A Voice Louder Than the Rest

 “Come let’s sing for joy to the Lord;

let us shout aloud to the Rock

of our salvations.
Let us come before Him with
thanksgiving
and extol Him with music
and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
In His hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong,
to Him.
The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry,
land.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
for He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
the flock under His care.
Today, if only you would hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as you did…”
(Psalm 95: 1-8)

The gift, possibly even the purpose of our lives is the opportunity to worship our loving Father and Creator. The very fact that we are a created thing means our existence testifys of the Lord if we let it and even if we don’t.

What a joy and opportunity to put ourselves aside and realize that we are not the center of our own universes. What a revelation and yet quiet assertive truth that God should be the recipient of all of our worship.

What if we allowed the quiet voice of the Lord to be the loudest one in our lives?

Worship is so much more than singing praises to the Lord. Worship can be a daily rhythm; giving gratitude and a centered heart to the Lord when brushing your teeth, stretching your muscles, breathing, or even cutting vegetables.

Worshipping the Lord is available for every person everywhere. Worshipping the Lord in the form of declaring His name or publicly singing worship songs in not a freedom for everyone under the sun. It is heartbreaking but true.

The bible doesn’t use battle terminology just for kicks. The earthly battle of choosing life or death is one being waged every single day. The good news is that the victor is already clear.

Literally, in Afghanistan and other parts of the world, Christians are actively being threatened with death and even put to death for claiming the name of Jesus as I write this. It’s real. It’s heartbreaking.
I’ve felt called to pray for these brothers and sisters a lot recently.

As Christians living in America or in other parts of the world where we can freely proclaim the name of Jesus, why don’t we more?

This past week, our last week in Albania, my squad decided to choose into something that challenged my views of freedom and moved my heart. I know it moved the heart of the Father probably even more.
A little background info: the city we were staying in; Tirana, Albania has freedom of religion and the prominent religion in the country is Islam. 5 times a day, and on a strict schedule, the Muslim call to prayer sounds on speakers throughout the city.

When the Muslim prayer calls begin, I feel a certain heaviness. They don’t know Jesus, they don’t yet know the love of the Father which is freely given and not earned.

As our squad sat inside our hostel, we began praising the Lord, led by some of my musically talented friends. We were singing the song Our God is Greater and as soon as it ended and we were between songs, the muslim call to prayer began sounding in the silence. Without prompting we all just started singing louder than we had been. Singing a song where the lyrics go: “in the presence of my enemies, sing a little louder.”

It felt right to drown out the noise with the name of Jesus, literally.

What does it look like to drown out smaller, less obvious, yet still false voices in our lives with the name of Jesus?

It was a beautiful night. A room of believers praising the Lord.

The second night, we began to worship in the hostel again. After a few songs we stopped and someone suggested: “what would it look like to worship in the city square instead of inside the hostel?”

Beautiful. Why keep the name of Jesus to ourselves when we have the opportunity to praise His name LOUDLY and share it with other people?

We stood in the square and praised Jesus and the presence of the Lord was palpable. To comprehend the seeds that were planted in peoples hearts on the streets that night would be impossible. To know the seeds planted would probably only fill us with pride anyway, and is not something we will ever know this side of heaven regardless.

All I know is that I saw teens, old men, moms, and little kids having conversations with people on my squad about Jesus and Truth. I saw people sitting and simply basking in the love of the Father which I believe is always available. I saw gypsy kids who beg all day and don’t usually get a second glance, dancing to worship and being looked in the eye and valued.

It was sweet and it was only one night. Thank God we stepped outside.

Why oh why don’t I freely proclaim His name more because I can!! He is more than worthy of our worship and more than worthy of our praise.