Growing in Worship

Heart Condition

Where and when does praise and worship begin? Does it begin when you pull into the church parking lot on Sunday morning? Or how about when you step into the sanctuary? Or maybe it’s not until after you leave the coffee station and take your seat? No, no, no. Psalm 113:3 [amp] says, “From the rising of the sun to the going down of it and from east to west, the name of the Lord is to be praised!” My friends, worship begins when your head is still making a dent in your pillow! We are to praise and worship our Father all day every day, no matter where we are.

How do we achieve this lifestyle of praise and worship? How do you keep God and His goodness at the front of your mind all day? It begins with your heart. The Bible says in Luke 6:45 ‘that a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good.’ You have to fill your heart with God’s goodness for God’s praise to be in your mouth continually. In order to worship Him, you must know Him, you must know how good He is, and that knowledge comes by reading His Word.

If there is no revelation of God’s goodness in your heart, then your praise words are empty to Him. Mark 7:6 says, “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” We know from 1 Samuel 16:7 ‘man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ Worship, then, is not necessarily singing, clapping, dancing, shouting, or laughing by definition. It is a condition of the heart. Whatever way the love toward God that is in your heart comes out, that is worship. It may be singing one day and shouting the next. Some days you may just laugh, but oh, how much fun you will have! Malachi 4:2 says, “But for you who revere (worship, worshipfully fear) My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” Do you need healing in your body? Do you need joy that will make you leap like a calf? You must develop this lifestyle of worship that begins in your heart.

Check yourself. What is the condition of your heart today? Is it full to overflowing with the goodness of God? If not, be encouraged, the prescription for your heart condition is simple. Find one verse today that tells you of God’s goodness, and meditate on it – say it over and over aloud, think on it all day – until it gets into your heart. Then tomorrow, find another verse that tells you of God’s goodness and meditate on it until it gets into your heart. Repeat this process every day, and your heart condition will change!

Here are some verses to get you started.

John 3:16 Ephesians 2:4-5 Romans 8:38-39 1 John 4:9 Revelation 1:5-6 2 Thessalonians 2:13 Romans 5:8 2 Timothy 1:7 1 John 3:1 1 John 4:7

Need an online bible? Check out biblegateway.com.