Worship connects us to God’s light. Worship opens our hearts to receive God’s light and to be transformed by God’s Light. Worship is not about singing a song. Worship is about letting God be God in every area of my life. Worship fully acknowledges the holiness of God and surrenders fully to the Lordship of God. Worship is obedience to the will of God. Worship is a matter of the heart.
Abraham worshipped God when he took to knife to slay his son. “He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” ” (Genesis 22:5, NIV84) Worship was expressed as a sacrifice. Abraham heard God’s call to lay down his dreams, the very dreams God gave him and Abraham obeyed. Worship led Abraham to place the God given dream on the altar.
The people learned that worship is an act of humility. “Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. ” (Nehemiah 8:6, NIV84) They bowed and put their faces in the dirt and acknowledged the greatness of God. Worship reads God’s Word and allows the Word to pierce the heart. Worship confesses sins in the presence of God. Worship receives the forgiveness of God. ” They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.” (Nehemiah 9:2–5, NIV84)
Worship understands that God is good. Worship seeks God in the midst of turmoil. “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship …. may the name of the Lord be praised.” In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. ” (Job 1:20–2:1, NIV84)
Worship is full of joy. Worship is a heart filled with the knowledge that God’s goodness is real. “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. ” (Psalm 100:2–5, NIV84)
Worship is a heart that seeks God because He is God. Worship is a heart set to find God and to experience God. “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” (Isaiah 29:13, NIV84) Worship is a living relationship with God. “They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'” ” (Matthew 15:9, NIV84)
Worship lives by the Spirit and walks in truth. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” ” (John 4:23–24, NIV84)
Worship offers our bodies to God to be used as He wills. Worship allows God to change how we think. Worship says to God, not my will, not my ways, but YOUR will and Your ways”. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ” (Romans 12:1–2, NIV84)
Worship opens our hearts to God and falls on the mercy of God. “But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” ” (1 Corinthians 14:24–25, NIV84)
Everything I do is an act of Worship. In all things, I want my life to bring Glory to God. Each moment is an opportunity to let God receive glory. Each moment is a the now time of change where my body, and my will are surrendered to the will of God. Each moment that I choose to walk in love to my brothers, I worship. Each moment that I choose to forgive those who have hurt me, I worship. Each moment that I choose to obey the Word of God because I believe His Word, I worship. Each moment that I give of my time, my talents, my energy and my life, I worship. Each moment when I understand that the only good in my life is what God has placed, I worship. Each moment when I serve and give to another believer, I worship. My surrendered life is worship.
And as I worship, light flows from me and touches a world lost in darkness.
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