Everyday Worship
In my Heartlight Article, “Worship and the Ballpark?” I share the following statement:
I’m convinced that much of our sense of worship is well-intentioned wrong-headedness. We’ve confined worship to what we do in our daily quiet times, in our church building sanctuaries, and our small group Bible studies. In other words, worship takes place away from the everyday world where we live, the jobs where we work, the leisure activities we enjoy, and the activities where our children play. In other words, worship is what occurs at the margins, fringes, and short moments of time where we are isolated from “real life.”
My point was that we must get back to seeing all of life as worship and when we do, then we will have a greater impact on the world than simply just holing up in our churches and hanging around with just church people. We need to see our worship occurring in everyday life.
What do you think about that? How can we have a greater positive impact on the world around us and get away from our sense of “us against them” and get back to living to love the world for whom Christ died? I hope you’ll post a comment below and let me know!
You are right, we have so long equated church attendence with worship … to the point that we think that is what it is.
Our church once started a “service Sunday night” one of our deacons started a “singing class” because he thought it was all about helping the “services”….We have a lot of “unteaching” to do before we can truly feel the beauty of day to day worship.
Donna
3 Jun 06 at 7:12 pm
Worship while you are walking, worship while you are driving, worship while you are fishing. Prayer is what He gave us so that we could have access to Him anytime, anywhere. Use prayer for worshiping The Lord. Use singing of priases (in your head or out loud) to worship Him anytime you want to.
I don’t believe Jesus stopped what He was doing and took off to the temple everytime he wanted to worship His Father. He didn’t always have His eyes closed either…how many times did He say look at this or see that..it is good, it’s is of God.
God wants us to fellowship with one another and to worship together so we can encourage one another, not because that is the only time or place that worshipping Him can be done.
Connie
3 Jun 06 at 11:38 pm
IF OUR LIFE IS TO BE WORSHIP TO GOD THEN WE HAVE TO HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS SON, I BELIEVE TOTAL SUBMISSION TO JESUS CHRIST AND THE FATHER WILL THEN LEAD TO WORSHIP THAT WE ARE NOT EVEN AWARE OFF. JUST AS BREATHING IS A NORMAL EVERYDAY PART OF OUR LIFE, WHICH OF COURSE WE WOULD DIE WITHOUT, SO IS OUR WORSHIP IF WE ARE TOTALLY SUBMITTED IT WILL BE AS BREATHING. WE WOULD DIE SPIRITUALLY WITHOUT IT. LOVE IN JESUS HILARY
HILARY BACON
5 Jun 06 at 6:24 am
I am a CHRISTIAN teacher in China. When people see my lifestyle they ask why I live that way. I inform them I am a CHRISTIAN. Then they begin to ask me questions about CHRITIANITY. I then lead them to the bible.I live the CHRISTIAN life, then explain it. Preaching and not living it turns people off. Living it then giding people to JESUS does.
Joseph
5 Jun 06 at 6:36 am
I totally agree with what you say. Christians think that worship is confined to the church building or quiet times but we should worhsip God in everything that we do. Christ did it and so we should.
I really enjoyed this message.
God bless you.
Sharon Higgins
Sharon Higgins
5 Jun 06 at 7:39 am
You are so right about worship. We even at times in church have a problem here with “Worship Teams.” I think they should be called “Praise Teams,” or something, because all of our time should be worship. Announcements, offering, you name it, not just this singing and prayer time, Scripture reading and so forth at this time being led by this team. All of it needs to be worship just as all of our life should show worship. When we work, when we study, when we play, whatever. Yes even on the ball field and church leagues really need to remember this as often they do not. Thanks for your email today.
Allan
Allan Burr
5 Jun 06 at 7:40 am
I agree with MR Ware completely. If you are a Christian how can you live life one way when you are in church or doing things with other christians and when you are in public. Jesus said our job was to witness and bring the unsaved world to him. We as Christians need to live like Christ all the time for others to know or even want to know more about the special blessings Christian life holds.
