“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise
– the fruit of lips that confess His name.”
Hebrews 13:15
Have you ever been talking to someone but you know they aren’t really listening. They may be nodding their head and saying, “yeah” at the right moment, but really they’re looking over your shoulder or they are mentally off into a different world? Their body may be present, but their mind isn’t? When that happens to me, I feel unimportant, angry and disrespected, don’t you?
I remember an experience I had with my friend, Nicol Smith Sponberg years ago when she was a part of a Christian group called Selah. Nicol and I went to the same church and as we were talking after the service, she said something about worshipping God that I’ve never forgotten and that forever changed the way I viewed praise and worship. She said, “Leslie, you know, it’s just as easy to sing a lie as it is to tell a lie.” Nicol and I had been talking about being present when we prayed and praised God. Do we just sing the words on the screen without really meaning them all the while thinking about where we’ll go to lunch after church or who the cute guy is three rows up? When we pray do we just repeat words that we memorized as children, not putting much thought into what’s coming out of our mouths? In other words, do we really mean what we’re singing and saying? Are we even present in the presence of Christ? Is our body there, but our minds elsewhere?
If Jesus was physically standing before you right now, would you make eye contact and give Him the honor and respect He deserves? Of course you would – and so would I. When we pray and give praise and worship to Him, the situation is no different. We are standing before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If you want to have an encounter with Christ; if you want to experience intimacy and grow in Him; if you desire to know Him better and truly want to experience His power, you must learn to practice the presence of Christ. Take whatever time you need before you pray or before your church service to get rid of all distractions and give God all things on your heart so that when you are worshipping Him you can have a clear mind and mean the words you are singing to Him. In doing so, you will experience a closeness with God unlike you’ve ever experienced.
Since that conversation with Nicol so many years ago, I close my eyes when I sing during praise and worship so I’m not distracted by so-in-so’s two-foot wide hat, or that new outfit my friend has on, or the unruly child next to her. I also, gulp, sit in one of the front rows to minimize such distractions. That’s because I want my worship time with God to be uninterrupted, focused solely on Him. Taking simple precautions to protect my time with God have been of great benefit to my spiritual growth over the years, and it will be for you too. Hebrews 13:15 tells us to offer God a “sacrifice of praise” – that is because we must sacrifice our will, our body, soul, and mind that are divided in a hundred different areas and bring them to Him as one in order to praise Him as a whole.
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