Living A Lifestyle Of Worship

Living A Lifestyle Of Worship

By Apostle Dawn Gueary
Lite-Shine Intl. Ministries

There are several ideas that may come to your mind when you think of living a life of worship. One may be which church you attend, how often you read the Bible, how often you pray, etc. Examples in the Old Testament may have included animal sacrifice, the tabernacle where only the priests could make atonement once a year for the sins of the people, or where the people would gather to worship. As we know from the New Testament, Christ came to become the ultimate sacrifice, which would set a new standard for us to live by.

Romans 12:1-2, in the Passion translation, says that our daily act of worship should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies. We are to surrender our bodies to Him to be His sacred and living sacrifice. The word sacrifice means to forfeit or surrender, which leads to life and not death. For us to live in holiness and to experience all that delights His heart, this must become our genuine expression of worship. We must stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around us and be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit, through a total reformation of how we think. This, in turn, will empower us to discern God’s will and help us to live a beautiful life, despite what may be going on around us.

Here the word “bodies” means to surrender the totality of our life. The sacrifice that pleases God is a life fully lived for Him. Psalm 113:3 says “From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord’s name be praised,” and 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God” (NIV).This is saying that living our life for God is considered a holy sacrifice and it brings great joy to His heart. So how then do we truly live a life of worship?

First, we need to be receivers of His mercy. How we receive His mercy is how we, in turn, give. Secondly, we need to devote our entire self to him. Third, we need to really be aware of what we are worshipping! A good way to measure this is to think about who or what consumes our time, our thoughts, our energy, and our heart space.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, 10:6-7, and 11:10b clearly describe Solomon’s report of what potentially became his false gods. Such things included but were not limited to money, fitness, vanity, men, women, work (or works), children, family, and home. Although all these things are important and are blessings that have been given to us by God and are to be stewarded well, they can easily become our god if we are putting too much emphasis on them instead of worshipping God.

What is our primary purpose on this earth? You guessed it; it is to worship God! In Matthew 22:37, Jesus declared that our greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God “with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind.” And in Matthew 19:19, he included “love your neighbor as yourself.” The only way we can do any of this is to first allow God to show us His infinite love by inviting Him by our own admission into all areas of our heart. We should give Jesus the access into our intimacy by looking into us to see anything that may have taken the place where He so longs to be the Lord.