On our first Worship Night, Carys, a worship leader from Life Church UK, spoke on “What is Worship?” Asking the congregation, suggestions of singing, connecting with God, and praising Jesus were given. The literal translation of the word “Worship” is “To honour, to adore, to exalt”. Some people worship sports teams, or musicians, or celebrities, etc – things that are important to them, but for us, the only thing we should be worshipping is Jesus.
John 4:24 tells us that we should worship in spirit and in truth. Carys went on to explain that when our soul connects with God, this is us worshipping in spirit, and when we connect with the word of God, is when we worship Him in truth. We are told that every word in the scriptures is God breathed. David worshipped in the word of God. This is seen in the Psalms, where he writes passages that can only come from that intimate connection with God. Worship can touch the most deep and intimate parts of us; the places that only He can reignite in our heart and soul. It is born of a deep relationship with Him.
Carys told us that worship should be a priority to us, and an essential part of our faith. We should worship because of who He is. Worship should NEVER be about us. If we’re entering worship for what we can get out of it, then we’re doing it wrong. It is ALL about God and bringing glory to Him. The truth is, that when we meet him in that most intimate place, God is so good that He allows us to get something out of it too. When our emotions align with our spirit, there will be times when we cry, smile, laugh, and even get on our knees. We can also find that some songs come to us at times in our life when we need them most. These are the times when they can affect us more, but this is God doing a work in us, as long as we are willing to let Him. We HAVE to remember that worship is not about us, and worship will only be good when we are Jesus centred; fully surrendered, and with our hearts completely open to Him.
Carys spoke about the practice of worship in a church setting, and how when we come in to the service, it can take us a while to get fully connected, and by that time, worship is almost over. She suggested that we should prepare, and come to worship ready and expectant for things to happen so that we have prepared our hearts and are ready to align with the spirit in the very first song. We need to live with anticipation and come to the service with the expectancy that God is going to move.
Another point raised was that of the leader of worship. Sometimes, we wait for the good parts of the song before we really begin to worship; the emotional parts of the song before we let go, but we don’t have to wait. We are our own greatest worship leader. We have to lead ourselves into it. It has to be a conscious decision on our part. No one can do it for us, and in the end, we are the ones who dictate our own level of worship. We seem to wait for these moments, but we just need to look to Him and focus on Him.
We can choose how deep we want to go and how much we want to give to God. We need to decide whether we want to be led by Him. In the end, we have to be the ones to make the decision to put ourselves down and to lift Him up, and we must make this decision whether life is good or bad. There will always be a reason for us not to give in and surrender to worship. Life gives us troubles and things that will get in our way.
We just need to see that true worship is all about how good God is. He sent His Son. He gave us Grace. He is Faithful, and He is Always There; Always Rooting For Us. We ALWAYS have a reason to worship BECAUSE of Him and who He is. We must remember to not look at Jesus through our circumstances. The Bible says that we are engraved on the palms of His hands. He is THAT good! When we think about it like that, how can we not worship Him. We have to worship Him and how amazing He is, because without Him, we are truly lost.
We must understand how to really worship and how we worship. This way, we can find our own place of worship. The truth is that God changes us when we learn to worship, and it is in this place that we can find the fullness of joy.
Carys shared with us some pathways to worship. Firstly, we must practice going into the presence of God daily. We must align our day and remember that we are going to worship Him that day, regardless of what we have going on. We must train ourselves, and our hearts. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone, and we must practice this, but when we do, our mind, heart, soul and spirit becomes aligned. Carys suggested some “easy wins” like listening to worship music while travelling, rather than just putting the radio on. If you can do this, you invite God into your heart and your day, and before you know it, you will feel better.
Let how good God is be your motivation. Come to worship with a willingness to be led. Surrender to Him and let Him lead you. Come with an attitude of gratitude. There is always something to be thankful for, even if it is just our breath.
We are called to bring a sacrifice of worship. We are called to cast our burdens on Him; to take everything and give it to Him. The truth is that you can’t worry and worship at the same time. When you truly worship, you forget your problems. They all fizzle out in His presence, because it is in His presence that we can find the fullness of joy. In worship, our baggage just ceases to be.
Going back to David, when he is writing in Psalms, he goes from one extreme to the other because he gets into the presence of God. He gets into a situation of extreme worship, which is something that we really need. We must surrender our lives. If we let our lives be worship, then we are constantly exalting God in everything we do, and we are allowing God to shape us, and then we will truly see how much joy is to be found in the presence of God.
Scripture: John 4:24
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