Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): It stands to reason that if an integral part of our humanity is the ability to worship, and if one of the uniquenesses of our humanity is that we are capable of worship, does it not stand to reason that our humanity, which is lived on a daily basis, should incorporate the attitude and the activity of daily worship? And I think the logic of that is rather obvious, but it does not always apparent to people. And so today, we want to address this aspect of worship, which we would call worship as it relates to devotions on a daily basis.

Guest (Female): Do you make worship part of your life every day? How do you incorporate it? Humming all day long probably isn't going to work. So how do you make worship a vital part of your everyday life? Welcome to Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Stuart Briscoe is starting a new series all about worship. Today, his focus is how to add worship to your devotions, and he'll begin in just a moment.

The generosity of friends like you keeps broadcasts like this one going out around the world, so you and others can experience life through the biblical teaching and resources of Telling the Truth. As thanks for your gift today, we'll send you Powerful and Effective Prayer, a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill that will give you timeless wisdom on the subject of prayer and help you build a more consistent and inspired prayer life. So call today to request yours: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with his message, Worship and Devotions, on today's Telling the Truth.

Stuart Briscoe: One of the surprising statements of scripture is that God is looking for people who will become worshipers. We're familiar with God seeking us for a variety of reasons, but perhaps we don't always think of the fact that God is very, very anxious that men and women and boys and girls should know how to worship Him.

Now, given that that is the case, I think it would be true to say that people have different perceptions as to what constitutes worship. I think probably one of the most common perceptions would be that worship is something that you do at 11:00 on a Sunday morning, give or take an hour or two. That we have places of worship and that we have people who are trained and skilled and called to lead in worship, and so we dutifully gather with God's people on the Lord's Day in a place of worship to worship. Now, this is a perfectly legitimate and appropriate understanding of worship, but it is a very narrow perception of worship.

For if God is only to be worshiped for one hour a week in one particular geographic location, then of course there's a very severe limitation on this whole experience of worship. One of the things that scripture points out to us is that we are to develop a relationship with the Lord on an ongoing basis that will make an impact in all dimensions of our lives. And what this means, in short, is that we need to discover how to develop an attitude and an activity of worship on a daily basis.

It stands to reason that if an integral part of our humanity is the ability to worship, and if one of the uniquenesses of our humanity is that we are capable of worship, does it not stand to reason that our humanity, which is lived on a daily basis, should incorporate the attitude and the activity of daily worship? And I think the logic of that is rather obvious, but it does not always apparent to people. And so today, we want to address this aspect of worship, which we would call worship as it relates to devotions on a daily basis.

Now, I want to put particular stress on this idea of daily worship. Now, let's assume that this is something that God wants for us. What would be involved? What is the place of daily devotions in our lives? Let me suggest to you that we can break it down into three sections. Number one, if we're going to develop the practice of daily devotions or learn how to worship God in the ordinary, mundane aspects of life, firstly, that would involve starting the day with the right attitude.

Let me read to you, for instance, from Psalm 108. The opening verses say this: "My heart is steadfast, O God. I will sing and make music with all my soul. Awaken harp and lyre. I will awaken the dawn. I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations. I will sing of you among the peoples, for great is your love, higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth."

Now, notice in the midst of that statement about God being exalted above the heavens and His glory being seen over all the earth, in the midst of that statement, it talks about me awakening the dawn. That is a rather poetic way of saying I will start off my day. How will I start off my day? He says I will start off my day by praising you, O Lord, among the nations, and singing of you among the peoples.

Why will I do that at the break of day? For great is your love, and your faithfulness reaches the skies. In other words, the Psalmist is talking about starting the day with a right attitude. And the right attitude would be an attitude of gratitude for all that God has done in the past and a statement of confidence of all that He is going to do in the day that lies ahead.

The concern, of course, is that I have experienced His faithfulness. I am cognizant of His love. As I start this new day, it's a clean sheet. It is simply to be written upon. It is a new gift to me, but I embark upon it cognizant of His faithfulness and His love. And my overriding concern for this day is that His name might be exalted above the heavens and His glory seen all over the earth, including the part of the earth that I will traverse during the course of the day.

Let me refer you to Psalm 5. This is what the Psalmist says in the fifth Psalm: "Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. Morning by morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. Morning by morning, I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Hear that? Morning by morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. Morning by morning, I lay my requests before you and I wait in expectation.

So here we are. We've started the day. Good morning, Lord, with an attitude of gratitude. And now we lay our requests before the Lord. And our requests are that He will be exalted above the heavens and His glory will be seen in our lives in the mundane activities of that day. Now we go off to work, and the attitude is an attitude of gratitude. We have started off on the right foot. What can we reasonably anticipate in the course of that day? It is that we have laid our requests for this day before Him. We do it morning by morning, and we therefore embark on the day in expectation.

In expectation. What kind of expectation? Well, I'd submit to you the expectation will be this: if I have dedicated the day to Him, it is a reasonable assumption He will be committed to directing the day for me. Would that be reasonable to assume? If I have dedicated the day to Him, it would be a reasonable assumption that He is committed to directing the day for me. And so I move into the activities of the day with this exhilarating sense of it being dedicated to Him, it being directed by Him, and I have this ongoing sense of anticipation, of expectancy that He will be Himself in the mundane activities of this day.

