Connecting with God Through Worship

Narrator: Welcome to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self, the place where you can get real answers to tough questions. Jesus promised you abundant life but poor choices and dark forces stand in your way. It is time to learn how to overcome the obstacles that keep you out of your promised land. Knowledge of God will pave the path for you to walk in his blessing.

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Dr. Ray: Welcome. Hello and welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, Dr. Ray Self. Very glad you're with me today, this morning, this evening, whenever you're listening to this show; and this show is brought to you by the International College of Ministry, a Holy Spirit-filled online seminary at icmcollege.org, now enrolling. Try it. We have free courses and free things you can do to get going with your college degree and get ready for the ministry God's called you to do; icmcollege.org. I have a very special guest today. I want to talk today about an important topic: connecting with God; and worship is one way we can connect with God in a very deep and meaningful way. I know with me, so many times when I am in worship or there's a strong anointing. I seem like I hear God- God speaks to me and I'm in His presence and I know the Lord's called me to worship but also know that there are people who are worshipers and people who are just kind of- enter in. And I wouldn't call myself a worshiper even though I know it's important to do- but I'm more of just a regular guy. But I have with me today Amye Francis. 

Dr. Ray: Amye's a very special person she has come on recently as my executive assistant with the International College of Ministry so she's taken on a lot of the burden of the college and it's just been an incredible gift. But one thing about Amye is Amye is a worshiper and I have just watched her just enter into the presence of God like she's just going into the holy of holies through worship. So tonight, today, this morning, we're going to talk about connecting with God through worship so Amye, I'm very glad you're with us today, thank you for being here.

Amye: Thank you for having me.

Dr. Ray: So just some basic questions, why should we worship and, and what's the benefit of it? I mean, what, I mean, what's the big deal about worship? I know it sounds like a terrible question but I know there’re people who just automatically are just all about worship and then there's a bunch of other guys kind of like me who, who like to worship but we're just- it's not so automatic for us. So what's the big deal?

Amye: Yeah, so I think um, to start, worship is really just about connecting with God and having an intimate relationship with Him. Um, even you can see in the beginning, um, when the world was first created that um, uh God had this relationship with Adam and later with Eve and I really think He just designed us for worship- to be in communion with Him; be um, almost in like a love relationship with Him in everything that we're doing. And so for me, I think why it's so important is one it's I believe what I, what everyone was first created to do, um, first and foremost was to worship; be in that relationship. And then um, when we start to just pour our love on Him, we start telling Him who He is to us. Then He responds back to us and when He responds, He can reveal things to us; He can reveal more about yourself. He's revealed a lot of things to me about my callings and the things in my heart and He's even shown me things about other people. And oftentimes that's where I feel His presence strong- strongly and where I've experienced some deep emotional healing was just being in His presence. I even, I discovered um, there were a few times recently where I felt like I was getting sick- a cold or one, I was even afraid of covid at one time and so I went to this deep place of intimate worship with Him and I came out of it with my symptoms starting to disappear. So I really feel like His presence comes upon us too.

Dr. Ray: So let me ask- so when you worship, you are telling God what He means to you. You're expressing love to God, is that correct?

Amye: Yes.

Dr. Ray: And then you said something really interesting. You said; so you're expressing love to God; it can be through music, it doesn't always have to be through music, right? 

Amye: No.

Dr. Ray: And- but you're expressing love to God but then you said something really powerful: then God responds to you. And I know in my life, whenever I've got, whenever God responds to me through a prayer or through a prophetic word or whatever, it is, it rocks my boat. So you're saying you love on God through worship and then He responds and some pretty amazing things happen.

Amye: Yes.

Dr. Ray: Tell me, tell me more about that.

Amye: Yeah, um. So a few things come to mind. Um, I've started- so one of the things I've been exploring more in worship is actually dancing and kind of just, it's kind of like. I'll dance before Him but then I'll start to feel His presence and let Him kind of guide me too. And I just, it helps me to clear my mind and put all my focus just on Him and when that happens um, sometimes I'll see things in the spirit around me like a garden, um, a fruit tree or just water or something. And then, sometimes that's all it is but sometimes He’ll, like, there was one time when I was just in worship with Him in the car and He showed me this beautiful vision of something sort of like a worship school being founded here in Orlando where people could just come and explore the Lord, develop their skills in worship to Him, and then there was another moment that was really powerful where um, I was singing this song to Him- um, the lyrics were something like I don't want anything else, I don't want anything else, You are my one thing- and I was just caught up in this moment of singing just out of pure love and then I felt Him singing the words back to me and it affected me so profoundly that I just went into this laughing fit and it was a really good time.

Dr. Ray: You know, it's amazing… so when you worship and you're worshiping in the car but- speaking of the car, I cannot tell you how many times God has spoken to me while I'm in the car or driving. I've talked to my students and asked them how many- I'll be teaching a class and I'll say how many of you ever heard God speak to you in the car and almost everyone will raise their hand. I don't know, it's because we're just enough distracted but enough to pay attention to Him, I don't know. The other place God seems to speak which is kind of ridiculous to me but it's in the shower, but anyway.

Amye: Yeah.

