Glorifying God

One of the main things that i have felt God really put on my heart over the last few weeks and months is simply this:

"When we gather together to worship, we are there to give glory to God'

Sounds simple yes, is that not obvious?
In an ideal, perfect church this would always be the case, but could there be the potential that there are occasionally ulterior motives when we gather to sing, none of which are particularly dangerous, but most definitely aren't helpful.

In Psalm 103 it begins with this "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name'
The entirety of this Psalm is one fantastic cry of worship from a man who was transfixed by God, and was always seeking new ways of wording his journey as a worshipper. We do see though, certain lyrical themes that will appear throughout the Psalms, 'Glory to God' 'Sing Praise to God' 'He is exalted over the nations' i could go on.. my point being that although David came up with new ways for describing how he was feeling in many of the Psalms, he never strayed far from these simple truths that take place in so many of our modern day worship songs. Truths which (here comes the admission) I have heard songs full of, and yet have thought "Thats an amazingly average song, we have used all those lines before!" and we can sometimes be too quick to go for the nearest 'Jesus is my girlfriend' instead, songs which i believe do have a place, but should not replace glorifying God for who he is.

So, to bring this back to my main point, i believe that sometimes many people approach a time of worship with a slightly skewed approach, as listed below:

1. PURELY to feel the spirit - The modern day charismatic church is seeing an amazing movement of the spirit's power, which symbolises that God is blessing us massively, and its very exciting to be a part of! However, there can be a wrong expectation, or wrong attitude where this is concerned with worship. Please don't hear what i'm not saying, i love being in God's presence, and i believe it's their that our Father really does business with our hearts, we are renewed in his presence, and find strength there. BUT, if we come into a time of congregational worship purely based on our need or desire to 'experience' God, this can be unhelpful. We, as human beings are created as instruments of worship, our every breath is as a work of Glory that God made, he doesn't need our worship to survive, but he created us for such a purpose. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 aid us with this. The Holy Spirit is a gift, an amazing gift, which he blesses us with, and boy should we be expectant! Just make sure it isn't our purpose!

2. That worship IS the church's purpose - This one is less of a minor issue, and more of a massive theological flaw. In Matthew 28:16 onwards, Jesus' told the disciples of their mission. Our mission is such as this, to make disciples of all nations, it would have been quite cosy if our mission was 'Gather on a sunday morning and sing songs' We need to make sure that our times of praising the goodness of God are the fuel for God's mission.

3. Its all about the songs we sing! - In spite of the opening paragraph, talking about songs, lyrics, appropriate songs choices etc... Worship is not about the songs we sing, its about the heart thats singing them. God isn't interested in your beautiful voice, or luscious melodies and haunting harmonies (although these are nice!) But he wants the heart to be crying out in pure adoration. I can't remember who first said this but it has always been one of my favourite phrases, "in the scriptures it says make a joyful noise, not a tuneful noise"

Lets give God everything, he is forever worthy, eternally steadfast, amazingly powerful, indescribably awesome and perfectly holy, how could our hearts sing any other name?!

Richard

Simplicity in Worship

One thing thats been flitting around my thoughts recently is how easy it is to over complicate so many things on our sunday mornings... for a start we have to cope with PA, musicians, people wanting to talk about various things completely unconnected with what we are doing, such as which song we want the kids work to go out after! so why not just make our songs of worship simple?

look at some of the 'greatest' worship songs of all time.. 'Happy Day', 'In Christ Alone', 'Jesus, Lover of my Soul', 'Amazing Grace'
they are just easy songs, people can pick them up quickly, they are singable, catchy and they achieve all this whilst been written to glorify Jesus. Is this not what we should be aiming for? As songwriters it is our prerogative to write these songs, i'm not saying we aren't achieving this, but with all the songs that are being written it becomes harder to come up with something fresh, something exciting, something which draws people to a new level of intimacy with christ.

so what happens when the words run out? what do we do? how can i write without fresh words?
well, for me songwriting comes out of a place of personal revelation, i believe it to be a particular gift, such as leadership, prophecy or tongues, a gift which is freely available. When you run out of words seek God, songs of worship will naturally flow out of relationship... want to keep it fresh? indulge yourself in his word and delight in his presence, its there your ideas come from :)

