchange. See what you have in your hands from the storehouse of your heart, and hand them to Him. He will place something back in your hands—a treasure of greatest price. He is the best gift giver and lover of your soul. He delights in giving His sons and daughters good gifts. Wait before Him in love and adoration as He shares with you what He is giving you this Christmas.
Jesus, we praise You, for You are worthy of everything our lips can utter and our spirits can articulate. Deep unto deep, we praise You. We come this Christmas in an attitude of praise. Open our mouths and fill them with praise. Let us speak boldly to one another of Your worth as we come to Christmas. Prepare our hearts to praise this week and to lead others into a place of adoration and encounter.
Christmas Around the World
This is the week of Hanukkah in Israel. Pray for the Jewish people to awaken to the Light of the World they are still waiting for. Pray for eyes to open to Jesus their Messiah:
- Pray for Israel to turn to the Lord so the veil may be taken away (2 Corinthians 3:12-16) and for their spiritual blindness to be removed.
- Pray based on the Lord’s promise that all Israel will be saved. “… as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this My covenant with them, When I take away their sins (Romans 11:26-27, NKJV).’”
- Proclaim also God’s promise that He will cleanse them and give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; He will take the heart of stone out of your their flesh and give them a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).
Give a Gift This Christmas
The Arise Women’s Movement through East-West is seeking to raise $50,000 this Christmas in order to launch five new cities in 2023. We are just $10,000 away from reaching our goal. Would you prayerfully sow a seed into this movement of mobilizing and equipping women to be a powerful force for the Kingdom of God as they take the gospel to the 3 billion who have yet to hear the name of Jesus?
Are you asking the Lord for the word He is speaking over 2023 for you personally? Join us as we gather here in Dallas with Me Ra Koh to listen to the Lord together for what He is speaking over this next year. Here is the link for more information and to sign up.
