Week of June 27, 2010

  • Pastor Duane Cross
  • Jun 27, 2010

PATHWAYS

In a wonderful book by Bill Hybels, Courageous Leadership, the author describes 7 different pathways through which people learn and connect with God.  In the next few weeks, I would like to share them with you.  Sacred pathways are like doors that open into a room where we can feel particularly close to God.  We all have different personalities and spiritual gifts, maybe in understanding your pathway to God; you will be able to revitalize your own walk with God.

THE WORSHIP PATHWAY

            In recent years I’ve become friends with a business leader from another state.  Though he’s been a Christian since childhood, he really didn’t understand worship until a few years ago.  He had attended the same church most of his adult life, but the whole twenty-year experience had left him feeling empty.  He’d grown in knowledge from the teaching at his church, but despite having a full head he had an empty heart.

            One Sunday a friend invited him to visit a church on the other side of town.  The friend’s church was one that worshiped “in the spirit.”  Actually, they worshiped with a lot of spirit!  My hard-core businessman friend experienced a strange phenomenon at that church.  For the first several weeks he bawled like a baby throughout the entire worship service.  He had no clue what was happening to him.  He thought maybe he’d blown a midlife gasket.

            But eventually it started making sense to him.  He concluded that his heart had been so starved for God-honoring worship that when he finally experienced it, it was like a dam broke inside of him and a new wave of the Holy Spirit’s activity flooded his life.

            Eventually he joined a church like the one he had visited with his friend.  He had to.  And these days, whenever he has a yearning to feel the presence of God, whenever he has a big marketplace decision to make and wants to be sure he gets it right, or whenever he has a full heart and wants to let it overflow in praise to God he takes a half dozen worship CDs and goes for a long drive in his car.  Occasionally he ends up pulling over to the side of the road because the presence of God so completely overwhelms him that he can no longer drive.  Worship is without a doubt his primary pathway to God.

            I think I could present a case that David, the author of many of the Psalms, was someone whose primary pathway to God was worship.  Remember what he wrote?

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless the Lord and may I not forget a single one of his benefits.

He redeems my life from destruction.

He crowns me with loving-kindness.

He satisfies my life with good things.

Bless the Lord you angels.

Bless the Lord all you his host.

Bless the Lord all the works of his.

Let everything that has life and breathe praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!                       --Psalm 103:1-5b, 20-21; 150:6

            I think David felt closest to God and most fully alive when he was worshiping.  Many church leaders, like David, have this worship pathway.  If they are wise they will design a spiritual formation plan that allows them to delve often into the spirit of worship.

            Now that you have some ideas about spiritual pathways, what can you do to move more consistently along your own pathway?

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