MINISTERING TO YOU
The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17 New King James Version).
Who doesn’t enjoy being serenaded? My husband loves to serenade me. He will take any one of his many nicknames for me and turn it into a sweet little love song, many times complete with a few choice dance moves. I enjoy his creative songs and dances of appreciation, they make me feel loved, and always bring a smile and giggle to my lips! And the best part is it doesn’t matter where we are, my husband will dance and sing for me anywhere. I try to pretend I am annoyed sometimes, but secretly I am flattered!
Have you ever been to a church service in which one song just spoke to you? I mean, the melody touched your inner spirit and woke something up, or the lyrics said everything you wanted to say but couldn’t find the words. Perhaps, the lyrics answered a prayer you didn’t even know you had spoken? You just didn’t want this song to end, and you sung or hummed it all throughout the week, recalling the peace and love you felt during the service? God loves to minister to us through song. He sends His Holy Spirit to whisper to us through melody, lyric and instrument. This is His way of serenading us! He comes among us, singing. When He ministers through music, the Holy Spirit moves and His tangible presence is felt, especially by the ones He is ministering to. The sweet serenade of the Lord is wonderful to experience and wonderful to witness, and while He is singing, we just don’t want it to stop!
Sometimes we can be so caught up in form, schedules, songs to match the message and having the perfect service we forget God doesn’t always adhere to our plans. When we become rigid and inflexible in not allowing the Holy Spirit to minister, we hinder the powerful work He is doing in someone’s spiritual life. If the message is on love or faith, but God desires to remind us of His sovereignty and majesty, we must not ignore the promptings of the Spirit in order to pick worship and praise music to fit the message, or we miss out on something wonderful God wants to do. Cutting off the song just as the Spirit begins to minister leaves those being ministered to feeling disjointed and hungry for more. We need to be flexible and open to the promptings of God, not only those of us who sit in the congregation, but also those of us who lead. We need to come to church, or any gathering of the saints and even our own prayer times with a sense of expectancy, of longing, of watchfulness and of openness, looking for what God has in store for us. He has our best interests in mind and we need to be mindful of His flow and His ways of ministry. He rejoices over us with singing and gladness! Why not lift up your hands, lift up your face and just allow the Lord to serenade you?
Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, You are awesome and mighty! You are beautiful and Your voice is beautiful! Sing over us, Lord, rejoice over us! Minister to us and empower us to minister to others! Thank You for Your songs of love, for Your Spirit, for Your strength and endurance! We praise You and exalt Your holy name, Lord, we acknowledge You as our source of all we have and all we can accomplish! Father, it is our prayer that those that lead are tuned to Your Spirit, following Your lead, becoming flexible and attentive to Your will. Father, may those that serve You serve with all their hearts and minds and strength and put themselves aside for You. May Your leaders be engaging, humble and filled with Your Spirit. May those that join the saints feel Your presence, become unburdened, receive Your blessings, Your word, Your teaching; may those that teach bring forth Your word and not their own. May there be personal revival among the saints and may they press into You more and more! Raise up Your Church, Father, sing over us, rejoice over us, teach us, reveal Yourself to us! We give You all glory and honor, in Jesus sweet name, Amen.
Today’s Attitude of Worship: Listen for God’s voice singing over you, rejoicing over you! It’s not always going to be during Sunday service, perhaps you woke up with a song on your lips, or heard one on the radio, or maybe you have a new song in your heart. Let Him minister to You!
Additional Scriptures: Psalm 46:10