Just last week I finished a new book, Taken at Birth: Stolen Babies, Hidden Lies, and my Journey to Finding Home by Jane Blasio. Let me tell you how in shock this book made me feel. I was in shock for the hundreds of children who were sold on the black market and shocked for the parents who were either forced into this situation or told their child had passed. For one person’s greed to affect so many others’ lives, it was an emotional roller coaster to read. But I couldn’t help but notice the author’s spirit of praise and worship throughout the book.
For Jane her faith did not begin in a church, but in her home on Sundays singing to Elvis Presley’s hymn album while cleaning alongside her mom and sister. This struck me.
What do you believe is worship?
For some it is being in a church building with their arms raised high in surrender. For others it may be singing loudly in their car or serving others at a soup kitchen. The beauty of worship is there is no wrong way. You can sing, dance, serve, raise your hands, or silently cry out. But none of this can be done without our heart surrendering to God.
Without surrendering ourselves, whatever action you do to worship is meaningless.
The word worship means to give something worth. If you think about it, right now you could probably come up with a list of at least 10 things you give great worth to: spouse, job, home, car, boat, money, status, kids, friends, education. The harder part is to now analyze each one and decide: do you give God or the items on the list more worth? Then consider are you allowing God to permeate every part of your life as discussed last week in Rise?
In John 4 we find Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. I love the Message translation of this text on worship:
19-20 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”
21-23 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
23-24 “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
There is no “right” place to worship or a “right” way to worship. Isn’t that a relief? Aren’t you thankful for the beginnings of an Elvis Presley Sunday worship, paving the way for more connection with Him?
I look at the author of Taken at Birth and think to myself, how can she have experienced this and still praise God? Then a moment later I remembered someone else had asked me the same question only a few years ago. I don’t know what Jane’s answer is, but I think of Brandon Lake’s song Too Good To Not Believe.
An excerpt from HOPE (Amidst the Stories I Told Myself)
March 17th was unlike most mornings for me. With a jolt I woke up in a jolt and felt an urgency to get to Alex. I rushed around my room at the Ronald McDonald HouseRMDH and arrived at the hospital in record time. But he was fine, just a typical day.
My gut was right, it wasn’t. I had the song, “Better Is One Day” playing repeatedly in my head. As I began to journal for the day to Alex, I wrote the words to the Matt Redman song.
How lovely is Your dwelling place
O Lord Almighty
My soul longs and even faints for You
For here my heart is satisfied
Within Your presence
I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings
Better is one day in Your courts
Better is one day in Your house
Better is one day in Your courts
Than thousands elsewhere
I just kept thinking, better is one day to be in the Lord’s presence. How can I ask my son to lie here suffering out of my own selfishness to have another day with him? In the middle of my journaling, the other cardiothoracic surgeon for the unit came into Alex’s room. Although he introduced himself to me, I already knew him, as he was the surgeon for many of my friends’ children. He then discussed Alex’s condition with me as well as his prognosis he felt for him. He was very kind and very to the point. He began telling me what I had felt all along. It was time. We had reached the point where fighting wasn’t an option.
No man can determine our spirit. But God sees it all. In the moment of writing this song in my journal I was in the act of worship. Although I was not outwardly singing, my soul was praising Him. The surgeon’s news that “it was time” came at the right moment, a moment of surrender.
On page 210 in Jane’s book she says, “So I stand and raise my hands in thankfulness and reverence to the One who knew me all along.”
I am thankful for the One who has known me all along and I will use worship as a tool to put God first in my life.
Are you willing?
Over the next few weeks we will continue to discuss how to allow God to permeate each part of our lives. This is part two of the Rise series. Go here to see part one.
To be a part of the Taken at Birth: Stolen Babies, Hidden Lies, and my Journey to Finding Home by Jane Blasio book giveaway head over to Facebook or Instagram to enter the giveaway.
