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We
need to learn to worship God in every area of our lives:
at home, at work, in our cars… everywhere. In this
article, we’re going to let Psalm 95 give us some ideas
for learning to better worship God at church. Believe it
or not, worship does not happen automatically the moment
you walk through the doors of the church each week! There
are some choices that you can make that will bring a real
difference to your focus on God during worship. As often
as we attend services where we are supposed to worship, we
spend very little time talking about HOW to worship. Most
of us spend more time training on how to work at our computer
than how to worship our Creator!
For worship to stay both restful
and revitalizing we must:
Get the BIG picture right
Do the LITTLE things right
Here are 4 ideas from Psalm 95:
"Let us come before Him with thanksgiving…" Psalm
95:2 (NIV)
The big idea:
Start your worship like you start your meals: BY OFFERING
THANKS |
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Worship has a starting line… and if you’re
ever going to get out of the blocks you must begin with
an attitude of thanksgiving. Let’s take this visual
of the starting line of a race a little further. Suppose
the gun goes off, and you’re still sitting at the
starting line - caught up in grumbling about the details. “My
shoes hurt… the track doesn’t look right… my
shorts are the wrong color…” You never even
get into the race!
I’m not saying you should fake it and say everything
in your life is perfect… because it isn’t.
But if you want to bring the truth about God’s greatness
to both the good and the bad in your life… start
with thanksgiving. When you put thanks at the top of the
list, it tends to put everything else in the right order.
The little things:
1. Tell someone something you’re
thankful for.
What are you thankful for? What person, what circumstance,
what blessing, what event, what growth, what characteristic
of God are you thankful for?
Don’t just think it… say it!
2. Reduce your GPH and increase your TPH.
GPH is “Gripes Per Hour"… TPH is “Thanks
Per Hour"
3. Thanksgiving Day once a week: in your QUIET TIME
Why have Thanksgiving just once a year? You might even
start a “thanksgiving journal” that you add
to each week!
“Let us… extol Him with music and song.” Psalm
95:2 (NIV)
Every once in a while, I talk to someone who doesn’t
want any music when we worship at church – just Bible
study. But when you study the Bible you see that God clearly
tells us to worship Him with music!
I’ve found that usually people who don’t want
to sing want a worship for the head and not the heart.
Music has the power to speak to our heart!!
The Big Idea: 3 words should mark our singing
Alive - Sing with JOY
Aloud - Sing with ENTHUSIASM
Some people sing like they’re practicing to be ventriloquists. “Look,
he´s worshipping and I barely saw his mouth move!”
Aloft - Sing to GOD
You’re not performing, you and I are expressing
our hearts together to the God who loves us!
The Little Things:
1. SMILE while you sing!
2. Close your EYES.
When some of us sing, we open our eyes and close our mouths
Why not close your eyes and open your mouth!
3. Personalize the WORDS as you sing.
Think about what those words mean to your life, your family,
your future.
"Come, let´s worship him and bow down. Let´s
kneel before the LORD who made us," Psalm 95:6 (NCV)
How should you feel when you worship? Should you get goosebumps
on your goosebumps? Should you feel like you´re floating
on the air?
The Big Idea: HE IS GOD!
The more I sense the truth of those three words, the more
I worship! I can’t tell you the exact emotions that
go along with that, because it’s different for all
of us… and different at different times.
This feeling is expressed in words like “bow down” and “kneel.” It
is a sense of awe and humility. He is God. Everything I
see, He made it. Every thought I think, He knows it. Every
person I meet, He loves them. Every move I make, He is
there.
The Little Things:
1. Do some “warm up” exercises
Try listening to a worship CD on the way to church, or
praying as you drive on to the church property each week,
or taking just a few seconds as you sit down in the worship
center to think, “God is bigger than anything I’m
facing!”
You and I have a GREAT responsibility for what happens
in worship. The way you prepare yourself makes an incredible
difference!! Don’t just come in and expect the leader
to WOW you into worship… why not wow them sometime.
Remember, worship is a witness. Worship in a way that
lets the people around you know that God is real!
2. Talk to God THROUGHOUT THE WORSHIP SERVICE
No, not out loud! If He’s the One we’re here
to worship, but we just talk about Him and never to Him… we’ve
missed it.
3. Focus your thoughts to God’s GREATNESS
If you’re going to worship, you can’t just
let your thoughts drift! Have you noticed that they don’t
always drift towards God’s greatness? Those who have
learned to worship God in refreshing and new ways have
learned the need to intentionally focus their thoughts
on God.
“If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”
Psalm 95:7-8 (NIV)
The Big Idea: Have a SOFT HEART
What would happen if this next week you came saying, "Lord,
I´m really going to be listening to You today - and
whatever You tell me to do I will do my best to do. I trust
that You will only ask me to do what You know is best for
me.” That’s having a soft heart.
The Little Things:
1. Take NOTES
There is something about writing the truths of God’s
Word down that allows you to begin to see them as personal
and real.
2. Put significant verses or truths on cards -
place them where you’ll easily see them.
3. Make a TO DO list based on God’s message
to you.
Before you leave, write one thing God’s told you
to do at the bottom of the outline, a way to take the truth
and make it real. In fact, you can practice that right
now by writing down one new thing you’re going to
do this week as you worship God at church.
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