Friday, April 25, 2014

6 Ways to Worship God Outside of Church

iStock_000015408259SmallI found this article by Dominic Sickich posted on April 15, 2014 at vyrso.com.

God is worthy of worship through the duration of our days. Oftentimes it’s difficult to unravel how this works outside of our church attendance on Sundays. However, God has crafted our souls, designed our world, and granted us every tool necessary to worship him whenever, wherever, and basically, however.

Here are six ways you can worship God outside of church at any given moment:

1.   Accept the fact that you’re accepted

Genuinely accepting the fact that we’re loved, welcomed, and fully accepted by God outweighs any other style of worship. The truth is there’s nothing about you that needs to improve, develop, or change in order for you to be more loved by God. You’re already loved in full regardless of how you look, act, or feel.

God is most highly worshipped when we are most satisfied in his love. We are most satisfied in his love when we accept that it’s free. We must accept the fact that we’re accepted.

2.   Read the Word

We must guard our time in God’s Word. Consistently reading and dwelling in our Bibles is a sure way to expand our worship. Scripture is a primary tool God has entrusted us with for the purpose of worshiping him through knowing him.

3.   Pray

Jesus came to claim us and connect us as children of God. Just like children have open access with their dads to voice their concerns, express their feelings, and ask silly questions, we have open access as God’s children to do the same through prayer. Here’s what’s stunning: we don’t burden him with our puny voices and requests. He is passionate about us. He longs to hear from us and respond to us in love.

We worship God by communicating with God. We can pray often and expectantly, that when we knock, our loving God will open the door.

4.   Serve & love people

God lives in us—through the Holy Spirit—to be known through us. By simply spending time in community with the people God has placed in your life, you get to know God more as he has the potential to interact with you through their words and love.

Here’s the beauty: this goes both ways. God has purposefully placed you in the lives of others for them to know him better through your words and love. Whether you’re aware of it or not, God lives in you to be known through you.

When we encourage, serve, and love people, God is worshipped as he interacts with the people around us, through us.

5.   Rest

Slowing down can seem impossible as our lives become crowded with never-ending plans and to-do lists. We can worship God by loosening our grip on our “have to” tasks, allowing God to destruct our plans and tear apart our to-do lists in the name of rest and refreshment.

A beautiful way to do this (and a strategy used by Jesus) is to go to a quiet place in the wilderness. Today, our wilderness may simply be a place distant from the distractions of our everyday lives—our phones, jobs, etc. Drop them off and rest. Stare at God’s creation in wonder of its beauty, and rest. This is worshipful to God.

6.   Do what you love

Here’s the catchall: we can worship God by simply doing the things we love. God has given our hearts enjoyment, and our enjoyment pleases God. These enjoyments vary on an individual basis. Do you love to paint? Paint. Do you love to read? Read. Do you love to be with your family? Be with your family.

We can worship God by doing the very things he has made us love.

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