31 Days of Worship - Cultivating Worship

Yesterday I said that everyone worships. Today I want to talk more about how we can learn to worship God instead of the other things that crowd our lives.

It's not easy to stop our busy lives, our run-hither-and-yon schedules, to settle into some quiet time with the Lord. To focus on nothing else but Him and who He is, what He's done for us. I'm not going to spend a lot of time telling you how to have a quiet time, but I will say this...Sunday worship is not really going to be as genuine if you're not spending time with Him and His Word during the week.Your time in corporate worship (that's going to church) is made sweeter by having the overflow of what God's taught you during the week fresh in your heart.

Now, I have to give a disclaimer. I don't always abide by this. Particularly over the past couple of years, my heart has been on earthly things, namely the pain my mother was in. No, I wasn't constantly thinking about it, but looking back now and knowing how my heart is today, I can see as clear as day my countenance even showed my lack of true worship, even when I was on Praise Team or directing choir. It's so very easy to get bogged down with life that we don't truly worship Him, adore Him, praise Him even in our struggles. We're just trying to make it through to the next day.

Can I get a witness?

But God wants us all the time, not just on Sunday.

When we read His Word and pray, listening with our hearts to hear from Him, we are expectantly making our hearts ready for corporate worship.

I just finished reading the Bible from beginning to end in 88 days. And I can tell you that my worship experiences on Sundays have been richer and sweeter because I've been immersed in the Word. I'll share more about that in the coming days, but just know that I'm not just saying this stuff because I want to sound spiritual. I'm saying it because it's true.

Now, there are some people who believe it's okay to not go to church because they spend so much time with God during the week. While occasionally this is okay, I truly believe that we need each other in corporate worship.

And let us not neglect our meeting together,
as some people do, but encourage one another,
especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:25 NLT

Oh, the encouragement I receive from my brothers and sisters in Christ when we are worshiping the Savior! This weekend we are singing some of my absolute favorite songs, and I can't WAIT to direct the choir and worship with them! More than Amazing, O The Blood, and the one I'm most excited about, Your Great Name. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

So, I encourage you...in the days we have left of this week, spend some time in private worship, and then on Sunday, go worship out of the overflow with other believers.