Worship

I get daily devotional emails from the Purpose Driven Life website and I got this one a few days ago and thought I would share it. Sometimes I have to take a step back in my day and remember that in all my actions, thoughts and word I should be praising my God. I sometimes find my self not nessarily leaving God behind at the "builing" but I tend to forget that I am able to praise and worship my God in every breath I take. That is what I should be doing. I'm working on it hope you all do to!

Worship is a state of mind.

What do you think of when you think of worship? Stained glass? Choir robes? Praise choruses? Worship band? Hands lifted or knees bent? If you’re anything like me, it’s bound to have something to do with church or doing something religious.

Jesus once said that those who worship God must worship in Spirit and in truth. Now that doesn’t say anything about church or religious activity; in fact when Jesus said this, he was answering a question about the proper place to worship. There was a difference of opinion at the time about which mountain to worship God on. One group said on this mountain and another said on that. That’s when Jesus responded that the Father was looking for true worshipers who worship him in Spirit and truth and that neither mountain meant anything compared to this. In other words, it doesn’t matter where you worship, it matters how you worship.

I think sometimes we approach worship as if we have to have all the right elements working in proper order for something to capture our emotions and truly qualify as a worship experience. We need to hear the right songs, performed in a certain way by the right musical group, enhanced by great visual graphics, and presided over by a trusted worship leader. We go to a certain church because “we like the worship there.” All of this makes worship dependent on certain elements all adding up to create a familiar experience we can identify as worship.

But is worship something that happens to me or something that I make happen? Is worship a mood or a mindset? If, as Jesus said, worship is something that we do in Spirit and truth then it would seem to be something we can do any time, any where. This is, in fact, what true worship is.

I have worshiped at ball games and movies, schools and sock hops, workout gyms and restaurants, on the golf course and at the beach, in the car and in the air, while reading a novel and reading the newspaper, at work and at play.

You are worshiping right now as you read this. The fact that you signed up for these devotionals says that it’s important to you to take a few minutes to focus on God while you go over your e-mails today. But you don’t have to stop worshiping God when you click this window closed. You can just keep on going; no one’s stopping you.

You don’t need anything but your heart and soul to truly worship God. Worship is not something you go somewhere to do, it’s what you pay attention to as you do everything else.