11 Keys to Preparing Your Heart for Worship
The Lord knew that we needed help being prepared to meet with Him. Much of the Pentateuch is dedicated to it. I think it is relevant to all of us who follow the Lord…it’s a vital part of our spiritual development to learn to prepare our hearts to meet with Him. In a lot of ways it’s kind of a cycle. You start in one place and you work your way all the way around and sometimes you have to go back into the cycle to continue to prepare your heart for worship. Obviously, the goal would be that eventually we’re always in a place where were in a stature of worship, but in a way we’re always preparing ourselves so that we can connect with Him. So here are some practical keys to preparing your heart for worship:
Key #1 - Remove Obstacles
If you were made for worship obviously one of the enemy’s primary objectives is to keep you from that place. He’s going to want to do anything and everything in his power to keep you from being connected with the Lord. He has a preoccupation with it. Remember, he was made to worship as well, but now his objective is to lie, steal, kill and destroy to block God’s people from connecting with Him. So the first step in removing obstacles is to acknowledge them. The most obvious obstacle is sin. Whether conscious or unconscious, you must deal with the sin in your life as it is the biggest barrier between you and the Lord. Acknowledge the lies that you believe. The lie that you don’t have time. That you don’t feel like it or that i need the right setting. Whatever the lie is acknowledge it so you can come against it. Identify the obstacles and then strategically work to remove them. One of the biggest things is to just get to the place of worship. If you can just start then you’ve already won. So one of the biggest keys to preparing your heart for worship is to remove anything that keeps you from that place.
Key #2 - Refocus Distractions
When you get distracted, the key is to learn the skill of refocusing back to the Lord. It really isn’t a question of if, it’s when. Our minds are only able to focus for so long, so it’s imperative for us to learn the skill of refocusing our mind. It reminds me of the movie “Up”. There will always be “squirrels” in our lives. You know the feeling where you’re trying to do one thing and “squirrel”. Our attention is distracted to something completely different in an instant. So the key here is to learn the skill so when it happens you can redirect yourself. Practically, have a pen and paper there with you. If you think of something you need to do that day, jot it down so that you can go back to it. If you think of an email you need to write, jot it down so you can get it done later. When you write it down it gets out of your mind which frees you to focus back on the Lord. It’s a mental skill that we learn so it takes practice. Just be still. Be still and know that He is God and when the times come you will learn how to adjust. You will learn how to counter the distractions that come into your mind and into your heart. It just takes practice…squirrel!
Key #3 - Refuse the Enemy
Satan is the biggest liar! He will try to drown out the voice of God with his own voice. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to discern the voice of the Lord from the voice of the enemy or from your own voice. The skill here is to know his strategies and to use Scripture to counter it. Remember when Jesus was tempted. He countered the Devil’s temptations with Scripture.
- Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread. He also lives on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”(Deuteronomy 8:3) – Matthew 4:4
- Jesus answered him, “It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” – Matthew 4:7
- Jesus said to him, “Get away from Me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only One you should serve.’ ” – Matthew 4:8-10
He went back to the Word and anytime that we can use the authority of God’s Word, it will refuse the voice of the enemy. Also remember, James 4 (Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.-James 4:7) tells us that when we resist the devil that he will flee. Sometimes the key to worship is refusing the enemy’s lies and distortions.
Key #4 - Reframe your life
Perspective is everything! It’s not about you. You are not the most important thing in the universe or even in your life. Your identity is in Him. You are a child of God. Your sins, your shortcomings and weaknesses do not define you anymore. The goal in reframing your life is to put yourself in perspective. If we can see ourselves rightly in light of God and the bigger picture, it gives us clarity to see everything rightly. We must see ourselves with humility and recognize we play a small part in the whole. The broader picture is a view of God and His overarching plan that goes for centuries upon centuries. His overall plan is much different than ours. So if you can see the bigger picture then the small picture drastically changes for you. When we can see ourselves rightly it allows us to see God rightly, which leads us to worship.
Key #5 - Release Control
Let’s face it…one of the biggest lies that we believe is that we are in control. We’re obsessed with control, but God has given us free will. It’s a crucial part of us preparing our hearts for worship to bring our will into agreement with the will of God. It’s clearly displayed with Jesus in the garden.
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” –Matthew 26:39
He’s sweating drops of blood. He’s in agony! This is not a pleasant picture for Jesus, but He’s saying, “not my will, but your will be done.” He’s releasing control. He’s preparing Himself to come under the authority of God and it’s in releasing that control that we prepare our hearts to connect with the Lord. Surrendering control is a key part of positioning ourselves to connect with the Lord. If we are holding tight to ourselves and our semblance of control, we cannot be free to grasp onto the Lord and trust His Absolute control and authority.
