Uncovering the Mystery of Worship

I have spent years trying to discover and uncover true worship. I understand things like singing and shouting. I understand the actions that accompany worship but to understand the essence of worship is another story.

While it remains a bit of a mystery, here is what I have found.

What is worship?

It is any expression of adoration, honor and respect directed to God. In one respect, it is making ourselves as nothing in God’s presence.

It is essential to spiritual growth. When we experience God and genuinely respond to him, we are changed. That change makes us more like who God created us to be.

It is participatory but not performance. It’s not a crowd of people cheering on the performance of their favorite sacred song! While music is powerfully emotional and some songs are profoundly worshipful, we must be careful not to cross the line into performance when we sing these songs. It is easy to enter in to a ‘concert’ mentality in a large crowd listening to the songs we love.

How do we worship?

When we worship, we typically think of an assembly of believers gathered together. This is the most common picture we have, but it can be a solitary experience as well.

It can be spontaneous or intentional. We can simply set aside a time for it. We don’t necessarily need feel inspiration. However, when inspiration suddenly hits us, it is entirely appropriate to enter into spontaneous worship.

When we gather, every element of the service should reflect a focus on God. With our music the focus must be on him, not on our performance, although it is altogether appropriate to offer him our best. When we give, we express our desire to have God be the Lord of all our resources. When we listen to the preaching of the word, we must seek to hear the voice of God.

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.

Revelation 22:8 (ESV)

Here, John is so overwhelmed with the word of God that he felt worship was the best response!

Worship, ideally, involves the whole person. It is physical, emotional and spiritual. I believe that one reason we have so many ways to express ourselves is so we can give ourselves to God with our whole being.

While our worship is always focused on God, it can be expressed in many different ways: song, silence, standing, prostrate, shouting, clapping!

Get Serious

Take some time to reflect on all God has done, all he is doing and who he is and worship him right now!