alright. I finished the next discipline in my book: worship. The word worship comes from the Saxon word weorthscype, which later became worthship. To worship God is to ascribe the proper worth to God, to magnify His worthiness of praise, or better, to approach God as He is worthy. (page 87)
As I was reading through this chapter, I could not help but think how worthy the Lord is, and how unworthy I am. The least I could do, to my worthy creator, is worship Him with my entire being. I was honestly excited to see how this book would handle the subject of worship. Growing up in church my whole life, there seems to always be that debate of well, worship is only through singing praises. Or true worship is only when you give above and beyond what the Lord asks. Well, here is the thing, worship is the God-centered focus and response of the inner man. No matter what you are doing, be it singing, talking, working or whatever, when you are focused on the Lord, you are worshiping Him. When your mind seems to wonder off, even though you are singing beautiful words, you may not be worshipping. The Lord wants our hearts, not our actions. The most intriguing thing to me about worship is that it is purely because of the spirit. When the Holy Spirit enters our hearts and dwells, we get longings and desires to worship our Lord and Savior with all of ourselves. Our spirit binds together with truth and we realize that we are absolutely nothing without our Lord, and we realize that we can never give Him enough praise and glory, but we can still worship Him with our entire lives.
"Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth." - Donald S. Whitney
I don't know about you, but I know that in my life, I am always thinking about worth. I often think, well would I be good enough for that? or how am I so worthy to have such spectacular people around me?..Even when I am shopping, I compare prices and figure out their worth. But when I think about the worth of the Lord, I can't really wrap my entire mind around it.
Worship is expected both publicly and privately. Here is an excerpt from the book:
That believers are expected to participate regularly in corporate worship is given in the command of Hebrews 10:25: "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing." The first exercise of the Discipline of Worship is to develop the habit of faithfully assembling with other believers in meetings where the primary purpose is to worship God.
wow. If only every single Christian could read that. In fact, I need that reminder quite often. Fellowship with other believers seems to be something that is put on the back burner. I see it so often at my home church. Yes, there are extremely faithful families that never question their church attendance, but then there are others that I believe, don't even want to come to worship, but want to come for other motives. It is funny because as I think about how I was brought up, church was never a question. On Sunday morning the Van Camps were in church. no matter how sick. no matter if there was a tournament going on. no matter what. Some mornings church was the last thing I wanted to wake up for, but daddy still made us get up. I am so thankful for that discipline that my dad took as the spiritual leader of our house. He engrained in me the importance of the gathering of other believers for the purpose of worshiping the Lord.
But not only is church attendance a huge part of worship, but making time every day of the week, an intimate time with you and the Lord, is so extremely important and a true act of worship. We minimize our joy when we neglect the daily worship of God in private.
A.W Tozer writes, "If you will not worship God seven days a week, you do not worship Him on one day a week."
I am definitely challenged and encouraged. I am challenged to really worship the Lord, in spirit and in truth, in my every day life. The Lord says that the way in which we conduct ourselves, in itself is an act of worship. And I am so encouraged because even though I am so incredibly unworthy, the Lord still allows me to have that open invitation to worship Him. He allows the Holy Spirit to dwell within me, and cultivates my heart to worship Him.
It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow. -President Calvin Coolidge.
Be blessed.
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