Margaret Gillespie
5 Jun 06 at 8:13 am
To confine our Christian lives to the church building at scheduled corporate worship times is certainly a sin. But worship is an intentional act of homage and submission to God. It can’t be a casual activity that is simultaneous with other daily tasks. Let’s not confuse worship, which is intentional, with Christian service, which is habitual.
Chris Stinnett
5 Jun 06 at 8:13 am
My christianity should be “showing” in whatever I do. Particularly at the office, people should be thinking there’s something different about me… I know it’s God… and I ask God to create ways for me to tell that to the people around me. That’s worship.
Recently, when I was in an extremely trying work position – I asked God to help me be kind back to the person who was trying to ruin my reputation. God showed me ways to be particularly nice to the person trying to attack my character. That’s christianity! When God moved me very abruptly into another job – I told every one I could that it was God who got me my new position. That’s christianity! People needed to hear that God runs my life… that it’s just so much easier to have the God of the universe be in charge rather than to try to figure my way out of problems myself. Just being vocal with others about how God is moving in my life becomes my witness. Just remembering when something that has been troubling someone… and asking them how things went – that’s also witness. God will create the opportunities if we would only ask. Doing what He guides us to do and honoring Him – that’s worship! Participating in corporate worship is only a part of what worship is all about.
Jayne
5 Jun 06 at 8:29 am
WHAT WE DO EVERY DAY IS WHAT WE BELIEVE. EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST RELIGIOUS TALK. Thanks for emphasizing that concept! Our faith cannot be environmental or genetic. It must penetrate each cell of our being.
connie butcher
5 Jun 06 at 8:46 am
Worship should be a comfortable part of the way we do everything each day. It certainly helps in times when wrong influences coming knocking.
Penny Wood
5 Jun 06 at 8:51 am
We really need teachings that our daily life is a reflection of our faith, not just the routine habits of bowed heads. These were so ingrained that I remember the first time I prayed with my hands in the dishwater and felt negligent that I wasn’t sitting or lying with hands folded and eyes closed. I am considering a “talking prayer” for my class of 4, 5, and 6 year olds in a conversational mode, with eyes open, after explaining that God is with us all the time and that we need to be “with” him as we go about our lives.
Anne Ballinger
5 Jun 06 at 9:03 am
I have long been in agreement with your comments. Worship within the church setting is for the edification of the believers. It gives me strength. It allows me to love and be loved. But Jesus came to minister to the sick. Therefore, our commission is to go into the world and tell the nations. It is all well and good to receive the blessings of worship with fellow believers, and in fact is necessary to keep us fed, but reaching out within your sphere of influence outside the church building is where we will make a real difference for Christ.
Rebecca Crane
5 Jun 06 at 9:49 am
In the world I live in, I can choose to either sit down and stay put in my own little space and die a little bit every day or I can stand in Him and live to live; venturing out and about on the great adventure of life that He has prepared for me.
As a Christian, my human nature can be passionately stirred up in the Divine Presence of my God from moment to moment and I can choose to be found in Him and in His personality, I can live to live! How awesome is that! Because of Jesus Christ, I can delight my family and friends lavishing them with His unconditional love; I can bear with those I work with as I speak His truth in love and with sacrificial deeds and acts! I can do all things graciously with the mercy that God has abundantly washed me in and I can shower my neighbors with His kindness and personal care and Yes? I can even love my enemies in thought, word and deed! How great is our God! He is destined to be shared in my all in all!
The Father God, He is amazing at details and He created me to live to live and each morning I rise to the same unbelievable love and encouraging Presence of God and I choose to let go of my earthly cares, let them be and trust Him as I anchor deeply to His love and walk in His indescribable hope! I love to live to live In Him as I daily step out into my world choosing, to die to self: to all my wants, expectations and personal ambitions and live in the beauty of His holy nature, creativity and strength! I was born to live and born again to the newness of life unto Him shining in my every day ordinary experiences; the life-path He has purposely placed me on because of His perfect plan for me! What an awesome God I live to live for! Yes indeed, I live to live and serve unto Him!
