Leading a Life of Worship
This time, I am going to write to you about worship. Yes, worshipping God through music is great and wonderful, but worship is much more than that. Worship is a lifestyle. The Biblical definition of worship is the act of showing devotion and respect to God, acknowledging and celebrating God's power and perfection. Worship is reserved for God alone.
John 4:24 says that God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. This means that we must worship him in spirit and truth, which means engaging in genuine, heartfelt worship based on a true understanding of God.
“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
-John 4:24
Since worship is a lifestyle and not just through the music, we live a life of sacrifice. We devote every day to God. We worship in Spirit and in truth in a manner that is holy and pleasing to God. Even serving is an act of worship, it's through our actions we are worshiping God, not just our words. Also just thanking God for all we have is worship too and that's through our words.
“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”
-Psalms 100:2
Psalm 100:2 is saying we need to worship the Lord with gladness and with joyful song. We know that the Lord is good; He made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. When I attended the School of Worship, Psalm 100 was one of the scriptures we had to memorize in scripture memory class. We were taught a song to help us remember it. It helped me remember it and I would sing it in my head when I had to do it for exams.
“Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
-Matthew 4:10
There's a book I would recommend reading. It's called Exploring Worship with Bob Sorge and we read it during the School of Worship year. The book aims to clarify the true meaning of worship, going beyond common misconceptions and emphasizing its essence and exclusivity. It distinguishes worship from praise, highlighting their unique characteristics.
It's heart-oriented, Sorge emphasizes that true worship originates in the heart and is an expression of reverence, adoration, and devotion towards God. It's not merely about outward actions or musical style.
Sorge delves into the concept of using praise as a weapon in spiritual warfare, providing scriptural basis for this idea. Praise is a weapon we use to fight against warfare. The focus of worship is God, not the worshiper or their experience. The book stresses that worship is ultimately unto God.
These are just a few key points of the book - you will have to go read it yourselves.
Prayer
Lord, I pray You help us worship You in spirit and in truth, Lord, and we can praise You every day through our daily lives. Remind us that worship is a weapon against spiritual warfare and remind us to put that armor of God on and use the Sword of the Spirit to also fight against spiritual warfare.