Planning ahead is a vital part of worship.
I wrote last week about preparing physically for worship in order that you might be ready spiritually for worship. You can read those suggestions for physical preparation here. http://waylonbailey.com/2011/11/getting-ready-for-sunday/.
Today, let’s think how you spend the week getting ready to worship with the people of God. Here’s the principle that I hope that you will see today.
Everything that you do this week will affect how you worship God this weekend.
As you worship God privately and individually, you will be preparing to worship God publicly and corporately.
What can you do during the week to get prepared for worship of God publicly and corporately?
First, set your mind on worship. In a sense, what you think about you will become. If you have a goal that you want to achieve, your thinking about the goal will help you do the things necessary to reach the goal.
Our goal should be to please God with our worship. As we think during the week about worship, we will be getting our heart set on “things above, where Christ is seated at right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).
We all know just how difficult this is. The speed and difficulty of life makes thinking about anything in the future difficult. We get caught up in what we have to do today and find it difficult to prepare for the coming weekend. Fortunately, our Lord knows what human existence is like. He knows that Satan wants to remove spiritual things from our thought process. He knows that we will experience difficulty because of the life-events that keep us from spiritual things. It’s “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things [which] come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19).
Second, use your private and individual worship to move you toward public and corporate worship. Pray for your pastor, your Bible study teacher, and your church in general. Remember that those who lead in spiritual things are vulnerable in the same way as you are. Let your prayer for true worship on your part be a daily event as you anticipate the time of worship.
One word of warning. Satan uses our “concerns for the church” to keep us from worship. Don’t dwell on the weaknesses of leadership or the needs of the church. If you get side tracked by your concerns, you will not think about God’s concerns. Worship is getting spiritually ready to meet with God. Paul counseled the church at Colossae to “Set your minds on things above, not earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). Simply pray for God’s blessings and God’s visitation in your church. More than anything, ask God to speak to your heart.
Third, help your family get ready spiritually as well. Use your family times of prayer to help prepare your children. Pray for lost people to know God. Invite someone to attend with you. All of this enhances worship and prepares us to meet with God publicly.
What do you do to prepare spiritually to worship God? Please leave a comment below.
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