A Call to Praise and Worship the Lord (Psalm 96)
Psalm 96
Why is giving worship and praise so essential and important in our lives? I think worship is all about redemption. It’s obvious that it is all about our salvation. The reason we gather together in our services is because of Jesus. We come to praise, worship and glorify Him because of who He is and all that He has done. Worship has often been misunderstood as the musical prelude to the sermon, rather than how we, as the people of God, invite the rule of His kingdom to be established on earth. Worship is ascribing or giving worth to something or someone. But true worship is also a matter of the heart. It must be felt. It can't be a ritual we do. It can't be just an external going through the motions. True worship is a heartfelt expression of love, adoration, admiration, wonder and celebration. It is something that happens in our heart and soul when we begin to praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He has done. Wherever God’s people come together to worship, and where that happens, all His glory, His rulership, and His rule are present. In situations where worship ushers in the presence of God there are important things that take place:
Worship keeps our affection and our focus on Jesus
- To truly come with a genuine heart-set and mindset to praise and bless the Lord helps us to constantly give our life, our time focused on Jesus. This is a real decision in our part. If we continually keep our eyes on Jesus and see His ways, we are not worried, we know what we are to do. But when we lose sight of God’s place in our lives we will become disoriented (confused and unsettled). A person who really stops to worship and praise the Lord become unsure of who they are, what their lives is all about and they become confused. This world is filled with temptations and distractions to take our attention away from Jesus and put our affection on somebody or something else.
Worship forces us to deal with issues of sin.
- People who truly worships the Lord will discover that it forces them to constantly be dealing with sin. Sincere worship will mean a continual dealing of sin in our lives. You and I cannot be in a worship service and not have God deal with sin in our lives. When we come and sing unto the Lord in the splendor of His Holiness, God simply begins to show us things or places in our lives that you and I are not trusting and believing Him as we should. God begins to press us about things in our lives that are far below what they should be and have not risen or come to a strength or confidence with Him.
- 1 Samuel 15:22 “But Samuel replied: Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Obedience is doing what God says and sacrifice is doing something because you and I did not do something God has said. If we would just obey Him, His ways, then we do not have to spend our whole lives sacrificing because of the things we have done wrong. In engaging in worship, the Lord reveals to us things in our lives that is unacceptable to Him and that needs to change.
Worship makes us receptive to the fullness of the Spirit of God.
- In worship, our lives become open to receiving the work of the Holy Spirit, the cleansing and purifying work of the Holy Spirit that allows Him to fill us with the things of God and we then become a channel for Him to work through our lives. Worship makes me a different person. It washes, cleanses and purifies my heart (Psalm 51).
Worship causes us to keep moving forward on the things of God.
- People who truly worship are on the move for God. They are the ones who are making a difference for the Kingdom of God. What stops people from growing in God? There are people who have known the Lord for a long time and never change because they don’t obey the Lord. The moment you don’t do what Jesus has commanded, you immediately stop yourself from growing and moving forward from the things of God and His Kingdom.
Worship keeps us from falling away.
- Worship strengthens our hold on the Lord. It really does cause us to intensify our passion for Him.
Worship frees us from the failures of the past.
- The Lord heals, saves, restores and delivers us from our past. Jesus paid it all. This is truly amazing and worthy of all our worship and praise, but many treats this so casually.
Worship equips us to face difficult situations and circumstances.
- Worship reminds me that God is there to do all the things only He can do. Blessing the Name of the Lord is important because we need to be renewed in our confidence that Jesus is with us and that He will see us through our circumstances. He provides everything that needs to be provided.
