Preparing Our Hearts for Worship, 09-30-2012

This Week’s Songs of Worship:

Each week we want to give the members of Grace a chance to learn the songs we will be singing on Sunday. Please use these lists as a way to ready your heart and mind— to come willing and able to worship our God in spirit and truth.

1. Waiting Here for You – Christy Nockels version | Listen
2. Famous One – Passion/Chris Tomlin | Listen
3. Your Love is Strong – Jon Foreman (of Switchfoot) | Listen
4. Before the Throne of God Above | Listen
5. How He Loves – David Crowder version | Listen

For more information on Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org.

Prayer Tip #3: Do You Try to Tell God What to Do?

[From Lauris Shepherd, one of our Elders]

Often when we pray, we have in mind exactly what we think God should do, when He should do it, and we even try to tell Him how to do His job.  Think about it.  Does that really make sense?

Isa. 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

His ways are so much higher and better than my ways, it doesn’t make sense to insist on my way.

Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.

I’ve concluded that if I’m going to trust Him fully and experience the good He has for me, I’ll need to distrust myself /my own understanding and not insist on what I think I want.

More often now I tell Him what I think the need is and then ask Him how I should pray.

For more information on the GBC Prayer Team, visit begrace.org/ministries/prayer-team.
For more information on GBC, visit begrace.org.

Preparing Our Hearts for Worship, 09-23-2012

This Week’s Songs of Worship:

Each week we want to give the members of Grace a chance to learn the songs we will be singing on Sunday. Please use these lists as a way to ready your heart and mind— to come willing and able to worship our God in spirit and truth.

1. Bless Your Name – Eddie Kirkland | Listen
2. Thy Mercy – Caedmon’s Call version | Listen
3. Be Thou My Vision – Eoghan Heaslip version | Listen
4. 10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman | Listen
5. Forever Reign – One Sonic Society | Listen

For more information on Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org.

Preparing Our Hearts for Worship, 09-16-2012

Through Jesus then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. – Hebrews 13:15

“There’s no fruit without some kind of root. So whatever comes out of our mouths actually comes from the roots that have taken hold deep in our souls. That’s why Scripture says that what comes out of the mouth is actually coming from the heart. Our praise to God doesn’t just roll off our lips, but springs from deep down inside us.” – Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe

This Week’s Songs of Worship:

Each week, we want to give the members of Grace a chance to learn the songs we will be singing on Sunday. Please use these lists as a way to ready your heart and mind, to come willing and able to worship our God in spirit and truth.

1. Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman | Listen
2. Greatly to be Praised – Fee | Listen
3. Lift Us Up, for We Are Heavy Laden – Chris Webster | Listen
4. Mystery – Charlie Hall | Listen
5. My Soul Waits – Chris Webster | Listen

For more information on Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org.

Preparing Our Hearts for Worship, 09-09-2012

This Week’s Songs of Worship:

Each week, we want to give the members of Grace a chance to learn the songs we will be singing on Sunday. Please use these lists as a way to ready your heart and mind, to come willing and able to worship our God in spirit and truth.

1. Oh for a Thousand Tongues to Sing – David Crowder Band version | Listen
2. Great is the Lord – Elevation Worship | Listen
3. Aftermath – Hillsong United | Listen
4. Hungry – Kathryn Scott | Listen
5. You Alone Can Rescue – Matt Redman | Listen

For more information on Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org.

Head, Heart, Hands: Worship with Everything

I recently ran across the “head, heart, hands” paradigm of being a follower of Christ. The guys at The Austin Stone like to ask questions like,

• “How are you growing in your knowledge of God?” (Head)
• “How are your affections for Jesus being expressed?” (Heart)
• “How have you obeyed God this week?” (Hands)

I’ve found these questions to work well not only in encouraging one another in small groups or one-on-one settings, but also when posed to myself in quiet moments before God. Am I only serving Christ in one or two of these three ways? Which ways are easiest for me, and which will require extra attention and effort?

These three questions can also be great measure of whether I’m worshiping God in a whole-life way: in Spirit and in Truth. It’s hard to overemphasize the danger of “cold, hard facts” that haven’t yet moved us to a greater love for Christ that is lived out in obedience. Or the many pitfalls of a life based only on quickly-changing feelings, without first giving them a firm foundation by rightly submitting to Truth in the way that we think and act.

There is a beautiful depth to our worship when it is an expression of all three things: right thoughts, right emotions, and right actions. When we can recognize God’s work in these areas– not only in our own lives, but in the lives of those around us in our church– we can find wonderful encouragement in Christ. And when, as broken people, we find ourselves falling short of these callings, we can hide ourselves again in the Gospel of grace. Reminding our heads that we have been given a righteousness not our own, calling our hearts to love because we have been well-loved, and urging our hands to respond in gratefulness to a God who has done great things for us.

For more information about Grace Bible Church, visit begrace.org.