Willing To Worship

INTRODUCTION

Ever sat in a worship service but not engaging in worship? Perhaps we lost some motivation or inspiration to worship God? Let me share why we should choose, even will ourselves to worship God. Why we need to break past those obstacles to worship in our hearts.

CALLED TO WORSHIP

Psa 98:4-6 (NIV84) 4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

The Psalmist called upon all the earth to worship God. This reflects God’s call to all the earth to worship Him. Not only has God created us to worship Him, by putting in us an inherent inbuilt desire to worship God (see my article ‘Even Stone Will Worship”), but He also calls us to worship Him. Just like a conductor who desires to draw out the best from his musicians, God is drawing out worship from all the earth.

But why does God call us to worship? Does God even have to do that? After all, don’t we have that innate desire in our hearts to worship God? One big difference between us and inanimate objects and even animals is that we have understanding and choice. We worship only when we choose to, because we desire to.

Yet how many of us know the reality that so many Christians find worship difficult? Why is that? Because so many have had their innate desire for worship of God damaged, tainted by sin. There is this ache for worship but so deep in us that many of us don’t even realise it. So, we reach out to worship something else.

So many have had their innate desire for worship of God damaged, tainted by sin.

Rom 1:25 (NIV) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator…

As a result, mankind ends up worshipping all kinds of things. Whether it be worshipping other spirits or idols, sex, entertainment, money, music, celebrities and so forth. All of these further buries our desire to worship God even deeper. But all of these are never truly satisfying. They are never truly lasting. It is like giving toddlers soft drinks instead of milk. They may go hyper active, but it is not deeply satisfying. Not nutritious.

Many still have all those years of misdirected worship suppressing our true worship of God.

Now when a Christian comes to God, many still have all those years of misdirected worship suppressing our true worship of God. We have to get past the distractions, the wrong perspectives, our garbled spiritual senses. We need retuning. Tuning away from distractions. Tuning into biblical perspectives. We need God’s help to retune our spiritual sense to God’ Presence. So that when our spiritual senses have been adequately restored – we will resonate with God when God turns up. When He manifests His Presence – we sense it. When we worship God – it is like heaven’s doors open! We then sense the joy, peace, strength, power and so on.

We need God’s help to retune our spiritual sense to God’ Presence.

Once, I was with a bunch of young Australians and they were discussing what it was like to enter God’s Presence in worship. One of them used to be a drug user and he said worshipping God is like having a drug high, but without the hangover or addiction. An interesting comparison.

So why does God call us to worship? It challenges us to rise up to worship. To awaken the innate desire in our hearts for worship. Let us look at some of the means that God challenges us to worship.

Why does God call us to worship? It challenges us to rise up to worship. To awaken the innate desire in our hearts for worship.

WORSHIP FROM THE OVERFLOW OF OUR HEARTS

Psa 98:4 (NIV84) Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

Our worship is never meant to be quiet, private. Rather we are to shout for joy and to burst forth into jubilant song. When you want to wake up somebody who is sleeping soundly, you do not tiptoe quietly and whisper to them, “Wake up”. You shout, “Wake Up, Jeff!” just like the famous Wiggles.

In the same way, when you want to awaken worship in our hearts, you do not tiptoe and whisper. You stir it, you stimulate it, you revive it. You give it a shot in the arm! You wake up your soul and spirit to worship!

Psa 57:8 (NIV) Awake, my soul! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn.

So when you come to worship God, it does not help if you are quiet, subdued, reticent in your worship. You ought to worship with gusto. We cannot be subtle. Shake off the cobwebs over your worshipper’s heart! Pull away the layers of misplaced worship! When our eldest son Paul the toddler, he did not learn to crawl because he was all wrapped up in layers of clothes during winter. We had to take away the layers of cloth! Only then could he move enough to learn to crawl. Dust away the sin that covers over our innate desire for worship. Let the worshipper shine forth!

Most importantly it must come from our hearts. Scriptures declare “shout for joy”. It is not just a worship shout but a shout that overflows from our joyful heart. Worship can only truly happen when we discover the joy in God. God is challenging us to come to that place in our hearts. Because true worship is not about being compelled by external forces. Rather, it is being compelled by inner desire.

True worship is not about being compelled by external forces. Rather, it is being compelled by inner desire.

John 4:23 (NIV) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks…

It must come from our heart, our spirit. True worship should not be defined by how great our worship band is. It is defined by how desirous you are to worship God. When I was a young Christian, worship was an obligation, something expected of Christians. Now worship is about meeting with God, about expressing my heart to Him and allowing Him to touch my body, soul and spirit.

WORSHIP WITH ALL POSSIBLE WAYS

Psa 98:5-6 (NIV84) 5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

We are called to worship God with all of our creativity! God gave us creativity so that we may worship Him creatively. With every instrument that we can create. We are to make a joyful noise with them all.

God gave us creativity so that we may worship Him creatively.

When you worship God in song, in dance, in music, in painting, in poems, in graphics and so forth - you begin to awaken different parts of your soul to worship God. It is like stimulating all the different parts of your brain to re-discover how to worship God. It is like stretching worship muscles you never even knew you had.

All of who you are were created to worship God. Your body, soul and spirit. Every part. So worship God with all that you are. May I encourage you to discover all the different ways to express your worship of God. God gave us our creativity. Use it to the fullest to worship God!

All of who you are were created to worship God. Your body, soul and spirit.

OUR CAUSE FOR WORSHIP

Psa 98:1-3 (NIV84) “1 Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

The psalmist sang about experiences of God that stirred a desire to sing praises to God, to worship Him. In the psalmist’s context it was God demonstrating His saving grace to the house of Israel. God showed He was faithful to Israel. Possibly God had protected Israel from some terrible situation. We do not have any details of that in the Bible.

Yet this portion reminds us that there can be reasons or causes that stir us to worship God. One is having an awe of God that moves us into worship. Another is when we experience God’s blessings, it can motivate us to worship. So there are things happening around us that can be a cause for us to worship God, if you recognise God’s hand in it. You will have a cause to worship when you recognise God’s hand working around us.

You will have a cause to worship when you recognise God’s hand working around us.

CONCLUSION

God created you and I, in fact all of creation, with the capacity and the innate inclination to worship God! Let us throw aside all the hindrances of distractions, of wrong perspectives and retune ourselves. So that we reach the purity of response to God. Let us respond to God’s call by choosing to worship and allowing ourselves to connect with God through worship!

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