Purpose 1: You Were Planned for God’s View

Day8 - Planned for God’s Pleasure

You created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.(Revelation 4:11 NLT)

You were planned for God's pleasure.

The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth.

God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.

Bringing enjoyment to God, living for his pleasure, is the first purpose of your life. When you fully understand this truth, you will never again have a problem with feeling insignificant. It proves your worth. If you are that important to God, and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for eternity, what greater significance could you have? You are a child of God, and you bring pleasure to God like nothing else he has ever created. The Bible says, "Because of his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children, this was his pleasure and purpose.”(Ephesians1:5)

One of the greatest gifts God has given you is the ability to enjoy pleasure. He wired you with five senses and emotions so you can experience it. He wants you to enjoy life, not just endure it. The reason you are able to enjoy pleasure is that God made you in his image

We often forget that God has emotions, too. He feels things very deeply. The Bible tells us that God grieves, gets jealous and angry, and feels compassion, pity, sorrow, and sympathy as well as happiness, gladness, and satisfaction. God loves, delights, gets pleasure, rejoices, enjoys, and even laughs!

Bringing pleasure to God is called "worship”

"The LORD is pleased only with those who worship him and trust his love.”(Psalm147:11)

Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.

Anthropologists have noted that worship is a universal urge, hard-wired by God into the very fiber of our being-an inbuilt need to connect with God. Worship is as natural as eating or breathing. If we fail to worship God, we always find a substitute, even if it ends up being ourselves. The reason God made us with this desire is that he desires worshipers! Jesus said, "The Father seeks worshipers."(John4:23)

Worship is far more than music.

There is no such thing as "Christian" music; there are only Christian lyrics. It is the words that make a song sacred, not the tune. There are no spiritual tunes. If I played a song for you without the words, you'd have no way of knowing if it were a "Christian" song.

Worship is not for your benefit.

It isn't for our benefit! We worship for God's benefit. When we worship, our goal is to bring pleasure to God, not ourselves.

Our motive for worship is to bring glory and pleasure to our Creator.

Worship is not a part of your life; it is your life.

Worship is not just for church services. We are told to "worship him continually" and to "praise him from sunrise to sunset." In the Bible people praised God at work, at home, in battle, in jail, and even in bed! Praise should be the first activity when you open your eyes in the morning and the last activity when you close them at night. David said, "I will thank the Lord at all times. My mouth will always praise him"(Psalm34:1)

Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship when you do it for the praise, glory, and pleasure of God. "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”(1Corinthians10:31)

How is it possible to do everything to the glory of God? By doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus and by carrying on a continual conversation with him while you do it. The Bible says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."(Colossians3:23)

This is the secret to a lifestyle of worship-doing everything as if you were doing it for Jesus.

Day9 - What Makes God Smile?

May the LORD smile on you and gracious to you.(Numbers6:25 NLT)

The smile of God is the goal of your life.

In Noah's day, the entire world had become morally bankrupt. Everyone lived for their own pleasure, not God's. God couldn't find anyone on earth interested in pleasing him, so he was grieved and regretted making man. God became so disgusted with the human race that he considered wiping it out. But there was one man who made God smile. The Bible says, "Noah was a pleasure to the Lord."(Genesis6:8)

God said, "This guy brings me pleasure. He makes me smile. I'll start over with his family." Because Noah brought pleasure to God, you and I are alive today. From his life we learn the five acts of worship that make God smile.

God smiles when we love him supremely.

Noah loved God more than anything else in the world, even when no one else did! The Bible tells us that for his entire life, "Noah consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him."(Genesis6:9)

This is what God wants most from you: a relationship!

"I don't want your sacrifices, I want your love, I don't want your offerings, I want you to know me."(Hosea6:6)

He longs for you to know him and spend time with him. This is why learning to love God and be loved by him should be the greatest objective of your life. Nothing else comes close in importance. Jesus called it the greatest commandment.

Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment."(Matthew22:37,38)

God smiles when we trust him completely.

The second reason Noah pleased God was that he trusted God, even when it didn't make sense.