Guest (Female): That's Stuart Briscoe, and this is Telling the Truth. More of his message, Worship and Devotions, in a moment. But first, we want you to know that your partnership makes it possible to encourage other listeners like Anne, who shares, "I've been so blessed by your sermons over the past year. My husband passed away in 2019. I have been truly encouraged and it helped me to know that God will never leave me or forsake me." Thanks for listening, Anne.

Do you ever feel like your prayers are bouncing off the walls instead of landing in the presence of God? Or do you pray more out of obligation than relationship? Maybe you recognize a lack of passion in your voice even as you pray, and you're left to wonder, "Does God even hear my prayers, or will He answer them?" We'd love to help lead you toward a more inspired and vibrant prayer life by sending you a newly curated collection of messages from Stuart and Jill called Powerful and Effective Prayer.

This one-of-a-kind resource is our thanks for your gift to help more people experience life in Christ through the teaching resources of Telling the Truth. Your support enables countless people across the globe to stand strong in the unchanging truth of scripture, and we're so grateful for friends like you. So request Powerful and Effective Prayer when you call to give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, let's return to Stuart Briscoe for more about worship and devotions on today's Telling the Truth.

Stuart Briscoe: Now, I've started the day right, and I'm now living the day with an expectant spirit. So then what do I have to do? Well, I've got to come to the end of the day. And at the end of the day, what can I do? Well, listen to Psalm 4, verse 8. This is what the Psalmist says: "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." What a lovely way to end the day. All right, Lord, we started the day together, we've gone through the day together, and now I guess it's time to just wrap it up together.

But before we do that, perhaps we'd better make sure that we've tied up any loose ends that need to be tied up. Now, I am by nature a rather laid-back sort of person. Not everybody agrees with this, but I am firmly convinced that this is the case. Incidentally, when I said that in the first service, it was greeted by mocking laughter from large groups of people. But anyway, we won't get into that.

One of the things that I have found very beneficial in my life is that when I was 17, I left school, immediately got a job in a bank. And I learned two things in the bank that have stood me in good stead ever since. Number one, you don't go home at night until you've balanced to the penny. Number two, you leave nothing lying on your desk that could have been dealt with during the day. Very, very good advice if you want to be businesslike. I don't always follow it; I try it as much as I can.

I would suggest to you at the end of the day, it's a very, very healthy thing to clear your desk. To spend a little time at the end of the day looking over the day with sober assessment. And as you engage in sober assessment of the day, you look for any unfinished business that might be hanging around cluttering up the desk of the day because, you see, you want to go to sleep in peace. You want to be able to lay your head on the pillow at night and say, "Lord, it was wonderful to awaken the dawn with you. It was wonderful to walk with you through the course of this day. And now at the end of the day, I want to ensure that I am cognizant of all that you have been and done in it, and I also recognize my fallenness and I need to deal with anything that I have failed you in it."

So I not only clean my desk, but I take out the garbage each night before I go to sleep. One of the problems that we have in our lives is that we leave garbage lying around in our lives instead of dealing with it before we go to bed at night. Good marital advice contained in scripture is this: "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." It seems to assume that we're going to get angry with each other, we're going to be upset with each other—that's a given. But the big thing is this: whilst there may be some legitimacy in getting angry with each other and upset with each other, there is no legitimacy whatsoever in harboring it, maintaining the resentment, and going to bed with that anger in your heart. The wise admonition of scripture is: deal with it before you go to sleep at night.

If that is true there, it is true in every dimension of our lives. If there's unfinished business, cluttered desks, and garbage lying around, then you begin to develop an attitude of daily devotion by beginning the day with the right attitude, going through with a sense of expectancy, and at the end of the day, being in a position where you can lay your head on your pillow at peace with Him.

One of the choruses I learned as a little boy in England goes like this. No, I will not sing it. "In the morning, first of all, Savior, let me hear thy call. Make me ready to obey thy commands throughout this day." It's a great way to start the day. It's a great way to keep the day in focus. What a wonderful way to end the day is just to engage in a little sober assessment. It is appropriate for us to gather with God's people on the Lord's Day in the Lord's house and be led in worship. It is also appropriate for us to recognize the place of daily devotion.

Some time ago, I was able to visit John Wesley's house in London. Next to his bedroom is a tiny anteroom. In the tiny anteroom, there is a desk and a chair and nothing else. The desk is in front of the window and the view from the window is a panoramic view over the rooftops of that great metropolis in the southeast of England. And on the desk, in John Wesley's handwriting, is a piece of paper which says this: "I sit down alone. Only God is here. In His presence, I open, I read His book, and what I read, I teach." And there's the key to John Wesley, the man who almost single-handedly saved England from going through something similar to the French Revolution.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two specific ways in which God revealed Himself to us. And remember that worship is response to God's revelation. That's what worship is. Worship is a response to God's revelation. Now, in Psalm 19, we're reminded in the early verses that God reveals Himself in creation. Let me just read the opening verses to you. You're familiar with them.

