Worship: More Than A Song

The first thing most of us think of when we hear the word worship is music. The Bible tells us that worshiping our heavenly father goes so much deeper than our Sunday morning praise.

First of all, I love worship music, I even wrote an article on How To Truly Engage In Worship on Sunday mornings. Being a part of the worship team at my church, I get to worship God while leading others to do the same and there is nothing like it.

Throughout my week, I fill up on the Holy Spirit by listening to some of my favorite worship artists. Most of the time I do this by listening to the Family Life Network. I am fortunate enough to have a local Christian radio station and it is such a blessing!

Even though worship music is one of my favorite ways to connect with my heavenly father, the Bible tells us other ways that we can give him all the glory. If we want to truly worship God the way He desires us to, it takes going beyond our Sunday morning service.

It takes being willing to do more, to be more, and to give more of ourselves to glorify Him. When we get into a true state of worship, not only does it glorify God, but it rejuvenates our soul and strengthens us as we press forward toward eternal life.

Worship: More Than A Song

Worship In The Spirit

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23

The greatest thing that sets us apart as Christians from every other religion, is the fact that being a Christian isn’t about religion but relationship. I know this has been said a million times, but it is still such a beautiful truth.

We need to live in this truth and not just understanding it intellectually. This relationship is what life is truly all about. Our prize as believers in Christ is eternal life and this life doesn’t begin when we die, but the moment we repent and accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.

In fact, eternal life is far more than life in Heaven after we die. Jesus himself said in John chapter 17, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life is all about relationship with God!

The very reason Jesus was born, died on the cross, and rose from the dead was to redeem us from sin and give us personal access to God through believing in Him. In Galatians, Paul talks about how the Law was just a guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.

We no longer need to be in a specific place or follow a specific set of “rules” to worship God, we can do so freely anywhere!

But in the scripture above, Jesus tells us that the kind of worshipers God seeks is those who worship in the spirit and in truth. What does it mean to worship God in the spirit?

First of all, what is our spirit exactly? The Bible tells us that it is the very breath of God within us! In Job 32:8 we see, “But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.” and in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” 

Not only is our spirit the breath of God, but the scripture from Job tells us it is what gives us our understanding. Our spirit is where we get our consciousness of self, our intellect emotions, and creativity. Above all, it’s what separates us from the rest of God’s creation, being created in His image, and is what allows us to have a relationship with Him.

So to worship God in spirit would mean to worship Him through whom He created us to be. Through our true inner selves, and through our intellect, emotions, creativity, and understanding. But if we are to worship him with through those aspects of ourselves, it’s important that we are also worshiping God in truth.

Worship In Truth

Without truth, worshiping in the spirit is not only meaningless but impossible. We live in a world that tells us that truth is relative and who you really are is based solely on who you say you are.

The reality is we are who God says we are and who He created us to be. The only way to fully realize and understand this truth to the fullest extent is to know truth itself.

What is truth? If you are asking this question right now, you are not alone. Jesus was asked this very question by Pilate shortly before he was handed over to be crucified.

In John chapter 14, Jesus tells his disciples that HE is the way, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE. Also when Jesus is praying in John 17, he says, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

In the first chapter of John, Jesus himself is referred to as the Word. So the only way for us to know truth is through knowing Him.

This is the main reason why I started memorizing scripture. So that I could meditate on the word day and night. It’s a powerful thing to have the truth written on your heart and having it flow through your mind and thoughts throughout the day.

Through the word and our relationship with Jesus Christ, we can offer God the worship He seeks through the truth of who we are in Him.

The spirit is where true worship begins, but it isn’t where it ends. True and proper worship extends from our inner selves to entire selves.

Worship Through Surrender

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

We serve a merciful God. We have all sinned and thus fall short of the glory of God. What we deserve for our sins is death. That’s the harsh reality of all our lives.

But God in His great mercy sent His one and only son into the world to die for our sins, so we don’t have to. We owe him everything and our lives should reflect that.

Being a living sacrifice sounds intense and that’s because it is intense. It’s about surrendering all you have and all you are at the feet of Jesus.

We all live in a fallen world and will do so until the day when the Lord makes all things new. This doesn’t mean however that we should just remain in sin. We need to surrender every aspect of ourselves over to Jesus so that we can be made perfect in Him.

Our willingness to surrender all we have over to God is the greatest way we can worship our Heavenly Father. Not only does it allow us to let go of control and surrender the throne of our lives to the only one worthy of sitting on it, it shows our true faith and the extent of our love for Him.

Jesus said, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Out of his love for us, he laid down his life for us. The greatest way we could ever worship him is by laying down our lives at his feet and surrendering all we have to Him.

Our faithful creator has provided a way for us to know him and live with him forever. He did this by sacrificing His one and only son on a cross for our sins. We owe Him everything and our worship should always reflect that.

As we grow in Him through remaining in Him and His word, our worship begins to grow also. As we gain a fuller understanding of who we are through knowing who He is our spiritual worship will begin to bloom and flourish. This is the moment when we begin to fully surrender ourselves over to Him.

Though worship is so much more than just praising Him through song on Sunday mornings, as we worship Him in spirit and in truth and through becoming a living sacrifice, we can more effectively let go and pour out our hearts to Him through song as we lift His holy name in praise!