Lent Day 12 - Psalm 150:1-6

"Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; Praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord."
 
I remember when I was fairly new in my walk with Jesus, I joined a few ladies for a neighborhood Bible study during the week. I began to understand that, for me, walking out this faith would take more than a worship service on Sundays. In fact, for transformation to happen, it would need to become a practice, a daily focus to draw closer to Jesus in a relationship, a lifestyle. So I purchased a couple of CDs for the car and began listening to worship music during the many hours of commuting and carpooling with my kids. Over the course of a few weeks, the songs began to take a deep root in my spirit. I actually began to enjoy the many hours traveling in the car, and so did my children. Selah's Greatest Hymns and Third Day were the two that we would listen to over and over again. One day, something happened, and the music became so much more than a CD track. The lyrics broke open my calloused heart, and I could feel the presence of the Lord breathing life into every word. I couldn't help but respond with praise and worship. It was as if a locked door in my life had been kicked open, and I could experience what it meant to worship, praise, and give God back the breath in my lungs as a sweet offering of love and gratitude. That exchange started a "drawing near", a "closer walk with thee," an understanding that if I truly wanted a transformed lifestyle, it would be experienced in this daily exchange of praise and worship, even in the desert places. Learning to experience worship in the everyday of life transformed my heart and intentionally made space for Jesus to be active and alive in my daily coming and going.

What if we truly began to live a lifestyle of worship? What if we began to experience worship beyond a congregational response in corporate worship and moved and breathed in worship as a form of everyday life? Psalm 150 reminds us that "everything that has breath, praise the Lord". In Celebration of Discipline, Robert Foster states this:
"The Bible describes worship in physical terms. The root meaning of the Hebrew word we translate as "worship" is to prostrate oneself. The word "bless" literally means “to kneel.” Thanksgiving refers to “an extension of the hand.” Throughout Scripture, we find a variety of physical postures in connection with worship: lying prostrate, standing, kneeling, lifting the hands, clapping the hands, lifting the head, bowing the head, dancing, and wearing sackcloth and ashes. The point is that we are to offer God our bodies as well as all the rest of our being. Worship is appropriately physical." – Richard J. Foster.

This week, allow space for worship to become a daily practice. Turn off the world, turn up your favorite praise songs, and allow your heart, mind, body, and spirit to move freely in worship.

Remember, there is an audience of ONE, the very ONE that wants you to experience an abundant life, transformed from the inside out! May praise and worship in daily living open a door of transformation for you this Lenten journey!