Did you know that God has hardwired each of us to worship? The truth is we all worship…something. Every person everywhere worships something. Some people bow to the great football gods; others worship their bank account, some their hobbies or habits, but we all have been wired to worship.
Over the next 5 days, we want to show you that when you begin to worship the one true God, that Jesus will be glorified, the devil will be terrified and your worries will be set aside! When you worship, you will begin to see that your life can be changed and be transformed.
So what is worship? Worship is expressing our love and gratitude to God for who He is, for what He’s done, for what He’s said and what He’s promised to do.
God’s desire for us is to worship Him. In fact, you and I were created to worship.
And when we do, there are benefits to us.
James 4:8 says Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
One of the major benefits of worship is that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us. This is why worship is crucial to the life of a believer. If we don’t worship God on a regular basis, we won’t sense His closeness and we won’t know which way to turn when trouble comes.
As we enter into worship, our stress level goes down. You cannot worry and worship at the same time. When you start to worship, your focus shifts from the problem, to the solution. Your focus is off of what’s wrong and onto the one that can help make it right. It is very difficult for your problem to coexist in the presence of God, because when you enter His presence with praise, he enters your circumstance with power!
God said I want you to come to my house, because we are a family. I want you to gather together as my family and I want you to worship together as my family. And when you do, you’ll begin to experience me in a up close and personal way.
Question: Are you participating in worship or are you watching worship? Because watching worship is not worship. Real worship requires you to step in and play an active role and give your heart and your best to God for who He is and what He’s done.
Over the next week, I want to challenge you to begin to look at every area of your life and begin to offer it to God. When you do, you will begin to experience God in a fresh new way that blesses you as much as it does Him!
"Praise Through The Problem": Day 1
January 28, 2019
"Praise Through The Problem": Day 5
Throughout this series, “Why Church?” we’ve talked about the benefits and blessings that God has for us which we can only experience while gathering together as part of God’s family, the church. What we’ve begun to see is that God blesses a church that celebrates Him. People want to be where there is joy! There’s enough bad news in the world. Church should be a place where people hear good news (the gospel) not bad news. Honestly, it should be fun to go to church. God wired us to express emotion. But too many people have been taught not to express it in church. But when we let go and worship joyfully, people are drawn to our church. We see prisoners literally set free by the worship of Paul and Silas. In Acts 16:22-26, Paul and Silas had been put into prison. It says, “They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.” Notice that Paul and Silas made the decision to praise God in the middle of their pain. They were praising God, not because their situation was good, but because they knew God was still good in the middle of their situation. Here’s the result: “Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!” They made the decision to worship when they could have been crying, complaining or at least angry, instead, they chose to praise God. Paul and Silas had to decide the same thing you will have to decide when things aren’t going your way--which is, “Will your chains break your praise, or will your praise break your chains!” They didn’t wait to praise God AFTER they got their miracle-they began to praise God TO get their miracle! Don’t wait one more minute. Start thanking God for who He is, what He’s done, what He’s said and what He’s promised to do. That is worship and worship changes everything!
"Praise Through The Problem": Day 4
In Matthew 2:2, it says, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” Notice that the wisemen didn’t come to get something FROM God, but they came to give something TO God. They came to offer their worship. Sadly, much of Christianity today has been reduced to some sort of a formula where people actually believe that God exists for us; That God is some sort of cosmic vending machine, and if we do the right thing or say the right prayer then God has to do whatever we want him to do. The reality is that God does not exist for us, but we exist for him, and we were actually created to worship him. Our worship should not be limited to the weekend. We can actually become worshippers and bring honor and gratitude to God every day of the week. You can honor God by the words you speak, the way you live, the way you react, what you post or don’t post on social media, how you love your spouse and on and on. It’s about offering all of you to all of God. Paul said in Romans 12:1, “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.” Notice that Paul connects mercy and worship. Paul is saying because of God’s mercy toward us, our response should be to offer all of us “as a living sacrifice” to God. If we are not worshiping in the way we live, we aren’t displaying God’s mercy in Christ, and we are not giving people what they need most. And that is not merciful. A merciful lifestyle depends on a worshipful lifestyle. So before Paul defines Christian living as merciful, he defines it as worshipful. And when we get this, we will start to understand that worship isn’t something we do, it’s who we are. We have been wired to worship God from the depths of our heart.
"Praise Through The Problem": Day 3
“I just don’t feel like worshiping God. Things are coming unglued in my life, and I have too many troubles to deal with.” Sound familiar? Even though we may not ever verbalize these words, it is probably too often the scenario. If you are the one who is experiencing a struggle, a problem or spiritual oppression, you may be the very person who needs more than anyone else to begin to praise God! When the storms of life hit, instead of giving in and giving up and saying, “Woe is me,” (which only fuels our problem) our reaction should be to praise through the problem and worship like crazy! Do we praise Him because of the problem? No, we worship Him because He has all of the help and solutions we need in the midst of life’s problems. Satan desires for us to depend on on our power to get through the struggles of life. Unfortunately, we aren’t powerful enough to overcome our problems. If we were, they’d no longer be our problems! Instead, God desires us to look to Him. He is the source of the power we need to overcome the obstacles of life. The apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:6–7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” If you are looking for real answers to the storms of life, turn to prayer and praise and in return receive the peace of God!