Don’t surrender your worship

 

Don’t surrender your worship. What do I even mean by this statement?

There are a lot of confusing and difficult things going on in our world today, and there are a lot of hard things happening closer to home at this present moment.

Life is never void of trials and trouble. We are reminded of this in John 16:33 - These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

In a sermon I listened to yesterday, I heard the story once again of the three Hebrew boys who made a stand against an egotistical King and chose to worship God. (Daniel 3)

The story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is such an amazing display of God’s almighty power, but it also shines the spotlight on three boys who refused to surrender their worship.

Before I get to that, let me just take a moment to speak about the choice they made when it came to their focus.

When these boys made the decision to disobey the King’s decree and refused to bow down to his golden image, their focus wasn’t on the fiery furnace. Their focus was on God.

How often do we find ourselves focusing on the trials in our lives? How often do we zero in on the circumstances we find ourselves in? How often do we speak of the giant instead of speaking of our God?

Do you remember the story of David and his face off with a giant? Read it for yourself and you’ll find that David himself never acknowledged how big Goliath was, he only ever acknowledged how big his God was! (1 Samuel 17)     (Talk faith not fear)

He didn’t talk about how dangerous or how large or how impressive, threatening or scary Goliath was? He only talked about how great his God was.

He knew the truth that his God, our God, is able to deliver us!

Yes, life gets hard. The unexpected happens.

We have a choice to make. We can’t choose what battles we face. We can’t choose the trials we go through, but we can choose what we focus on!

Both David and the Hebrew boys didn’t keep their focus on the mountain. They chose to focus on the one who spoke the mountain into existence. God.

Now, let’s come back to my opening statement.

Don’t surrender your worship!

In the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image, the three Hebrew boys refused to surrender their worship.

When it came to a choice between God or the King, they chose God. They chose to believe and worship.

Daniel 3:16-18 KJV - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego took their focus off the fiery furnace (mountain) and looked to God. They decided to worship before the miracle even took place and even more astounding, they didn’t even know if a miracle would take place.

They didn’t have a rock-solid guarantee that God would choose to rescue them from danger, but they knew that their worship of him and their trust in him was paramount.

These verses tell us that they were so sure of their God that even if he chose to let them perish in the fire, they would still worship. They would go down worshipping. They would go down singing his praises.

They would not surrender their worship!

Sometimes, as Christians, we worship because we see a miracle. God works, we witness a miracle, we see the circumstances change and we rise up in worship.

But it takes a lot more courage to worship before we see the miracle. It takes strength to sit in the midst of a trial and choose to worship through it.

For those of you who know me and my story, you may be tired of hearing it, but I will never stop telling it. It is my glory story.  (Do you have a glory story)

For those who don’t, here is a very brief mention of it so I can drive home my point.

A few years back I faced a giant. For 6 long months I fought an internal battle. An unexplained battle with depression, anxiety and panic attacks that literally took my breath away, threatening to take me out completely. It had made itself at home and nothing I could do seemed to shake it.

But while I was being pounded by waves of fear, while I struggled through days where I didn’t want to get out of bed, while I neglected friendships and often tried to put on a brave face hoping others wouldn’t notice, God was working. God was weaving threads of strength through my pain.

As I battled along, I made the choice to worship. I chose to worship through it. I chose to worship before I saw a miracle. I tell this not to bring any glory to myself, but to hold the Lord’s name high.

My first timid attempt at worship was through music. I listened over and over to worship songs that spoke peace to my heart. As the days went by, my lips mouthed the words and then those words made their way down into my heart and my spirits began to lift. Then I read through promise after promise in the Word of God and my worship spilled over into reading aloud and letting God’s love and goodness wash over me.

Long story short, God in his mercy and grace pulled me up out of a dark pit and set my feet upon a rock and helped me to walk again. (Psalm 40:2)

When the three Hebrew boys chose to worship God through their trial, and when they chose to focus on God’s power, you’d better believe that it changed them!

I am absolutely positive that they came out of that fire with a fire burning inside them that was all to do with God and nothing to do with hot flames. It changed them.

And I want to encourage you if you’re walking through something right now, your choice to worship will not only change you, it will help to change others.

YOUR FIGHT ISN’T JUST ABOUT YOU!

You never know who’s watching. You never know who you will affect by your worship.

Do you remember what happened after the King called the boys out of the fire, having seen 4 men walking in the fire? He was changed.

Daniel 3:28-29 KJV - Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.

King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged not only the existence of God but also the Almighty, power of God.

When you choose to worship through a trial, with no idea how it will turn out, not only is it pleasing to God, but it is encouraging to those looking on.

You can encourage someone else’s faith. You can encourage another brother or sister who is faltering, to stay strong, to keep trusting, keep worshipping, keep believing.

Sometimes our faith is weak, and we have to borrow some off a friend. Sometimes we need to borrow some strength to be able to stand stronger. As we see another brother or sister standing strong and choosing to worship although they are facing an ‘even if’ situation, it gives our faith a lift and encourages us to keep in the race and persevere.

My story, your story, may be just what someone needs to see and hear to give them the courage to keep on.

When someone realises that they are not alone, and others have faced similar situations and God has brought them through, it gives them the strength they need to make it through and Lord willing, they will choose to refuse to surrender their worship.

God is worthy of all our worship and all our praise. Our stubborn refusal of surrendering our worship will be like a beacon to those looking on. A beacon of light. A beacon of hope.

1 Peter 3:15 KJV - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Focus on God, not your mountain. Be ready with an answer and a voice of truth and hope for those looking on.

 

Don’t surrender your worship.