By now, all of you have been in enough church services to know that typically there is a time of worship and praise. But why do we do this? What does it mean? 

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase or something along the lines of “He is worthy of our praise.” But how often do we stop and consider why? Who is he and what has he done to be worthy of our praise? 

Just to name a few:

– God is our creator. He made us and he made all of creation and he made it good. (Genesis 1)

– God is our protector. He keeps us from harm and defends us from the attacks of the enemy. (Ephesians 6:10-20)

– God is our provider. He cares for us and ensures we have what we need. (Matthew 6:25-34)

– God is our good Father. He loves us unconditionally and would do anything for us. (Luke 12:32)

Throughout the Bible we read stories of God and are shown the character of God, and it outlines just who he is and why he is worthy of our praise. Given enough time I’m sure that I could find plenty more references that describe why he is worthy of praise just because of his might and power. Even if God was hateful and a dictator that ruled us under an iron fist (obviously that is not who he is), he would be worthy of our praise because he is the creator and author of the entire universe. His sheer power and mightiness deserve praise. However, as we see in the verses above, he also loves us each individually and wants our good (Romans 8:28). 

Yes, God has done incredible things throughout the Bible and he deserves praise for all of them, but he has done incredible things in our lives as well.

As believers in Jesus, we say that Christ has saved us from our sin. We were destined for hell and he reached down and saved us. Sometimes, especially if you have been in church for a long time, that becomes just words. Really let that sink in though, the creator of the universe that hung the stars in the sky and put breath in the lungs of every creature, chose to save you because he loved you enough to not want you to suffer. He sent his son to die in our place so that we could be in paradise with him.

So, what is worship and praise? Put simply, worship and praise is us recognizing God for who he is (mighty Creator) and what he has done for us (Loving Savior). We express this by singing and lifting our hands, not for a show or to be seen but quite the opposite; we do it to show that we don’t care what we look like, or sound like, and we aren’t concerned about how we might look to the person next to us. What is important in that moment is giving thanks and praise to God because he is deserving of it and because he has saved us from so much.

In the Bible we also read about people singing and making music to the Lord. Offering their thanks to God by writing music and poems. In fact there is an entire book of the BIble on it. Psalms is a book dedicated to poems and songs written about God. There are dozens of different topics but one that encompasses worship and praise well is Psalm 100. GO read it and send in your thoughts. What does it say about God? Who does it say he is? How could this apply to you worshiping?

Challenge:

For 10 minutes Each day this week find a secluded place (bedroom, backyard, shower, does not matter) and truly worship. Turn on some worship music and sing and praise. Really listen to the words you are singing and let them actually be you singing, not just repeating what the song says. 

Record what you listened to each day and bring it Thursday. 

Additional Challenge for those who will be present at Sunday service: 

Let yourself truly worship. Close your eyes and forget about the people next to you. I don’t expect you to do anything crazy or extravagant but again let go of what’s around and focus on thanking and praising God for what he has done in your life. (totally ok if you go to the back so no one can see you)