Day 1

What Is Worship?



Deuteronomy 6:13-14, Isaiah 40:18-31, Matthew 14:22-33, Joshua 24:14-15, John 4:21-24

BY Amanda Bible Williams

I was five years old, standing with my mom and brother in a pew near the front of the sanctuary. We were singing a hymn and I had my eyes closed, my hands held in front of me with my palms facing up as if carrying an invisible tray. This is my earliest memory of worship.

I didn’t know to call it that. I was just responding to the reality of who God showed Himself to be. Somehow—maybe through the Scripture read from the pulpit or a truth proclaimed in that hymn, or maybe through whispers from the Holy Spirit to my heart—I caught a glimpse of God, big and strong and holy, but also good and loving. I felt connected to Him, like I knew Him and He knew me. It didn’t matter that I was small; I knew right then that I was His, and my heart responded in kind.

That moment in my memory marks the beginning of a lifelong journey of worship, of learning to respond to God with all of myself. There are times this resembles that day in the church pew, my heart swelling in worship as the pipe organ plays and the congregation sings. More often it takes a subtler form, a different shape of surrender for each circumstance and season. Sometimes my worship is misplaced; like a train without tracks, I give my awe and reverence to something other than my Creator.

Scripture makes it clear that we are to worship nothing and no one other than the one true God. He is the only one worthy of our worship.

“To whom will you compare me,
or who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
Look up and see!
Who created these?
He brings out the stars by number;
he calls all of them by name.
Because of his great power and strength,
not one of them is missing.”
–Isaiah 40:25–26

But if worship is indeed more than singing on Sunday morning, what is it? Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that true worshipers worship “in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). How do we worship with a heart tuned to the Spirit of the Lord and tethered to the truth of His Word?

These are the questions we will explore in this study of what it means to worship God. Each day we will read about an aspect of worship from Scripture, spending time reflecting on what it looks like in our lives. While these two weeks will not give us an exhaustive look at the topic of worship in the Bible, our prayer is that we’ll walk away with a fuller understanding of what “worship in spirit and in truth” means for us and the God who made us.

Like that little girl with hands stretched out, I am still learning how to worship. Join me as we learn together, and may our lives reflect more of God’s goodness and glory as a result.

Post Comments (161)

161 thoughts on "What Is Worship?"

  1. Colleen Fiant says:

    Worth-ship. He is worthy of all my worship.

  2. Hannah Borchers says:

    Worship is the acknowledgement that He is God and I am not, that I reject all other gods in his place. Sometimes this is expressed in singing, but a more difficult form is loving others when I don’t feel like it. An attitude of worship moves me to do what pleases God, rather than my flesh.

  3. Mercy says:

    Worship has recently become one of my favorite things to do when I am alone. I always admire the heart of worship that King David has for the Lord, whether in tears or in great distress, being chased off like a criminal in hideaways, or in front of many people when being made a noble king of the nation, or whether in shame of his mistakes, David still kept his worship strong, he still danced and worshipped for all to see- even to the point of being ridiculed and called mad. This has always been a thing about King David that constantly tugs my heart and inspires me to dive deeper into worship, to be “drunk” by the Spirit to worship, to show my awe and love for my God wholeheartedly and sincerely. Worship to me brings honor and strength. It’s one of my love languages to the Lord.

  4. Ciara Artero says:

    Worship to me is a lifestyle. It’s choosing to posture your heart in a place of purity and gratitude. From what I am learning in my walk with the Lord is that God gave many different ways for us to worship.
    Whether it be through music, writing, nature, etc.
    The key thing though is posturing your heart because I can sing, dance and clap my hands in church or in my car to a worship song, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I am worshiping the Lord. I am still learning what it means to worship in spirit and truth. But what I do know is that it starts with your heart and learning how to remain in a state of gratitude throughout The good and the bad.

    1. Jahquisha Moses says:

      Thank you for this. I needed to read this more than you know.

  5. Gail Meeks says:

    Worship is thanking and praising God for who He is and what He’s done for me!!

  6. Dayana Kindelan says:

    Worship is everything to me. I connect with God when I’m singing to him and leaving it all at his feet. I connect with the Holy Spirit and I feel him moving in me when I worship.

  7. ILIANA CANALS says:

    Worshipping for ME is one of the ways I can feel Gods or the Holy Spirits presence… the more I am connected to them, the more I embrace them and those are the days you see me cry in church. It’s an unexplainable feeling of love and complete peace. We need to feel that connection of faith just like Peter needed to feel it when walking on water to Jesus. If we lose trust in him, our lives will sink just like Peter in the ocean. Luckily Jesus was there to reach out his hand and save him, like God has done in our lives over and over again. We praise him for doing that through our worshipping!

  8. Lara Kayode says:

    I enjoy spontaneous worship. I do love hymns and traditional worship, but the way that spontaneous worship brings you to His presence never ceases to amaze me.

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