Worship Misconceptions

It may surprise some of us that there are people who think that worship is for us instead of for God. Many also see or treat worship as entertainment (worshiptainment as some call it). Worship does benefit us, but it is something that we do for God. I was incredibly surprised myself to find that some seem to view worship as being for us. Worship isn’t about us, but is truly for God to show our gratitude toward God for all He has done for us & to glorify Him.

When worship involves singing or speaking, the words we are expressing to God must be felt & understood in our hearts & minds (often in our own personal way). Our words must be genuinely expressed to Him. If we don’t mean what we’re singing about, then we may not be worshiping God in truth or with the whole of our hearts.

Worship is about so much more than the music of a Sunday church service. The way we live our lives as Christians is worship! Worshiping–living our lives in order to please God, delight in Him & glorify Him in all we do, be it via corporate worship in church, working at your 9-5 job, singing Him praises in the car, or just by loving your family selflessly!

I think we must continue to educate other Christians about worship, that it is for God & not for ourselves. If others don’t understand what worship is or know its purpose, it may be that they’ve never truly known or understood worship, & I feel that those of us who understand worship should make the extra effort to explain it to those who may not ‘get it.’

We don’t worship for our own gain, though it can benefit us. It is for our Almighty Creator! Worship is our way of life in living for God & in a relationship with Him.

A Heart Matter

I seem to write a lot of entries on how others cannot seem to remember from when they were saved all the love & the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins, how we owe Him our lives, & should show this in how we live them out in His Name. (That is it, in a very broadly stated bundle anyway…)

I often feel like I do not have any solutions that would just ‘make things happen’ because only God can do this really–I can’t know what would work to cause people to realize this, but I think it’s a matter of reaching others’ hearts on the matter, getting past all the calloused layers & hard places & the walls that many have around themselves.

I think this is the most difficult thing to do, in reaching others & teaching them what ‘worship’ is really about. It’s really something that only God can do, but He can use us to plant the seed, & also use as to give that seed the right water, nutrition & so forth. We can be the example. We can’t know with exactness what is in others’ hearts (much less our own at times!), only God can, & only He has the most perfect solution.

It’s a challenge for sure, to show & express to others who don’t know (or are stuck in old ways of stolidness of emotion & feel that expression of it is not ‘churchly’ or ‘godly’), to help people understand what it means to worship God as He wants us to worship Him — with our whole hearts, being real, in spirit & in truth (see John 4:23-24).

Now the journey begins in prayer & asking God to reveal the ways in which He would use those who understand ‘worship’ more closely to what He asks of us to ‘teach’ & demonstrate this to those who have never even given it thought in many cases.

To be sure, it isn’t about music, it isn’t about singing songs. Yes, that’s a part of it, but worship, in essence, is a way of life, how we live our lives in all aspects for God & to His glory.

We Live By His Sacrifice

God made Him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

God, through Jesus Christ, saved our lives!

Before we were His, we were spiritually dead, & without Him we would be dead in all aspects–spirit, mind, & physical body (upon our earthly death).

But He saved us by the power of the cross, of this death & sacrifice–God loves us THAT MUCH! We owe Him our all, our everything, that we have life even in death because of His sacrifice for us.

Now doesn’t that (shouldn’t that) make you want to sing out in praise to Him, raise your arms & shout for joy & thanksgiving to Him?! If not, then we need to ask God to open our eyes, our ears, our hearts to His Spirit’s love & mercy to live in us & permeate all aspects of our lives. Just ask & He will come into your heart & you will experience (again) a love like no other! Even if this love has only faded in you, just ask Him again for that passion to be lit afire in your heart & He will surely answer your prayer.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. - 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 (NIV)

Worship God Wholeheartedly

If I wasn’t so timid in approaching people, I’d express it like this:

I know that most of you know that Jesus died on the cross in order that our sins may be forgiven, that’d we have a relationship with God through this. But do you realize just how amazing this is?! He died for us! Died! In my own experience, I just cannot cease to thank Him, to love Him, & to show Him this each & every day, through how I live my life & through worshiping Him with my whole heart. Let’s sing & shout praises to Him, let’s raise our hands, let’s show it through our eyes & our faces what God has done for us, what we’re feeling in our heart because of the indescribably amazing sacrifice of the truest of love that He gave!

Clap your hands, dance, jump, sing out joyfully, worship whole-heartedly! But most of all, don’t just stand there! Even standing or sitting in reflection with your eyes closed shows emotion. Think about the words you are singing or hearing, reflect on them, let them remind you of how great, how indescribable our God truly is! After what He did & continues to do for us in our lives, showing us His perfect love for us constantly, how can you just stand motionless & emotionless?! Let’s worship Him as He deserves to be worshiped!

We were made to worship! It should be our desire to worship Him with our whole hearts, to worship & love Him with all the strength of our hearts, souls & minds, in both Spirit & in truth! As Psalm 150 exclaims:

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Heartbroken

I’ve got to stop worrying about useless stuff before worship (& during, & then talking about it after)…. so what if my mic is weird or the sound system is acting up or… or…. whatever! Yes, they can be distracting, but who cares! I just need to get over it, move on & not talk about it anymore.

I did pretty good considering that I often have had difficulty focusing myself [solely, fully & thoroughly unto worshiping & glorifying the Lord], during the service today, trying to, as a part of our praise team, help engage the congregation into worship (many of whom seem to like standing around with their arms crossed & no expression on their faces). So, I tried to help ‘lead’ as is part of the job of us as praise team members, instead of just be in the worship, eyes always closed & not helping others to engage in worship as well…

I just don’t understand the lack of emotion & statue-like postures of some during worship services. After Jesus sacrificed Himself for us to show God’s unfailing love & care for us, how could you just stand there motionless & emotionless?! I just can’t understand that in others. Do they just not get it? Or are they afraid to let others see them in worship? We should all be there for the same reasons! I don’t know if a week goes by (both in & out of worship services) that I don’t shed tears of joy & amazement at what the Lord has done for us, not to mention all the other blessings He bestows on me (that could easily be missed if I wasn’t ‘in tune’ with Him). It breaks my heart that others can’t seem to get out of their understanding of what worship is all about (not religion/church, but about glorifying the Almighty, worshiping Him in spirit & in truth!) Maybe in fact, it is that they don’t even think of it as worship, but as just getting their weekly dose of God each week.

But some of these people are the same ones who seem to display so much more emotion than they do during worship in a simple “Hello!”

I just don’t get it. I can’t get enough of worshiping my Lord–my Rock, my Redeemer, my Saviour King! For all He does & has done for me, I’d be facedown at His feet every moment in my life because He cared & loved me that much, to die for my redemption, & I so imperfect (& never possibly so until He comes again); I who ignored Him all those years… even when things weren’t right in my life, He still watched over me & cared for me, waiting patiently for one of His beloved daughters to finally return to Him! & I can’t thank Him enough for such love that He never gives up, that He cared for me that much. That the Lord, as stated in the book of Jeremiah, has plans for me!

Operation engage the hearts of the congregation - time to begin getting underway, & firstly, to pray…

A Prayer:

Lord, I lift this cry up to you. Do whatever you can through our praise team of worship leaders, through our pastors, & through those in the Church who understand. Revival in my heart, Lord, I pray. Revival in all our hearts, I pray. I know I’m not capable of doing it myself, Lord, as is none of us. But through You working in us, anything is possible because You are the God of the impossible! Do Your will, have Your way in us, let Your Holy Spirit rain down, pour out over us as You have promised, let Him move us, let Him consume us like a burning fire of indescribable, unexplainable passion for You & You alone!