STEPS INTO WORSHIP

Worship is something we do. Studying the doctrine of worship and debating the forms of worship are all good, but by themselves they are inadequate. In the final analysis we learn to worship by worshipping.

Let me give a few simple steps that I hope will help in the experience of worship;

First, learn to practise the presence of GOD daily. Really try to follow Paul’s words, ‘Pray without ceasing’ (1 Thess. 5:17, KJV). Punctuate every moment with inward whisperings of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving.

Have personal times of inner worship and confession and Bible study and attentiveness to Christ, your present Teacher. All this will heighten your expectancy in public worship because the gathered experience of worship just becomes a continuation and an intensification of what you have been trying to do all week long.

Second, have many different experiences of worship. Worship GOD when you are alone. Have home groups not just for Bible study, but for the very experience of worship itself. Gather little groups of two and three and learn to offer up a sacrifice of praise. Many things can happen in smaller gatherings that, just by sheer size, cannot happen in the larger experience. All of these little experiences of worship will empower and impact the larger Sunday gatherings.

Third, find ways to really prepare for the gathered experience of worship. Prepare on Saturday night by going to bed early, by having an inward experience of examination and confession, by going over the hymns and Scripture passages that will be used on Sunday, by gathering early before the actual worship service and filling the room with the presence of GOD, by letting go of inner distractions so that you can really participate.

Fourth, have a willingness to be gathered in the power of the Lord. That is, as an individual I must learn to let go of my agenda, of my concern, of my being blessed, of myhearing the word of GOD. The language of the gathered fellowship is not ‘I’ but ‘we.’

There is a submission to the ways of GOD. There is a submission to one another in the Christian fellowship. There is a desire for GOD’s life to rise up in the group, not just within the individual. If you are praying for a manifestation of the spiritual gifts, it does not have to come upon you but can come upon anybody and upon the group as a whole if that pleases GOD. Become of one mind, of one accord,

Fifth, cultivate holy dependency. Holy dependency means that you are utterly and completely dependent upon GOD for anything significant to happen. There is inward travail that the evil will weaken and that the good will rise up. You look forward to GOD acting and moving and teaching and wooing and winning. The work is GOD’s and not yours.

Sixth, absorb distractions with gratitude. If there is noise or distraction, rather than fussing and fuming about it, learn to take it in and conquer it. If little children are running about, bless them. Thank GOD that they are alive and that they have energy. Become willing to relax with distractions – they may be a message from the Lord.

Seventh, learn to offer a sacrifice of worship. Many times you will not ‘feel’ like worship. Perhaps you have had so many disappointing experiences in the past that you think it is hardly worth it. There is such a low sense of the power of GOD. Few people are adequately prepared.

But you need to go anyway. You need to offer a sacrifice of worship. You need to be with the people of GOD and say, ‘These are my people. As stiff-necked and hard-hearted and sinful as we may be, together we come to GOD.’ Many times I do not feel like worshipping and I have to kneel down and say, ‘Lord, I don’t feel like worshipping, but I desire to give you this time. It belongs to you. I will waste this time for you.’

When people are gathered for genuine worship, ‘They are like a heap of fresh and burning coals warming one another as a great strength and freshness and vigour of life flows into all. One log by itself cannot burn for very long, but when many logs are put together, even if they are poor logs, they can make quite a fire. Remember the counsel of Proverbs 27:17 that ‘Iron sharpens iron,’ and even rather dull lives can help each other if they are willing to try.

So go, even if you don’t feel like it. Go, even if worship has been discouraging and dry before. Go, praying. Go, expecting. Go, looking for God to do a new and living work among you.

The Fruits of Worship

Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.

To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Resentments cannot be held with the same tenacity when we enter his gracious light. As Jesus says, we need to leave our gift at the altar and go set the matter straight (Matt. 5:23, 24).

In worship an increased power steals its way into the heart sanctuary, an increased compassion grows in the soul. To worship is to change.

Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life.

Worship enables us to hear the call to service clearly so that we respond, ‘Here am I! Send me’ (Isa. 6:8). Authentic worship will impel us to join in the Lamb’s war against demonic powers everywhere – on the personal level, on the social level, on the institutional level. Jesus, the Lamb of GOD, is our Commander-in-Chief. We receive His orders for service and go’. . . conquering and to conquer with the word of truth . . . returning love for hatred, wrestling with GOD against the enmity, with prayers and tears night and day, with fasting, mourning and lamentation, in patience, in faithfulness, in truth, in love unfeigned, in long suffering, and in all the fruits of the spirit, that if by any means [we] may overcome evil with good.

In all things and in all ways we do exactly what Christ says because we have a holy obedience that has been cultivated over years of experience.