Praise and worship time in church is one of the most powerful, and oftentimes, most effective aspects of church. It can get even the most stubborn of people to feel the presence and power of God, and it can even bring them to their knees.

With worship being so effective, it’s important that we discuss it, and look at one famous worshipper from scripture to help model what it means to worship.

What Is Worship?

If you’ve never been to church or didn’t grow up attending, then worship may seem weird to you, or even the word may seem odd. But it truly is a beautiful and powerful thing, and something we must all learn how to do.

The exact definition for the word, “worship”, is “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”, who in our case is the one and only true God, not a variety of different “gods” or saints. We praise one God and show Him honor and adoration through our praise.

Another way that you could look at praise and worship is through how you live your life. Do you honor God with your actions and thoughts? Does your life display Christ in a positive way? Would you say that you are His? These are all ways that we can worship God, as our whole life can be pointed towards Him.

In the context of church, the primary way that we worship God is by singing, dancing, and bowing in reverence towards Him through song. You can lift your hands, sing, be silent, get on your knees, or however else you like to worship. Although we often worship in public at church, it is a very private experience between you and God alone.

However it is that you like to praise the Lord, do it with your heart, and praise Him often.

“Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150)

King David

King David was a great worshipper. He was known for writing many of the Psalms in fact, most of which include lines of praise and worship to our God. Some of those lines include

“O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:9).

“O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” (Psalm 34:8).

“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6).

David is responsible for many of great songs and psalms to the Lord, but what is the secret behind his worshipful words?

There are two things that come to mind. David was known as a man after God’s own heart, which means that he pursued the Lord’s heart. He didn’t necessarily always live like he was chasing after God, but he did his best to continually run back to the Lord. After he was caught in sin, he would run back to the Lord. When he was successful, he ran to God.

For David, God was the center, and what he had to continually run back to. No other Bible character has that name applied to them, and no other ran to the Lord as David did.

David also did his best to make room for the Lord and his presence. He built a tent to house the presence of God and it was a place that many Israelites would come to pray and to worship the Lord. He went to great lengths to make sure that there was room for the presence of God, and that the Lord was worshipped.

Practical Application

My practical application for you is to emulate the life of David in your own worship time. As he made room for God, you should also make room for God. As he chased after God, making sure to prioritize Him over everything, so should you and I.

Think over the areas of your life. Do you allow God into every single one? Do you allow room for Him to speak and for his Spirit to move? What about your failures and moments of sin, do you run back to God, or do you hide in shame?

There are many different ways to worship God in your life, and to be truthful, the Spirit will often move you in church, so we don’t need to spend much time on that. But worshipping God with your life, allowing Him into every part and each crevice, that is difficult. But it is something that we must do, because the worshipper will always live a better, more fulfilled life, with Christ at the center, than those that don’t worship God.

Final Thoughts

We all must worship. Whether we do it in church or with our whole life, we must all do it.

Examine your life and ask God to examine your heart. Oftentimes, there is something in there that we don’t know is there, that may stop you from truly worshipping God with all your heart. Look at your sin and look at your failures. It may be time for you to take them all to the Lord and ask Him to heal you and your heart.

However, we must all worship, not only because God is someone to be worshipped, but because we will always worship something. Oftentimes, we worship ourselves or some other “idol” in our life. It is time for us to all run to the Lord and forsake our previous idols. Worship the Lord with all of your heart, and with all of your life.

“I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:1-3).