Key #6 - Remind Yourself
Charles Spurgeon said, “The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the Gospel.” Remind yourself that we serve a God who isn’t distant but He came to us and He loved us enough to not leave us in our mess. Remind yourself of the personal history that you have with Him. Remember the promises in Scripture. Remember the personal promises that He’s given to you and in the same vein to meditate on His faithfulness. His faithfulness throughout time, throughout Scripture. And don’t forget about His faithfulness to you personally. I try to keep a log of times in my life when I’ve seen the Lord come through for me. Because when it comes to times when you question, it’s good to remember God’s faithfulness so you can trust Him again. This is a step of being vulnerable. It’s a step of surrendering your will and your heart to Him and preparing your heart to connect with Him once again.
Key #7 - Refrain from Striving
Remember that God desires obedience over sacrifice. He’s more interested in relationship than our religious activities. He’s not impressed by our behaviors. He’s not “wow-ed” by our religious behaviors. He is only interested in your heart and it’s out of your heart that flows the good fruit from living a life connected with Him. Human nature loves religion. As if we can somehow like reach God or attain something that’s pleasing to Him, but Scripture tells us that He is much more interested in our relational connection with Him. In being still and knowing that He is God. It’s trusting that His grace is enough for us and we don’t have to somehow live up to the standards of who God is. This doesn’t mean inactivity or that your outward behaviors don’t matter. However, it does mean that the fruit isn’t connected to you whipping up something good. You have nothing good to offer of yourself. Good fruit can only come from being connected to the Good Vine. It’s learning to rest in Him and refraining from our own “good” that the fruit of the Spirit begins to grow on our branches.
Key #8 - Revere His Presence
I think this is huge for us in the American Church. We too often take lightly the Presence of the Lord. There’s a weightiness to His Presence that I sometimes think we don’t stand in awe of enough. This is why it’s important to see ourselves rightly because it’s when we see ourselves rightly that we see Him rightly and vice versa. To revere His Presence is to be still before him. It really is a practice of awe. It is Revelation 4…
“And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say,
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'”
—Revelation 4:8
Everyone is bowed down before Him. They’re seeing a revelation of God and they bow once again. They say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” And then they look up and they see another aspect of Him and they revere His Presence. They respond and then God reveals another aspect of Himself and then they respond with more worship. This is a glimpse of what it looks like to revere the Presence of the Lord. If i’m really honest, i think a lot of the Church has not experienced the weightiness of the Presence of the Lord. Mainly because they aren’t waiting on the Lord. The Lord spoke to one of my friends Wesley just recently. He said,” You must learn how to wait under the weight of the Presence of the Lord.” I think that’s something the Church needs to learn to do. To sit and wait under the weight of His Presence. Our programming can’t shortcut it. We have to wait to experience it. Our best produced services can’t reproduce it. However, be warned, when He comes in the room…everything changes!
Key #9 - Respond in Worship
When we see Him rightly, our natural response is worship. That’s why it’s so important in preparing our hearts for worship. It helps us see ourselves rightly which allows us see Him rightly. When you see yourself rightly in light of seeing Him rightly your heart will worship! Remember there will come a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. The revelation of God will always lead you to respond in worship. In this place, it’s important to learn to lower your inhibitions and give way to your heart’s response and expression. Allow your heart to give the Lord the extravagant adoration and worship that He deserves. He’s worthy of it. I think of Mary when she poured out the the perfume and the oil and the even the disciples were watching going, “what is this woman doing?” At the time, they didn’t understand it. She was pouring out her love and adoration to the Lord. Why? Because she saw herself rightly and she could see who Jesus was. When that revelation came to her, she responded. It won’t always make sense to everyone, but i will tell you if you learn how to prepare your heart to receive the revelation of who God is…it will lead you to respond in worship.
Key #10 - Remain in Him
Worship is all about connection. You know Jesus likened it to a vine and the branches.
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” –John 15:4
The more that we can remain in Him and stay connected in Him the more fruit we will bear in our lives. This is the practice of staying connected with the Lord throughout your day. It’s practicing the Presence of God. Brother Lawrence taught about the practice of keeping God in his mind when he was doing dishes or everyday activities. Frank Laubach would try to remember the Lord every minute of his day. I can remember the first time I heard about this and I took on the challenge. I’ll tell you it is difficult but the more you can do this the more you can just come back into the cycle of worship better prepared. It’s easier and easier if you can learn to practice these keys on a regular basis. The more we can remain in Him the easier it is to bypass so many of these other keys and to go right into revering His Presence once again which leads us to respond in worship.
Key #11 - Repeat as Needed
As I said before, it really is a cycle. Your heart will need different preparation at different times. There will be times where there’s no obstacle other times there will be. There are times when the enemy’s voice is loud and you need to refuse him. There are times in your life where you’ll be more distracted than others. There will be hard times or uneasiness where you need to release control. The ultimate goal here is to stay connected with the Lord to allow our hearts to be softened and prepared enough to respond in worship.
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