Encountering God: Cultivating Your Relationship with the Lord in Worship

Commandment to Worship

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the beautiful gift of eternal salvation and are brought into the family and kingdom of God. In participating in life as a part of the family and kingdom of God, we have submitted our lives, and all of our ways, to Him and are choosing to take His ways on as our own, which is a transformation process that is walked out in our daily lives.

As children in His family and citizens of His kingdom, we are commanded in Deuteronomy 6:11 to “worship the Lord, and serve Him alone.” In the New Testament in Matthew 4:11, Jesus quotes this verse when Satan is tempting Him. As the Son of God, He submitted to this commandment and lived His life on the earth in worship to the Father—how much more should we seek to carefully obey this commandment!

Drawing Near of the Heart

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says,

“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me.” (Mt. 15:8–9)

This verse can serve as a deep expression of the Lord’s heart for us when we worship—to draw near to Him from our hearts—and not just give Him lip service or to show up but not sincerely. It's good to continually ask the Lord to alert us when we are doing this so we can quickly repent when we find ourselves showing up to worship but not truly drawing near to Him in our hearts.

Sing the Truth

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (Jn. 4:23)

One of the greatest gifts in seeking to obey the command to worship the Lord, and in seeking to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, is the Scriptures. If we feed our hearts on His Word and come to Jesus through it, He will train us and teach us how to walk out worshiping and loving Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The book of Psalms specifically paints a beautiful tapestry of ways to worship the Lord, from bowing low in submission to Him as King to trembling before Him as a righteous Judge; from singing to Him as the King of all of the earth to honoring Him as the Father of the fatherless. And the list goes on.

Here are some of the ways the writers of the book Psalms entreat us to worship.

• Psalm 2:12 speaks of responding to the Lord in three specific ways: it says to “serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling, and kiss the Son.”
• Psalm 29:2 instructs us to worship in the beauty of holiness.
• Psalm 45:11 says, “Because He is your Lord, worship Him.”
• Psalm 95:6 adds, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker.”
• Psalm 96:9 exhorts us, “Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, tremble before Him all the earth.”

One side note, a couple of practical tips on how to engage with the Psalms: sing them, phrase by phrase, throughout the day or during worship times at church.

1. Start with praying “Lord, I thank you for this truth” or simply turn the phrase into a prayer. For example, take Psalm 95:6 from the above paragraph and say, “Lord, I worship You as my Maker, I thank You that I am the work of Your hands—I kneel before You, honor You, and worship You”; and then,
2. Sing and repeat short phrases from the verse, for example, “I come to You” or “I worship You” or “I bow before You” or “You are my Maker.” Slowly singing the shorter phrases helps the mind to slow down and the heart to connect with the truths that are being sung.

Another aspect of using the Scriptures as a guide when worshiping the Lord is the continual discovery of new truths or fresh understanding about who He is as we draw near to Him. Just reading the truths may not awaken our hearts in the same way as when we sing them. Worshiping and singing the Scriptures can become a place of growth and revelation in the knowledge of God.

Grace to you as you discover more and more of Him as you give yourself to Him in worship today!

“May the Father of glory give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” (Eph. 1:17–19)

Our annual Onething Conference takes place in Kansas City every December and provides a time and place for believers to corporately take the plunge into the goodness of God through corporate worship, biblical teaching, and impactful times of ministry.