"The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world." Now, that's poetic, so it needs a little interpretation. What it is saying is this: there is a loud proclamation of the reality of God's person and creative work in creation. So powerful is this proclamation that there is no speech or language—in other words, there is no ethnic group on the face of God's green earth where the voice of God's proclamation in creation is not heard. Nowhere on the face of God's green earth is there a place where creation does not speak loudly and clearly of who God is.

Now, if there was any doubt about that, the Apostle Paul banished all doubt in what he said in Romans chapter 1. Let me read to you some of the very powerful words in the beginning of Paul's wonderful letter to the Romans. I'm reading from verse 19: "What may be known about God is plain to human beings. Did you hear that? What may be known about God is plain to human beings, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Simply to underline the statement, the statement is this: that the invisible God has revealed Himself in visible ways so that men and women and boys and girls can begin to understand something of the character and nature, the divine nature and the eternal power of an invisible God.

And you say, "How in the world can we see an invisible God?" And the answer is, "In the things that He has made." Moreover, this revelation, this declaration, this proclamation is so unequivocal and so unavoidable that anybody who doesn't see it is without excuse. Moreover, God says that He anticipates that people seeing in creation a revelation of the Creator will be moved to thanksgiving, will be moved to give Him honor—in other words, will be moved to worship. And in fact, Romans chapter 1 goes even further and says one of the major complaints that God has about the human race is that they do not worship the God who is revealed in His creation.

Guest (Female): Stuart Briscoe on today's Telling the Truth, talking about why worship is crucial to your daily devotion time, and he'll be back to answer a few questions about it coming up. "I'll pray for you. Just pray about it. Prayer changes things." You probably heard statements like these from other Christians or said them yourself. But if you ask most believers how prayer works, the answers are likely to be all over the map. So how does God want to use prayer in our lives? Is He listening to every single request, and can prayer really make a difference?

To help answer questions like these, we've put together Stuart and Jill's five-message teaching series, Powerful and Effective Prayer. This collection of messages can help you uncover the secret to a more vibrant prayer life, one where you lose yourself in the presence of God and have confidence that your prayers are rising, making a difference. You'll gain wisdom and insight on prayer from Stuart and Jill's decades of ministry. Powerful and Effective Prayer comes as our thanks for your gift to help more people fix their eyes on eternity through the truths of God's Word shared through Telling the Truth. Your support enables countless people across the globe to stand strong in the unchanging truth of scripture, and we're so grateful for friends like you. So request Powerful and Effective Prayer when you call to give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or give online at tellingthetruth.org. And now we'll hear Stuart answer a couple of questions about his message today.

Guest (Male): Stuart, how does starting off your day with a devotion shape your day?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, different people start their days in different ways, but there's no question about it: the attitude of our minds is going to determine the way that we start the day and probably will have a profound impact on the way that we continue the day. Therefore, if we start out the day thinking God thoughts, if our perspective at the beginning of the day is heavenward, then there's a pretty good chance that the day itself will become fashioned by those God thoughts and the heavenward perspective.

I remember when I was a boy growing up in England, we had an army officer who was billeted with us, and he had a profound impact on my life. And he had a rather disconcerting habit. Each morning when I would see him, instead of just saying, "Good morning, Stuart. How are you this morning?" and then carrying on with whatever he was doing, he would look at me and look deeply into my eyes and then he would say, "Stuart, what is your best thought thus far today?" That was a challenge, and I would suggest to you that you ask yourself the question early each day: what is my best thought thus far today?

Guest (Female): Stuart, you said today that you do a time of reflection about your day as you get ready for bed at night. What does that time of reflection look like for you?

Stuart Briscoe: Christians often talk about having devotions at the beginning of the day, and I'm sure that many people do that and I'm sure that many of them found it extremely helpful. However, you don't hear as much talk about what we do at the end of the day. And I remember reading a poem by the old English poet called Herbert. Fascinating man, he was an Anglican vicar but had a wonderful turn of phrase in his poetry.

And he says that we should dress and undress our soul. I love that picture. We should dress and undress our soul. What he was talking about, of course, was you get up in the morning and you decide what you're going to wear. All right, at the same time, get up in the morning and decide spiritually what are you going to wear. And then at the end of the day, you undress and you take off those clothes and you hang them up, unless of course you are a college student, in which case you drop them on the floor and spend the rest of the semester wading through your discarded clothes.

But if at the end of the day we begin to go over the day and undress the soul and say, "All right, this is what I put on this morning. How did I handle it? Is it dirty? Is it creased? Is it messed up? Or is it in good shape?" And I think that's a healthy exercise.

Guest (Female): Wise words from Stuart Briscoe. We hope today's message encouraged you. Before we go, remember that when you give today to help keep Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one going out, we'll send you Powerful and Effective Prayer, a newly curated collection of five messages from Stuart and Jill that can help you start moving from a mundane prayer life to one that's rich and vibrant. So call now to give and request Powerful and Effective Prayer with our thanks: 1-800-889-5388. 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

Guest (Male): Tomorrow, we'll hear more from Stuart on how to make your devotional time a time of worship. That's next time on Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Thanks for listening.