Both: [laughter]

Dr. Ray: Everybody says yeah, He speaks the shower. But you said you worship and He shows you pictures. So that's a response; you're getting pictures from God. And of course, you know the old acronym, or the old saying is a picture's worth a thousand words. So that's really cool. So if you're in the car and there's no music or say there's no music playing, to me, most people you think about worship is you're singing a praise and worship song, you know? You know, how, How Great Thou Art or you know, our God is an awesome God He reigns, from heaven and earth… You're singing a song and then you enter in but you can worship without singing. How do you do that?

Amye: Yeah. So for me, sometimes it's just talking to Him, just pouring my heart out to Him. Um, something that I've been really working on more recently is um, sometimes I'll just speak to Him and tell Him like, how I'm seeing Him. Like even though my situation's bad, this is how I see You. But sometimes I do like to practice spontaneous singing from my heart. Um, sometimes I'm out loud in the car, um, and then other times I'll just like, speak out or sing out what I'm- how I see Him, how I'm feeling Him in this moment. And then other times it'll just be, maybe I'm listening to a teaching or something and He'll download a word or something into me.

Dr. Ray: So when you're telling God how you feel about Him, um, do you sense a- I know with me for instance, when, to me when I'm in, I'm in a church service and all of a sudden the anointing gets really strong, I feel like I just enter into God's presence because the anointing is there. But you enter into his presence in a lot of different ways it sounds like.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: …and, but, it's like, is it something we can train ourselves to do? To enter into His presence and enjoy that incredible- how He responds to us in some amazing ways. I mean, is there, can we be trained to do that?

Amye: I think so. And I think at least from my journey, what I've experienced, I feel like it really starts with being able to let go of your dignity. Um, I do that a lot. Sometimes I don't mean to, it just happens. Just surrender to whatever you feel like He's doing in your body and your heart. Um, I don't want to like, say like don't go out there and be completely disorderly, like, submit to your pastors but, but um, yeah. Just, especially in your alone time when you're, you're with God, there's no limits, um… so just be able to be willing to lose your dignity. Like um, sometimes I like, I would just start feeling His presence kind of weak in me and I'd eventually just like, let, surrender to that and let myself like…fall onto the floor if I felt the weakness in my legs and The Spirit would come over me more stronger and then um, just- You could even just practice by um, I think a good thing to do is um, just practice. Maybe like, telling Him how you feel about Him in the moment. Um, some other ways you could- I like to do- are reading scripture and maybe really meditate on that one, one or two verses and then think about what- how am I seeing the Lord in this verse? What is He telling to me? Write it down, make it into a song, even if you're just like out in nature, how am I seeing the Lord in this area today? Write it down. Um…yeah.

Dr. Ray: And these things um, meditating on a scripture, seeing God in, in nature and telling God how you feel about Him, um, then you, you begin to sense you're entering into His presence? Is it a, is it a feeling? I know with me sometimes when I, I, I can feel the anointing, I can feel his presence and uh, but you're saying- I like what you said, tell God how you feel about Him, meditate on His word and then, do you sense a moment where you feel like you've entered into his presence?

Amye: Yes. Yeah, normally what will happen is I'll start by turning my attention toward Him and I, I almost always do this with my eyes closed because I want to block out all the distractions so that I'm just focusing on Him and then um, so I'll focus on Him. I'll start- maybe it's singing, maybe it's um, speaking or writing about how I'm seeing Him and then um, sometimes it like, the more I do it, the often, the quicker it gets and then I'll just feel I'll feel the presence start to fall on me.

Dr. Ray: Well, so you make a choice to tell God how you feel and you make a choice to do your part and then God does his part.

Amye: Yes.

Dr. Ray: And then the benefit is there's a connection with God, which really feels good, our Creator, but then God begins to respond and may tell you, I mean, I hate to use this word but He may download some real important stuff.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: I mean, some real important things can happen. I know when I'm in uh, in the anointing uh, sometimes I can hear God speak so clearly and so loudly and it changes my life. But I've noticed that you, you just seem to love to worship and I know God's called us to do that and I know some people are just not as strong in that area and I think I'm one, you know, I admit I, I need to get stronger in worship so how would you encourage someone to get, to get stronger, to, to get better, to get more, to have worship more in their life? What would, how would you encourage someone?

Amye: Um, I feel like a good place to start is just disciplining yourself.

Dr. Ray: Discipline, okay.

Amye: Um, I would set aside an hour before bed every night that was dedicated just to worship and so it could look like different things. Sometimes I was spending a lot of time in the word, sometimes it was spending a lot of time listening to worship music, um, it could be just sitting in His presence, it could be doing some of the other stuff I did but definitely setting aside time every day um, to just focus on the Lord.

Dr. Ray: Isn’t it interesting how we will set aside time for all kinds of things in our life? We'll set aside a time to watch a movie, we'll set aside a time to do something we want to do, and we'll say okay, you know, I, I will set a time to run an errand we'll set a time, we, we're always setting aside times to do things but to discipline yourself and go okay, I'm setting aside this time to worship, to connect with God, I mean, maybe the most important thing we could ever do, right?

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Yeah.