The Bible says, "By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told.... As a result, Noah became intimate with God."(Hebrews11:7)

There were three problems that could have caused Noah to doubt. First, Noah had never seen rain, because prior to the Flood, God irrigated the earth from the ground up.' Second, Noah lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. Even if he could learn to build a ship, how would he get it to water? Third, there was the problem of rounding up all the animals and then caring for them. But Noah didn't complain or make excuses. He trusted God completely, and that made God smile.

Trusting God completely means having faith that he knows what is best for your life.

It took Noah 120 years to build the ark.

Trusting is an act of worship. Just as parents are pleased when children trust their love and wisdom, your faith makes God happy. The Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God "(Hebrews11:6))

God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly.

God didn't say, "Build any old boat you'd like, Noah." He gave very detailed instructions as to the size, shape, and materials of the ark as well as the different numbers of animals to be brought on board. The Bible tells us Noah's response, "So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him."(Genesis6:22)

Notice that Noah obeyed completely (no instruction was overlooked), and he obeyed exactly (in the way and time God wanted it done). That is wholeheartedness. It is no wonder God smiled on Noah.

Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. In fact, you will never understand some commands until you obey them first. Obedience unlocks understanding.

James said, speaking to Christians, "We please God by what we do and not only by what we believe."(James2:24)

 God's salvation comes only by grace, not your effort.

But as a child of God you can bring pleasure to your heavenly Father through obedience.

Any act of obedience is also an act of worship.

Why is obedience so pleasing to God? Because it proves you really love him. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.”(John14:15)

God smiles when we praise and thank him continually.

Few things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise and appreciation from someone else. God loves it, too. He smiles when we express our adoration and gratitude to him.

Noah's life brought pleasure to God because he lived with a heart of praise and thanksgiving. Noah's first act after surviving the Flood was to express his thanks to God by offering a sacrifice.

The Bible says, "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD ... and sacrificed burnt offerings on it.”(Genesis8:20)

Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we don't offer animal sacrifices as Noah did. Instead we are told to offer God "the sacrifice of praise"(Hebrews13:15) and "the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”(Psalm116:17)

We praise God for who he is, and we thank God for what he has done.

An amazing thing happens when we offer praise and thanksgiving to God. When we give God enjoyment, our own hearts are filled with joy!

God smiles when we use our abilities.

You may feel that the only time God is pleased with you is when you're doing "spiritual" activities-like reading the Bible, attending church, praying, or sharing your faith. And you may think God is unconcerned about the other parts of your life. Actually, God enjoys watching every detail of your life, whether you are working, playing, resting, or eating. He doesn't miss a single move you make.

The Bible tells us, "The steps of the godly are directed by the LORD. He delights in every detail of their lives."(Psalm37:23)

Every human activity, except sin, can be done for God's pleasure if you do it with an attitude of praise. You can wash dishes, repair a machine, sell a product, write a computer program, grow a crop, and raise a family for the glory of God.

You don't bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or by trying to be someone else. You only bring him enjoyment by being you. Anytime you reject any part of yourself, you are rejecting God's wisdom and sovereignty in creating you. God says, "You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot shaped by a potter: The clay doesn't ask, Why did you make me this way?”(Isaiah45:9)

Every act of enjoyment becomes an act of worship when you thank God for it. In fact, the Bible says, "God generously gives us everything for our enjoyment."(1Timothy6:17)

When you are sleeping, God gazes at you with love, because you were his idea. He loves you as if you were the only person on earth. God enjoys watching every detail of your life.

What God looks at is the attitude of your heart: Is pleasing him your deepest desire?

This was Paul's life goal, "More than anything else, we want to please him whether in our home here or there."(2Corinthians5:9)

God is looking for people like Noah in the twenty-first century people willing to live for the pleasure of God. The Bible says, "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise, who want to please God."(Psalm14:2)

Will you make pleasing God the goal of your life? There is nothing that God won't do for the person totally absorbed with this goal.

Day10 - The Heart of Worship

Give yourselves to God.... Surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes. (Romans6:13 TEV)

The heart of worship is surrender.

We would rather talk about winning, succeeding, overcoming, and conquering than yielding, submitting, obeying, and surrendering. But surrendering to God is the heart of worship.

