Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. -Psalm 98:4 (NASB)

I have a friend who couldn’t carry a tune if she were provided a horse and cart to put it in…but she sings songs of praise to the Lord anyway. She would really belt it out, too!

From a worldly point of view, she wouldn’t win any singing contests, but from the Lord’s point of view, her singing is honest and heartfelt in its joy, love, and worship of Him. And that is true music, when it comes from the heart.

Everything we say, think, and do in our lives are notes of a lifesong. Some notes are in tune. Some are way off. And when we stray, it’s like a record player needle scratching across the record. But we can slow down and honestly, joyfully, purposefully, shout to the Lord with our lives!

Today’s soundtrack

“Shout To The Lord” by Darlene Zsechech honestly proclaims His majesty from the heart.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. -Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)

Remember when you first learned how to drive? It was exciting and new! You studied driving laws, and learned about all the signs and lights and safety issues. You were hyper-alert about the aspects of driving.

Fast forward to today, after having driven for years. It’s not even a thought to jump in the car and drive anywhere…and do things you would never do in the beginning. Some people eat and read while driving. Some people look back while fishing for items in the back seat as the car is rolling forward. And some drive with their knees, to hold the wheel steady or even steer a little as they’re doing something other than driving.

Maybe you do some of these things. Maybe I have, too. We can spiritually sloppy as well, and it can creep up on us just the same way we find out that we’re driving down the freeway without both hands on the wheel.

This post is a wakeup call, to snap out of the spiritual funk and laziness. If your prayers are increasingly formulaic and you’re maybe saying them without passion behind every word…you might be driving with your knees. If you’ve drifted away from fellowshipping and reading God’s word, it’s time to snap out of it!

Let’s get that passion and excitement back, and focused attention on Him once more, so that all we say and do points to Him. Let’s get both hands back on the spiritual wheel.

Today’s soundtrack

One of my all-time favorites, “Live Like That” by Sidewalk Prophets. May it refresh your walk every time you hear it!

For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. -Hosea 6:6 (NASB)

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. -Micah 6:6-8 (NIV)

Everyone knows the song The Little Drummer Boy, who has nothing to bring to the baby Jesus but the sound of his drum.

Little Drummer Boy brings only his song. That’s all he has…what’s from his heart. That’s what the Lord wants of us…our lifesong. A life lived as a song of praise to Him. He wants us and our hearts, not offerings and sacrifices. Anyone can give offerings and sacrifices, but without your heart in it, they are meaningless lip service.

For the One who gave His only Son so that we may live, can we not live our lives as a song for Him?

Today’s soundtrack

The Pentatonix rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” is powerful.

The Lord says: “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. -Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)

I got the storybook Good Good Father (by Chris Tomlin and Pat Barrett) to read my son to sleep, and it’s become his favorite lately. But the book doesn’t just teach young believers, but convict and remind older believers about what really matters.

In the book, a young bear named Tucker wants to help his friends, who are fighting, sick, hungry, illiterate, and sad. Not sure how to help them, he has a thought: The good King might help them, if Tucker could find the perfect gift to bring him.

Along the way, various animals stop him to tell him that the King is a good warrior, teacher, doctor, farmer, and musician, and they give him what they believe are the perfect offerings to the king. Tucker is confused, and brings all the gifts with him to the King.

The King runs to Tucker, welcoming him and telling him he brought the perfect gift. As Tucker and the King head out to help his friends, Tucker still puzzles inside over which gift was the perfect one.

Along the way, Tucker asks the King if he’s all the things that the animals said he was…and the King replied affirmatively to all of his questions. After the King helped and showed his love for all of Tucker’s friends, Tucker now understood that the King was indeed all of those things, because he was a Good Good Father.

Finally, Tucker has to know: Which gift was the perfect gift? (Do you know the answer?)

The King replied that Tucker was the perfect gift, not any of the things he brought! Tucker came to the King for help in faith. Likewise, God wants us to come to Him unadorned, without what we think are the perfect prayers, motions, offerings, or gifts. He wants our genuine, heartfelt worship and relationship with him.

We’re like Tucker. We just need to come as we are.

Get this book on Amazon »

Today’s soundtrack

Crowder’s “Come As You Are” reminds us to come to God alone.

