I went to more than one-hundred Sunday church services last year. First, I worked at a church that held three services. Later, looking for a new church, I tried two locations every Sunday. After I picked one, I still went to every service to re-plant my roots.
Last March, we paused our services for thirteen weeks to slow the spread of COVID-19. For thirteen Sundays, I watched church on YouTube alone, whispered the first line or two of a hymn, and mumbled through the shared liturgy. But I realized during this season that I needed to re-learn what worship really is. It is not just for Sunday morning, and it is not just that part of the church service where the worship team is playing music.
Jesus taught the Samaritan woman that, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Holy Spirit is sometimes likened to air, or pneuma. Job said, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life” (Job 33:4). Jesus breathed on His disciples to share the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). Elsewhere, Jesus reminds us how God’s truth feeds us: “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). So we have it backwards if we think God needs or craves our worship. We are the ones who need to worship, the same way we need air and food.
God creates and sustains and saves us. Before Him we can boast of nothing. But we get to worship. It is our response to His work and His nature, and it isn’t limited to a service once a week. It is a discipline we carry into all of life, like Moses bowing at Yahweh’s name in gratitude of His compassion, grace, and love (Exodus 34:6–9), or the disciples responding in awe of Jesus’s power over creation (Matthew 14:24–33). When we worship, we are adding our praise to that of the lame man who rejoiced in Christ’s power to heal (Acts 3:1–10). We anticipate when we will join with all creation in singing, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13).
When Augustine said, “The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot,” maybe he meant that to have a head and a foot, and the life that comes with them, is the grace of God. And to offer that whole body and life is the discipline of worship (Romans 12:1). The Holy Spirit acts in worship, nourishing us and guiding us to praise, thank, confess, obey, pray, and give. Living out the practice of worship, we learn how to be, how to know, and how to be still and know (Psalm 46:10, NIV).
Written by David Chaniott
Praise be to God ❤️
Praise God that one day we will all be able to worship Him together with all peoples and nations, at his glorious throne!
I want to thank each of you who comment every day. I am so grateful to be able to dig deeper into the daily devotionals because of your perspectives, praises, and prayers. Celebrating SRT as an opportunity to worship with you.
Oh yes yes yes. Abiding in him.
Worshiping my Father in heaven through the mercy of Jesus and strength of Holy spirit is bowing the ♡ ,soul, and mind.
A beautiful reminder on worship! I especially love the passage found in Luke 3:1-10…this man who was lame from birth, came to the temple seeking alms – and (literally) walked away with so much more! He didn’t just stand up and walk, he stood leaping and praising God – not only was he healed physically, he was healed spiritually! God of the exceedingly, God of the abundantly – doing above what we ask or think. This kind act of God, caused this lame man to see and understand the power of the Almighty – and he wanted everyone to know it! He burst into praise and worship. As believers, we might not necessarily see this kind miracle in our life, neither do we need it to begin our praise to God. Just the act of waking up, seeing a sunrise or a sunset, witnessing the beauty of fall – everything we see and experience should cause the worship of God to rise up within our souls! We praise You, Almighty God – blessing and power, glory and power be unto You, the Ancient of Days!
In a study of Revelation a few years ago reading the angles repeat this over and over and over in heaven gave me the shivers and now every time I hear it or repeat it it puts me directly before the throne a d glory of God. Try it. Repeat “ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come”. This is my most powerful worship.
I truly appreciated the devotion in which she mentioned having to watch services on YouTube and stopping her normal way of worshiping through song. It’s a great reminder that we should be worshiping nit throughout the day and continually. I needed to hear this.