MAN OF WORSHIP
Psalm 95:6-7 NASB
Come let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, we are the sheep of His hand.
One of the significant things I have observed over almost 50 years of walking with the Lord and doing ministry work, is how little time Christians actually spend in their personal, daily life, worshiping, praising, and adoring God. When you compare it to the devout worship practices of the Buddhist of their idol, or the devout daily worship of a practicing Muslim who stops 5 times every day to pray to their god, there is almost no comparison. The sad, tragic reality is many Christians often never stop even once a day to earnestly, emotively, and expressively, raise their audible voice to God, and praise Him for His greatness. Bless Him for His mercy. Exalt Him for His love. Adore Him for His magnificence, spending meaningful time in worshipful prayer, extolling the wonderful deeds and greatness of God. Honestly, it is sin against God that we give Him so little of our time each day in personal worship and praise of Him, and who He is. The only way most Christians ever practice emotive worship is during a brief 10-15 minute time of singing at a church service once a week.
In last week’s article, The Root of Our Decline, I pointed out that man’s refusal to acknowledge God and worship Him as God, to honor, praise, and give Him thanks, is the primary reason for our great decline as a nation. Now I must point out this is also the reason for the great decline in Christendom, here and around the world. The truth is, as Christians we ought to put the idol worshipers of this world and the Muslims of this world to shame in our daily routine and tradition of private worship, praise, and thanksgiving to the one true God. In fact, let me tell you a great spiritual secret. It is daily private worship of God that is the source of great power, and tremendous strength in our lives. It is one primary reason most Christians are so weak, so anemic, so compromised with the things of this world. They are not daily practicing true, sincere, heartfelt worship of God! Other things have stolen their hearts and their worship! Most Christians are not making the time every day in their lives to verbally, emotionally, and sincerely worship God, praise Him, bless Him, thank Him, exalt Him, magnify Him, recount His greatness, and His faithfulness, and praise Him for who He is. This kind of worship is not only speaking with our voice but engaging our heart, mind, body, soul, and strength. This is what God rightly deserves and He will immeasurably bless you for it. You will experience greater joy, greater peace of mind, greater perspective, greater faith, greater strength, and greater mental and emotional health through this private practice of devout, daily worship in prayer. The worship of God is medicinal to your entire being. It is an elixir of real life. You see, true worship of God in our daily lives gives us a sense of awe at the magnificence of God. Our worship and awe of God unleash powerful forces in our body, mind, and spirit and relationship with God!
David was a man of fervent, intentional worship of God. In my studied opinion, it’s what makes David stand out among the Bible people. He was a man who was devoted to the heartfelt, sincere worship of God in his personal life. It was the daily practice of this man. It is in my view one of the reasons God inspired him to write the Psalms, and a major reason they are probably the most read, beloved chapters of the Bible. The Psalms are the personal outpourings of David’s journey and intimate worship of God! Another man who stands out to me in this regard is Daniel, who, though enslaved against his will, forced to live among extremely pagan idol worshipers, who tried to force him to worship their idol, Daniel steadfastly refused, continuing his practice of daily worship in prayer to God, three times every single day. Daniel’s devotion to prayer and worship of God got him thrown into the lion’s den! Would yours?
Daily worship of God has been for me one of the most important parts of my daily routine for many years. It is part of my morning prayer walk, it is part of my daily prayer time with my wife. Every day, I never let this part of my time with God slide. In fact, I have become even more earnest and vigorous in my verbal adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and worship of God as I have gotten older. The passing of time has imbued me with an ever-deeper appreciation and tremendous urge to praise, thank, and exalt the God who made me, saves me, loves me, cares for me and gave Himself for me. The God of all Creation, He is my Source, my miraculous Provider of everything, and I have learned through the fiery furnace of betrayal, loss, and adversity, the greatest joy, the greatest blessing of my life is God himself and His son, Jesus Christ!
Let me urge you to begin the daily practice of worshiping God. Make a simple goal and start. Worship God verbally for 5 whole minutes at home before you go to work each morning. Worship God for another 5 minutes over your lunch in a private place. Worship the Lord at the beginning of your prayer time with your wife. I promise you God will be greatly honored and you will be greatly blessed and transformed. Another simple suggestion that has had profound meaning to me is this. Much of the time I spend alone in the car driving, I never turn the radio on or any music, I never carry a phone with me, but I sing! Yes, I lift my voice in songs of praise to God. Try it yourself, whether you think you can sing or not, God loves the sound of your worshipful songs, sung just to Him by you!
Take a moment now, read Psalm 145 NLT out loud, in an expressive and emotive way. Read it this way as an act of worship to God. Determine to become a man of worship!
1 Peter 3:15 NLT
You must worship Christ as Lord of your life!
*Health update: Thanks for your prayers for my severe cough. On January 9th I went in for a lung/breathing test, and X-rays of my lungs. Had to cancel both follow-up appointments due to a blizzard and then an ice storm. Went on February 2 to meet with the lung doctor. Found out I had two cracked ribs from all the severe coughing, which has been a major source of excruciating pain with every cough. They also discovered that as a result of the virus I had, I now have severe asthma. Please pray that after a couple of months of needing to use a very expensive inhaler, this would go away, so I do not need to continue this for the rest of my life. It might encourage you to know that, even with this severe cough and pain, I have continued rising very early to seek the Lord in prayer, and pray for so many of you by name.
Helping you become a Strong Disciple,
Because of Jesus,
Pastor Mark Darling