Part Five

Worship
What does it mean to worship?
How do you worship?
What are the first images or ideas that come to mind when you think of worship?
How many times a week should you worship?

Hopefully you will come to some new understandings about how God views worship and wants you to be involved in worship.

Read this passage through four or five times and think about what God is telling us:
Romans 12:1
Therefore, 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.

We are urged, in view of God's mercy, to worship. What is in view of God's mercy referring to? When you think about what you deserve compared to what you get, you should see that God extends mercy and grace towards you instead of condemnation. When we realize that God is reaching out to us in grace, love and mercy, we want to respond to him by showing him love, respect and honor. When we seek to respond to God in these ways we are worshipping God.

Worshipping God is much deeper than singing songs on Sunday morning. God wants our lives to show through all that we do that we are honoring him and therefore worshipping him. This plays out when we interact with a difficult coworker in a way that is pleasing to God. Our worship of God comes into play when we decide how we are going to spend our money. It should affect how we direct our children and interact with our spouses. The list goes on and on, but the point is that as we function in our daily lives we should be doing so with the understanding that God is merciful toward us and therefore we want to worship him with all that we do.

When we gather and worship through singing and teaching from God's word, we experience a blessing to ourselves, and it is pleasing to God. As we sing praise and worship songs we should be expressing the gratitude and thankfulness we have in our inner spirits towards God for the wonderful and amazing ways he works in our lives.

Additional Verses to Ponder

Hebrews 12:28-29 - Therefore, 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."

Psalm 96:9 - Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.

Matthew 5:16 - In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Ephesians 1:3 - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Hebrews 13:15-16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 

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