Worship – What IS it, exactly?
I have been doing a personal study on worship. I know how worship LOOKS but I want to understand more fully what it IS. First I looked up various scripture that had to do with worship (pretty easy to do with biblegateway.com) and I studied different pieces that came before me.
John 4:23
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.
That really stood out to me. In spirit and in truth… I had to really think about that. What does it mean exactly? I supposed it meant sincere worship coming straight from the heart and not just some sort of image that’s put on to make you look holy at church. But there’s more to this worship thing and I feel like I need to put the pieces together.
Romans 12
1Therefore, 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. 2Do 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.
That seems a little more concrete. Offer your body… that’s a BIG thing, like giving Him your life because what else do we really have in this world other than our body (remembering that our minds are part of that package as are our hearts).
Hebrews 12
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our “God is a consuming fire.”
And that one obviously shows the attitude (and I don’t mean outward really) of worship — reverence and awe. Sometimes I think I take God a little too much for granted. After all, He’s always there, isn’t He? That’s how I end up thinking — I’ll worship Him tomorrow, I have to ask Him for stuff now. That is about as far from reverence and awe as you can get and still be Christian I think. Also, if you read the Bible a lot and think about God a lot, you sort of get an inner dialogue going on with Him throughout your day. The Holy Spirit guides you, gently chastises you, praises you all depending upon the circumstances. With that kind of familiarity, it’s easy to forget who God really IS. You get to thinking, “Well, He’s God. He knows that I love Him.” You forget His enormous power and how little you are, like an ant compared to a mountain really. And I guess since you ARE like an ant you can’t really understand the enormity of God any more than an ant can understand the enormity of the mountain. But unlike an ant we CAN understand worship and we can feel awe with an attitude of reverence.
Revelation 4
9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11″You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
That gives me some words to say to God and things to think about as I adore Him. I also imagine being the woman that washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and hair. I would gladly do that.
I’ve been praying to the Lord to teach me how to worship Him in a way that is most pleasing to Him. One of the things that was brought to mind was to ask various people what they felt worship was – inwardly, not outwardly. I started with Sister Anita who pointed me to the the first chapter of Philippians and explained that, to her, worship was living the way God wants you to live. It’s not just something you do in prayer, it’s someting you live. That was an eye-opener. That made so much sense and it went with that living sacrifice scripture as well.
I will keep collecting and keep posting and, if anybody else reads or sees that, please feel free to leave insight in notes. Thanks!!