What is worship and why do we call singing worship instead of just… singing? There is really no place in the bible where a church met, sang a few songs, had announcements, the preacher preached a sermon and people got saved… Then everyone went home and did not return to church until the following week. The Church as we know it today has morphed into a very efficient, somewhat religious, structure that saves us all a lot of time and allows our conscience to be satisfied. The early church was messy. They met together constantly, sometimes lived together, helped to meet each other’s needs, and they worshiped with their lives. It seems that in our current day and age, our wealth, and our modern conveniences, have decreased our dependence on God, replacing it with dependency on self.
God originally created us with three parts: body, soul and spirit. Our body is the structure that holds the soul and spirit, as well as the part of us that relates to His creation. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) The spirit is a place that connects us to God. (Romans 8:15) The soul is the center of our self that He created to relate to both Him and His creation.
The problem with this is that when Adam and Eve sinned, it broke the connection we had to God from our spirit, and our self took over. Until we repent of our sin, turn to God and give him 100% of ourSELF… we are not living up to our 100% God given potential, because we are only functioning within our body and self.
Until we truly abandon our selfish motives and replace them with our God given destiny, we will be lost, confused, unfulfilled and unmotivated. When we fully surrender and act upon what God is saying to us, we will then truly live a “complete life.” It’s after this point of surrender that we are drawn into a deep relationship with God, and it is good. Because everything that God has for us is good… even the tough stuff. Once we get to that place of abandoning self, we are finely released into true worship.
Worship is an overflow of our gratitude to God for who He is and how much He loves us. I went through this metamorphosis in my life years ago. I had my parents faith, but I did not have my own. When life got tough, I blamed God and walked away like a prodigal. It was not until I was broken, and I abandoned my self, giving my self to Him in return for His Spirit, that I fully came into a complete relationship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Worship to me now comes from the depth of my gratitude and awe in His great love. All I want to do is worship.
Music is a great way to worship because it connects us in a deeper way. Someone once said that music is the sound of our feelings, and I agree. From the heart the mouth speaks, and that same heart sings songs just like King David did. The God of the universe thought that David was a man after His own heart. If we want to bless God in this same way, we will sing a new song to Him, just like David did. Around the throne of God, right now there are angels singing praise and worship to Him. We add to that when we surrender our selfish ways and give our worship as an offering to Him.
Take a moment and ask God to reveal Himself to you. Ask Him to search your heart. Confess to Him that you need Him and that you do not want to be controlled by your self… but by the Holy Spirit. Invite the Holy Spirit to take control and wait on the Lord for Him to speak to you. If you do this, I promise you that your life will change.
If you have questions and would like to chat about it, feel free to contact me through the contact page on the website or email me at scotty@clcwhitefish.org
Scotty Moore