Tag Archive for prepare to worship

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2017-12-08 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Advent: Peace

Father, You are peace.
You are wholeness,
harmony, and
complete well-being.

I long to breathe Your peace
as Christ breathes it,
so perfectly and naturally.
You and He are
one Spirit,
one heart,
one mind,
one love.
As I trust You, I share in Your peace.
I share in Christ, and
He Himself is peace. (Ephesians 2:14)
The fruit of His presence is peace. (Galatians 5:22)
He gives peace in every circumstance. (1 Thessalonians 3:16)

On this second Sunday of Advent,
You give us a glimpse of a new world in which
Your perfect peace flows like a river
through every relationship and
through all of life,
through the very fabric of creation itself.

That peace comes only in Jesus Christ,
who alone can make us one with You.
His peace began at His first coming –
and how I am enjoying those beginnings!
But His universal, all-encompassing peace will not be complete till
He comes again.

O come, Lord Jesus!
We wait for You and
long for You! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Sweet Peace
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2017-11-24 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Christ the King Sunday

O Father, the day is coming when
every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Every heart will sing of Him.
Every life will worship Him.
All that is will glorify Him.
Everything that is not of Him
will be gone forever.
All reality will reflect
Him and
Him alone.

Father, I long for that day!
Today,
begin it in me.
Begin it here, among Your people.
The culmination of the Christian year and
the culmination of all history
is the crowning of Jesus Christ as
King of All Kings and
Lord of All Lords.
For me,
for us,
in our hearts,
in our worship,
may today be the day.

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” (Revelation 19:6, NASB) 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Enthronement Hymn
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-11-10 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Longing for God

Father, as I live here in Your presence,
every connection with You,
every word from You,
every sense of You
feeds a deep longing to be fully one with You.

Every time Your Spirit touches
my heart or
mind,
I am overwhelmed with Your reality.
I yearn to know You
without the dimness,
without the distance,
without the distraction.
I yearn to know You
for all You are,
without interruption,
forever.

I know that day will come, Father, and
when it does,
let that deep, unbroken knowing
call from me
all the worship,
all the praise,
all the living, loving response
that is possible from
a small, unworthy creature like myself.

O Living God, I long
to see You,
to know You,
to praise You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: O Living God
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-11-03 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for All Saints Day

Father, thank You for uniting us with Jesus, Your holy Son.
In Him, we are one with You
through the Spirit we share.
And as we are all one with Jesus,
we are one with each other as well.
We are one in Him with all God’s children of every
language,
culture, and
personality, of
every time and place.
By being one with Him in the Spirit,
we all become one in Him with each other.
Our oneness
with You and
with every other believer
is in Jesus Christ.

All this is Your doing, loving Father, and
we praise You!
We are in the early stages of this wonderful unity, and
we are just beginning to understand what it will mean.
We are warmed as Jesus speaks of us so glowingly as
His friends,
His family,
His body, and
His bride.
It seems that no one image can fully express His desire
for all of us to be together in Him
in the fullest possible sense.

Father of all,
help us to grow in this marvelous and mysterious unity.
We know it is Your loving desire for
each of us and
all of us,
so it is our desire as well.
More and more one in Christ,
and in Him,
more and more one with each other –
that is our prayer, Father.
One with You. 

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Hymn: Christ and His Bride
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-10-27 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

We Come and Go as Your People

Father, we come because You call us.
You call us together
as Your children,
as Your people.
You gather us to Yourself.

When our brief gathering is ended,
we go because You send us.
You send us
as Your children,
as Your people.
You send us out into our individual
homes,
neighborhoods,
communities,
schools,
work places,
social groups, and
circles of friends.
You scatter Your people into every corner where
people are,
people whom You long to know You.

Father, as we come and
as we go,
help us come and go
in Your name,
in Your love, and
in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Come, Children, Come
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2017-09-22 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

The Reason We Sing

Father, we sing to
praise You,
to give You some meager portion of all
the gratitude and
glory that we owe.

We sing to focus our
minds,
bodies, and
spirits on You
in all Your
beauty and
magnificence.

We sing to
remind ourselves who You are, to
strengthen our faith in You.

We sing to
know You better, to
open ourselves more fully to Your Spirit’s teaching.

We sing to testify to others just how
good,
loving, and
faithful You are.

Father, here in Your presence
Your greatness compels us to sing.
May we let nothing hinder us.
Nothing, Lord.
No distractions.
No petty personal preferences.
No judgmental attitudes toward our brothers and sisters.
No hindrances, Lord.
Our reasons for singing are so much greater than
any reasons to hold back.
Help us sing of You and Your truth with all the
heart,
soul,
spirit, and
physical energy You deserve.

We will sing, Father, because
we sing of YOU!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Reason We Sing
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-09-15 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

We Come Seeking You

We do not come for the music.
We do not come for the preaching.
We do not come for the people.

Father, we come hungry for You.
We come thirsty for You.

As we read,
speak, Father.
We are listening.
As we pray,
hear and answer.
We are looking up to You.
As we teach,
as we preach,
fill our minds.
Draw our hearts.
Reshape our lives.

Almighty God,
All-wise God,
God who truly, deeply, eternally seeks the very best for us,
we come seeking You. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Come Seeking You
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