Welcome to Tune-In Tuesday 2012! If this is your first time visiting on a Tuesday, I hope you will find this as a place to worship together. Each week, I share about a song that God is using in my life. One that is speaking to me in whatever season I may be going through. The invitation is for you to jump in and do it, too! This year my goal is nothing more than “toward Him.” You heard a little about this last week, and you will continue to hear more about it. Basically, my prayer is that we will all seek Him like we never have before. So… for Tuesdays, pick a song that leads you to Him.
Here are the steps:
- Pick a worship song, share it, and write about it… one that points your heart straight to Jesus.
- Link up here using the linky tool at the bottom of this post. Use the name of your song as the title of your link. (If you haven’t done this before, feel free to email me with questions.) If you don’t have a blog, you can leave a comment sharing your song. ***Please use the permalink to your post, not your blog’s main site. Because of the specialized nature of this weekly series, any links that are not specifically for Tune-In Tuesday will be deleted.***
- Visit other people’s blogs and let them know you stopped by.
- Spread the word. Grab the button in the left column and add it to your post. That way, others can link up, as well. Tweet about it… Try to get others in on the conversation.
- Worship! 🙂
Worship is more than a song.
When you hear the word ‘worship’, how often does the music set come to mind? It’s just a natural thing. We interchange the words music and worship too often. But worship is really what happens privately in our hearts. And sometimes we allow the music set (or everything that goes into it) to block what God is trying to do inside of us. We get wrapped up in how the harmonies sound, how the band sounds, how the lights are changing, how the backdrop of the stage looks, how everyone is positioned on stage, etc. All of that “stuff” really doesn’t matter. If the music set of worship is more about what we like or don’t like or what “stirs our souls” than it is about getting to a place of broken surrender before Jesus, then we need to take a good look inside.
Do you ever allow what you don’t like about the way the music set is led to hinder your own private worship? If so, have you tried to let go of it all and see only Him in all of the noise? This is the path to true worship.
And let’s go a little deeper than just the music set. This song is talking about more than just how we see the physical stage on Sundays. It’s talking about the inner stages of our lives. The idols that smolder underneath the surface of our hearts… existing solely to block God’s plan. We’ve got to clear out all of the idols in our lives and truly see Jesus… to push aside all of the noise in our minds and focus on Him alone. Whatever it takes to break down the idols, we need to do it. Our own inner stages need to be cleared. It’s the only way to get to the place where He can use us in His great plan.
You can sing all you want to… and still get it wrong… worship is more than a song.
I agree completely Paula, and thankfully Jesus is in the business of destroying idols – we need His help to see Him.
Your thoughts on worrying about what's on stage and harmonies and all that reminded me of one of my favorite worship experiences ever: on a youth retreat once, the night we had communion, the band played from BEHIND the crowd, instead of on stage – so you never saw them at all. Instead they had set up some candles and a cross on stage. The lighting never changed all night, and we just sang simple hymns and worship songs without much adornment. It was awesome – one of the most focused times of worship that I've ever experienced.
Wow Baxter! I'm sure that was amazing worship… what a powerful demonstration of where the focus needs to be. Sometimes I like to close my eyes while I'm singing… helps me remember that I don't need to look at all that stuff. Just at Jesus. 🙂
Wow! I had never heard that song before! Powerful post, Paula. Thank you for sharing it!
I heard it first a couple of years ago. It has stayed with me since!! 🙂 Glad you liked it. Thanks so much!!