Worship Without Walls预览

The Act of Worship

According to dictionary.com, the word worship is a variant of the old English word "weorthscipe," which is a concatenation of the two words "Worth" and "Ship." It means shipping worth or value to God. It can be used as a verb or as a noun. Whatever your interpretation of worship is, one thing is sure; worship is not a static activity or engagement; it involves movement and action.

One way of "acting" out worship is to sing to God. We all have a good song in us to sing, so there are no excuses. I like what I heard a preacher say some time ago; he said, "singing is the natural expression of the redeemed soul."

Psalm 147:1 says, "Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God; how pleasant and fitting to praise him!"

I completely agree with this; when you realize God's goodness and the price He had to pay for our redemption, it propels us to sing.

Another way to express dynamic worship is to bow. Bowing shows respect, humility, and submission. The book of Genesis 24:26 says, "Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD," Worship is a verb; it is not static, and bowing is an expression of worship. It is not just a physical activity but is also a progressive state of mind.

Robert W Bailey says we cannot worship God correctly until "we recapture as the principle element of worship, the overwhelming sense of awe and reverence in the presence of God." Our worship could be better when we do it out of reverence and not routine.

Have you lost your song today? Please allow me to encourage you to sing a song of worship to the Lord. It is not the pitch or tone that God is interested in; He is interested in your heart as you connect with Him through singing.

Now, I am not recommending that we become obnoxious and take our expressions of worship to extremes, but sometimes we need to bow down in the kitchen or wherever we are and give God some worship. We should never get too dignified to bow down before our God in Worship; after all, He created us.

So sing O barren, Sing O sad one, Sing your way out of depression and sadness, and let the power of a song sung to the Lord deliver you from your pain.