Over the next few weeks I’m going to be teaching a bit on worship and was wondering if any of you have any thoughts, comments or questions concerning worship…
Below are some of the things bouncing around in my head that I’m thinking about addressing:
- Trusting God – We have to really trust God before we are willing to surrender everything to Him in worship. For example if you don’t trust God then you are less likely to really let go and enjoy Him during musical worship. Instead you are going to try to maintain a certain demeanor while sings the lyrics.
- Why we sing for half an hour? – One of the things that has developed at PRV is a full half hour or more of musical worship, which, to be honest, is fairly standard for a Vineyard church. However I’m not sure if everyone fully understands why we do it…
- Non-Musical Worship – Worship God goes beyond the musical song service into every day life. True worship is an ongoing daily relationship with Jesus that is real and personal.
What do you all think? Am I missing something? Do you have good stories, references, versus for the above topics?
I’m fairly open so paste your comments and we shall see what God does… 😀
Worship can be extremely personal, and total trust is an absolute for genuine worship. Worship is being totally open to the Holy Spirit in conjunction with stepping out, reaching out knowing You will be touched.
Having worship prior to study is so very important. It opens our hearts, our spirit to God. It invites His presence. It brings us away from the world and to a place that we can meet with God. You are far more likely to get so much more out of the study. The Holy Spirit will be able to convey what The Lord needs or wants us to know, to hear. “Worship and praise is the purest form of prayer because it focuses our minds and souls entirely away from ourselves and on Him.” ~ Stormie Omartain
We do not always need a song to worship God. Worship is a verb…it is an action…Loving the unlovable, showing patience…Acting out on those whispers of the Holy Spirit. “Worship will only make complete sense when we understand its place in God’s complete plan. He did not give worship as a test of the wills but as the source of our potential. He did not create man as a pawn or plaything but to become a partner in His highest purpose.” ~ Jack Hayford
Powerful thoughts! I totally agree with your statement that “worship is a verb…it is an action.” So often we get tricked into thinking that worship is about emotions or ourselves, when in reality it is about falling before Jesus in a physical act of submission, giving everything we are to Him daily. It is not a Sunday deal or a musical singing deal, but all encompassing focus on giving everything we are to the Lord of Heaven and Earth.