Worship is one of my favorite pieces to the Sunday Morning Assembly of a church.  I have always loved to sing and I think God does something inside of us when we worship him and His son.  I'm not all that musically inclined.  I wanted to play drums when I tried out for middle school band, but with a few looks from my mom and the fact that I have absolutely no rhythm I ended up playing the trumpet.  I did okay, but by 7th grade I wasn't going to make it to the symphony band (read best band in our middle school).  My trumpet skills were not good enough, so I looked around and noticed that there weren't but one tuba and learned to play it, simply so I could be in the better band class and march in the parade. I only played a musical instrument during middle school and that is about the extent of my ability.  I know...lame for a youth minister.

God adores our praise.  It is one of his favorite things to hear.  And we have to admit that when we praise God the space between heaven and earth becomes extremely thin.  It makes us emotional, it gives us perspective, it can change hearts, and it can give us words to the things we feel.

God hears our worship and it is a sweetness in his ear.  When we worship with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength we are in perfect tune.

Sing Loud, Pray with vibrance, engage in service, show compassion, live with purpose, give generously, and...

Because the sweet sound of worship in God's ear is not just our music during assembly but the way we live our life in the Kingdom for the sake of others

I've never been in the military, but sometimes at home as a child it felt like it.  My mom's nickname at one time with the family was "Drill Sergeant" or just "Sergeant." All in fun what it really meant was that mom demanded and commanded a lot from me and my brother.  

We sometimes approach God like this.  He is the drill sergeant and we have to keep in line with all of his demands as he barks them out through scripture or loud preachers.  God has expectations and let's be honest, we do too!

I don't approach scripture as my marching orders and how we read scripture needs to be a future blog series in itself.  I don't view God as my sergeant either, especially the drill sergeant.  Someone who has been in the military might find that comparison different than me, but as I see it God is not barking at me ready to make a spectacle of me when I do wrong (I understand that my view of military is from the movies and TV, so If I'm way off base, comment and share a new perspective). 

But our series isn't about who God is, but rather how we speak to God.  I teach my kids and expect my youth ministry students to treat each other and me with respect and that it is beneficial to use, "Please" and "Thank You."  However, sometimes I, myself, get bold and speak to God as if he lacks intelligence or is hard of hearing and I bark my commands at him.

It's okay to expect things of God and know that he has the power to do whatever He wants.  But if we are truly tuning our voice, then we need to come to God with a heart of anticipation, expectation, and humility.  It is our own arrogance that creates a commanding voice to God.  We think we know the answers and what is right.  We bark at God, like a dog or even worse people we love.  We are not in control and therefore we cannot command what God will do.

Please has become a weak word in our American Individualism vocabulary.  We have made please a place of inferior meekness in a world full of sharks.  The truth is that "please" is a sign that we understand and respect another person.  We don't whine to God, "Pleeeeaaaaseee!!!", but we do come to God with humility and ask please for his will to be done.  Even God's equal, Jesus Christ, comes to God with great humility when he ask that the cup be passed over him.  We must follow that example and expect that God will come with power in his own way and we remain faithful and leave the commands to the professionals, Drill Sergeants!

I'm not an expert on children (that's my wife), but I do have twin 3 and 1/2 year old boys.  So I feel like I'm an expert in whining.  We are working hard on teaching our boys about whining and using their, "big boy" voice when asking for things or when describing how they feel when they don't get their way.  I'll just say it's a process or staying in synch with this blog, it's a journey.

The other day I was working with one of our boys who was whining and the thought occurred to me that I shouldn't be too hard on him, since I'm pretty sure I do my fair share of whining to God.  I whine about how things don't always turn out perfectly for me.  I whine about what I want.  I whine about what I don't want.  I whine about what I get and what I don't get.  I wish there was someone there to tell me to quit whining, use my "big boy" voice and describe with words my feelings.

There is nothing wrong with asking God for something.  There is nothing wrong with a feeling of disappointment when things don't go the expected way.  God is big enough for those feelings and those conversations.  But what are we really saying when we whine to God?

We are saying we don't believe him enough to wait.  We say we are going to trust him for what is best, rather than what we think is best.  In some ways we are putting the power and glory into our own hands and not into God's.  

God's ears are hearing our voice, but when we whine we are a little out of tune.  We need to tune our voice to ask, even if persistent, with a faith that whether it goes our way or not we still would rather it be in God's hands.  He appreciates our petitions and revels in our faithfulness.

I'm reminded of a scene in the movie Bruce Almighty, where after Bruce has been given the power of God, he begins to hear everyone's prayers.  The clip is below if you want to see it.  The problem Bruce has is that trying to answer all of those prayers is beyond overwhelming.  Have you ever wondered what God hears?  We talk often about the voice of God and what we hear or should hear, but I don't remember talking much of what God hears.

I want to take a few blogs to not only talk about what God hears, but also what we say.  I'm calling it "Tuning Our Voice."  I think we miss sometimes the tone or the attitude behind the voice we carry when talking to or about God.  When we tune something we are looking for the right note.  My aim is not that we speak the "right" way each time, but rather we just have a better ear (read awareness) for what God's ear is receiving. God hears what we say, understands what we think, and most importantly knows our hearts.  However, are we being aware how we are approaching the almighty and in the end does it even matter?  We'll see!