It is the natural response to God's amazing love and mercy. We give ourselves to him, not out of fear or duty, but in love, "because he first loved us."(1John4:19)

After spending eleven chapters of the book of Romans explaining God's incredible grace to us, Paul urges us to fully surrender our lives to God in worship, "So then my friends, because of God's great mercy to us ... offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer."(Romans12:1)

True worship-bringing God pleasure-happens when you give yourself completely to God. Notice the first and last words of that verse are the same: offer. Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about. This act of personal surrender is called many things: consecration, making Jesus your Lord, taking up your cross, dying to self, yielding to the Spirit. What matters is that you do it, not what you call it. God wants your life-all of it. Ninety-five percent is not enough. There are three barriers that block our total surrender to God: fear, pride, and confusion

Can I trust God?

Trust is an essential ingredient to surrender. You won't surrender to God unless you trust him, but you can't trust him until you know him better. Fear keeps us from surrendering, but love casts out all fear. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier surrender becomes.

"God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us."(Romans5:8)

If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross saying, "I love you this much! I'd rather die than live without you."

Admitting our limitations.

Second barrier to total surrender is our pride.

Life is a struggle, but what most people don't realize is that our struggle like Jacob's, is really a struggle with God! We want to be God, and there's no way we are going to win that struggle.

We aren't God and never will be. We are humans. It is when we try to be God that we end up most like Satan, who desired the same thing. We accept our humanity intellectually, but not emotionally.

What it means to surrender.

Surrendering is not repressing your personality. God wants to use your unique personality. Rather than its being diminished, surrendering enhances it. C. S. Lewis observed, "The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be.... It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."

You let go and let God work. You don't have to always be "in charge." The Bible says, "Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him."(Psalm37:7)

Instead of trying harder, you trust more. You also know you're surrendered when you don't react to criticism and rush to defend yourself. Surrendered hearts show up best in relationships. You don't edge others out, you don't demand your rights, and you aren't self-serving when you're surrendered.

The supreme example of self-surrender is Jesus. The night before his crucifixion Jesus surrendered himself to God's plan. He prayed, "Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."(Mark14:36)

The blessing of surrender.

First, you experience peace: "Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you."(Job22:21)

Next, you experience freedom, "Offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits.... His commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!"(Romans6:18)

Third, you experience God's power in your life. Stubborn temptations and overwhelming problems can be defeated by Christ when given to him. As Joshua approached the biggest battle of his life, he encountered God, fell in worship before him, and surrendered his plans. That surrender led to a stunning victory at Jericho. This is the paradox, Victory comes through surrender. Surrender doesn't weaken you, it strengthens you.

Surrendered to God, you don't have to fear or surrender to anything else.

The best way to live.

Surrender is not the best way to live; it is the only way to live. Nothing else works. All other approaches lead to frustration, disappointment, and self-destruction. The King James Version calls surrender "your reasonable service." Another version translates it "the most sensible way to serve God." Surrendering your life is not a foolish emotional impulse but a rational, intelligent act, the most responsible and sensible thing you can do with your life.

That is why Paul said, "So our aim is to please him always, whether we are here in this body or away from this body."(2Corinthians5:9)

Your wisest moments will be those when you say yes to God.

Let me warn you: When you decide to live a totally surrendered life, that decision will be tested. Sometimes it will mean doing inconvenient, unpopular, costly, or seemingly impossible tasks. It will often mean doing the opposite of what you feel like doing.

Now is your time to surrender to God's grace, love, and wisdom.

Day11 - Becoming Best Friends with God

Since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.(Romans5:10 NLT)

Almighty God yearns to be your Friend!

When Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, the veil in the temple that symbolized our separation from God was split from top to bottom, indicating that direct access to God was once again available.

Friendship with God is possible only because of the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus.

"All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends."(2Corinthians5:18)

Servants must keep their distance from the king, but the inner circle of trusted friends enjoy close contact, direct access, and confidential information.

Knowing and loving God is our greatest privilege, and being known and loved is God's greatest pleasure. God says, "If any want to boast, they should boast that they know and understand me.... These are the things that please me."(Jeremiah9:24)

By looking at the lives of God's friends in the Bible, we learn six secrets of friendship with God. We will look at two secrets in this chapter and four more in the next.

Through constant conversation.

Friendship with God is built by sharing all your life experiences with him.

"Praying without ceasing" means conversing with God while shopping, driving, working, or performing any other everyday tasks.

Everything  you do can be "spending time with God" if he is invited to be a part of it and you stay aware of his presence.

