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What is Worship?
October 7, 2024
Hey Clawson Family!
Song:
Scripture:
Romans 12:1-2 New Living Translation
12 And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Devotional:
It is kind of crazy that if you ask this question to 10 different people, you are usually going to get 7-10 different answers, especially if you ask people from different churches or different denominations.
What is worship?
This is what I got from the dictionary and the internet.
The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.
To worship something is to prize it above everything else
Worship means respectful devotion—loving, honoring, and obeying someone who deserves our highest regard.
Answers from other people:
Bringing worth to something.
True worship always humbles you and elevates something else.
It is an appropriate response to the presence of God in our lives.
Not one of those definitions mentioned singing, clapping, raising your hands, playing an instrument, waving flags, bowing down, or any of the postures of worship that we see when God's people come together to give him praise and worship. We mistake worship for what happens during our praise and worship time on Sunday Morning. We even rate our worship by how we felt during the worship set or worship songs.
We say things like: Worship was average this week. Worship was awesome this week! I could really feel the presence of God. I wish they would have sung these songs in worship. They did a great job leading us in worship.
When really, our worship in our lives has nothing to do with the worship set but has everything to do with how we live our lives.
According to Paul in Romans 12, worship is honoring God with my body, life, and actions. I visited with our worship leader, Pastor Brian, this past week. We discussed how many people talk about how the service or the worship service on Sunday is so good that it can hold me over till the following Sunday. Listen, if that is you, we are glad you feel that way. But the way that it is supposed to be is that what happens on Sunday during our corporate worship time is an overflow of what took place during your week in your private time.
Worship is public and private. And we see both of these in the scriptures. What should be happening is when I have a healthy private worship life, allowing God to transform me, renew me, direct me, giving my life to him daily, then when we get together in Public worship, I am now expressing gratitude to God for what he has been doing in me through my private worship life. So, if you are getting what you need on Sundays to hold you over throughout the week, then really your next step needs to be learning how to worship God in my private time throughout the week by giving my body to God and allowing myself to be a living sacrifice for him.
Journal:
Is it possible to worship God and still feel discouraged? Why or why not? Answer in your journal.
Training
Lord,
Reveal any ways I’ve allowed frustration and discouragement to obscure my awareness and appreciation of Your blessings. May my heart and mind turn to worshipping You, no matter the circumstances!
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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