So, how do you worship when you disconnect from the institutional church system? I’ve struggled with this for two years now, since leaving a lifelong journey through one version or another of that institution.

We are so programmed into the mindset that we must have a band or choir up in front of us and a special place to “enter in”. We somehow need to be in one of those groups either on the platform or out in the congregation to “really” worship. So when we leave that system it can feel odd to worship in other ways. The uncomfortable sense of the familiar being gone and the uncertainty of what Holy Spirit wants us to do can lead to feeling disconnected.

However, if we believe that living life in a Christ honoring way is in itself worship, then coffee with a brother or a volleyball game with friends can certainly be worship. The underlying question for me is “Am I currently giving glory to God with my life?” If the answer is yes, then I’m worshiping indeed. Are our lives meant to be segmented into sacred and secular? Are we not supposed to redeem the time and live mindful of Papa’s presence (in the sacred) all the time?

Now, is there value in gathering with brothers and sisters and singing songs or celebrating Jesus together? Absolutely!!! But if you look at the early Church, they met tougher in homes and public places to fellowship (live life together). It was not about the place they met or the activity they did, but the assembling together in groups of two or more wherever and whenever the Spirit led them. For wherever two are three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst.

It’s all worship!

I’m currently standing for healing of some funky gastrointestinal thing where pain seems to come and go randomly. But in the midst of that battle , I found a new appreciation for worship this afternoon. Y’all know my definition of worship is a bit broader that the 4 walls on Sunday morning. This afternoon I found, Close to the Edge (Yes) on Spotify and listened to the whole thing waiting in the HEB lot for the family to finish shopping while I rested.
It was amazing how that music with all it’s oddity and intricacies had me marveling at the creative genius Papa put in those men so many years ago. Yes of course we could argue about the form or possibly even their motives but in the end I prefer to let the creative expression bring glory to Papa God regardless of the vessel He’s used to bring it about. For worship is after all seeing Him in everything and everywhere and give Him the honor due His name. Freedom is indeed found in seeing His hand on everyone, His moving through the creative gifting He has bestowed on all people is an expression worship and communion.

There’s a place of beauty and rest in the Holy presence of Papa God.
It can come to us in a flash of lightning or streaming in like a gentle breeze.
But the result is always the same, in the sense that He is never the same, always fresh and new, desiring to bring us into new realms of glory. Papa delights in the heart that draws near to Him, the heart that seeks His lap or his enfolding arms of love.

When Heaven touches earth in this way we are forever changed. There is a longing in every heart for this kind of tangible weighty glory. We know down deep inside that His presence is where we belong and once we experience it we never want to leave.

What do we have to do to come here? That’s the mystery of the ages, He’s right here in our midst, in His people all the time without condition, without limit. We strive for new ways to “bring His presence” to “step into the throne room” when all along the Holy of holies is right with us, Holy Spirit living in us empowering us to be with Papa at any moment because we are walking in the presence. We literally speak His name with every breath. Let every breath be worship to Papa God.

Worship, true worship is circular in nature, in and out of His manifest presence, deeper and deeper we go. I think it is because our human frame can only endure His pure holiness and joy to a certain point and that is in relationship to our depth of desire for Him. We set our hearts on Him and His glory, His beauty and majesty and He pours our a deeper desire to get ever closer and closer to His heart.

This song shows this reality so well:
Set a Fire down in my soul
That I can’t contain that I can’t control
I want more of you God
I want more of you God

How awesome is it that we can seek more of Him and ask for a deeper desire to chase Him longer, stronger, further than we have ever gone before and He sits back pleased because His kids are in love Him just because of who He is. We can actually bring joy to the King of the Universe, The Holy one of Israel, The Lord of lords and King of kings. Rest assured that our pursuit of Him is a two way journey of pleasure and joy in the sweetness of His presence. Flowing in and out of the cloud of His glory, experiencing the Shekinah and Shalom only available in intimate fellowship with Papa God. We really can’t get enough of His presence, once experienced it is addicting, truly better than any experience on earth.

There’s a longing in your heart to hear my voice to know my ways.
It’s a longing for my heart and the surety of my plan for you. I’ve given you this longing and it’s a good thing. A heart bent towards me is a heart actually at rest. For rest is not a passive thing but a thing of passion. It is active pursuit of my will and where your place is inside me. So rest in your seeking me, for resting and abiding are very similar rhythms of your life in me.
Why do we feel so compelled to “do things” for Papa? Let it be the outflow of a heart at rest in Him, complete in Him and seeking to share that completeness with others. It’s not the doing that fulfills but the fullness of Him that initiates the doing.
For years I tried to do the things that constitute the life of Christ. It’s a long list in most streams of the Church, lots of dos and don’ts. But it never lead to peace or lasting joy. Only resting in His peace, trusting in His voice, and following the leading of the Spirit has brought abiding joy.

Is there not a hearing ear or a seeing eye that can comprehend the height or depth, width or breadth of Papa’s love for us?

No, No fleshly ear or eye can see His glory or perceive his Love, it is with the spirit of man that the Spirit of God is perceived.

