Worship

I wrote this a day or two on another blog that I write for, and thought I would share it here along with some other insight that I had.

"Many times I have heard people say that worship is practice for Heaven. That is Heaven all we will be doing is worshiping and they love worship because it gives them a feel of Heaven. That's a nice thought, but I realized the other day in worship that it simply isn't true. Worship isn't practice. It's for real. Either you're in the presence of God worshiping or you aren't.

In John 4 Jesus talks to the woman at the well about worship and she asks where the proper place is to worship. He responds that it's neither where she is nor in Jerusalem. He then remarks that "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." Notice that Jesus doesn't say that true worship begins when you get into Heaven but rather what is going on in your spirit.

One of the most talked-about truths in Alpha (and all of New Hope) is living a lifestyle of worship. If we treat worship as if it is practice, are we being real? Do we really understand the full importance of worship? Think about it this way: what is practice? When we practice for a play, it is without an audience. We practice to hear each other and make sure we're performing our parts correctly.

Y'all I can't emphasize it enough: YOU AREN'T PRACTICING. Either you're worshiping for an audience of one or you're just fooling around. Worship is not a place for us to make sure that everyone else is "playing their parts" correctly, make sure that everyone else is worshiping how we think that they should. If God isn't our audience when we are worshiping then something is wrong.

Don't limit your worship to simply times when you are singing. Take Him into your life daily. Live a lifestyle of worship. Have an audience of one continually. He loves it. He delights in you and your worship."

While I was thinking more about this last night, more came to me along the example of practice. In any "performance" there is a director, telling the actors or musicians how to move in order to most effectively reach the audience. The amazing thing is that we do have someone there to help us with that "performance!" No, worship is not a performance. It is anything BUT. But the Holy Spirit helps us to worship God. Think about it: God loves our worship so much that He HELPS us worship Him!! What amazing delight He has in us.