Spiritual Disciplines: Worship

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

It seems that God works from the inside out. He transforms our heart and mind

inside us. Then he uses that transformed heart and mind to transform the

world. Another way to say this is that faith grows out of an internal battle with

doubt. Then, we outwardly put faith in action by obeying God even when

obedience means hardship.

Spiritual disciplines are designed to help us win the internal battle for faith so

that we can live transformed lives in the world. We call spiritual activities

carried out regularly by ordinary believers “spiritual disciplines.” Spiritual

disciplines include regular prayer, fasting, and study and mediation upon the

word of God. But worship and regular participation in the Lord’s Supper are

also spiritual disciplines.

To worship God is to give glory to God who is great and who is holy. To worship

God is to honor God and to recognize his goodness. Worship brings God joy.

Psalm 22:3 says he inhabits the praises of his people.

Many times when we think about worship, we think of the body of Christ

coming together to form a large group to sing praises to God. This is indeed

worship. But there is another kind of worship that transforms Christians. We

can worship God simply as we pray, as we read the Scriptures, and as we sing

by ourselves.

Worship as a spiritual discipline is more than giving thanks to God in prayer.

And it is much more than simply singing the words of a worship song. In

worship, we connect with God by humbly recognizing his goodness and his

power. In worship, we remember the mighty deeds of God that brought us

salvation and we thank him. We remember the character of God, his goodness,

kindness, mercy, righteousness, and holiness. Then we honor him for each

trait. In worship, we surrender ourselves to God. We entrust ourselves to him

as a living sacrifice.

As we worship God, we gain two attributes which make us useful to God in this

world. First of all, as we worship God, our faith grows. We trust him more

because through worship, we remember better his love and his power. As we

worship God, debilitating fear melts away. Fear is replaced by a sense of

security that comes from being held in the Father’s arms. In additions to faith,

we gain inner peace through worship. Faith and peace make us fit for the

challenges we face in the world.

So what does this personal experience of worship look like? Externally, it may

look like silent prayer. It may sound like the singing of songs of praise. It may

look like reading the Bible or listening to an audio recording of God’s word.

Internally, worship is the faith-empowered experience of honoring God and

recognizing his goodness.

So here is my word of encouragement for you today: Build regular, extended

times of personal worship into you practice of the spiritual disciplines. As you

do so, you will be transformed from the inside out.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #WorshipGod #FromTheInsideOut