Two things I remember being very proud of for having learned as a child were how to tie my shoelaces and how to recite the alphabet. I’m pretty sure the alphabet came first because it had a nifty song attached to it. The shoelaces were a little harder to master because there was all that looping around stuff going on – something about bunny ears and all that which I can’t quite recall now. I’m sure that many children conquer these basics by age four or five, though none may understand at such a young age the lifelong power of these two simple tasks. Tying laces turns into all sorts of mechanical feats accomplished with our fingers, from First Grade art projects to designing rocket ships and airplanes. Learning your ABC’s and the words they can make puts the entire universe in your mouth. Somehow, with practice and time, these monumental childhood accomplishments fade into the fabric of our daily lives and become reflexes that require absolutely no thought on our part, taken for granted as mundane fact. I wonder sometimes if worshiping God hasn’t become as thoughtless and mundane to us.

If you ask a child if they know their numbers or letters, they may ask you, “Do you mean by heart?” Learning something “by heart” means that you don’t have to look at a paper or read it out of a book to recall it. It means that you can remember something well enough to speak it out of your heart, your inner self, without having to refer to anything else to assure you of the words or phrases. There is, of course, an element of memorization in this act, but eventually that which becomes memorized becomes part of us – it is inculcated, becoming part of our character, part of who we are as human beings. To know something “by heart” means it has become part of our own hearts in some way. To know a fact in this way makes it handy, accessible, reachable with little effort, close by. Worship, and all the facts that underlie its presence in our lives, should be just as close, just as accessible to us at all times.

You may recall that the ancient Hebrews wouldn’t even speak the name of God. His name was considered to be too holy to utter and it was only written as the Hebrew letters YHWH (the Tetragrammaton), later becoming the name Yahweh. Jews would not pronounce this, but say HaShem, meaning “the Name”. Later derivatives are Jehovah and there are other terms used for God we are familiar with such as Adonai, meaning “Lord”. The point is that the Hebrews revered God’s name so much that they wouldn’t speak it aloud. Now, fast forward to the New Covenant made by Jesus on our behalf with YHWH and the paradigm shifts, the premise transforms, the rules change. Jesus’ whole mission was to bring God Himself into the hearts of men. No longer would God be cloistered in a man-made Holy of Holies, but would come to dwell in a temple “not made with hands”. The mission of God in Christ was to make the holiest presence of the Father accessible, handy, and reachable to us all. This is what He did on the cross in dying for our sins – He made God accessible to us by faith. What once was the domain of a single priest on behalf of all Israel became open access to anyone on the planet desiring a relationship with Almighty God! What once was locked away in the deepest chambers of the temple, the Holy of Holies, God’s presence, has now come flooding out to fill our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5).

Sometimes we overlook something wonderful in things or in people that we know well. Like tying our shoes or knowing our letters, sometimes we take for granted the things that we “know by heart”. Often we need to pray for “fresh eyes” to see what beautiful gifts we have close at hand. Worship is one of those gifts that can be so easily overlooked, yet is always there as a means of God’s grace to us. The name of Jesus is a gift that we sometimes forget to pray in worship and reverence, the name that is above all names (Philippians 2:9). The Jesus Prayer is the earliest known Christian prayer from the 5th Century. It is based on Luke 18:10-14 where Jesus taught the parable of the publican and the sinner. The Jesus Prayer, practiced by some throughout the centuries as simply saying the name, Jesus, repeatedly, or with the phrase “Lord, have mercy” also has an extended form that is, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner”. The theology of the prayer is perhaps one of the most concise and beautiful discourses of worship, petition, and humility. Praying this prayer often puts us in a place of humble receptivity and adoration of the Lord while proclaiming His supremacy. No wonder believers have prayed this prayer for centuries!

Worshipping by heart means that we don’t need music or books or worship services to get us going. Saying the name of Jesus throughout our day in any form draws us closer to Him. Singing the simplest melodies in our hearts helps us to meditate on His goodness, to continually drink from the stream of living water (John 4) in our hearts and to actually experience Him constantly. Brother Lawrence, a 17th Century Carmelite lay brother, spent his years in the kitchen and then repairing shoes, yet his simple theology of “practicing the presence of the Lord” is known the world over. Worshipping by heart is “practicing the presence of the Lord” in all that we do. As familiar as tying our shoes or reciting the alphabet, the name of Jesus is a mighty weapon of worship. Lifting up our hearts to the Lord through The Jesus Prayer draws us closer to Him. Remembering a familiar verse of Scripture, even John 3:16, is a means of grace as powerful as any experience or bit of knowledge that we can possess.

Great God of All, be close to me now. Let the spiritual truths of prayer and worship make me keenly aware of Your presence in and around me this day. May that powerful flood of life from Your throne fill me now. May I not be so filled with facts about You that I miss Your true presence in my heart. I pray for the gifts of simplicity, purity, and a sense of Your holiness that I may bring You joy in all that I say, think, and do. In Christ’s wonderful name, Amen.

© Copyright 2007 by John Chisum. All Rights Reserved. For reprints or other permissions contact Worship4Life with John Chisum at 251-414-5832.