Did this song move you? Consider buying it on Amazon Music »

In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. -‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:9‬ ‭(NLT)

This agent has a soft spot for jazz standards. One particular Cole Porter song from 1932, “Night and Day,” was sung by Fred Astaire to Ginger Rogers in a hilarious musical comedy movie (1934’s “The Gay Divorcée,” about a happy divorcée) but my favorite version was sung decades later by Frank Sinatra.

Decades later, I discovered the song after watching that Astaire-Rogers film, which then led me to the Sinatra version. In the song, Frank tells a woman about how he thinks of her night and day, and how he cannot have peace till he can romance her night and day. (The song’s wording is “making love,” which didn’t mean what it means today.)

What if we had the same passion, fervor, and obsession with worshiping God? What if our souls would also feel tormented unless we lived our nights and days in worship to Him?

Our world is obsessed with elevating other people, but if we could obsess over elevating Him night and day, what miracles He could make in our lives and in the world!

Today’s soundtrack

“The Only Name (Yours Will Be)” by Big Daddy Weave praises Him as we constantly should.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. -Psalms 119:15 (NIV)

At the time of this writing (November 2015), there’s a dwindling furor over a Starbucks Christmas cup. The redesigned cup was minimally designed, removing various decorations, like snowflakes. A movement began among some Christians that Starbucks was attacking Jesus.

Soon after, terrorist attacks took place in Paris, taking the lives of over one hundred innocent people. This was a coordinated attack, killing victims in six different locations throughout the capital.

While I would argue that the cup controversy was a nonissue (as one statement said, it’s our job as Christians to show God’s love, and not Starbucks’), the terrorist attacks most certainly merit serious prayer and love.

The most important things that come to mind for this agent is that:

• We live as embedded agents in a dark world of those who hate us, who are children of the light. It is a given that we walk in the midst of hate, idolatry, and dark things that do not glorify the Lord.
• What we can do is not to lose sight of the Lord when we look at trivial and serious matters that happen in this world.

No matter what happens around us, staying focused on Him gives us an anchor for our souls while the rest of the world is in turmoil.

You shall have no other gods before me. -Exodus 20:3 (NIV)

When we think of idols, the obvious first thought is of the golden calf that Aaron and others smelted and worshiped while Moses was on Mount Sinai.

But we have many, many idols that may not be so conspicuous in our eyes, but also distract us from God. Some of us slavishly follow celebrities, or money, or cars, or jobs, or even other people in our lives. Maybe it’s harboring grudges, or anger, or telling gossip. And some of us, without knowing it, may idolize ourselves, inflating ourselves in our minds.

When we do that, and then worship God, are we totally focused on Him?

Nothing and no one should usurp God’s first place in our hearts. When we take away everything and everyone else from your life, God is the only constant. Jesus is our rock, the living Word that lights our path so we know how to live and where to step.

When I start going down a rabbit hole of obsessing over anything but my thirst for God and how to make Him known, I’m already straying. I have to stop and go back to basics: it’s all about Jesus. When I do that, He puts everything else in its proper perspective, and those other things and people I was worrying about dissolve away.

It’s all about you, Jesus!

Today’s soundtrack

Matt Redman’s “Heart of Worship” takes us back to basics.

The Lord says: “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. -Isaiah‬ ‭29‬:‭13‬ (NIV)

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. -Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37-38‬ (NIV)

God is not fooled when your heart isn’t in it for Him, or if it’s in the wrong place.

Following yesterday’s post about Mary and Martha, where Martha let her own busyness be an obstacle to authentic worship, there is an even more sinister detour that can happen if you stay too busy for too long.

You can stop caring, and just go through the motions. You can start singing songs of worship to be seen and heard by others, but not for Him first. You can publicly pray and read your bible to get affirmations and pats on your back.

You start putting presentation first. Remember who else did that? The Pharisees. Jesus didn’t think too much of them.

First and foremost, we were made by Him to worship Him. All else is a distant second.

God wants our authentic, heartfelt worship: heart, soul, and mind. It doesn’t have to be fancy or sophisticated or shiny. It just needs to be real. Let’s do it.

Today’s soundtrack

This satire song is funny, but also biting in identifying people we all know in church who seem to not be there for God first. Take a look.