Richard

Newday

Hey guys!
So i just got back from Newday which is a newfrontiers conference for 11's-19's and i went as youth leader with my church and just had a terrific time in the presence of God, praising him and learning songs, it was awesome! :)

just a few main points i wanted to share from the week so i thought i would make a post..

one thing God was speaking to me personally about during the week was raising a generation of passionate worshippers, something which has been on my heart for quite a while now. i can remember one moment where i was on my knees praying and i just suddenly very clearly heard 7000 young people singing out

"and if our God is for us, then who can ever stop us
and if our God is with us, then what can stand against"

and i just heard the passion this was being declared with, and the excitement grew in me about just what 7000 passionate young believers could do for this country! imagine if every 1 of them chooses just 5 friends to reach out to?! with the power of the gospel of Jesus to change lives could be so impacting for our local schools and colleges. i know i can't speak for every youth group but i know certainly in our group not 1 person didn't get closer to God, we saw 9 people commit or recommit their lives to christ! and give themselves in worship. A few of our guys were also called to the nations and are very excited about this :) it was truly incredible to be a part of what God is doing amongst young people.

All of this lead me to finish a song i had been writing, i had a chorus written down which said
"All your saints cry Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord"
rather simple but very singable and it was really on my heart for all of the people God has called to be saints cry out in response to everything God is :) its a real passion of mine to see people giving their all to Jesus during worship as that is where we get filled up to be sent out!

God Bless guys

Rich

In the Wilderness!

So tonight i am off bivvying (or camping without a tent!)and am very excited about this, not just cause i'm a guy and we like to be adventurous but i also see this kind of activity as being similar to following Jesus.. not because we are in the wilderness! because we are safe in his arms and his love. More because its sort of a faith leap, having faith in the weather, having faith in your safety, in not needing the toilet too much! I can relate this back to my walk with God because we are called to step out in faith, to follow Jesus is a step of faith,placing our dreams and hopes and our life in his hands. so I am excited! i always get great lyrical ideas spending time in the middle of God's marvellous creation! :D

see ya guys!

New Song - What is this Love?

So this song again has been around for a while...
I came home from small group one night after a particularly amazing time of worship and remember being overwhelmed by the grace of God, I sat down with my guitar and quietly wrote this as it was late and didn't want to wake anyone up! but i remember getting this idea for 'What is this Love that i am chosen?' and went from there to write about when we are down, and at our lowest we can realise that God has loved us and poured out his love on us and we can come into his presence...

MP3 Link:
http://www.box.net/shared/8nsb7te231

Lyrics:
When shame surrounds my soul, and i feel like letting go, there you are
When all this life can hold has faded into nothing, there you are

You remain faithful, through it all faithful
Here is my rock

What is this love, that i am chosen?
You love a heart thats broken
What is this grace, that you have freed me?
now with your spirit lead me
to that place where i draw near to your face

My dark has turned to light, your righteousness made mine, my life in your hands
In wonder i will sing, hear my cry my humble king and come to me

once again if anyone wants chords just email me :)
ciao!

Song - The Promise

Hey guys!

this is a song i finished writing a few months back and recorded, so it isn't 'new' as such, but it is a proclamation of what Jesus did for us, and the fulfilment of Gods promise to his chosen :)

Song link: http://www.box.net/shared/t87ne13y33

Lyrics:

With mercy in mind, you left glory behind

To come to earth to free the captives and sinners

Son of man, blameless and holy

You made the way for eternal life

This is salvation, you bring redemption, I am free

You bring life to the broken, redeemed and forgiven, Hosanna

Through your son Jesus, you've delivered the promise

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

The day has come, Jesus Christ the offering

Your only son, to be sin for the world

My sin his burden, his cross my shame

but now he's raised to life my debt is paid

hope you enjoy it, and if anyone would like chords just email me at wardy_kicks@hotmail.com

Rich

Blog up and running!

Hey guys!

so yeah I decided it was about time to start blogging, sharing my thoughts, my songs and hopefully encouraging people involved with song writing and worship leading.

as for the title of the blog.. it is a phrase God has really put on my heart particularly over the last few months as i have thought long and hard about God's 'calling' on peoples lives, and i know that our common, highest call is to take the gospel to the nations and that is my focus. but i know that we all have particular roles and giftings to encourage and build God's church. I know that God has called me to lead his people into his presence.

so please enjoy reading my posts and listening to my music, if you want to use one of my songs in a time of worship just email me and i will be able to send you lyrics and chords. and God bless

Richard