Worship Changes Us

September 27, 2023

From Pastor Eileen States

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship of God is not ready for heaven.”—A.W. Tozer

I was inspired by this quote and others this week when thinking about how much worship molds and shapes the very core of who we are. Worship does not always take place out of feelings from the heart. Sometimes worship is a choice based on what we know of Who God is. One author writes, we could easily exhaust a thesaurus in order to describe the glory of God.

“Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”—Francis Chan

When life seems about to overwhelm you, it would not hurt to pause for even 5 minutes and contemplate on the attributes of God and how those attributes can benefit your life in this moment. God is. . .

• all powerful

• faithful

• ever present

• all knowing

• patient

• full of wisdom

• good & kind

• just - perfect in all He does

• merciful and compassionate

• full of grace

• loving

• Holy and beautiful above all else
  

Worship can look different to many different people and in different circumstances. Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase of Romans 12:1 writes. . .

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.” Romans 12:1

“Work becomes worship when you dedicate it to God and perform it with an awareness of His presence.”—Rick Warren

When we truly enter into worship - living in the presence of God, allowing His Spirit to guide our thoughts, our future plans, our actions and reactions, we cannot help but be changed and people around us will take note that we have been with God. Let’s choose to live today and the many days to come with this purpose.

“God directs His people not simply to worship but to sing His praises ‘before the nations.’ We are called not simply to communicate the gospel to nonbelievers; we must also intentionally celebrate the gospel before them.”—Timothy J. Keller

Keep the faith!

Pastor Eileen