SOME ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON PREPARING FOR THE LORD'S DAY

>From Max Lucado's book, JUST LIKE JESUS, published by WORD.

Max writes, "Let me urge you to come to worship prepared to worship.
Pray before you come so you will be ready to pray when you arrive. Sleep before you come so you'll stay alert when you arrive. Read the Word before you come so your heart will be soft when you worship. Come hungry. Come willing. Come expecting God to speak. Come asking.
The purpose of worship -- to change the face of the worshipper. The connection between the face and worship is more than coincidental. Our face is the most public part of our bodies, covered less than any area.
It is also the most recognizable part of our bodies. We don't fill a school annual with photo's of people's feet but rather with photos of faces. God desires to take our faces, this exposed memorable part of our bodies, and use them to reflect His goodness. Paul writes, "Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord's glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the spirit.' (2 Corinthians 3:18)
God loves to change the face of his children. By his fingers, wrinkles of worry are rubbed away. Shadows of shame and doubt become portraits of grace and trust. He relaxes clenched jaws and smoothes furrowed brows.
His touch can remove the bags of exhaustion from beneath the eyes and turn tears of despair into tears of peace!
Worship is the act of magnifying God. Enlarging our vision of him.
Stepping into the cockpit to see where he sits and observe how he works.
Of course, his size doesn't change, but our perception of him does. As we draw nearer, he seems larger. Isn't that what we need? A BIG view of God? Don't we have BIG problems, BIG worries, BIG questions? Of course we do. Hence we need a big view of God.
God is in the business of changing the face of the world! This change is HIS job, not ours! Our goal is not to make faces radiant. Remember that Moses didn't even know that his face was shining. Our goal is not to conjure up some fake, frozen expression. Our goal is simply to stand before God with a prepared and willing heart and then let God do his work.
And he does. He wipes away the tears. He mops away the perspiration. He softens our furrowed brows. He touches our cheeks. He changes our faces.
And the result? Not only does God change the face of those who worship, he will change those who watch us worship!
Good words to ponder as you prepare for the Lord's Day.