We’re down to the last step in Worship Renewal – Pray! It seems like a no-brainer to say that this should be the first step. But think about it this way: Before a concert, the bands that are playing do a sound check…with the band playing first sound checking last. The reverse order let’s you set up the pinnacle of the concert, then gives you the starting point. So it is with Worship Renewal – we’ve set up the concept and put the pieces in place. Now it’s time for the starting point.
Steve Fee hinted in the last section that worship renewal begins on the personal level. And for that to happen on a personal level, we must be in prayer. Kenn Gullicksen – leader and teacher from the Jesus Movement and founder of the first Vineyard church in West Los Angeles – writes:
“We were created to experience an unbroken and intimate love relationship with our Father, and to live and serve from the overflow of that relationship. … We have been grafted into a vine/branch union, and prayer is the joint that connects the vine (Jesus) to the branch (us). Without prayer there is no life, let alone renewal. Prayer is the most important thing we do, or fail to do.”
Kenn gives us four ways to make this a reality in our lives:
- Show up – Choose to accept the invitation to rest, commune, and receive…and stop making excuses!
- Agree – Be honest, confess, repent, and ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart.
- Receive – Let God be your breath, His word be your daily bread, and let His mercy a grace flood your life
- Serve from the overflow – If you get to this point, you will be compelled to give away what you’ve experienced in Christ!
Kenn concludes: “Ultimately, then, prayer/abiding is our connection to the ongoing work of continual personal and corporate renewal.” Will you join me as we connect with a Holy, living God and seek God’s direction for First Trinity?
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