“Worship” may be a word you don’t quite understand. Dictionary.com defines worship as “reverent honor and homage paid to God.” The way we show this reverent honor or homage to God may be very different from another believer.
The Bible recites many different postures and activities for worship:
- Standing
- Kneeling
- Prostrate (laying on the ground with face down)
- Arms raised
As to the “how of worship”, in the Bible we are encouraged to:
- sing to the LORD
- Shout to the LORD
- Sacrifice (burnt offering) to the LORD
- Thank the LORD
- Praise the LORD
- Bless the LORD
- Play instruments to the LORD
The one criteria on which God evaluates worship, regardless of the posture or the position or the activity, is the intent of the worshiper’s heart.
- To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies-I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Isaiah 1:11-15
When approaching Him in worship, consider that God is not impressed so much with the outward expression of your adoration as He is with the motivation of your heart. To God, our hearts are exposed, transparent.
Jesus said this, “the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
