Day 1 – What is worship
I’m new to this blogging malarkey, having never written one before, so please bear with me over the next 6 days as I try and unpack the theme of worship through challenge and crisis. Although I’ve had the joy and privilege to serve as part of the worship band for many years now, I don’t consider myself to be an expert on the subject, so this will be more of a journey of enlightenment for me than anyone else.
In order to consider the theme of worship through challenge and crisis, I propose to do the following:
Day 1 – What is worship?
Day 2 – Worship as a lifestyle
Day 3 – A changed life
Day 4 – When troubles come
Day 5 – The ultimate example
Day 6 – A new song
So, let’s have a look at what worship actually means. My Bible defines worship as “the appropriate response to God’s self-revelation”. I’ve always seen worship as a dynamic encounter, whereby we come before the living God and as we reflect on who He is, our response to this is actually the essence of what worship really is. Worship is us responding to who God is and as a result of this process, we are changed.
It’s definitely true to say that you take on the habits and qualities of those people that you spend the most time with. My wife, Kate, has definitely become a more kind-hearted, patient, caring, compassionate, generous and loving person ever since she met me!
All joking aside, the more time we spend in the presence of the King of kings, the more we become changed into His likeness and adopt His character and attributes. As we gaze on who Jesus is and what He has done for us, and the relationship that we now have with God as our Father, it demands a response; a reaction that propels us to ascribe glory, honour and praise to Him for who He is and what He has done. This reaction might come in different forms – singing, dancing, silent reflection, tears etc., but there should always be a reaction to meeting with God, just as there would be a reaction in meeting with anyone else.
With this concept of worship in mind, worship becomes more than just singing songs on a Sunday morning in church. This is not to say that there is no value in corporate worship with other believers, which is an essential part of worship. However, if worship is our response to encountering God, then this must not be limited to a Sunday morning. Someone once used the phrase “practising the presence of God”, and I’ll cover this a bit more as I unpack what a lifestyle of worship might look like in tomorrow’s blog.
The final thought for today comes from Revelation 4 vs 11, which says “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, honour and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”
Steve P