As I was searching for some content to share on the social media pages, I saw this picture with the phrase “Worship While you Wait.” I thought to myself “this is my life right now.” A similar thing I have heard is that when God closes one door and you’re waiting for another to open, worship in the hallway.
I am in the hallway waiting for the next job opportunity. Countless applications, countless rejections and only 1 interview has made this quite a frustrating process. I am still doing Uber/Lyft and praying daily that my car can handle the wear and tear of 200-250 miles a day. On top of that, I’ve been single for the last 6 1/2 years so that’s another hallway I’m hanging out in. I'm in the hallway waiting for financial breakthrough and stability. But one thing I haven’t stopped doing is worshipping God.
Now my primary form of "worship" is through worship music. Most times it’s me in the car just BLASTING it and singing my heart out (and hoping no one hears me completely miss ALL the high notes). Sometimes there’s moments where tears are streaming down my face and it’s usually a gratitude thing, but there have been times when it was a “God, I need you now” moment too. I shared a meme about that recently that cracked me up but it’s so true. Go check out IG and FB for that. I had a whole moment driving through Mont Belvieu the other day and when I tell you I did NOT care about the hundreds of cars all around me – Jesus and I were having a MOMENT – windows down and all due to the nice weather, tears streaming down my face and I was singing loud. It was one of those moments where the Holy Spirit was moving, and I was responding to that. There are many times in which I am doing the “dry it up” routine when I am about 2 minutes away from picking someone up. For inquiring minds, that’s me wiping any tears and doing the hand-fan wave in front of my eyes and blinking a lot to help with that process, all while telling myself “Ok stop it be professional now.” I love worshipping at church because that’s a place where I can just let those tears fall when it’s that kind of moment with no fear of judgement and no care about what others around me may think.
I’d say 75% of the time I’m crying because I am remembering all that God has done for me and all that He has rescued me from. I may sing a lyric like Phil Wickham's song "Look where I am standing now." I may have a flashback to where/who I used to be, like this terrible moment in my life, and then I open my eyes and I am surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ all singing together and I just can’t contain myself.
The other 25% of the time is like I mentioned above the “God, I need you now” moments. These are moments where I am going through a storm and I just cannot take it anymore, but I know where my strength comes from. The moments where I pour out my emotions to God and let Him take the weight and replace it with peace. Sometimes it’s a pity party moment where my faith isn’t where it needs to be – but I know I can go to Jesus with that too. Or it might even be a moment where I know I messed up and here is this loving Father just waiting for me, arms open.
Then there’s the moments I can’t explain properly, I can only say that the Holy Spirit is moving in such a mighty way that tears are my response. Not every worship moment is with tears though. Sometimes I’ll just bust out laughing because I get hit with this overwhelming joy. Sometimes I feel this wave of peace wash over me and I am just calm and relaxed. But one thing I do know is worship ALWAYS draws me closer to God and brings me into His presence.
Another thing about Worship – it is a weapon against the enemy. You see, the devil oversaw this area before he was cast out of heaven. If there is one thing he hates, it’s worship and worship music. If you listen to some of the secular music today and pay close attention to the lyrics, you’ll realize it’s demonic. Not all secular music of course but today there’s a lot of blatant lyrics and a lot of hidden lyrics. Pay close attention to what you are listening to and what you are coming into agreement with. After my whole moment in Mont Belvieu, I took the passenger where she was going and afterwards, I started thinking about things. I had intended to start praying more over specific neighborhoods since I do a whole lot of driving around them every day. I used to do this all the time before Uber/Lyft too. I started out doing it the first day then fell off with it. So, I was just talking to God about that when He told me “Your worship is a weapon against the enemy. You are changing the atmosphere with it.” So that of course motivated me even more to praise God the rest of the evening.
So here is my encouragement to you, reader. Whether you are in a storm, coming out of a storm, or just going into a storm – worship Him through it. Don’t let the enemy take that from you. Sometimes it’s going to change your whole mood and you get hit with that spirit of joy or peace right away, and sometimes it’s going to just be a whole tear-filled session of pouring your heart out to Him and Him showering you with His love. But 1 thing I can promise you is that if you cry out to God He will answer. He’s not always going to do it in the way we think or on our timing, but He will always answer ANYONE who cries out to Him, regardless of who they are or where they are in their life.
