“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”
Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
The New American Standard version says, “their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote.” I instantly wondered if that is true of us as well. Are we teaching people the rules of worship only? Is our worship tradition by rote? Is our worship lip service or from the heart? How can we teach so it is from the heart?
I ask questions. Usually, the questions lead me to how can we be different and help others to be different? I have learned that it starts with me. I cannot teach something I do not know. I can fake worship. I can provide the rules. To teach worship as God desires worship, requires I first live it.
As I reflect on how my prayer life has grown, I understand better some of the struggles I have had with the mechanics. It felt mechanical. It felt like I could check off the boxes and say I had a good prayer time. Let’s see: Praised God – check; Confessed Sin – check; Prayed for others – check; Prayed for leaders and everyone else – check; Prayed for myself – check; Gave thanksgiving – check; Prayed a blanket request for whatever I missed – check; Closed in the name of Jesus- check. My prayer life was boring and lacked life.
My prayer life now is not mechanical. All the elements are still a part of my prayer life, though. The subtle difference is that instead of a checklist, I am pouring out my heart. I am talking with God about what is on my heart, rather than going through a checklist of what should be on my heart. Some days I just say God you know and we talk about things that are heavy on my heart. Three things are currently permanent fixtures of my worship/prayer life –
These three things keep my worship about God and not me. They keep my heart focused. It is not mechanical because it is from my heart. It seems formulaic, but for me it isn’t. I have found what works for me. Worship is me with God. It is enjoying the relationship God has with me. God has uniquely created each of us and that uniqueness should best be seen in our worship of Him. Rules should only be a guide and not a standard. Our intimate times with the Lord should define our worship.
I am somewhat different with each of my friends. Why? Each of my friends is different. God is subtly different with each of us. Why? Each of us is different. Let’ us bring our differences to worship and see the beautiful music it makes. It is far more beautiful than if we all follow the same rules.
Mary studied Mechanical Engineering as an undergraduate student. While studying she traded semesters working at NASA in Houston, Texas. It was while working at NASA that she felt the tug on her heart that God had another plan for her life. Upon graduation, Mary proceeded to serve as a missionary for the next 11 years of her life; she served in Greece the last two years of her service. Upon returning from Greece, she pursued her Master's degree in Counseling, which led to a job with a major university. It was while working there that God did what God faithfully does, she found herself working as an engineer again as she managed major construction projects for the university. She also pursued her Master's degree in Engineering Management and her Professional Engineering License. Mary now on her ministry and writing. When Mary left missionary service it was her desire to return to fulltime ministry one day. She had her first outline for a book in 1989 (a book she has yet to write). Her first book was published in May, 2014 with the second quickly on its heels in December, 2014. She continues to write and is developing an evangelistic series of books centered around Jesus Christ. Her prayer is that her books will bless others' relationships with our Father God and His word.