Worship Is A Lifestyle

That’s the theme of Youth With A Mission’s School of Worship, and it has been a living lesson throughout the past week that they’ve been at the base.  The S.o.W. team got back on Monday night from their outreach, and just had their graduation ceremony last night.

Worship here in Ghana has a very different feeling to it than the worship you would experience in the States… First of all, it’s very loud!  There tend to be multiple people with microphones and everyone sings with everything they’ve got, both up at the front and from the congregation.  People often pray (and often in tongues) throughout the worship time, and there isn’t much organization to it.

Now, to someone coming from a typical church in America, the effect would seem very chaotic and noisy and out of control.  HOWEVER, when God gives you the grace to step outside of your own “life lens,” the beauty comes forth.  Ghanaian worship isn’t always orderly, but it is heartfelt.  It is honest, authentic, and genuine.   And it seems that the lack of organization leaves room for the work of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct the process.

When I went to a church service on Tuesday night (the School of Worship team led worship at the end of the service), I have to admit that I was just not prepared for the noise level or the “chaos,” as my mind labeled it at the time, even though I’d already been to another traditional Ghanaian church.  I was wrestling with some things with the Lord, and I felt like the loudness of it all was just distracting to my own prayers.  I felt foreign, depressed, and lost in the crowd.  I’m being very honest with you… I just wasn’t in the mood.

So I sat at the base of a pillar beside my seat and tried to keep my mind on seeking the Lord quietly, asking him to block out the noise and to keep me focus, but it was NOT working, at all.  Finally, a girl named Stella offered me a flag (lots of people had them and were waving them around), so taking it, I realized I would have to stand up rather than just wave it half-heartedly from the ground.

Before I knew what was happening, one of the guys from the team pulled me out into the midst of all the dancing at the front of the room, and I started going along with some of the moves people were doing and waving the flag and getting completely into it… I kid you not, in five minutes I went from sitting alone and frustrated by the pillar to jumping and dancing and singing at the front of the church with tons of other people, having a blast and truly worshipping the Lord.

What did the Lord teach me from this?

He taught me that worship has nothing to do with being in the mood to worship.  In fact, it should have nothing to do with me at all.  Worship is about giving glory and thanks and praise to the living God who gives us life and breath and joy every day by His mercy and love.  It’s about forgetting yourself and looking up and out to Jesus who sacrificed himself for us that “we might have life, and have it abundantly.”  God always deserves worship, whether you feel “in the mood” to worship or not.

But most importantly, worship isn’t something you set aside time to do… it is supposed to be LIFE.  It should be with every breath we take.  Romans 12:1 says “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.“  The way we live, whether we’re interacting with people or whether we’re completely alone, should reflect God’s glory within us and give glory to Him, because our ability to live in righteousness is a GIFT from Him.

In John 4:23-24, Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and says to her, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.“

It’s important not only to listen to this verse, but to really hear it and think about it.  To worship in spirit requires us to seek the Holy Spirit that Jesus says was sent to be our “Helper.”  He said that it was actually better for us that he returned to heaven so that we might have that Helper with us at all times, and thereby these words might be come to pass: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.“  The Holy Spirit is what allows us to live rightly before God.  It is what gives us the ability to interpret the Scriptures not in our fallen human wisdom, but with the eternal wisdom that comes from the Father.  We have so many misconceptions about God because we read the Bible without seeking the Lord’s interpretation… His truth.

Worship is not about a sensory experience or about getting a high off of God.  It’s not about making ourselves feel better, though you will ALWAYS be blessed when you worship the Lord…  worship is something that we should live out every moment of every day of our lives by living according to God’s commandments, his words, his truth.  Seek the Holy Spirit, ask him to guide you and to reveal just how worthy the Lord is of your praise.

Worship is a lifestyle.

Thanks for bearing with me, I know that this was long… “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way.  The Lord be with you all.”

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