“Hear my cry Oh Lord, give ear unto my earnest prayer.” What a heartfelt sincere prayer. Sometimes we can pray from the mountain top; praying with powerful mountain moving faith, calling down power from on high into a situation. Yet how do you pray when you’re in the valley, not sure if you will survive another day? Deep down you know you should have the faith to believe you will make it, but truth is you don’t. You know God loves you, but you sure don’t feel Him right now. You know your sin debt has been paid, yet yielding to temptation seems a much better idea than fighting another losing battle. What is the use? You are saved but not certain when the last time you’ve seen considerable growth in your personal life. Church is cool and all, but once it’s over you seem to stare the same old problems in the face. The biggest problem stares back at you every time you encounter a mirror. Oh Lord what are you to do in a predicament like this?

I’ve got a 1 word answer for you: WORSHIP! One of the key ingredients of worship was told to us by the master himself. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well, they had a very memorable discourse. This encounter was so life changing that this woman with a shady past turned into a great evangelist telling everyone to “Come See A Man”. Yet hidden in this story is a glimpse into how Christ himself viewed worship. In John 4:23-24(niv) Jesus says “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

You see worship is not just about being spiritual, it is also about being truthful. In moments of extreme pressure and affliction don’t try too get so deep that you are no longer honest. Sometimes our troubles never get any better because we’ve trained ourselves to pretend they do not exist. This is not God’s idea of worship. God is looking for a people that despite the problem, they are

You are worshiping because you are letting both heaven and earth know that when you are overwhelmed you can look to a God that is never stressed out. When you are broken you can call to a God that remains whole. When you are sick you yet know you serve a God that still is a divine healer. When you are unrighteous, you know a God that forever embodies righteousness from His head down to His toe. It is worship because in the trial you reach an honest realization that says God without you I am nothing. God I trust you. You can deliver me in 10 seconds, 10 minutes, or 10 years but one thing I know only You alone Father can do it. Daddy, only you can bring me out.

The first time Satan realizes that even your most confounding of problems still drive you back to seeking God; he will know you are a lost cause. He knows he will never have power over you again because in good times or in bad times you still have a heart that will worship. A Christian with the Heart of a Worshiper is a dangerous threat to the kingdom of darkness. I encourage you to ask God to allow a heart of worship to be birthed in you today. Then, as you develop, you will be able to boldly declare like the Apostle Paul “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ…” (2 Corinthians 2:14a).

It was the fall of 2008. I was in the midst of the worse year of my young life. The year started off great with the arrival of my first child. Yet as time went on the year became filled with challenge after challenge and trying time after trying time. By the time I reached November I was asking myself and God, “How much more can one man take”?

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was resting before I had to travel 68 miles one way to a job that I did not like. I was laying in the bed passing time when I got a phone call. It was a call that rocked my world. The voice on the other end said, “Uncle Mario is dead, he was murdered sometime last night. Your grandmother just identified the body”. Wow not at all what I anticipated hearing. My head started to spin. Mario was my mother’s brother. I wondered what she must have felt. I wondered about my grandparents. I was saddened, angry, and confused all at the same time. To top it all off, I still had to go to work.

Fast forward several days later. The funeral arrangements were set. My pregnant wife, myself, and my new child had traveled over 3 hours to be a part of the wake. We arrived into town with only a couple of hours before we would have to be at the wake for my uncle. I set the bags down, sat down, and my wife’s cell phone rings. She answers the phone and within minutes her countenance changes drastically. On the other end was my mother-in-law relaying that her doctors appointment did not go as expected and she had been diagnosed with cancer. Wow again!!!!! Here I am still in the throws of grief over an uncle whose life was taken from him, but before I can properly deal with that loss here I am being dealt another tragic blow.

You see, already that month I had had a loved one sentenced to prison time. I was being unfairly treated on my job, but stuck with very little recourse available. My church was in a building project that I was the lead person on and everything that could go wrong was going wrong and we still had no new building. My personal ministry was in a prolonged season of dryness. No speaking engagements had come in for months and nothing was on the horizon either. I was the author of a book that was no longer selling, but rather collecting dust on my shelves. If all that wasn’t enough, now death and cancer.

What is interesting is life has a way of bringing us to our knees. In these moments and seasons we may want to get upset with God, but the greatest comfort is found when we cry out to God. Crying out to Him is exactly what I did. I asked why. What had I done wrong. I would pray. I would cry. I would praise the best I knew how. Yet somehow in this process I could feel the healing of God taking place in my heart. I could feel a new resolve being built inside of me that made me believe it wouldn’t be like this always. Somehow I knew that even though weeping may endure for a night; Joy was coming in the morning.

It was God’s Word, Godly songs, and Godly thoughts that navigated me through these trying times. One phrase that kept coming to me over and over again was, “Because He lives I can face tomorrow”. I was going to have to be strong for those around me. I started believing that I could do it. I wasn’t believing in my human strength. I was starting to be convinced of His strength in me. That phrase reminded me that not only does He live, but He lives in me. He is active in me. He lives even in the middle of dark days and nights. If anybody could get me out of this one; He could and He would. Because of His triumph over 2,000 years, I knew I could win in the midst of my momentary affliction. I started feeling like together, God and I could do this. Actually, I had an entire posse. I had the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, plus Goodness and Mercy following me. Come on devil, because He lives in me I’m ready to fight this thing out. I’m ready to stand.

I started to think of all Christ’s suffering on the cross. All he endured. All he went through. My issues didn’t seem so daunting. Besides, the scriptures said the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwelt in me. To this day the phrase “Because He lives” is a source of great strength to me. In this coming Easter season remember that no matter what you are facing early one Sunday morning Jesus Christ got up out of the ground with all power in His hand. Because He lives, you can and you will make it out of any situation. Keep your head up because the last time I checked, He was still living.