Spiritual Discipline 101 - Worship
You may recall in previous blog posts where I have mentioned phrases like, “everything is worship” or “worship is everything.” This remains true today as ever before. I strongly advocate that we cannot compartmentalize our lives and keep worship separately, only to serve a high spiritual purpose when we want to focus on spiritual things. At the same time, worship also involves our devotion and dedication to pursuing the presence of God. This is where the practice of worship as a spiritual discipline becomes so important.
Our lifestyle of worship must be cultivated by the time we invest being with God for the purpose of being in fellowship with Him. How we engage with God may vary from one experience to another. What remains consistent in each instance is our commitment to worship in spirit and in truth.
I would like this month’s blog post to focus on practical ways you can practice the spiritual discipline of worship daily. Here are my top three picks to share.
1. Be Alone with God. I realize there is an aspect of silence and solitude that overlaps here, but being alone with God provides a quiet time and space to respond to His presence and intentionally worship. It also acknowledges our value and priority for His presence in our lives. We not only respond and receive from being alone with Him, but we also initiate our desire for communion with Him by willfully showing up to our secret place in order to fellowship with our Father.
2. Listen to Worship Music. Playing worship music helps us to focus our heart and mind on God. It helps to reign in our wandering thoughts or feelings that may tempt us to be distracted, and it also deliberately provokes an atmosphere that is inviting to commune with God. If you enjoy singing, then I strongly encourage you to lift your own voice, and even your own spontaneous song of worship to God as you release melodies from your heart to His.
3. Verbally Declare Your Worship. Sometimes in worship we have to open our mouths and speak well of God. When we verbalize who God is and who He is to us, it helps us remember how holy and worthy He is of our worship. One of the ways I personally practice this is by proclaiming the different names of God revealed through scripture. As His names reveal His character, I can’t help but to be in awe of Him and compelled to worship Him more.
As we are in the presence of God in worship each day, he will reveal to us all He desires to share with us. We often gain insights and instructions as a by-product of being with Him. Although it can be hard at times to drown out the background noise, steady our heart, and just literally be still in our bodies, the commitment we offer every time we go to God in worship will leave our spirit and soul filled with unspeakable joy and peace.
With pure motives and authentic acts we offer, we are dawn into the most intimate of all relationships we will ever know. God stirs us, speaks to us, and showers us in ways only He can – just because we made seeking him in our time of worship a non-negotiable part of our daily routine. It starts with a heart that simply wants to love Him and know Him more and more, with each passing day. May our worship continue to grow sweeter as the days go by.
