What The Bible Taught Me About Worship
I love to worship Jesus. I love to pray, and I love to read His word. He deserves our worship, because He alone is God, and He is holy and worthy of our praise. In light of this, though, have you ever sat in church and just didn’t feel like it that day? I’m not condoning this feeling, by the way, because if we lived based on our feelings and thoughts, we would be letting the enemy thrive in our lives, and we never want to do that.
For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
I did a Bible study this year on the book of Malachi, and on that day, the priests were profaning the very name of God. They were doubting Him, questioning Him, and they were making a mockery of who He was and blatantly disobeying what He had told them to do. He had given them very specific instructions on what type of animal to bring to Him as a sacrifice, and rather than bring Him their very best, they were bringing Him the sick ones and leaving the best for themselves. In doing all of these things, they were not fearing God, and they were definitely not bringing to Him the worship that He deserved.
You should read that book for yourself, because there is so much more there that is so relevant to today, but when you read it, don’t just read. Pray first, and ask God to help the Word to show you any way you may be doing the same kind of thing in your life. Ask Him, and I promise you, He will hear and He will show you something in your life.
So, what exactly is worship? According to Dictionary.com, worship is “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.”
In my own terms, I consider worship a reflection of my heart. This isn’t an event that occurs just once a week, in a worship service. Worship should be evident in our everyday, daily and mundane lives. When I wake up in the morning, I should praise God for who He is - the Author and Creator of life. When I eat my food at a meal, I should thank Him for the food, because James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift is from above, and food is good. Can I get an amen? When I pray, I should always start by praising Him for who He is. He is my Savior and Redeemer, my Provider and very present help in time of trouble (Psalm 46:1). All of these things, when I praise Him, worship to Him.
The book of Malachi was quick to point out to me how important it is for me to ready my heart before I walk into a church service to worship. Each week, I like to arrive early for this, and I sit in my car and pray. I pray and ask God to reveal to me anything I need to make right with Him before worship starts. When He does that, I confess it to Him and repent and ask Him to change my heart. I ask the Lord to soften my heart and to make it open for Him to reveal to me whatever He wants that day, through the reading of the Word and the words He gives to my pastor for his sermon. I ask for ears to hear and eyes to see, and I ask that for others in the service as well, especially my own family. (I also pray for my pastor and for any lost person in attendance that day.)
And each week, He does all of that, and more. Worship is a posture; knees on the floor in prayer, prostrate to Him with my heart inclined toward Him. It is submitting to His will and His plan for my life. It’s lifting my hands to Him in worship, when I sing to Him about Who He is: worthy, excellent, infallible, incredible! It is living every single second of my life with Him at the forefront of my mind. Worship is not a feeling. Sometimes I am overcome with emotion when I think of His goodness and mercy and grace, and what He endured on the cross for my sin, but an emotion is different than a feeling. Feeling is based upon an experience, in my opinion, and emotion is when I am overcome at all that He is to me.
So, what do I do when I’m not necessarily “feeling it” one day? I confess it to Him and I repent. I ask Him to help me worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
I ask Him to help me always remember worship is never about me - it’s about Him. And then I do just that. I know some people who really tense up during a worship service and at the thought of lifting their hands. I’ve never struggled with this, because I come from a church that was free in their worship. The church I now attend isn’t as free, but they’re getting there. I sing in the choir and on a praise team some Sundays, though, and I help lead in worship (meaning that the people in the congregation will only do what they see me do). I close my eyes, and I pretend that I am sitting at the feet of Jesus, and I sing my heart out to Him. Any song that talks about God is easy for me to worship. I try to focus on the words, and I sing out to Him.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
There is a song that says that He is the reason I sing, and that is true. He has put a song in my heart and on my tongue, and I couldn’t contain it even if I tried. I pray this encourages someone who struggles in this area. I know it’s a touchy subject in some denominations, but let’s not make it about us. Let’s make it all about Him (Psalm 150:6, 1 Chronicles 16:34).
Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
A Prayer
Lord, I praise You and thank You for who You are. I love to worship You, and I pray these words You have given me inspire someone to really think about this act of worship, and that You would be honored and get the praise and glory and honor You alone deserve. Your word says that Holy and Awesome is Your name, and in light of that, help us to pour out our praise to You, because we love and revere Your beautiful name. Amen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
When Jennifer isn't focusing on her family of her husband and four (almost) grown sons, she is passionate about leading women to a deeper knowledge of and relationship with Jesus, through the reading of the Bible and through prayer. After years of serving in student ministry, the Lord pulled her out of that and planted her solidly in the women's ministry within her local church. She leads a small group on Wednesday nights, and together they study the word of God verse by verse, and book by book of the Bible. She loves to write, and you can find her sharing regularly on her blog, Overflowing With Thanksgiving. She also loves to sing and to help lead worship at her church, and will always be a choir girl at heart. You can find out more about her and her hobbies on her favorite social media outlet Instagram, as @JenLloydGoodwin.