How to Make Worship Personal
You might think that worship time on Sunday is all that God requires for our worship of Him. And most of us can’t imagine ourselves playing music or singing songs to God in our homes or at our job, so we just save worship for for church on Sundays because that’s where we know how to do it.
But worship isn’t just for church. Worship is personal. It is our personal response to God’s involvement in our lives. If God is involved in our lives on other days besides Sundays, shouldn’t we worship Him on other days as well?
If you don’t know how to make worship personal, you can learn how to worship God when you’re not in church by learning from what happens before and during a church worship service. The worship leaders shared what they do to prepare for worship on Sundays. And since that is where we start our week in worship, we can learn from them and then apply the principles to develop our own worship during the week.
We asked the worship leaders, “How do you prepare for worship?”
Every week the worship team leaders meet to listen to what God is laying on Pastor Drew’s heart for the church. There is much prayer involved as they God’s direction. The team then searches for appropriate worship songs that support what God is speaking and they practice and plan for the Sunday service. Another important aspect of their preparation is in developing their own relationships with God through prayer and Bible study. They all know that they would not be able to lead worship if they didn’t have an active relationship with Jesus.
So, how will YOU prepare for worship?
As with the worship team, your preparation for worship comes from an active, daily relationship with Jesus. It comes from spending time in the Word, and in conversation with God in prayer.
Seek God’s direction for how you can practice personal worship.
Pray, read the Bible, and practice a daily relationship with Jesus.
Think about ways you can respond to and support what God is speaking to you.
We asked the worship leaders, “What does worship mean to you?”
Patrice Lyle said, “Worship is to give honor or reverence to something. If you have chosen to give your life to God, you owe God your worship. I can help model worship as a leader, but each person must worship God for themselves. Not as a spectator, but as an active participant. How we express our worship to God may vary, but that we worship is a responsibility we can’t ignore, nor pass off to someone else to do for us. When we respond to God revealing himself to us…we show others the goodness of God. This is worship—pouring out our lives to God in a way that attracts others to Him, and having the freedom to express our love for God in how we live for Him.
Hannah Martin said, “When I read scripture I see over and over again how spiritual victory comes after a time of worship. Paul and Silas were beaten and in prison, and it says in Acts 16 that they began to pray and sing songs of praise to God and suddenly the foundations of the prison were shaken and their chains were loosened and fell off, the prison doors swung open. Paul and Silas weren’t asking for a rescue, they were worshipping…and God showed up and shook the foundations. They were freed because of their worship. Worship is my love letter to my Creator. Worship is so much more than playing and singing songs about God. It is our response to all that God has done for us.”
So what does worship mean to YOU?
Worship is a choice; a choice to give honor and reverence to God above all other things. It is something we each have to do for ourselves; we can’t rely on others to worship for us. Our worship can free us from our chains. It is our love letter to the Creator and a response to God’s love for us.
What are you choosing to worship? Are you choosing to honor God above all other things?
Don’t rely on other’s to worship for you; your worship is your response to God’s love for you.
Worship comes in many forms, not just singing in church. It is showing God’s love, it is praising Him in your prison, and it is a response to His love and provision.
How will you respond to God’s love for you today? This is the beginning of personal worship.
We asked the worship leaders, “How do you hope people would respond to worship?”
Hannah Martin said, “I hope that people would experience the presence of God, that they would begin to fully comprehend how much they are known and loved by God and that worship would be an expression of that revelation. That they would be able to freely embrace the Father’s love for them and respond to it because no one walked away from experiencing the presence of God and stayed the same. His presence changes people.”
Patrice Lyle said, “My hope is that every person who enters Severn Run for a worship service will experience the manifest presence of God in a way that encourages them to choose to respond with their lives as an offering to God. When we respond to God revealing Himself to us, we become the embodiment of 1 Peter 2:9, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, we are given the charge to show others the goodness of God. This is worship.”
So how do YOU respond to worship?
Do you experience the presence of God? Can you comprehend how much He loves you? Your worship is an expression of that revelation!
Freely embrace God’s love for you and respond to it in a way that feels right to you…by singing, or creating, or speaking, or praising…by sharing or by helping others feel His love. This is a response of worship.
Experience the presence of God and let that affect you! Are you happy about it? Scared of it? Amazed in it? Experience that, and respond to God in worship.
Let God change you! Let His love mean something to you, and let it set you free. Respond to the change God has made in you—that is worship.
Respond to God in worship with your life. Get involved, get connected, learn, grow, pray, serve. These are worship responses.
God loves you. He knows who you are and what you are going through. Let that sink in. Let it mean something to you. Then respond to God’s love for you with love back to him. Worship him in word, in deed, in spirit and in truth. Let your life be an offering to Him, a daily worship of His goodness and love.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)