Like An Athlete, We Need To Train So We Can Finish The Race, Fight The Good Fight.
The act of worship centers all of the other spiritual disciplines. Worship is the connection of spirit to Spirit, ours to Him. Many Christians will not immediately identify worship in the family of spiritual disciplines because it lacks an ascetic dimension but this narrow thinking constrains our growth. True worship that brings us into the presence of the God of the universe, to know His immediate glory and holiness and to fear it to our core is anything but a trifling pursuit. To enter worship demands everything we have to give spiritually and physically; it is not something to be engaged casually. All of the spiritual disciplines have as their objective the strengthening of spiritual muscles that give us the endurance, strength, and character necessary to approach the throne and offer our worship.
God seeks worshippers. He entered the Garden to seek out Adam and Eve. Through Christ and the horror of the crucifixion He draws men and women to Himself (Jn 12:32). Worship is our response to God’s loving advances. Scripture is filled with the stories of those who have fallen to the ground in the presence and reality of the ultimate Love. Human history mirrors this trend. We were made to worship and the trajectory of life is altered permanently when the truth of this characteristic becomes our reality. Worship becomes both the most natural and most challenging of the disciplines.
Worship ends in obedience. Devoting time and effort to seek and enter the presence of God changes us. We are exposed to the same raw glory that caused Isaiah to proclaim his ruin we will know what it is have the burning coals of holiness touched to our hearts. The boundless love of God becomes more and more real in our lives and it affects all that we are and all that we do. Worship, true worship,changes us irreversibly.
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire"
Hebrews 12:28-29
"When we understand the greatness of God, the stability of His character, the perfection of His justice, the depth of His grace, the limitless nature of His love, the wonder of His holiness, and the sacrifice of His Son, it should not be difficult for us to be moved greatly in our desire to worship God, and worship Him passionately" (Relevant Magazine).
We can't worship Him too much!
Prepare our hearts Lord for worship; that we may come before you not in vain but genuinely astonished at the gravity of your Gospel; desperate for you. Fill our hearts with the indescribable glorious joy found in the promise and hope of the cross that we may honor and praise you with awe; magnifying your worthiness. Create in us a self forgetfulness and a desire to center our thoughts on you making our singing, praise, rejoicing, praying, offering, humbling, joy, adoration, glory, thanksgiving, and loving all about you.
Worshiping Jesus together may be the single most important thing we do. It plays an indispensable role in rekindling our spiritual fire, and keeping it burning. Corporate worship brings together God’s word, prayer, and fellowship, and so makes for the greatest means of God’s ongoing grace in the Christian life.
But thinking of worship as a means to an end can be dangerous. True worship is fundamentally an experience of the heart, and not a means to anything else. So it’s important to distinguish between what benefits might motivate us to be regular in corporate worship, and what focus our minds and hearts should pursue in the moment.
Worshiping In Tongues
Paul taught us about prayer and I believe it holds true towards Worship Also. "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words." (Matthew 6:7) The disciples would have recognized this reference to pagan babbling, the ecstatic screaming and utterances that are so often a part of pagan worship.
Paul was also aware of the pagan ecstatic utterances that had no interpretation: I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:18-19)
The Bible says, “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” —Jude 20. Speaking in tongues stimulates faith and helps us learn how to trust God more fully. For example, faith must be exercised to speak with tongues because the Holy Spirit specifically directs the words we speak. So clearly praying, worshiping or any other funtion of the Holy Ghost can be distorted and abused. The rule of thumb is As Paul said "I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue."
"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in [by] spirit and in truth."
John 4:23,24
