God is enthroned in the praises of us His children (Psalms 22:3). This means that as we praise and worship God, we predictably experience the manifest Presence of Him that is upon the throne in heaven. The wonderful benefit of feeling the Person of God in our midst should alone be enough to inspire many to become true worshippers. That is the pursuit of LAT, and it will always be; especially since we have now tasted great worship and the accompanying tangible glory of God.
To give God our highest praise and our best worship must be the deepest desire of our hearts. As a local church, when we got that in perspective, God responded by sending us a spirit of worship. It is only recently that we began to see the work of that helping spirit who is working from the top downwards – from the worship team to the congregation.
When that spirit came, one of his/her first accomplishments was to get Apostle John E Eziel to be in charge of selecting the songs. Then she lovingly kicked out those in the team who could not comply with her demands. This was followed by supernaturally bringing great worshippers from other churches to LAT.
We thank God for Richard Ddamba; the moment he came to LAT and later joined the choir, so much changed for the better. Then came Pheona Emoje, after she received a dream instructing her to be part of LAT. Recently, Praise Asasira with her powerful soprano voice obeyed a dream she had last year, in which God was leading her to hand over leading worship at her church and begin ministering at LAT. And of course you all know Kenneth Babu. If anyone had any doubts about him, what he did to and for us on Sunday should settle all unbelief - the young man is superb. I actually learnt after the service that it was him who had handled song selection. May God bless him for the blessing he is to us.
Now, in order for us to worship God the way He would want us, we need to have in mind what Joan Isoke taught us on Sunday the 19th of March 2017.
First and foremost, we should know who our audience is; it is God, the One who sits on the throne (Revelations 4). That also means we must get to know God, for we must know What we are worshipping (John 4:22).
Secondly, we need to make use of God’s goodness to us. It is the experiences of God working in our lives that should help us worship Him sincerely. After the Israelites were delivered from the bondage in Egypt and Pharaoh’s army drowned in the sea, Moses and Miriam worshipped God in song. Based on that awesome experience of deliverance, Israel worshipped the Lord (Exodus 15). When Noah came out of the ark, he offered sacrifices to God (Genesis 8). I am sure that was in response to him having been spared from the destruction of the flood. May we too worship God for all His awesome works in our lives.
The third thing Joan taught us was that we need to be passionate in our worship. The woman who poured on Jesus her very precious ointment did so passionately; she washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair and went further to kiss them (Luke 7). That was passionate worship, and passionate worshippers we should be.
The fourth requirement of worshippers as taught again by Joan is closely linked with the latter; we should have the commitment to offer our very best to the One that is so worthy. The very first time the word worship is used in Bible is when Abraham was going to sacrifice his best – his one and only beloved son, Isaac (Genesis 22). I pray that we too, a holy and royal priesthood, shall always give the best sacrifices of praise and worship to God. God is the best that ever was and will be, so He deserves nothing but the best. Hallelujah.
Last but not least, before and during worship, we should expect a throne-room experience (Revelation 4). “He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him,” Hebrews 11:6. Knowing that you are going to encounter God will help you put value on your worship. Glory to God.
To our great worship team, please keep up the great work. As for the rest of us, we too must seek to grow in worship. We have all the help we need – the spirit of worship, Kenneth, Ddamba, Praise, Pheona and the other team members. In that, God will be pleased.
God bless you.