When We Respond

One of my favorite moments of Sunday morning was our time of prayer at the end of the song "Great Are You, Lord." There are times when everything clicks together perfectly, in a beautiful expression of the heart of our church as we worship God. We sang together "And all the earth will shout your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, 'Great are You, Lord!'" Then members of the Global Team directed our prayers for the people of India, refugees in Nebraska, schoolchildren in the UAE, and international college students in Lincoln. The song helped focus our prayers like a strong melody or lyric can do, and the prayer brought the song greater relevance and urgency because this is where we are as a church. These are the people we are in contact with, and these opportunities are given us for a reason.

Whenever we sing, my hope and prayer is that the song will prompt us all to worship in some way. It might be a conviction of the Holy Spirit to do something more, to take a step of faith, to rearrange priorities, to make that difficult phone call, to prepare a meal for our neighbor, to give above and beyond, or to pray for that one person you met last week. We only have an hour together most weeks in corporate praise: I want to make sure those songs count for something, if we're going to spend time singing them. More than catchy melodies and memorable lyrics are the moments within a song when we hear from God and respond from our hearts. And when we are open to God's prompting, and obedient in our response, then will we be able "to transform our world through Jesus by connecting, developing and mobilizing people for God's glory."

What songs are God prompting in you this week? How are you responding? May we respond together, that all the earth would shout God's praise!