“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” (Psalm 84:1-2)

When was the last time you “yearned” for something? When was the last time you “fainted” for something?
How would you describe your attitude about going to church? To worshiping the LORD Almighty? To gathering with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? To lifting up your voice in praises to God? To “falling down” before our God out of awe and respect? To hearing our Lord’s precious Word? Would you say you “yearn” and “faint” for the Lord’s dwelling place?
Yes, certainly our whole life is to be an act of worship to our God. Yes, we can learn some things about God sitting in a boat on a calm lake or staring at a beautiful landscape. But there’s only one place where we can learn about true love, true forgiveness, true peace and that’s in God’s Word. God never designed His people to be isolated entities, rather He made us to not only be encouraged by like-minded believers, but also to encourage others.
If we don’t yearn for God’s house, yearn to worship God, perhaps the problem is with us. Life has become too self-focused.
So, what do we need? We need God to shift our hearts back on Him! You have a God who wanted nothing less than your eternal salvation. You have a God who rescued you from eternal death and has freely given you eternal life! You have a God who went to a cross to wash you clean from your sins and clothe you with His perfection all so that you can stand in His presence forever in heaven!
Worshiping with His people isn’t a must or a have to, it’s a want to! We want to gather in His presence, fall down before Him out of awe and respect, mutually encourage our church family, give Him our best, and hear His life-changing Gospel again and again!
Yearning for the courts of the LORD, just like you,
pastor