The classic book on learning how to develop a constant conversation with God is Practicing the Presence of God. It was written in the seventeenth century by Brother Lawrence, a humble cook in a French monastery. Brother Lawrence was able to turn even the most commonplace and menial tasks, like preparing meals and washing dishes, into acts of praise and communion with God.

Brother Lawrence found it easy to worship God through the common tasks of life, he didn't have to go away for special spiritual retreats.

This is God's ideal. In Eden, worship was not an event to attend, but a perpetual attitude,  Adam and Eve were in constant communion with God. Because God is with you all the time, no place is any closer to God than the place where you are right now.

The Bible says, "He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything."(Ephesians4:6)

The Bible tells us to “pray all the time.” How is it possible to do this? One way is to use "breath prayers" throughout the day, as many Christians have done for centuries. You choose a brief sentence or a simple phrase that can be repeated to Jesus in one breath: "You are with me."

Practicing the presence of God is a skill, a habit you can develop.

If you are seeking an experience of his presence through all of this, you have missed the point. We don't praise God to feel good, but to do good. Your goal is not a feeling, but a continual awareness of the reality that God is always present. That is the lifestyle of worship.

Through continual meditation.

A second way to establish a friendship with God is by thinking about his Word throughout your day. This is called meditation, and the Bible repeatedly urges us to meditate on who God is, what he has done, and what he has said. It is impossible to be God's friend apart from knowing what he says. You can't love God unless you know him, and you can't know him without knowing his Word. The Bible says God "revealed himself to Samuel through his word."  God still uses that method today.

When you think about a problem over and over in your mind, that's called worry. When you think about God's Word over and over in your mind, that's meditation. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate! You just need to switch your attention from your problems to Bible verses. The more you meditate on God's Word, the less you will have to worry about.

Friends share secrets, and God will share his secrets with you if you develop the habit of thinking about his Word throughout the day. God told Abraham his secrets, and he did the same with Daniel, Paul, the disciples, and other friends.

The more time you spend reviewing what God has said, the more you will understand the "secrets" of this life that most people miss. The Bible says, "Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises."(Psalm25:14)

Prayer lets you speak to God, meditation lets God speak to you. Both are essential to becoming a friend of God.

Day12 - Developing Your Friendship with God

He offers his friendship to the godly.(Proverbs 3:32 NLT)

You are as close to God as you choose to be.

I must choose to be honest with God.

The first building block of a deeper friendship with God is complete honesty-about your faults and your feelings.

In the Bible, the friends of God were honest about their feelings, often complaining, second-guessing, accusing, and arguing with their Creator. God, however, didn't seem to be bothered by this frankness, in fact, he encouraged it.

To instruct us in candid honesty, God gave us the book of Psalms-a worship manual, full of ranting, raving, doubts, fears, resentments, and deep passions combined with thanksgiving, praise, and statements of faith. Every possible emotion is catalogued in the Psalms.

It's encouraging to know that all of God's closest friends Moses, David, Abraham, Job, and others-had bouts with doubt.

But instead of masking their misgivings with pious cliches, they candidly voiced them openly and publicly. Expressing doubt is sometimes the first step toward the next level of intimacy with God.

I must choose to obey God in faith.

Unbelievers often think Christians obey out of obligation or guilt or fear of punishment, but the opposite is true. Because we have been forgiven and set free, we obey out of love-and our obedience brings great joy!

Notice that Jesus expects us to do only what he did with the Father. His relationship with his Father is the model for our friendship with him. Jesus did whatever the Father asked him to do-out of love.

True friendship isn't passive, it acts. When Jesus asks us to love others, help the needy, share our resources, keep our lives clean, offer forgiveness, and bring others to him, love motivates us to obey immediately.

We are often challenged to do “great things” for God. Actually, God is more pleased when we do small things for him out of loving obedience. They may be unnoticed by others, but God notices them and considers them acts of worship.

