Worshipping from the Heart

I've had a lot of thoughts rolling around about worship lately. What is it? What does it look like? What does God expect of us in worship?

I've been digging into what He says about it and here's what I'm finding out.

We Are Created to Worship

Our entire beings are wired for it. If we aren't worshipping God, we are filling that need with something else. It could be a job, family, or even football. If it takes our time, energy and money; if it consumes us, we are worshipping.  If you've ever been in love, you probably remember how it feels. You spent hours talking to each other, constantly on the phone, going to movies, eating out together. You didn’t want to miss a moment, all because your heart was turned toward that person.

A Turned Heart

Our hearts are powerful, so it’s no wonder that God put our hearts when it comes to how we are to love Him. Mark 12:30 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." This scripture is seen many times throughout the Bible, but the order is always the same… heart, soul, mind, and strength. I began to wonder why this is, and after digging a little deeper I found this: Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." The heart is where it all starts. I believe God knows that if He truly has our hearts He has everything else. Is my heart turned towards God?

What Does Heart Expression Look Like?

We do incredible things and express ourselves in extravagant ways when our hearts are captivated by something. Think about people at a rock concert or a national championship. They’re lifting their hands, singing and shouting. Heart expressions are everywhere.

Fear Not Feelings

You may find yourself uncomfortable with the idea of expressing your emotions in worship. "I worship God with my mind. I don't want my emotions to get in the way." Yes, we must be wary of letting our emotions run the show, but emotion is a natural product of having our hearts turned towards God. We need to love the Lord with our minds. He tells us that, but the first thing we must love him with it is our heart.  If we can love a sports team or a musician, how much more must we love first the one person who came to set us free, who died on the cross for our sins that we might have life and life to its fullest!

It’s perfectly fine to get excited about football. It’s reasonable to go to concerts and get excited about seeing Carrie Underwood. As good as all of these things are, they can never take the place of Jesus. If you remember nothing else today, remember this: worship stems from the heart. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…"

You’ve Got the Heart, We’ll Teach You the Skill.

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