saltandlight

Do you ever feel that you just don’t get anything out of the worship service at church?  Maybe you don’t care for the music or the people.  Maybe you didn’t really understand the message or the pastor wasn’t excited enough.  I understand that.  I’ve been there.

When I started listening to contemporary christian music, I felt so free in worship.  I thought “Oh wow, that song is so worshipful” and it would make me want to lift my hands and worship God.  And I thought “Man, why can’t all churches sing these kinds of songs? They are so worshipful.  Some of those old hymns don’t feel very worshipful.”

Something that God has shown me as I’ve grown closer to Him is that when I come to church, I bring my worship with me.  I’ve realized that if my heart is in the right place, and I have been praying and studying the Word, I am already worshiping God before I get to church.  No matter what songs are being sung. No matter the style of the preaching. I can feel the spirit moving when I bring my worship into God’s house with me.

Now, no one is perfect and some days I am just not feeling it. That is when we need to pray, and ask God to empty us of ourselves and fill us with His spirit.  We need to lift our hands up in spite of our feelings. Our feelings can’t be trusted.  Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  That is not to say that we should fake it.  Rather, we should be praying and offering our worship to Him from a place within us that knows He is worthy!

We know that God is worthy of our praise, no matter how we feel!  We know that He is our maker, our Lord, our Savior, our Guide.  He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  He is the Master of the Universe!  And He desires worship from you!  He desires a relationship with you!  Why wouldn’t we submit to Him in worship, no matter how we feel?

Worship is not just the act of lifting our hands during a song that we like.  Worship isn’t just praying or just preaching.  Worship is not just going and sitting on a church pew.  Worship is none of these things and it is all of these things.  It is not just the “act of doing” but it is getting our heart right and offering all that we are to Him. You can do any of these things, but if it is not done from a clean heart, it is not acceptable.  John 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

We can worship God any time, any place.  We can carry our worship around with us. God knows our hearts, He knows us better than we know ourselves.  The more time we spend with Him, the more worshipful our spirit will be.  The more time we spend with Him, the more equipped we will be to handle anything this world has to throw at us. He is just that good to us.  He gives us way more than we deserve, why not give ourselves back to Him?

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.