Worship - Forms Us

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit (emphasis mine) of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Hebrews 13: 15, 16

As I sat and thought about this topic of worship and how is effects spiritual growth I couldn’t help but connect it to last week’s topic of abiding. Isn’t worship one of the ways that we abide in Christ?

We are to praise and do – Jesus in Matthew 4:10 says: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” – Praise and do.

We are commanded to love God with every fiber of our being and to love others – these two things are the goals of spiritual formation – when we love God and others selflessly are we not reflecting Jesus?

Richard Foster says: “Worship is the human response to the divine initiative” he goes on to say: “Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the Father”. How is worship defined? Dr. Michael Mitchell says “Worship is an act, not a style, form or approach; not determined by kind, or tempo of music, or behavior of the worshippers…” Worship is an act and yet it seems to be so much more than a mere act.

Worship does indeed take many forms both private and public - but should it not, with time become a driving force in our lives – a means of abiding so that we can grow to reflect Christ? Our spiritual formation is affected because worship causes us to draw near to the heart of God. “It is a breaking into the Shekinah (glory or radiance) of God, or better yet, being invaded by the Shekinah of God” – Richard Foster.

Worship is a means of opening ourselves, our hearts, our eyes, our ears, yes our whole being to the voice of God. We will learn what it is He wants each of us to do specifically and then out of our adoration and thankfulness we will, in obedience, act.

This week will you allow worship to work in you?

A prayer
Father – This week may we through worship experience a new depth of abiding in You. Help us to be open enough so that You can invade our lives in a new way. Thank you for everything that you do in our lives to assure us that You are there and that you love us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.