Day 1

Relationships are always cultivated through time invested, and fifteen minutes spent alone with the Lord each day will have a profound impact on your relationship with Him. God is waiting to spend time with you. He loves you, He longs to be with you, and He cares about your day-to-day life. This nearness to God lies at the heart of the 40-Day Worship Experience.

Worship is more than songs, by the way. It’s a heart attitude of surrender, awe, and love toward the God who sees you and knows you. The title “40-Day Worship Experience” refers to the worshipful, intimate atmosphere of your time alone with God. I find it helpful to have worship music playing quietly while I pray, and you might, too. Psalm 100:2–4 reminds us:

"Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name."

The goal of this time is to “come before him” and to “enter his gates” with sincerity and faith, knowing that He is waiting for you. I encourage you to offer God the first fifteen minutes of your morning for the next forty days, entrusting yourself to His Grace and allowing surrender to unlock the door to heart transformation. I call this SurrenderLand: a place of safety, trust, and nearness to God.

I’ve seen the remarkable changes this act of surrender has produced in my own life and in many others who have embarked on this experience, and I believe you will experience them too. These changes are not your own doing but the result of God’s Work within you as you discover greater depths of His Love.

Today, the first day of our journey, I encourage you to practice surrendering to God and opening your heart to His Love. Read the verses below, then spend some moments giving God your hopes, fears, plans, and dreams. Come into His Presence and rest in His Love. When you are finished, you can use the “Questions for Reflection” to deepen your awareness of what God is doing in you today.

Questions for Reflection

1. What is one change you hope to see in your life over the course of the 40-Day Worship Experience?
2. What does surrender mean to you and why is it important in your relationship with God?
3. What might make it hard to spend the first 15 minutes of your day with God, and how can you make it easier?