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DilSati 08-12-177 |
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Satisfy My Thirsty Soul For I am
desperate for your presence Linda
Dillow NavPress,
2007, 300 pp., ISBN 978-1-57683-390-2 |
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Linda
Dillow is the author of several books.
She and her husband lived in Europe and Asia for 17 years training Christian
leaders. She is a frequent speaker at
women's conferences. In this book,
Dillow shares her lifelong discovery that longings for both intimacy and
obedience can be met through the art and lifestyle of worship. A twelve-week study guide is included. 1.
My Thirsty Soul "My
desire to serve God was good, but my priorities were out of order. God's Word clearly says that the first and
most important thing is this: to love God with all our being (see Matthew
22:37-38). This is the first and
greatest commandment. The second
commandment is loving others, which includes ministry or works of service
(see Matthew 22:39). I had reversed
these two commandments." (18) "It's
so important to be able to say, I am
not primarily a worker for God; I am first and foremost a lover of God. This is who I am. 'All of us need to be lovers who work
rather than workers who love.'" "When our priorities become turned
around, and we place more emphasis on loving others than on loving God, we
are headed for spiritual and physical exhaustion." (19) "Beholding
is a way of becoming. As we behold
Christ, we are changed." (23)
"I prayed, God, I want to
intimately know you, wherever it takes me, whatever the cost." (24) C. S.
Lewis "couldn't understand why God wanted to be the center of affection
and attention. But then Lewis
understood that in the process of being worshipped… God communicates His
presence to men.'" (25)
"Worship is the path to experiencing the presence of God, the way
to face-to-face intimacy." (27) "Worship
is not just a specific act. It is also
a lifestyle…of bowing my life and living 'holy, holy, holy.' Worship begins in holy expectancy and ends
in holy obedience." (27)
"Worship is the lifestyle of a grateful heart." (28) 2.
My Worship "I
think of worship as spirit-to-Spirit communication." "Isaiah saw God high and lifted up,
and Isaiah was undone. Looking upward, he encountered the holiness of
the Almighty, and this trembling prophet fell to his knees. Whenever we see the holiness of God, we are
forced to look at our lack of holiness. Looking inward, Isaiah was overcome by his own sinfulness. Graciously,
God cleansed Isaiah's heart, and then he was able to look outward and respond to God's call to
'go.'" (37) "A
good definition of worship is: an
active response to God that declares His worth." (38) Victor
Hugo speaking of the godly bishop in Les
Miserables, "He did not study God: he was dazzled by Him." (41) "In
prayer we are occupied with our needs, in thanksgiving we are occupied with
our blessings, but in worship we are totally occupied with God Himself."
(45, quoting A. P. Gibb) "Worship
is our love responding to God's love." (46) 3.
My Soul Finds Stillness Worship
God with the ABCs of worship: (51) Almighty, Amazing, Abba Benevolent, Brilliant, Beautiful … We have
difficulty finding stillness among the clamor. Thomas Merton thought our leading spiritual
disease is busyness. Martha Kilpatrick
wrote "Time is the treasure of life.
Time IS life. Time is the
willing sacrifice that you offer up to the worship of what you love. Don’t tell me what you love. Tell me where you spend your TIME and I'll
tell YOU what you love." (55) Our
internal chaos is restlessness. Our
minds won't stop. But
"restfulness is a form of awareness, a way of being amid the noise of
life." (56) "For me intimacy with God begins when
I quiet my heart, stop, and know that He is God." "My prayer is ever, Lord, take me
deeper. Take me deeper in what it
means to worship you. Take me deeper
into your presence." (58) "Ask
the Father to help you recognize the 'little solitudes' in your day…"
(62) Quiet your mind by writing
distracting thoughts in a notebook, reading a psalm or other Scripture
passage, or praying out loud. Let go
of external clamor by listening to quiet worship music through
headphones. (65) 4.
Expanding My Worship Experience Worship
and prayer flow together. Start and
end with worship. The Lord's Prayer
has more words of worship than of request. (75) My
knowledge of God limits my worship because I worship based on my
understanding of Him. (77) Ask God to give you a picture of who He
is. "Whenever I have a 'Quiet
Time' and whenever I pray, I imagine the Lord Jesus himself close beside me,
and then I speak to him as if I saw him face to face." (83, quoting
Hannah Hurnard) 5.
I Bow My Life The
Continental Divide of questions: Is your life 100 percent surrendered to God?
(93) "Of
course, the Lord delights when I tell Him that I love Him, but Jesus made it
clear that if my words of love are authentic, I will live out my love by
obeying His commands. Obedience
motivated by love differs greatly from obedience motivated by duty."