How can we as spiritually “dead” men perceive life when we are numb to Him in every way? What is that longing inside us for fellowship with the Creator of the Universe?
It is only by the life born in us through His Spirit that we can see or hear anything of God. That life is imparted to us in resurrection glory, breathing life into our lifeless old man overpowering the reign of death that has trapped us since the fall.

We are helpless in ourselves to effect the change but are required to agree with it’s complete ability to fill us with the very life that raised Jesus from the dead. The power of His endless life which sustains the universe and holds the very atoms together preventing their spinning from ceasing or running our of control.

It is indeed a mystery how this all works exactly, in fact it has been the source of countless debates and divisions as men try to comprehend the infinite with their finite minds.
Know that He is always drawing us, by the innate awe and knowing within us, into sweet relationship and deep revelation of the glory of His majesty.

Why do we feel compelled to give adoration to someone or something? The simplest answer relates back to Blaise Pascal’s famous quote “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” We have this inside of us at our very core that we are designed to give adoration to ascribe worth to one who is greater.

This has been used by many manipulative tyrants down through the eons of history to marshall loyal followers to their cause. Granted is has also been used by leaders and visionaries to promote great advances as well. But under it all we have this deep desire to give of ourselves to one who is worthy or has proven their worthiness to us in some way.

I’ve heard somewhere that worship came from an old AngloSaxon concept best expressed as worthship or the act of ascribing worth to someone something and it does seem to be an accurate take on the idea. When something is of great worth we will sacrifice all to protect it, to care for it. When someone is of great worth we will, likewise, protect and care for them but will also serve them to accomplish that care and protection.

The saints of old called it our “reasonable service” to venerate the only One who is worthy of our adoration.

Yet we as imperfect men elevate almost everything else above our devotion to Papa God on a regular basis. That is our struggle, we have this knowing in our spirit that there is only one who is worthy of our praise and worship but we constantly put ourselves on His throne in our lives because we are broken apart from Him.

I remember listening to some really excellent music being played. Highly skilled musicians exercising their craft in a way that was extremely pleasing to the ear and also so complex in its melodic textures. I believe it was either jazz or possibly bluegrass, the exact form or song is not important, but the word Papa spoke to my heart still resonates today.  It was a perfect example of that moment musicians long for, when a group clicks, when all the instruments or voices come together and their collective sound rises to a new level of harmony and beauty.  It’s the time we all long for, when jamming with others or just sitting around pickin’ & a grinnin’, that magical time when it all comes together perfectly.

At that precise moment I felt I heard Papa God say, “it’s all worship”, they think it’s just a glorious time lost in the music but I’m there rejoicing in my creation, in the beauty they are creating because of the gifts i planted in them when they were being formed in their mother’s wombs.
The very act of playing the music inside us, “releasing the sound,” as one of my dearest friends says, is fulfillment of our very purpose for existing. I think he’s onto something there which lines up with what I heard. If we are exercising the creativity in us, are we not displaying the very spark of the divine in us which sets us apart as ones created in the image of the master musician. After all was it not His words sung into the void which set all into motion?

The thing which struck me was that these musicians were playing music simply for the joy of the music, for the fellowship of the song, the power in the melody. I remember those times when everybody in the band clicked and the music went from just a tune to something truly amazing. Music may be the purest form of communication we have it is most certainly the most powerful. Do we not remember all the words of many songs we listened to in our youth wether we want to or not. I think this is one of the reasons we equate worship with something musical in the American Church. But is exists outside the four walls of the church edifice, worship goes on 24×7 in all of creation.

I would contend that all of our life is worship, especially in light of the concept of adoration and who should be the object of our constant adoration. But more on that later…..

Let’s look at it as an English word and that it is not necessarily related to some formal service in a building specially constructed for meetings. Simply put, worship is defined “adoring reverence or regard”. Yes it is a concept most commonly associated with deity and some form of religious service but I would contend it is more properly, the core of who we are as human beings, fashioned in the image of our creator. We are made to worship, it is built into the center of our soul and psyche that we are most fulfilled by our active worship. For the acts of true worship are an integral part of our relationship with the living God. They constitute our side of the conversation of life in Him. The real question is who / what is the object of our worship for we easily loose sight of the only one worthy.

“Adoring reverence or regard” let’s break that down a bit:
Adoration
the act of paying honor, as to a divine being, fervent and devoted love
Reverence
a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.
Regard
to have or show respect or concern for.

Now, how about the Hebrew word most often translated worship: shachah [Strongs H7812] To prostrate oneself. (the act of laying down before the object of our adoration)

Is this not what all of life is? laying down our very existence, our time at the altar of whatever we deem the most important thing at that moment. Look at our efforts to gain approval and acceptance in life, the way we offer up our selves totally to the entity from which we desire validation. We will sacrifice everything for a cause or leader just to gain that feeling of worth which comes from such sacrifice and service.

Yet some say, I serve no one, I’m my own master, the captain of my fate…. In the end even if we carry off the facade of self reliance and independence we are still desperately seeking that approval which comes only the true source of life.

more to follow……