I would like to talk about how worship should be an act of reverence. This should be a moment to use to focus all our energy on telling God who He is to us, thanking Him, listening, and resetting our priorities if they need an adjustment.
Worship can take on many forms. We need to balance an open mind with true worship. We should feel an overwhelming feeling of reverent awe while worshiping. Something that reaches deep inside us. We should take worship out of the common practice box and turn it into the verb it was always meant to be. Worship without action is just an idea. Worship should be centered on the idea of submission and reverence. Putting God above ourselves knowing that God alone is worthy of worship. Most Importantly, worship is a moment of communication. From the beginning of time God has expressed a desire to have open communication with us. Worship gives us this time. (Block)
When worship is focused on anything but reverence to God it can cause rifts between us that can lead to a split to pursue our preferences, waste time trying to please everyone, or adopt worship to fit humanity. (Block) The problem with all of this is that this takes worship that should centered in God and centers it on us!
Before I believed in God, I looked at people in worship, waving their hands, screaming, and putting on a show, and I thought this is so fake. If anything the imagery pushed me further from belief. But God had his way, and one way or another I became a believer. Once I had signed up it came time to understand worship. I felt the emotion and the joy of having the Holy Spirit working in me and I wanted to express that, but I did not want to become “one of those people”. This really worked on the psyche. I spent many hours in prayer. Then, while I was at a seminary in Guatemala, I felt God pressuring me to lift my hand in worship. I thought this cannot be. God does not need me to lift my hands. I was resistant beyond measure, but His insistence intensified. Eventually it got to the point where it would be worth the risk of lifting my hands in worship just to shut Him up. So I did. As I held my hands up in reluctant worship, I tried to contemplate why God would want me to do this. He reminded me in that precious moment that worship was about Him. Not about me. And definitely not about anyone else. He taught me that day to worship freely. To not hold any standard or preconceived idea of what worship was. Worship is me telling Him you’re in control. Take it, it’s yours.
