The Heart of Worship

SO excited to dive into the worship blogs! (there will be a few) 🙂 A solid month of sitting with this subject, and it’s so hard to put what God’s done, what I’m learning, and what is worship into words. 

If I had to define worship, I would say it’s us sitting in the middle of God’s heart, and allowing ourselves to be completely captivated by his love. In his love, seeing truth, and being moved to agreement with God and surrender in the acknowledgement of all that he is.

AND the awe of being invited into his heart in the first place, especially in our state of being incapable of not breaking it. Thank you Jesus. 

God and his heart are eternal and infinite, so think about all the things worship can be. 

Too often, we treat worship as a moment to step into when we make the space, or start a song, and a moment to step out of when the song, or space is over. At training camp, one thing we were taught about worship is that it is the act of ascribing worth to God. (Worth-ship.) So then, is God only worthy of this acknowledgment in these moments that we step in and out of, or is he worthy of it all the time? 

“Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship.”

Romans 12:1 AMP

God marked H squad by worship since way before we had all committed to the race. Our leaders clearly prayed a lot and spoke this over us, and it’s been so cool to see the way God has brought it to fruition already. 

“The trumpeters and singers performed together in unison to praise and give thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices and praised the Lord with these words: “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!” At that moment a thick cloud filled the Temple of the Lord. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple of God.”

2 Chronicles 5:13-14 NLT

I am blessed with quite a few musician squad mates who lead from a heart of love and surrender to the Lord, so we’ve had some fire worship times. Such powerful, beautiful, priceless moments, where I know heaven came and the kingdom was established in ways I don’t even see or understand. But even this is just an expression of our call to worship, not what worship actually is. As talented as any worship leader can be, the depth of worship they lead people into doesn’t depend on their talent at all, but on the heart and surrender to the Lord behind their expression. Which is a much deeper, and more beautiful thing to be invited into than an ability to sing or play. Which goes back to us being invited into the depths of God’s own heart, and how it’s a much deeper, and more beautiful thing to be invited into than just living for what he can give us, or even what we can give him. 

Sometimes in trying to compensate for our tendency to take from God over simply loving him, we see worship as us having to give him what he is due from a place of obligation. That would be exhausting, not fun at all, and it’s no wonder if this is how we see worship, we want to cut it off to an hour or so of our time. This is so far from his intention for us. Like how he doesn’t want us to just follow the laws of the Bible and do things out of pure obligation, but out of knowing him, and loving him. 

Here’s the truth. We don’t have to strive for acceptance, or even to fulfill the law, because only Jesus could do that. What we’re supposed to be striving for, instead of all these things, is Jesus. In worship we shouldn’t be striving for anything but his heart. And this can be our whole lives, not just certain moments that we designate. 

Don’t get me wrong. One of my absolute favorite things in life is worship in music, and corporate worship. It’s worship, it’s a good thing, and it’s beautiful. But also, I could be singing a worship song in a group of people, and not actually be worshipping the Lord. And I could be sitting alone scrolling through Instagram, and be deeply worshipping the Lord. Worship is something that lives much deeper in the spirit than what we see on the outside. It’s a warfare that’s much more real, and powerful, than what we tend to close it off to by operating in our own understandings. How crazy that we can sing a song, or sit in a moment of surrender, and it has the power to change a mood, or even a whole situation. Again, not the song, or prayer by itself, but this huge spiritual power behind the expression, which is God. And we’re accessing it by being in touch and aligned with his heart, and surrendering ourselves to him. Not out of pressure, obligation, or desire to give/receive something, but out of his pure love. 

“And Jesus replied to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Matthew 22:37-38 AMP

“We love, because He first loved us.”

1 John 4:19 AMP

And until part 2, which I think will dive more into the surrender, I’m praying to reflect on the depth of what worship truly is, and ways that I do, and can worship God in spirit and in truth. Because in saying all of this, I’m seeing ways I’m SO not walking in worship as I’m called to, and super honored and excited to share & grow in loving the Lord with you all! <3