Amye: I will say that um, sometimes it's hard to make that sacrifice of time but I found that as I did it, especially in the darkest moments of my life, it was like the most rewarding thing I could have ever invested in.

Dr. Ray: Most rewarding thing. And I think some people listening to us, you may be going through difficult times, hard times, challenging times, but to make that investment can change your life. And I don't know about you, but when things are difficult, I need some things from God, I need His comfort, I need His peace, I need His wisdom, I need His take on it, sometimes I just need to know that He cares and He's there for me and all these things can come through worship.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Yeah. So worship can be, not just I'm singing a song and raising my hands in the air, okay? Worship can be talking to Him, tell Him, if I'm understanding you, telling God how you feel about Him- your love, speaking love to God and then reading His word and thinking about Him and putting your mind upon Him through His word. Of course singing too so these are things we can do practically.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: We can discipline ourselves to do it.

Amye: Yeah. And then one other thing that I think was also helpful was just being in wonder and realizing that there's always more of Him to discover and so when I go into these moments, I'm always pressing in trying to think what else about the Lord can I discover in this moment that I don't haven't yet experienced from Him? What else is there about Him that I can find?

Dr. Ray: Oh wow. I mean, I guess that's just a never-ending search. What else can I discover about God. I mean how much is there to discover? Could be infinite.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: …about God. You know one thing I, I would encourage people to, in singing and praising, so many times just, as me, I'm just, this is me. When I'm at church or in a praise and worship session or whatever, I don't want to sing about me, I want to sing to the Lord. You know, God, You are awesome, you know, God, I love You, You, God. Um, you know there's that song by Chris Tomlin, How Great is Our God, How Great is Our God. I, when I sing it I change the lyrics to how great are You God, how great are You God instead of how great is our God. It's like I'm singing to somebody who's off in the distance. I like to sing first person to God. Um, years ago there was a great church leader who started the Vineyard movement years ago named um, what was his name? I forgot his name, what was it? Um… the Vineyard, the head… his name has slipped my mind. Anyway, he was a head of the Vineyard movement uh, it’ll come to me in a second, but he made this discovery that love songs to God create the greatest anointing. So singing about God is one thing, but singing to God- and I don't want to sing about myself and my struggles, I want to sing to glorify God, sing about God and sing it personally. Lord, You are awesome, Lord, You are my savior, Lord, I worship You, God, you, God, are incredible instead of the God or our God or a God, does that make sense?

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: There's my, that's my little soapbox for the day, on that.

Amye: Yeah, no I, I really agree. I think those are the most powerful kinds of songs.

Dr. Ray: Yeah, yeah, yeah it is. And so…well I hope this has encouraged a lot of people. Any final encouragement to people who say you know what, I really feel like I need to worship more? Um, I want to connect with God, I want to hear from God, I want to see those pictures, I want to feel His presence? Um, final encouragement to people. You know, what would you say to that person that says you know, I'm convicted. What would you say to them?

Amye: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just time with the Lord is what brings that about. The more time you spend with Him then the more He'll entrust you with. And so if you start practicing that every day, the more you do it, the more you'll get, you'll receive back from Him.

Dr. Ray: I'll tell you a funny example of this. I have a pastor friend of mine who used to pastor here in Orlando area, and he had this morning routine- it was, it was kind of funny. Maybe not the healthiest routine but it was worship. He would be heading to the office, he would go to Dunkin’ Donuts, get his particular donut that he liked and a cup of coffee or whatever he was drinking, then he would go to the park and he would sit in his truck and worship God for at least an hour. And pray and worship before he ever came to work. He did every day. Every single day. Dunkin’ Donuts really liked it. Maybe not the healthiest thing to do but that's the way he did it.

Amye: Yeah.

Dr. Ray: Well. Uh, Lord, I just thank You Father for each person listening to us and Lord, I thank You that we need to be worshippers, Father, we all do. So Father, help us, encourage us to set aside time for You each day, Father. Forgive us for not doing it, Lord. And Lord, we just praise You, we honor You, we worship You we love You, we thank You. You, You are our creator, You are everything for us. We, we wouldn't be here without You, You- everything that exists is because of You. So Father, we worship You. We thank You for each person listening, Father. I pray You would touch them right now with your Holy Spirit. Let us feel Your presence. Help us to connect with You. Lord, we desire to connect with You, we desire to be one with You. Lord, we just love You. We worship You, we praise You, we thank You. Thank You Lord. You made a way for us to Your Son, Jesus, to enter into Your presence. Thank you, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amye: Amen.

Dr. Ray: Amye, thank you, thank you so much. This is Amye Francis, executive assistant with the International College of Ministry. We're so glad to have her with us and hey, please do me a favor. It would help, help us reach more people if you will give us a review on Apple Podcast. Share this show, download, share, help us get the message out to as many people as possible. Check out our website at icmcollege.org, there's some really cool stuff there, free- some free lessons on there that will help you. Counseling and ministry stuff that would help you in your walk. We've got, I got several books- look at the notes on amazon.com- Hear His Voice, Be His Voice. It's the latest book. Love you much. Thank you so much for listening. This is Dr. Ray Self and Amye Francis. God bless you.

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