Worship as a Lifestyle

Worship as a lifestyle? Huh? How's that work? That was a brand new concept to me a year ago. I knew there was more to God than just going to church on Sunday, reading my Bible and trying to be a 'good Christian'. But I just could not put my finger on the key that would make all the difference in the world for me.

Last January, a friend of mine from work mentioned a book to a small group of ladies including me via email. Seems she was extremely blessed by a certain book, and wanted to share it with us and what she was learning at her church. The book was called "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. Her enthusiasm and excitement in her email sparked a flutter of emails between the group of women emailing everyone pouring out their hearts about what God has done in their lives, and how this book had ministered to them!

Whoa! I was floored! I could have assumed these women were Christians but no one had uttered a word to me about their faith, and vice versa. But here were these women ON FIRE for the Lord! I was so excited by all of this that I stopped at the nearest Christian Bookstore on my way home from work to grab my copy that very evening. I started reading it that very night!! I did not know what I was in for.....

I belong to a WONDERFUL church where I was learning in the few months since going there-- things that I had not learned in my Christian walk over the last 20 years! I had been enjoying the passionate experience of abiding in God's love. I had a fervent desire to learn more about Him as I willingly and lovingly submitted every aspect of my life over to Him. This too was a foreign concept to me at the time, and I did not begin to understand it until I began reading what Job and David said as quoted from the Bible in “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Job said:

“I have not departed from the commands of His lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” (Job 23:12)

David said:

“Oh how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long (Psalms 119:97 )

“I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings (Psalms 77:12)

“The Purpose Driven Life” was the beginning of my spiritual understanding. All of the chapters in “The Purpose Driven Life” ‘spoke’ to me on some level.

“The Purpose Driven Life” and the Bible set the cornerstone for what would become the foundation of the Word for the rest of my life, and helped resolve this consuming hunger and thirst for more and more food spiritually.

What did I learn that was so earth shattering? I learned in “The Purpose Driven Life” that WORSHIP IS A LIFESTYLE! In changing my lifestyle to focus on God first, in everything, I now was content inside, at ease with myself and my preoccupation with “face time” with God. I was not a legalist - believing that in order to be spiritual that I HAD to do those things, but I was compelled to do so from an urgency that dwelled therein. I just could not stay away from Him. I longed for a relationship with my father, and in the process of all that “face time” I had begun to cultivate an intimate relationship with him as I had started discovering and learning more and more about Him and His character, and had fallen in love with Him in the process.

Well, as you know, when your focus on God is placed first, the divine order of everything else falls into place. In the process of getting to know my Father, my Savior, and His Holy Spirit, through this book and the Bible, I was transformed. Not looking to the left, not looking to the right but solely focusing on my Savior. I was not aware of this transformation until people started talking about the “new me”. At first I thought people were joking; laughing at my expense….but I kept hearing little things like from friends, coworkers, even family members! My husband started talking about how he liked the changes he was seeing in me. I was puzzled. What changes?! The only thing I was aware of was that I wasn’t mad about dumb stuff all the time like I used to be. It was just nothing was that important to get that mad about anymore.

“…Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”(Romans 12:2)

My life has not been the same since I picked up my copy of “The Purpose Driven Life" that helped me learn how to apply the principles in the Bible to my life! By His word through the book, God changed me and my life from the inside out. God has a purpose for ME! And I KNOW I am LOVED…DEEPLY.