Truth You Want to Know about Worship
It’s October. Three more months until we close The Faith Project 2016. Although, I do believe it is a life-long pursuit.
Thank you for joining me and digging deep into freedom, love, humility, patience, goodness, stillness, humility, wisdom, and prayer.
Now I want to explore worship.
Another word that is used often and comes with plenty of thoughts and opinions.
If you ask a friend or acquaintance about worship you’ll typically hear about a service they attended or about their favorite praise music. So, we’ll look at corporate worship too.
But I want to know more. The what, why, when, and who of our worship.
Paul wrote the following to believers in Rome…
Christian brothers, I ask you from my heart to give your bodies to God because of His loving-kindness to us. Let your bodies be a living and holy gift given to God. He is pleased with this kind of gift. This is the true worship that you should give Him. Romans 12:1
I like the way it’s written in The Message…
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.
Don’t you love that!
Worship as an offering of your entire life. Your everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life.
Maybe it’s easier to compartmentalize worship into an few hours on the weekend than it is to think of it as a 24/7 attitude.
What is Worship Really?
The word worship is derived from the Old English weorþscipe, meaning worship, honour shown to an object, which has been etymologised as “worthiness or worth-ship”—to give, at its simplest, worth to something. (Wikipedia)
I like to think about worship as humbly coming before an all-worthy God in reverent praise and adoration.
Worship is commonly defined as follows (1): Noun- 1. The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity. 2. Adoration or devotion comparable to religious homage, shown toward a person or principle. Verb- 1. Show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites. 2. Treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity 3. Take part in a religious ceremony. (Patheos – Dr. Michael Williams)
Look at the Webster’s Dictionary definition from 1828:
1. To adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration.
2. To respect; to honor; to treat with civil reverence.
3. To honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.
Adoration. Respect. Honor.
My favorite…
Extravagant love and extreme submission!
I want that! It sounds like…
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” Mark 12:30
So, this week I will take a closer look at God. The “who” of worship. I want to know and trust everything that makes Him worthy of worship.
I have a friend who says God is All—”Almighty. All-knowing. All-loving. All-merciful. All-grace. All-powerful. All-present. All I need.”
Almighty God, Creator, Redeemer, Spirit of Truth! Worthy of worship and praise.
True worship confesses God and all His power and glory in everything we do and say. The highest form of praise and worship is to trust and obey God and His Word. Not because He needs it but as a response to who He is and all He does.
God’s grace and mercy give us everything. Underserved blessings: His forever love, underserved grace, unimaginable peace, complete joy, wisdom, faith, freedom, daily guidance, forgiveness, adoption, eternal life, strength, every need met, His Word, absolute truth, patience, and much more.
It’s easy for me to get caught up in my own little world and forget just how huge and complete God is. And it’s true, I will never completely know and understand God this side of heaven, and that’s okay. I don’t need to understand Him; I simply want to know Him. I want to be overwhelmed with awe.
“When our worship is small, it is because our concept of God is small. When we offer God little-bitty sacrifices, it’s because we have somehow reduced Him in our hearts to a little-bitty God… God is huge! He is ginormous! He is greater than every thought we have ever had of Him.” ~Louis Giglio, Indescribable
Worship with humble awe. Surrendered and trusting.
I can’t wait to learn more about this thing we call worship but more than anything I want to know about God, the One who is worthy.
Quotes to Inspire Worship
“As worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life.” ~Richard Foster
Come, let’s worship him and bow down. Let’s kneel before the Lord who made us, because he is our God and we are the people he takes care of, the sheep that he tends. Psalm 95:6–7
“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon
Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire. Hebrews 12″28–29
“Sometimes I go to God and say, “God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. God’s already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn’t pay Him for what He’s done for me.” ~A.W.Tozer
That’s worship!
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Thank you thank you that was beautiful you explained it in truth and totally made scence.
Richard
Thank you, Richard! I so appreciate your kind encouragement!
“Extravagant love and extreme obedience . . .”
Love this take on what it means to worship our so-worthy God! And yes, each day, we should dedicate ourselves to His will and His service.
Blessings, Deb!
Thank you, Martha! I want to have a heart that lives each in worship! God is so good! Praising and worship all day long!
I love this subject. I’ve been doing a series on the same, except I’ve broken the series up with other posts. Not ever done that before, but there is a lot of studying involved and I am a homeschooler with 4 kids. It’s my heart that Believers find freedom in worship and allow God to move in them during those times. I have experienced this and I truly want others to know just how wonderful God’s presence is!
Amen, Kelly! There is something sweet and precious about being connected to our gracious God through worship. And it’s not just a weekend event but a daily surrender to our glorious God who is worthy of our everything!
This is great, Deb. I do tend to think of worship more narrowly. I need to keep these definitions and verses in mind as I go about my everyday activities.
Me too, Shannon! It’s why I wanted to do a deeper study of what it means to worship. I’m excited to explore this month! Blessings to you!
Yes, it’s super easy to think of worship as something we do only on Sunday mornings. And it’s also easy to think that worshiping on Sundays only happens during the singing and not during the entire day. I loved how you reminded us that worship is a continual, daily thing for believers!
I agree, Julie! Maybe we should start calling weekend services something else and remind everyone there that worship is a 24/7 thing, not a box to check every week. It’s interesting how changing the way we talk about something can quickly change our views. Trying to remind myself each day to fill my heart with worship and praise. God’s blessings!
This quote really stuck out to me: When our worship is small, it is because our concept of God is small.
OUCH! Thanks for reminding me of the importance of worshiping God in my everyday ordinary life!
I know, Sarah! It takes a daily reminder and then I slip so often. I try to repeat often . . . God is who He says He is not who I think He is. Big blessings to you!!
I try to live life in worship of God, but He knows how badly I often fail! lol! But those moments when I separate from the world and focus on the wonder of Him, my soul is filled and I sense His presence in a more powerful way! Thanks, Deb, for this encouragement in worship!
Blessings, my friend!
Lori
Deb,
I’m so sorry to be late reading and commenting–I’ve gotten so far behind. Thank you for lifting up worship here. I’ve known for quite awhile that worship should be a daily happening. For me it’s gaining a better understanding of what that means.
Blessings!