WorshipCentral

“I am loved by God and I love God, therefore I am successful.”

So what about the 2nd part - I love God. If we want to learn to love God, we need to cultivate intimacy with him. We were made for intimacy - for love and when deprived of it we suffer.

One of my childhood hero’s was the golfer Nick Faldo.
I vividly remember watching him compete in the 1996, US Masters at Augusta.
Over the four rounds it appeared to be heading towards an easy win for his rival, the Australian Greg Norman.
On the final round, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman were paired together with Norman holding a commanding six shot lead. Victory was surely his.
However tension rose as Norman made a very edgy start dropping important shots. As Norman crumbled, Faldo got stronger and stronger.
By the 18th green, Faldo was in the lead and holed his putt to win the prestigious US Master. Then Nick Faldo made a generous sporting gesture and went over to Norman and warmly embraced him. At this Norman unexpectedly broke down in tears.

Afterwards at the press conference the ice cool Greg Norman openly explained why he had been so moved by Faldo’s actions.

He told the press that he hadn’t broken down over a lost game of golf. There’d be many more games of golf to win and lose. Rather he had broken down because when Faldo embraced him, it was the first time he’d been hugged by a man since his childhood. His distant father had never shown him affection and Faldo’s gesture had really got to him.

We have a Father in heaven who loves us beyond measure and intimacy with him means drawing near.

Songs of intimacy

There’s been a wonderful emphasis of late on songs that are about the Grandeur and Majesty of God. Songs that speak of His greatness

However I wonder if in the wave of enthusiasm to make Him glorious - we’ve lost a sense of drawing near - of intimacy.

What an honour it is to stand from afar and revere the King of all Days.
However He has called us to something deeper - He’s called us to be friend.

John 15:15
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his masters business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.”

Intimacy is an essential element of our worship, but intimacy doesn’t have to be all about slow mushy love songs
I wonder if we’ve developed a narrow mind-set of intimacy.

Mike P was telling me about a conversation he’d had with Martin Smith about the subject of intimacy. Mike had been sharing his view that intimacy was about exchanging sweet nothings between a husband and a wife. Martin agreed but said that intimacy wasn’t just about being quiet, in fact intimacy could also be bold and expressive. Like cycling at top speed through a field together with a loved one, with the wind rushing through your hair, laughing out loud and sharing the moment together.

Intimacy can be found in those quiet still moments before God.
But it can also be found in those moments of abandoned celebration.

Intimacy is also experienced when we are at our most vulnerable and honest.

LAMENT can be profoundly intimate.

In our everyday lives, the people that we are most likely to share our deepest fears and questions with are those we most love and trust.

Dan Allender says, ‘To sing a lament against God in worship reveals far, far greater trust than to sing a jingle about how happy we are and how much we trust him. That kind of song is much like the smiling salesman who meets you with a “Hey, how are ya. looking good today; how can I help ya.” Lament cuts through insincerity, strips pretence, and reveals the raw nerve of trust that angrily approaches the throne of grace and then kneels in awed, robust wonder.’

So I ask the question as worshippers and WL’s, how are we forging an intimate relationship with God?

Too frequently I get more caught up in work and doing things to the point that I neglect the most important thing - loving God.

How often do we spend time on our own worshipping - not just for the sake of picking songs?

Therefore I am successful

Because of this amazing truth no matter what else happens in my life - I am already successful.

I have received His amazing free love and have become a follower of Christ.
It doesn’t get better than that!

I want to share a story about a father and son.
Dick and Rick Hoyt:

When Rick Hoyt was born in 1962 the umbilical chord coiled around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain, leaving him a quadriplegic. His parents Dick and Judy were told that there would be no hope for their child’s development. Despite being told that Rick would be “a vegetable all his life,” his parents were determined to raise him as normally as possible. Being unable to speak, a group of engineers built Rick a special designed interactive computer that allowed him to communicate his thoughts by using the slight head movements that he could manage.

At the age of fifteen Rick told his father that he wanted to participate in a five-mile benefit run for a local lacrosse player who had been paralyzed in an accident. Out of love for his son, Dick, who had never previously done any long distance running, agreed to push Rick in his wheelchair. They finished next to last, but were elated with their achievement. Overwhelmed by the experience Rick managed to communicate to his parents that for the first time in his life, in that race, “he just didn’t feel disabled.” Spurred on by this revelation, father and son, ‘Team Hoyt,’ began entering more marathons. After four years of marathons they attempted their first triathlon - the combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of cycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming.

To date they have raced in 64 marathons, 78 half marathons, 206 triathlons and they once trekked 3,735 miles across America. In each race Rick enjoyed a sense of joy, success and satisfaction. He came alive.
However in many ways, practically he did nothing. In fact he made the job more difficult for his father.

To Dick though - that didn’t matter.
Nothing gave him greater pleasure than seeing his son alive.

We are called to be in an intimate relationship with our Father.
He delights in us.
He rejoices over us with singing.

“I am loved by God and I love God there I am successful.”