Great opportunities may come once in a lifetime, but small opportunities surround us every day. Even through such simple acts as telling the truth, being kind, and encouraging others, we bring a smile to God's face. God treasures simple acts of obedience more than our prayers, praise, or offerings. The Bible tells us, "What pleases the LORD more, burnt offerings and sacrifices or obedience to his voice? It is better to obey than to sacrifice."(1Samuel15:22)

Jesus began his public ministry at age thirty by being baptized by John. At that event God spoke from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him."(Matthew3:17)

 What had Jesus been doing for thirty years that gave God so much pleasure? The Bible says nothing about those hidden years except for a single phrase in Luke 2:51: "He went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them."

Thirty years of pleasing God were summed up in two words, ”lived obediently"!

I must choose to value what God values.

What does God care about most? The redemption of his people. He wants all his lost children found! That's the whole reason Jesus came to earth. The dearest thing to the heart of God is the death of his Son. The second dearest thing is when his children share that news with others. To be a friend of God, you must care about all the people around you whom God cares about. Friends of God tell their friends about God.

I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.

The Psalms are filled with examples of this desire. David passionately desired to know God above all else; he used words like longing, yearning, thirsting, hungering. He craved God.

Jacob's passion for God's blessing on his life was so intense that he wrestled in the dirt all night with God, saying, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."(Genesis32:26) The amazing part of that story is that God, who is all powerful, let Jacob win! God isn't offended when we "wrestle" with him, because wrestling requires personal contact and brings us close to him! It is also a passionate activity, and God loves it when we are passionate with him.

Paul was another man passionate for friendship with God. Nothing mattered more, it was the first priority, total focus, and Ultimate goal of his life. The Amplified translation expresses the full force of Paul's passion, "My determined purpose is that I may know Him-that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly."(Philippians3:10)

The truth is-you are as close to God as you choose to be. Intimate friendship with God is a choice, not an accident. You must intentionally seek it. Do you really want it-more than anything? What is it worth to you? Is it worth giving up other things? Is it worth the effort of developing the habits and skills required?

Pain is the fuel of passion-it energizes us with an intensity to change that we don't normally possess. C. S. Lewis said, "Pain is God's megaphone." It is God's way of arousing us from spiritual lethargy. Your problems are not punishment, they are wake-up calls from a loving God.

God is not mad at you, and he will do whatever it takes to bring you back into fellowship with him. But there is an easier way to reignite your passion for God: Start asking God to give it to you, and keep on asking until you have it. Pray this throughout your day:

"Dear Jesus, more than anything else, I want to get to know you intimately."

God told the captives in Babylon, "When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.”(Jeremiah29:13)

YOUR MOST IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP

There is nothing-absolutely nothing-more important than developing a friendship with God.

It's a relationship that will last forever.

Paul told Timothy, "Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life-they don't know God.”

Have you been missing out on the most important thing in life? You can do something about it starting now. Remember, it's your choice. You are as close to God as you choose to be.

Day13 - Worship That Pleases God

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength(Mark12:30 NIV)

God wants all of you.

God doesn't want a part of your life. He asks for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.

The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

God is pleased when our worship is accurate.

Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture, not our opinions about God. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”(John4:23)

To "worship in truth" means to worship God as he is truly revealed in the Bible.

God is pleased when our worship is authentic. When Jesus said you must "worship in spirit," he wasn't referring to the Holy Spirit, but to your spirit. Made in God's image, you are a spirit that resides in a body, and God designed your spirit to communicate with him. Worship is your spirit responding to God's Spirit.

Since worship involves delighting in God, it engages your emotions. God gave you emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling-but those emotions must be genuine, not faked.

Of course, sincerity alone is not enough; you can be sincerely wrong. That's why both spirit and truth are required. Worship must be both accurate and authentic. God-pleasing worship is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use both our hearts and our heads.

God wants you to be yourself. "That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship."(John4:23 Msg)

God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful.

Jesus command to "love God with all your mind" is repeated four times in the New Testament.

If worship is mindless, it is meaningless. You must engage your mind.

Jesus called thoughtless worship "vain repetitions." Even biblical terms can become tired cliches from overuse, and we stop thinking about the meaning.

God is pleased when our worship is practical.

The Bible says, “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”(Romans12:1)

Why does God want your body? Why doesn't he say, "Offer your spirit"? Because without your body you can't do anything on this planet. In eternity you will receive a new, improved, upgraded body, but while you're here on earth, God says, "Give me what you've got!" He's just being practical about worship.

