Practice Worship and Intercessory Prayer
YWAM’s 4th Value

I am currently reading a book by Darlene Cunningham, YWAM’s Co-founder, called Values Matter. It talks about the YWAM Values, what they are and why they are important. Here at Ywam River City Lynchburg Ark, we are beginning to take turns teaching the different Values, reminding ourselves what they are. Value four is the one I will be teaching so I thought I would share it with you. Not only are these things good for us YWAMers to practice, they are healthy daily practices for all believers. Engaging these will begin to impact everything around you, including your own personal walk with the Lord.

Part #1: Practice Worship

Darlene explains that worship is an expression of the first commandment to Lord: “love the Lord with all you heart, mind, soul, and strength.” Worship can look many different ways depending on each person and culture. Psalm 100 speaks of the many ways to worship joyfully before the Lord; you can shout, serve, and sing, and you can bring thanksgiving and praise to Him and bless His name. Psalm 95:6-7 reminds us of what the purpose of worship is, to look at who God is in reverence. It should be exuding from our very soul at all times. God takes pleasure when His bride, the Church, comes together to glorify Him. His bride is beautifully diverse, colorful, and multi-generational; it is how He created it and how He likes it. He said it was Good.  Just like we love being loved, God loves it when we tell Him we love Him and thank Him for what He has done. (Ok that is cute and all.)

He is our friend and groom, but let’s not to forget who He is: He is the God of gods.  The only God, a living God. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the Creator. He is the I Am (from beginning to end). He is the only victorious Savior. His very presence demands a response from us. We were made to worship Him with all our being. He is the reason for your existence and for your redemption. He is the only one worth being worshiped. And like Moses when he had been in the presence of God and his face shown brightly, we are to display Gods glory to others around us. We can enter His presence through worship and we will be changed. Those around us will then see His glory and the desire to know God will become contagious.

Darlene also points out that the word for work and worship are the same. So, worshiping the Lord at all times also means when you are working. (Colossians 3:23-24 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”) One thing I learned in my school of worship was that worship is really a heart posture. Now, I would even say it is a lifestyle. It is actively choosing to put your eyes on Him and acknowledging who He is and give glory to Him. You know, if we got really good at that, I bet everything else around us would feel so small and not a problem at all.

Worship is also a form of warfare against the enemy, and can also turn into prayer. Intercession comes out of seeing the heart of God for the people in the world He created and loves. It is only natural that worship and intercession go hand in hand. Then more we focus our eyes on God, the more His will reveals His heart with us, so that we can join with Him in pursuit for His world.

We will hear more about this next week; for now, my challenge is that you begin to bring worship into the rest of your day. You can even ask God how He wants that to look in your life. Invite Him to join you in your day-to-day tasks. When you are working, think of who He is or meditate on scripture or turn on worship in the background; or you can simply thank Him for who He is throughout the day. These are just some ideas; please a write in the comments what you have learned or even how you are bringing worship into today.