How do we worship? What are we “allowed” to do while still being reverent before the Lord, worshiping in spirit and truth? What is God's desire for our worship? Does He give us the right to pick and choose how we worship?
Over the course of this multi-part devotional, we will discover and learn the ways that we can actively worship God when we come together as the gathered Church. We are told in Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth that our mere existence, even eating or drinking, can be worship to God; so we understand that our worship is not confined to a time or a place—it is a lifestyle. This mini-series is intended to develop our worship as it pertains to the intentional physical and spiritual acts that we do during our worship. Granted, these things can (and should) be done whether we are at church or not. My hope is that churches and believers everywhere, will experience true freedom in worship together—a glimpse into what heaven may be like one day. God desires us to worship in this way. Let’s learn together.
“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NLT)
Part 5: Our Voice - Singing
"Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.” Psalm 96:1-2 (NKJV)
"I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath!” Psalm 104:33 (NLT)
"Praise the Eternal! It is good to sing praises to our God, for praise is beautiful and pleasant.” Psalm 147:1 (VOICE)
"When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.” Ephesians 5:19-20 (VOICE)
"The Eternal your God is standing right here among you, and He is the champion who will rescue you. He will joyfully celebrate over you; He will rest in His love for you; He will joyfully sing because of you like a new husband." Zephaniah 3:17 (VOICE)
We sing to the Lord simply because we are alive today. He chose to give us life, and He chose to give us a second chance to spend eternity with Him. Today, we are forgiven, saved, and set free, and we have a reason to sing. When we sing, we are joining in one voice with all the heavens and the earth to praise the Lord, and to Him our singing is beautiful and pleasant (or fitting). When we are filled with the Spirit, a natural response is to sing because our hearts have been attuned with God’s. Also, we are told in Zephaniah that God Himself celebrates and sings joyfully over us. If God does all of those things for broken, sinful, rebellious people, how much more should we be doing for a perfect, sinless, holy Savior?
We can worship the Lord in so many different ways with our voices. Whether we are shouting for joy, singing songs, or simply honoring Him with our speech, are our voices glorifying God or promoting ourselves?
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