Weekly Lesson 23

WHAT IS CHRISTIAN WORSHIP?

One of the Game Plan devotionals this week talks about a form of worship vital to all Christians, singing. Most Christians think that’s all there is to worship. Not so.

Every Sunday morning, many of the people in our town prepare to go to church. Each man, woman, and child has a story – a life that goes on from Monday through Saturday. Many of them rush to get to church on time. Some were on the fence all morning about whether they would show up. So, for those who do arrive, who walks into a church and take a seat, what is at stake? How much does it matter what takes place in the next hour?

We all have experienced difficult times in our lives, yet God has promised us that He will never abandon us, He will never bail out on us, He will never fail us.

He promises us “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

With promises like these, promises which lead us better to understand God’s plans for you and me, His plans to prosper us, to give us hope and a future, not to harm us – – – should lead us into worship because we are thankful, despite our difficult times. Because we know God is for us, and if God is for us, we have faith that we can make it. So, what is worship?

Worship is not about us. It is not about what makes me happy. One way to worship is by coming into a building called a church and respond to God’s spirit and presence in my life. In other words, Christians come and thank God for who He is. We can look at the characteristics of God and believe He is filled with LOVE, GRACE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, MERCY, COMPASSION, and many more what we might call character behaviors. We should be ready to meet others and thank God for all our blessings. We should recognize God’s grace in forgiving our sins, for sending Christ to love us and die for us. We should come ready to say thank you to God for His concern for our lives and never-ending love. His promise never to abandon us, no matter how bad we become, we come wanting to thank Him for His acts of mercy, for His creation, for so many different ways we have been blessed because of who God is.

We do this in church, but we can also do these things in our everyday life. We worship God when singing, praising, loving Him, closing our eyes, and thinking of Him and His goodness. There are many ways to worship Him. The main thing we must do is to spend time with Him, not thinking about us and our desires but Him and His Desires.

Psalm 100 describes how our worship should be: Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. 3 Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.

Do you understand what the Psalmist is saying? He is telling us that in worship, we respond to God’s activity and focus on Him!
Look at everything underlined above. Can you see the focus is on God? Can you see God’s activity? Can you see what our activity should be when we focus on HIM? We will shout, we will have gladness, we will sing, and we will have praise!

What has your worship been like? Do you take the time to worship Him?

Go to Romans Road to Salvation and/or Prayer of Rededication

Christ Centered Champions

Christ Centered Champions

We are more than champions through him who loved us. Romans 8:37