Day 14: Realign From Our Ways To God’s Ways
Isaiah 29:13-14 “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder.”
Devotional · · · We often judge a method of worship by how we felt about it. Did it stir our hearts? Do we feel better after engaging in it? Was it to our liking? Did people do it in a way that I deem acceptable? Do we feel accomplished after engaging in it? This trap of preference performance turns us away from true worship. It is God and God alone who has the authority to judge whether or not worship was acceptable or not. The reality is that this judgement has little to do with our method and much more to do with what is being spoken from our hearts. Only God can recognize if hearts were realigned to Him through a particular act of worship. There is no fooling God in worship—either it is pure and motivated by Him and to Him, or it is not. Consider taking time today, before lifting up this prayer, to meditate on Psalm 51 and Psalm 139.
Prayer · · · Merciful God, Search me and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me in Your everlasting way. Help me Lord to recognize any areas where I’ve been worshiping according to my own way with my heart disconnected from the words I sing. Enable me to worship You in spirit and in truth, in line with Your will and Your way. Be gracious to me, according to your unfailing love. Create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and I will declare Your praise! Lord, You are faithful and just. Thank you for the ever-present forgiveness found in Christ. Help me to worship You, My Lord and My God, with my whole heart.