What does it take?

Surrender. Surrender to Him. Father used the Passion Conference this year to draw me closer to Him. It took surrender. I am going to try to explain this, but it might be confusing, so bear with me.

The Lord is bringing me to a place where I desire nothing but Him and what He wants for my life for His glory. It feels great! It is such release. No matter what you want out of life, decide to surrender, and let the best decision maker choose your path. And He will bring the most glory to Himself by increasing your satisfaction of Him. The more and more you look at Him, the more breathtaking He becomes. The more and more you fix your eyes on His love, the more He proves to you that He loves you, and you see more and more just what He has done for little, insignificant you and me. The Lord is teaching me more and more each day. Dialogue with Him all day. Talk to the Father and keep your thoughts on Him all day long. He is the best person to talk to.

Sorry, a little off subject, a conversational pigtrail as I like to call it. Ok, back to what I came to say.

Over the past couple of months, I have been on a journey to find true, authentic worship. Not the kind of worship that arises from emotions or the kind of worship that gets you raising your hands because your favorite Crowder song came on or your neighbor is raising their hands, but the kind of worship that is all out for the Father's glory. The kind of worship that has us raising our hands and dancing before the Lord in appreciation of all that He has done for us, all that He is doing, and all that He will do. And because we truly love Him.

At the worship panel at the conference in Nashville, during the Q & A segment, this question was asked: With all of the technological advancements (the LED screens, sounds systems, lights, colors, etc.), is it hard not to get wrapped up in it and lose focus? (Those weren't the exact words, but close enough.) Louie Giglio proceded to ask of us, the audience, if we would show up to Passion if none of those technological advancements were present. Of course, we all replied yes. But then I began to wonder, what does it take? What does it take for true, authentic worship? Does it take all the lights, screens, etc.? And then I thought, what if we showed up to our respective worship meetings and walked in to find that there was no musical equipment, no amplification or magnification of any kind. What if what we found when we walked in was a cross lifted high and nothing else? Would that be enough? Would we still fall to our faces in reverence of The Holiest of Holies? He moves us. He stirs our affections. Without the show. Without any of the lights, screens, movies, songs, sermons, etc. So what does it take to have true, authentic worship? Just Him.