satisfies the depths of my heart
And all of me changed when you came
I'm made free by Your glory and grace
I breathe You in,God
cause you are thick all around me."
Worship? What is it? Around the
church, people will instantly associate worship with music. I feel like I’m
pretty accurate in saying that most people on a worship team are lovers of
music. But if you look up the definition
of worship, you will find that the word music is nowhere to be found. One
definition that I really liked was “adoring
reverence or regard”
Music is just one way to worship
God. One of many. If you notice, you will see that at most churches there is no
“Music Team,” but a worship team. As a worship leader myself, I have come to
realize that my job isn’t just to sing or play music that sounds good. It’s not
just to be a musical guide for the church body to follow along to, to make sure
the music builds, and drops to create this atmosphere of intensity.
I recently heard, “Worship should
be a lifestyle, not just something we do once a week.” When you first hear this
you think, okay so I should be living a good lifestyle. Be a good citizen, do
good deeds, try not to sin, read the bible, pray. And YES, those are all great
things, but we’re missing out. We are just scraping the surface. We have so
much yet to tap into. People often will say during a worship set, “Gods
presence is here right now.” I don’t really like that expression. Our God is omnipotent.
Our God is everywhere. God’s presence is with us every single moment of every
single day. We just don’t always tap into our potential to feel it, to see it.
When we worship God, when we really grasp the amazingness of our God, we feel
like we are instantly surrounded by his presence. When really, we are just
instantly feeling it, but it’s been there all along. When we really understand
who He is, we are touched by something supernatural, something that transforms
us inside and out, something that we shouldn’t ever be able to come back from.
A lifestyle
is defined, as “the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level,
etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.” All
of those attributes are what make up our personality. It’s what makes us who we
are. Our morals, our attitudes stem from the condition of our heart. Worship
needs to be who we ARE, not just what we do. Why is worship important
besides the obvious fact of showing gratitude to our maker, the being who
sacrificed his son to save our lives?
In Isaiah 43:7, when God speaks of
mankind he says, “whom I created for my glory.” We were literally CREATED to
worship him. It’s the reason we were put
on this earth, the reason that God breathed us into existence. Being on a worship team is a HUGE
responsibility, and an even bigger honor. We aren’t just a part of it because
we are musically gifted. We are NOT the
music team. We are the WORSHIP team. We are the group in charge of leading our
church body to do, what they were BORN to do.
When we worship we aren’t just praising God, because of how awesome he
is (although that would definitely be enough), we are praising God because it’s
our PURPOSE in life. We need to breathe
God in, the way we breathe oxygen. Except God is more important. Because what
is the point of existing, if not doing what we were created to do. What is the
sun if it doesn’t shine?
So here is my challenge, all you
worshippers. Stop wandering. Stop looking for purpose. You know what is it.
Your purpose, your priority is to worship God. How do you worship God? Singing?
Playing Music? Listening to music? Orchestrating behind the scenes on the tech
team? Serving others? Teaching? Writing? Do you worship him in prayer? Do you
worship him by reading his word? What makes you tap into his supernatural
presence? What makes you able to reach your hand out and feel him surrounding
you? DO it! Tap into his presence and stay tapped into it everywhere you go. When
you go work, take comfort in the palpable presence and power of the Holy Spirit
pressing against your chest, making you fall more and more in love every second
that goes on.
Jenn Johnson said, to imagine God as
a physical being. Picture him as a white dove. What if that white dove was
sitting on your shoulder 24/7. You knew
it was Jesus, and he was comforting you, speaking to you, loving you throughout
the day. How would our actions be affected? How much more confident would we
feel? How moved with our hearts be? Guess what?! God IS there 24/7. He IS a physical being. He isn’t sitting on our shoulder but he is all
around us, everywhere we turn. Comforting, loving, speaking to us throughout
the day. Breathe him in.
