One of the gravest dangers I have seen in the resurgence of the emphasis on the worship life of the believer and the church over the last few years is that if we are not very careful we can end up worshipping a way of worship, style, even a "worship leader" or form of worship rather than worshipping Him! Worship is not about worship; it's about Him! It is not an event but a lifestyle. It must be cultivated daily in our lives, not just once a week. It is not a performance done but a presence experienced. Unless in both our personal/private worship and in our gathered/corporate worship we have experienced the presence of God it cannot be Christian worship. There is no worship apart from God Himself.
When our focus is on the actual manifest presence of God, our interest in certain forms, styles of music, styles of worship, all our contrived bells and whistles are of little interest. When our personal worship is nurtured on a daily basis it feeds and fuels the gathered worship of the body as we gather weekly and experience the presence of God Almighty! I have often said the church's worship is not dependent on how well the preacher, music leader, worship leader, worship choir, etc., does their thing. No, the church's worship as we gather is totally dependent on the nurtured daily worship of the body of Christ before we gather. When a congregation full of people have been with God and then gather together, God will be in the house in all His glory!
If it's that important, let's review some musts in personal nurturing of our daily worship lives:
Quietness - We each must find a place in our lives without distraction, withdrawing for a time from the world and finding our peace in God Himself. Our lives are too full of noise and commotion. Yea, even our churches are. Finding a quiet place is a challenge but it is well worth the effort. We must learn to be still; only then will we know He is God. We must learn to wait patiently and quietly on God. Noise is the enemy of our soul nurture. Some of the old saints would practice what was termed "tarrying." They would get on their knees and tarry in God's presence until the light broke forth into their hearts.
Scripture - All our worship begins and ends with the Bible. The Bible must have a prominent place in the daily life of every believer. It is the divine roadmap leading us to Holy God. Our reading of it must not be a marathon but a slow, deliberate soaking in the message. To use a cooking term, the scripture must be allowed to marinate in our minds and hearts, nurturing our hearts. We must always approach it realizing that God is speaking His living Word to us. And we must not fail to meditate to the point of memorization . . . "hiding His Word in our hearts."
Prayer - Our prayer lives must move beyond "getting things" from God. It must become not simply getting our prayers answered but fellowshipping in the overwhelming presence of God. Prayer is not a monologue but a dialogue of intimate fellowship. Tozer once said, "The key to praying is simply praying," . . . engaging the very God of the universe in wonder and adoration, resulting in spontaneous worship.
Hymns - Yes, we live in a day when some have come to disdain hymns. At the risk of sounding old and out of touch: after the Bible the hymnal is one of the most important and valuable books for meditation and worship. You need not wade through heavy theological treatises to become a theologian. Just spend time meditating on some of the great hymns of the faith and you will become a growing theologian.
Finally, devotional readings of some of the great saints are important to our personal worship. Simplifying our lives is also important to our personal worship. Too much activity or just too many things in our lives can suck the life out of us. We must constantly go through our schedule and eliminate, putting certain activities on the altar of sacrifice that we "may know Him." And then lastly, friendships can be one of the most potential dangers to our worship life. Our chosen friends can make or break our deeper walk with Christ. Cultivate your dearest friendships with people who make Him their priority and constant companion. "I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said, 'No don't worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!'" (Rev. 22: 8-9) mjm
