Cultivating Genuine Worship
This Sunday, we are going to be celebrating the Lord’s Supper and covering a very heavy and challenging passage of Scripture. Gathering together to worship Jesus is something that should always be significant to us. When we lose our reverence for this time that we gather together, we are much less likely to find ourselves genuinely worshiping the Lord. I want to offer us three practical reminders to empower our time of worshiping together this Sunday, and every Sunday.
Immerse Ourselves in God’s Word throughout the Week (Colossians 3:16-17)
Read God’s Word! Don’t let Sundays be what feeds you, let Sundays be what keeps you going. Read passages from the book of Matthew and Genesis leading up to each Sunday. Read passages that remind us who Jesus is and what He’s done. Don’t worry about being behind or going too far ahead. Find ways to listen to God’s Word on youtube, an app, or however when you’re getting ready, driving, working outside, or wherever it may be. As Colossians 3:16-17 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell richly”!
Devote Ourselves to Proactive Prayer throughout the Week (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
Pray, pray, pray, and pray some more. Pray and thank God each day for who He is and what He’s done for us. Pray and ask God to help us to honor him with what lies before us in the day. Pray and confess our sin to God. Pray and bring our worries or fears to God. Pray and express to God how we feel about the difficulty we are going through. Pray and bring to God the anger or frustration we are experiencing. Pray for people who are struggling. Pray for our closest friends, our spouse, our children, or whoever. Pray for people we know in our lives that don’t know Jesus. Pray for God to help us to worship Him each day. Pray and ask God to grow us.
Fill Your Mind with what is Good and Godly Each Day (Philippians 4:8)
Watch our intake. Whatever fills our minds will direct our worship each day. Listen to Christian podcasts or sermons from trusted and sound Bible communicators. Listen to Scripturally-sound worship music. Meditate throughout the day on whatever we’ve read or listened to. I’m not saying don’t enjoy any of our favorite TV shows, sports, movies, or mindless scrolling on social media. What I would encourage is for us to pay close attention to how much time those things take up in comparison to what all these other things do.
At the end of the day, genuine worship is a daily-discipline and muscle we all have to exercise together. We must ask ourselves the question: Does God desire me simply to be in a pew, or does He desire my heart, my mind, and my everything?
Love you, church!
Pastor John