(102) "Obedience involves
listening attentively with a heart of submission and then obeying God's Word
and His voice." (103) 6.
I Bow My Words "All
creation worships, but only God's special creation, man and woman, can
worship with words." (112)
Language is a great privilege.
(113) "Just
as we each have patterns of sinful behavior, we also have a pattern of sin in
our words. For some the pattern is
sarcasm, for others criticism, for still others negativism. For me it is speaking when I
shouldn't." (116) "Very
often when I inquire of God, 'Should I say this?' His message to me is, 'I
will fight for you while you keep silent' (Exodus 14:14)" "Because
I want emotional relief, I plunge in and speak quickly--and I get in God's
way." (117) 7.
I Bow My Attitude "Attitude
is our mental and emotional response to the circumstances of life." "I believe the single most significant
decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude."
(128, quoting Chuck Swindoll) "Jesus
equates giving thanks with giving glory to God. To Him, giving thanks is a BIG deal!"
(133) Some
suggestions for cultivating a thankful attitude: • Make a thankful list. • Count your blessings • Put up a reminder sign • Wrap a gift and keep it by your
bed as a reminder • Ask God for "triggers"
to be thankful 8.
I Bow My Work "To
work is to worship; to worship is to work." "Whatever you do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17)" (147) How do we see our work? Three key
questions: "How do I define success?
Do I see my work as significant?
Do I see some work as more sacred than other work?" (148) 9.
I Bow My Times of Waiting The
hardest waiting is waiting on God. How
long will it be? How much
anguish? We never know. (163) "Ask
any mother. It is easier to do
anything than to just sit and wait on God on behalf of your
children." "There is joy in
being a lifegiver; it is a privilege.
It is also a liability, because by trying to prevent pain in the lives
of those we love, we can become a stumbling stone and block God's higher
purposes. It is a difficult yet
necessary lesson to learn. While God
often calls us to put in place general rules of protection, He does not call
us to categorically prevent the ones we love from hurting. It is
not our place to keep the ones we love from hurting." (169) "The
Hebrew word for wait means to twist or stretch, and includes the idea of the
tension of enduring. It means to look
forward with confident hope to that which is good and beneficial. The connotation evokes two images: connection
and tension." (170) 10. I Bow My Pain "Certainly
the last thing on your mind is that God's response when you delight Him is to
lead you into a place of deep pain.
Yet this is exactly what happened to Jesus." (Mark 1:12) "The way to God's presence often
involves sorrow and suffering and time in a desert." (184) "In my naïveté as a young believer, I
thought abundant [life], meant no detours, no desert time, and no pain."
(185) "A major theme in the Bible
is how to live in the midst of trials, pressures, and pain." (185) "We
see two parts to God's comfort. First,
He comforts us, then we are able to comfort others." (187) Oswald
Chambers says, "God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says, 'I
will be with him in trouble.'" (194)
When in
pain sing songs of praise, claim Scripture, weep before God, and persevere--don't
give up. (199-201) 11. I Bow My Will As
opposed to a typical teenage attitude that is self-centered, independent and
resistant, a trusting one is God-centered, dependent, and submissive. (207) "A
'Trusting One' humbly bows her will to God's will. Bowing my will is so hard to do, yet I am
convinced this is the deepest form of worship. When I bow my will in worship, I put feet
to my faith." (207) True
heart sacrifice involves identifying something precious to us, letting go of
our control over it, embracing God's love in the process of release, and
resting in the outcome, even if we never understand. (215) 12. Drawn Into His Presence The
secret longing of every heart is face-to-face intimacy. The grand surprise is that worship ushers
us into the presence of God. "Hidden in worship is His presence."
(227) "Every secret choice you
made to bow before your Father God, is a step toward intimacy with Him."
(229) "I have the privilege of fellowshipping with the Creator of the
universe!" (Revelation 3:20)
(229) Worship
is purposeful pursuit of Him. "In
a scheduled appointment, I take the initiative. I am purposeful and intentional. I come to meet with my loving Father. In a surprise encounter, God comes to meet
with me. It's as if the roles are
reversed. As amazing as it sounds, God
is purposeful in His pursuit of me! He
longs for intentional intimacy with me!"
(133) Thomas
Kelly, Frank Laubach, and Brother Lawrence wrote about living on two
levels. "There is a way of ordering
our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking,
discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external
affairs. But deep within, behind the
scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song
and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings." (240,
quoting Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion) |
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