You have heard people say, "I can't make it to the meeting tonight, but I'll be with you in spirit." Do you know what that means? Nothing. It's worthless! As long as you're on earth, your spirit can only be where your body is. If your body isn't there, neither are you.

In the Old Testament, God took pleasure in the many sacrifices of worship because they foretold of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross. Now God is pleased with different sacrifices of worship: thanksgiving, praise, humility, repentance, offerings of money, prayer, serving others, and sharing with those in need.

One thing worship costs us is our self-centeredness. You cannot exalt God and yourself at the same time. You don't worship to be seen by others or to please yourself. You deliberately shift the focus off yourself.

When you praise God even when you don't feel like it, when you get out of bed to worship when you're tired, or when you help others when you are worn out, you are offering a sacrifice of worship to God. That pleases God.

Day14 - When God Seems Distant

The LORD has hidden himself from his people, but I trust him and place my hope in him.

(Isaiah 8:17 TEV)

The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving him when he seems distant.

Friendships are often tested by separation and silence; you are divided by physical distance or you are unable to talk. In your friendship with God, you won't always feel close to him.

That's when worship gets difficult.

David frequently complained of God's apparent absence: “Why do you hide when I need you the most?" “Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Why have you abandoned me?"(Psalm43:2)

Of course, God hadn't really left David, and he doesn't leave you. He has promised repeatedly, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."(Deuteronomy31:8)  But God has not promised "you will always feel my presence."

Floyd McClung describes it: "You wake up one morning and all your spiritual feelings are gone. You pray, but nothing happens. You rebuke the devil, but it doesn't change anything. You go through spiritual exercises ... you have your friends pray for you ... you confess every sin. you can imagine, then go around asking forgiveness of everyone you know. You fast ... still nothing. You begin to wonder how long this spiritual gloom might last.

The truth is, there's nothing wrong with you! This is a normal part of the testing and maturing of your friendship with God. Every Christian goes through it at least once, and usually several times. It is painful and disconcerting, but it is absolutely vital for the development of your faith.

It is a test of faith-one we all must face: Will you continue to love, trust, obey, and worship God, even when you have no sense of his presence or visible evidence of his work in your life?

The most common mistake Christians make in worship today is seeking an experience rather than seeking God. They look for a feeling, and if it happens, they conclude that they have worshiped. Wrong!

In fact, God often removes our feelings so we won't depend on them. Seeking a feeling, even the feeling of closeness to Christ, is not worship.

he wants you to sense his presence, but he's more concerned that you trust him than that you feel him. Faith, not feelings, pleases God.

How do you praise God when you don't understand what's happening in your life and God is silent? How do you stay connected in a crisis without communication? How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they're full of tears? You do what Job did: "Then befell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."(Job1:20,21)

Tell God exactly how you feel.

Did you know that admitting your hopelessness to God can be a statement of faith? Trusting God but feeling despair at the same time, David wrote, "I believed, so I said, `I am completely ruined!"  This sounds like a contradiction: I trust God, but I'm wiped out! David's frankness actually reveals deep faith.

First, he believed in God.

Second, he believed God would listen to his prayer.

Third, he believed God would let him say what he felt and still love him.

Focus on who God is-his unchanging nature.

Regardless of circumstances and how you feel, hang on to God's unchanging character. Remind yourself what you know to be eternally true about God: He is good, he loves me, he is with me, he knows what I'm going through, he cares, and he has a good plan for my life.

Trust God to keep his promises. During times of spiritual dryness you must patiently rely on the promises of God, not your emotions, and realize that he is taking you to a deeper level of maturity. A friendship based on emotion is shallow indeed.

So don't be troubled by trouble. Circumstances cannot change the character of God. God's grace is still in full force; he is still for you, even when you don't feel it.

When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust him in spite of your feelings, you worship him in the deepest way.

Remember what God has already done for you.

If God never did anything else for you, he would still deserve your continual praise for the rest of your life because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. God's Son died for you! This is the greatest reason for worship.

Why did God allow and endure such ghastly, evil mistreatment? So you could be spared from eternity in hell, and so you could share in his glory forever! The Bible says, "Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God."(2Corinthians5:21)

Jesus gave up everything so you could have everything. He died so you could live forever. That alone is worthy of your continual thanks and praise. Never again should you wonder what you have to be thankful for.