Have you ever been in a place in your life where maybe you were doing something
you really loved or there's something you knew you wanted to do that you'd feel
would be very fulfilling you felt was a call on your life but circumstances
maybe fell apart and you couldn't do that anymore maybe you had an injury or
an illness and prevented you from being able to do what you loved or maybe
you're dealing with that right now I know I have had that happen to me and
it's hard to not think that your best days are behind you and I just want to
tell you that's not true there is a powerful story I want to share with you
today and there's so many great applications but I'm just gonna bring
out a couple of them so you're gonna want to stay around for those because
it's gonna give you some tools of how you can put yourself in position to not
necessarily go back to what you loved doing but to really find fulfillment
beyond that in ways that are better than anything you could ask or imagine
because that's a kind of God that we worship so welcome to 1224 by worship
transforms we want to empower you to live your best life through biblical
inspiration and through connecting to Jesus in at least 12 minutes of
meditative worship all right what's so magic about 12 minutes well research has
shown that meditating on a good God that part super important for at least 12
minutes when especially connected with music has the ability to create new
neural pathways in your brain that's a new ways of thinking that align with the
one that we're focusing on that we're worshiping and that means transformation
not just for your brain but for your actions for your circumstances and for
those around you so we're gonna do this little devo first and then we're gonna
jump in to that meditative worship part you're not gonna want to miss that
because that's where the application really comes in yeah you'll see as we
continue so the story is about a man named Dwayne Miller and this is a true
story he was a preacher doing what he loved to do he'd always felt called to
preach the word of God and he did that at a church in Texas he was the lead
pastor and he would speak several times during the week not just in the main
service but also different Sunday schools where he loved teaching the word of
God but he got this flu and it attacked his vocal cords and it basically
strangled his voice to where he couldn't talk anymore in fact the laryngitis was
so bad he had to yell to get out just a little bit like this like really it was
very severe he saw 63 doctors over the next year and during that time they
told him it was hopeless they said this is permanent damage it's it's impacted
its damage not just your nerves but the myelin sheath surrounding those nerves
and there's nothing that can be done so he very sadly gave up his post at the
church not because the church was required him to do that but he knew it
would be completely impractical for him to stay so he did something really
important actually he moved away to a church he had been in fellowship with
before with his family and they lovingly wrapped their arms around him and he
stayed in community stayed in fellowship with other believers where he could
keep his eyes fixed on the Lord but he really missed teaching and during that
time he also got very depressed and hopeless because well he felt like his
purpose had left him and yeah well one day they reached out to him the Sunday
School Board it was actually quite a large Sunday School group about 200
people and a week would meet there and they asked him if he would be the
substitute teacher because their regular teacher was going to be gone for a few
weeks and he had no desire to do that they were very aware of his infirmity
and the fact that he couldn't talk but they really had felt that call to invite
him to do that he tried to refuse but they insisted and he finally said yes
and that's one of the other applications that we want to say look when you have an
opportunity to do something it doesn't seem like it makes sense but you can tell
it might be the Lord's invitation that just say yes just say yes you never know
what that is going to lead to in this case he got up and the prescribed passage
that week that was a different curriculum it wasn't his own curriculum he was just
stepping into it and teaching it was based on Psalm 103 and he began to read
it and they actually had it recorded for the rest of the people that weren't
going to be able to meet that week and so I actually listened to the recording
of this it's amazing and I just want to read to you just a little bit of what he
read and I'm gonna tell you what happened Psalm 103 says this bless the Lord oh
my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name forget none of his
benefits who partens all your sins and heals all your diseases who redeems
your life from the pit and crowns you with loving kindness and compassion as
Dwayne began to read that he got to the part where he said who redeems your life
from the pit and he said that at that moment it was like a loosening happened
on his throat and he could suddenly like that stranglehold started to leave and
you could hear in the recording that his voice begins to get stronger and
stronger and as he continued reading that passage of Scripture his voice
completely came back it hadn't been that way for six years and he began to weep
and the people in the Sunday School class begin to cheer they are overwhelmed
with what they have just witnessed so so amazing reading the word of God
reading about his loving kindness and his compassion reading about the fact that
he heals all of our infirmities that he crowns us with the loving kindness that
he redeems our life from the pit look whatever pit you might be in it could be
a pit of despair it could be a pit of hopelessness it could be a pit of
confusion it could be a pit of I don't know the way forward and I don't know
how I'm going to be able to pursue the thing I believe God has put on my life
I want to tell you this don't give up keep yourself in the word keep your eyes
fixed on him stay in the word so you can be reminded of his faithfulness and then
meditate on it look we're going to go into this time of meditation you don't
want to check out now you want to stay here because we are going to sing his
word we're going to let it get into our hearts and our minds and our very beings
and you're going to want to come back to this more than once because you want it
to get into your your thinking into your soul because then it begins to transform
you and you know what even if you say okay it's just my mind what about my body
look if your mind really understands more of who God is your body starts to get
in sync with your mind so father we thank you that your word is sure your word is
true your word is real just like you healed Dwayne just by simply him
proclaiming the truth of your word and even though his faith was not super
strong at that moment it began to grow as he spoke your word out loud it's so
important that we hear even our own words speaking who you are so we turn our
hearts and our minds to you Jesus and we thank you that we can count on you come
Holy Spirit
best
Bless me, bless the Lord all my soul
Let all that's within me praise Him
With my whole heart His holy name
May I never forget all your benefits
And the good things He has done
Bless me, bless the Lord all my soul
Let all that's within me praise Him
With my whole heart His holy name
May I never forget all your benefits
And the good things You have done
Bless me, bless the Lord all my soul
Bless His name, the Lord of Heaven
Bless, bless the Lord all my soul
Bless Him, bless the Lord all my soul
He forgives all my sins
And He heals all my diseases
He redeems me from the pit
And crowns me with loving kindness
He fills my life with good things
My youth has been renewed like egos
He gives righteousness
And justice to all who are oppressed
His unfailing love to those who fear Him
Is as great as the height of the heavens
He's removed our sins as far from us as He stands from the West
For the love of the Lord it remains
Forever and ever His salvation extends
To His children and their children
Our days on earth are like grass
Like wild flowers we bloom and fade
The wind it blows and we are going
As though we had never been here
But the love of the Lord it remains
Forever and ever His salvation extends
To His children and their children
Bless the Lord all my soul
And all that is within me bless His name
He forgives my sins and heals all my diseases
He redeems me from the pit
And crowns me with loving kindness
He fills my life with good things
My youth has been renewed like egos
Bless the Lord all my soul
Bless Him let all that is within me praise Him
And with my whole heart His holy name
May I never forget all your benefits
And the good things He has done
Bless the Lord all my soul
My heart cries out to bless the Lord
Bless His holy name
So let all that is within me praise Him
And with my whole heart His holy name
May I never forget all your benefits
And the good things You have done
He forgives all my sins
And He heals all my diseases
He redeems me from the pit
And crowns me with loving kindness
He fills my life with good things
My youth has been renewed like egos
Bless the Lord
Father we just bless your name
We thank you that you are here with us
No matter what we're going through
We can count on you to redeem our life
We can count on you to save us
We who are called your children
Thank you for your promises
May you go out under the covering of His blessing today
May you be reminded to bless Him throughout your day
Whatever you may face
Keep your faith up know that He is good
And He's got you in His hand