Oh I know that I am meant to shine in my all in all as His beacon of light and as I believe and hope in Him, I am continuously lifting up the name of Jesus Christ heart to heart, home to home and place to place,wherever He might lead me and wherever I choose to follow! I am His! I was not intended to worship Him just in a church building, all though these are special times of adoration, yet somehow I know as my personal relationship with Him deepens and I decrease and He increases in me, that my devotion for Him is not designed to be shut up in four walls or boxed in by anything at all! I am free in Him and I am destined to Shine 4 Him always and ever, moment to moment being found in Him and impacting my world with His glory, majesty, strength, honor, faith and impeccable character.
I believe that He shaped every aspect of my personality, body, will, spirit and emotions to be used for His purposes, to reach out and touch His human race as I make daily divine appointments that He leads me to, inspiring those in my sphere of influence with the worship and significance of Jesus Christ; as I live to live in Him and through Him.
Yes, I was made for abundant life, I was created to live free abounding in life and because of Him, I enjoy each day; I live to live each day being found in Him. In my worship of Him in my all in all, I do not live to die, I live to live? so supernaturally I am not bound to position, tradition, title, space or human precepts but, I am free in His way, His truth and His life! How thankful I am for the daily adventure of His life in me and through me! As I live to live each day, He so graciously endows me with His Presence, Peace and Power! I love Him so! Jesus, I worship You with my life as I live to live this day and forever being Yours and loving it!
Kimberly McCarthy
5 Jun 06 at 10:52 am
I believe we should worship God at all times no mater where we are or what we are doing and we need to thank God for all things in our life good or bad and not just in our mind but aloud so the world around you can hear it
If we do it only in our mind only God hears it and not those around us . Jesus said if we are ashamed of him he would be ashamed of us and I sure do not want him being ashamed of me as I am sure not ashamed of him Love in Christ George
George E Treleaven
5 Jun 06 at 10:54 am
I think you should live you life in such away that you never really have to tell anyone that you are a christian that they will know by the love you show all people.
Zella
5 Jun 06 at 10:54 am
I’M A MEMBER OF THE MILLINGTON, TENN…..CHURCH OF CHRIST. LOCATED AT 7320 RALEIGH MILLINGTON RD. I’VE ENJOYED READINGS FROM HEARTLIGHT FOR OVER A YEAR. I’VE BEEN A CHRISTIAN SINCE I WAS 14 YEARS OF AGE…I’M NOW 62 YEARS OLD AND HAVE OWNED MY OWN BUSINESS FOR 33 YEARS AND STILL ACTIVE IN IT…..( GURLEY APPLIANCE CO…..901-872-100)
GARY GURLEY
5 Jun 06 at 12:26 pm
You are so right. When we live and speak and behave in a Christ-like way, people notice and want to find out what makes us behave so differently than most people. It’s not our words that will impact people for Christ, but our actions.
Peter Wesselink
5 Jun 06 at 1:35 pm
You are absolutely right. Here is one example of something that happened last weekend during our local Jaywalkers Jamboree. A booth was set up with the question on the ouside, “Do you want to go to Heaven or Hell?” Many people entered the booth and received the message of salvation. 150 people signed cards to accept the Lord into their lives. These names were referred to the pastors of the town for follow-up.
Mary Chew
5 Jun 06 at 2:06 pm
My grandfather was a minister so I learned young that living as a Christian meant more than saying you were one. No one should ever have to tell another person they are a Christian if they are loving and living as Jesus taught. More people are brought to God by seeing another’s Christian walk as a genuine one and seeking that same security, confidence, and hope for themselves. God bless Heartlight and those who further His Word.