If you’re like me and you’re stuck in this hallway wondering what in the world is going on, praise Him. Thank Him for the trial. I KNOW that’s not easy, trust me. One of my struggles has been knowing that I serve the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but I can’t pay the mortgage this month. (And yes, I tithe and give and have above and beyond for years. I’m not perfect in the area of stewardship but also not blowing money on useless things.) But do you know what got me? The lyrics of a song, “Believe” by Blessing Offor (https://youtu.be/cskhNiE_NPQ)
“So, you catch me when I fall, right? And you hear me when I call cryin'? And you fix me when I'm broke, right? And that's all I need to know. So, the storm is gonna break right? And the sun is gonna start shining. And everything is gonna go right. And that's all I need to know. But what if you know something I don't? What if you will something I won't? If you don't give me what I want. But you give me what I need, is that enough to … believe in your love?... Do I want you or what you can do for me?...Do I love you or what you can do for me?”
Those lyrics sure hit me hard, and I recommend you go listen to that song yourself. It had me asking those questions of myself. Do I love God for what He can do for me, or do I love Him for who He is? Do I really think that He owes me something when I owe Him everything? You see God sees the beginning and the end. We don’t see the whole picture. When we’re in these struggles and crying out to Him to calm the wind and the waves we have to remember that He isn’t always going to answer right away. It doesn’t mean He doesn’t care, in fact it’s the opposite. God loves us enough to care more about us building character – something that lasts forever – than to care about our temporary comforts. He does care about our needs, and He will provide in His way, on His timing. But if we never go through anything, how will we build faith?
I’m getting a little off track here but my whole point is the title of this blog – Worship while you wait. And yes, worship is not just singing to the Lord, it’s also reading the Word, spending time in silence listening to His voice, honoring Him throughout the day, thanking Him, and more. The whole point of worship is to elevate God above ourselves and above our problems. It’s making sure God is in His rightful place in our lives – first. No matter what your struggle looks like, God’s got this. Don’t stop worshipping Him. Choose to trust Him. Even if you have to say it 100 times in a row (that’s me sometime) – “God I trust you, God I TRUST you, God I trust you with this financial situation, God I trust you with this relationship, God I trust you with this marriage, God I trust you with my kids, God I trust you with everything” – say it until you believe it. Nothing confuses the enemy more than when you praise amid a storm. When you say “God no matter what happens, you are good” it doesn’t make sense not just to the enemy, but to people around us too. Sometimes how we behave in the storm is one of the greatest witnesses we can have. When we’re on the verge of losing everything and we’re singing in praise to Jesus, that’s going to turn some heads and raise some questions.
Worship when you don’t feel like it. That might mean just playing a song. You know one of my favorite worship songs of all time is a newer one, “Gratitude” by Brandon Lake (https://youtu.be/dQdfs5S6jyA) In that song he sings:
“So come on, my soul.
Oh, don't you get shy on me
Lift up your song
'Cause you've got a lion inside of those lungs.
Get up and praise the Lord”!
We all need to sing those words at times as a reminder.
So, if you’re in the hallway it’s nice to meet you. My name is Brandi and I’ll be the one praising loudly until the right door opens. Because I’m sure not about to try to force my way into the wrong one and I am not going back through the door that He just closed. Neither should you. Trust God in the waiting. Know that He sees so much more than we do. He has not forgotten about you, my friend. He’s in the hallway with us. He is watching to see how we’re going to handle this trial. He won’t let us drown I promise. Keep your eyes on the eternal prize, not what this world has to offer. I’ll take my mansion in heaven over one here any day. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36 NIV)
I’ve had to come to terms with the idea of “even if” here in the hallway. Even if we lose everything – God is still faithful. It wasn’t my “stuff” to begin with. He won’t let us go hungry and somehow someway there will be a roof over our heads. Even if I stay single another 5 years, I trust that God’s plan is a lot better than me hopping into a relationship that was never meant for me. Even if – insert your own struggle – I will trust God and He is still good. Now at the same time I’m not coming into agreement with any lies of the enemy so let me make sure that line is drawn. God can and will bless us abundantly because of His love for us, but He’s not going to give us something we aren’t mature enough to steward properly. And He also loves all His kids, so we may be in this place because one of His kids is here and needs us to be the one to bring them to know Jesus. There is surely nothing that our God can’t do – He is the God of the impossible. And He sees the whole picture where we only see one tiny little piece. But maybe that’s one of the lessons for me in this season, the “even if.” Maybe it’s yours too. Either way, let’s worship the Lord together.
Comment below - what are some of the ways that you worship God? What are your favorite worship songs right now?
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