Every person, every spiritual leader, and every church has a calling to carry the fire of worship.

When the people of God lose their hearts to worship, they miss the access to Jesus that would change, heal, and direct them.

I’ve noticed that we get at least three things wrong concerning worship, and all to our own hurt.

We make the worship about us.

Making worship about us means we’re focusing more on how God might be able to be a solution to our problems more than exalting HIM for who He is. God IS the solution to our problems, but we tend to access His presence more when we’re focused on worshiping Him for Him.

We’re asking how we FEEL about the worship rather than asking HOW God feels about OUR worship.

When it comes to worshipping God through song, we may be too close to expressions we’re used to. Of course, we don’t need to prefer EVERY worship style, but when we’re allowing ourselves to ask too many questions on whether or not we like this particular style, we’re thinking about worship backward.

We under-esteem God.

When we approach worship as mostly just a group song, and fail to contemplate the fact that we’re interacting with the King of Heaven Himself, we are missing the whole point.

God is honored when we worship Him rightly. That means we respond to Him in ways HE has told us to, not just however WE think feels spiritual.

Here is the first of three important concepts to get MORE out of worship (by making it less about you).

1. Intentionally Regard God as Ultimate

One of the most important things we can to do draw near to God in worship is to regard Him as the ultimate priority in the room (whether that is in a public worship experience or in the quiet of our bedroom).

For many of us, our greatest problem is not that Jesus isn’t in our hearts – it’s that He is not PREEMINENT in our hearts. In fact, our hearts are filled with so many other things, there is barely any affection left for the One who should be taking up most of the room.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple. Round him flaming creatures were standing, each of which had six wings. Each creature covered its face with two wings, and its body with two, and used the other two for flying. They were calling out to each other: “Holy, holy, holy! The LORD Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world.” (Isaiah 6:1–3, GNB)

Does anyone think this scene is really about Isaiah?

How about the angels present? Are they there to impress?

Nope. There is ONE central figure in the room (And He’s the same person who is central in EVERY room).

Do you regularly remind yourself that God is the central figure in every room you’re ever in, especially in a context of worship?

GOD is there. And God is HERE.

This moment is about GOD!

We should probably do some repenting for every other rival love we’ve tolerated in our hearts.

Pray this:

God,

You are here. You are big. You are the most important, most central, most preeminent thing I will ever encounter. I’m sorry for not esteeming your presence as I should. May my moment be about YOU. Make every other love of my heart become small. You are all I want and all I ever want to want.

*Stay tuned for more posts on how to get more out of worship.

Posted on October 18, 2019