Kathy
5 Jun 06 at 5:53 pm
I can testify, from personal knowledge and experience, that if you wish to move forward with your Ministry, you must get out of the Pulpit and “take it to the street”. For years, I worked with a Christian organization with fine intentions that hardly did more than poke at the secular bubble of sin from the outside; God’s will for application of a life changing experience was never realized until I went among the sheep with the Word. Alligators can’t be caught until you wade into the swamp!
Pastor Charlie Greene
6 Jun 06 at 6:59 am
There are so many good comments posted. I would like to add that we should not see the situation as “them” against “us”.
An old commercial made the statement that “we are all in this together”. We truly are exactly that. In the day of judgment will those people rise up and point fingers saying, “You never told me about the love of the Lord. Why didn’t you tell me about the joy and peace that comes from walking with Him?
We are too afraid of the wrath of unbelievers and of feeling rejection. We must tell them that Jesus died for them. We must carry the Good News of the gospel of Christ as diligently s unbelievers are carrying their message.
doris
6 Jun 06 at 11:20 am
It’s true that our worship has become very isolated and secluded. Instead of shutting out the world and opening the door to misunderstandings we should be willing to express this liberty and beauty that we experience. I don’t believe that Jesus came to establish a secret society but to redeem all mankind. How will the world know unless we allow them to see this beauty of worship we so often refer to, and experience for ourselves. We are the body of Christ, let us be His body indeed. God bless!
Kereen
6 Jun 06 at 12:26 pm
I totally agree with your comments. God has given me an outside project, I’m not sure of the outcome. In fact I’m not sure of how to began it, but I have to be obedient to God. We have spent far to much time inside of the four walls, it’s time to get out of the boat.
Christine Bulley
7 Jun 06 at 7:41 am
Worship should start with each one of us and not wait for Church worship on Sunday. Worship is supposed to be our day to day lifestyle of every believer. Worship is not be limited to prayer rooms and Churches. Our lifestyle as believers should minister to the people around us through our character and everything in us. It should not only be what we say but our actions as well (actions speak louder than words). Let’s be practical believers that will worship God at all times regardless of the situations around us.
Tronton Mtambo
10 Jun 06 at 4:44 am
As a member of the body of Christ in Cape Town, South Africa, I fully agree that worship should not be confined to Sunday or only when the christian family meets. In fact even going to church is not about what I’m going to receive from the worship service, but rather what am I going to give. It is also not about keeping the order of rituals – singing, praying, giving and listnig to a lesson. More importantly the considering of one another and stirring up to love and good works as stated in Heb.10:24. When we do this, we will not neglect to meet together as verse 25 states. I believe from the earliest instructions of God to Cain and Able, worship was about giving. giving the best that we can whenever and wherever. Therefore God has blest us with different gifts that should be used for His glory amongst the nations of the world. God provided Cain and Able with gifts to be offered, so He has for each of us. See Rom.12:3-8 & 1Pet.4:7-11.
The evidence of our faith is in our behaviour and therefore impacts our worship to God.
Thanks for your articles and heartlight messages – I serve the body of Christ in house church ministry as an evangelist and have a strong association with the Churches of Christ in South Africa and America. My sponsoring congregation is the Garnet church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Malvin Kivedo
1 Jul 06 at 11:23 am
As a 76yr old I agree that worship is not just attending church services, although that is important. Joining together with like minded people does help to build up ones faith, a recharging of the batteries.
Unfortunately so many Christians believe that is all that they need to do, going out to others, telling them or showing them that your life is different is to be left to the pastor or those in charge of the church. They do not realise that the church is the ‘Body of Christ’ and as such we must go out to others in Worship, even if it hurts.
Colin Stevens
3 Jul 06 at 12:46 pm
Matthew 11:29 when you feel unjustly critized
Beatrice
10 Jul 06 at 7:07 pm