February Devotional

Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our   salvation. Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95: 1&6

Currently we are caught in the middle of the two biggest church seasons of the year, Advent (Christmas) and Lent (Easter).  These seasons are so big that often we see many families coming out of the wood work to bring praise and worship to the Lord on such significant days, His birth and His death.  These are huge times of the year! Our Lord was born, and about thirty years after, his death is the only reason that we have a hope for the future.  But what about the fifty other Sunday’s of the year?

Now I am not here to convict those who only worship on Christmas and Easter but rather to ask myself, and probably a lot of you who struggle with the same thing as wellwhat are we doing the   other fifty Sundays of the year? I can probably count on both of my hands and maybe a couple toes the amount of church that I have missed in my life. However, I cannot begin to comprehend the amount of times that I have “been” in worship but have only been there and not actually focused on what God is trying to tell me that day.

Why is that? Why do we get so caught up in this two inspirational church seasons and then just drop off for the rest of the Sunday’s of the year, even if we are present in worship? I think a large reason is that we see the Word becoming Flesh. We literally see God’s Word come alive to us in the form of   Jesus. Yes we hear God’s Word and the words that Jesus spoke the rest of the year through the gospel but it becomes familiar to us.

Now of course everything that we do in this life is, or should be form of worship to our God, but I am specifically talking about the gift of community worship that God gave us and we are allowed to  practice in this country.  We have the opportunity around 52 times a year, not counting mid week worship, to come with fellow believers and worship our great and powerful God with all our might and strength. “To kneel before the Lord our Maker”.

There is a reason that God has brought into His house to worship Him, to come before Him with praise and thanksgiving. He comes to us through His Word every time we step through the front doors of wherever you and I worship with other believers to give all praise and glory to Him. Most importantly to hear the Words that He gave to his messengers to tell us. We all would be wise to listen, not just through Advent and Lent, but all year.

Through Him Alone,

Ryan Strehlow

Excited to see you all back in the Midwest this next week!