WORDS OF WORSHIP: REVERENCE

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28

Reverence is a feeling or attitude of deep respect and awe. Moses expressed reverence when God asked him to remove his shoes on holy ground. Isaiah was overcome with reverence when God’s presence filled the temple. Job lived a life of reverence before God: “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1).

Reverence is not so much a sterile, outward quietness as it is the inward recognition and celebration of God’s holiness and transcendence. Worship should not be a laid-back, self-absorbed time of “anything goes.” Nor should it to be the lifeless ritual of God’s “frozen chosen.” Rather, we come before God with a joyful reverence! Our reverence reflects that we are in the presence of the awesome Creator of the universe. Our joy overflows in the embrace of our Abba Father, who rejoices over us in song.

Say or sing these words:

“Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways!

Reclothe us in our rightful mind,

In purer lives Thy service find,

In deeper reverence, praise.”

Pray that God will fill our lives with joyful reverence.

WORDS OF WORSHIP: SING

“The Lord your God is with you,    

He is mighty to save. 

He will take great delight in you,    

He will quiet you with his love,      

He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17

The Bible contains over 400 references to singing and 50 direct commands to sing. Moses sang a song of deliverance. King Jehoshaphat positioned his singers ahead of his soldiers when Israel defeated their enemies. Jesus sang hymns with his disciples. Paul and Silas sang in prison. Every creature sings to the Lamb in Revelation. Zephaniah 3:17 says God himself sings and rejoices over us in song.

Singing helps us engage and remember the important truths of our faith. Singing helps us express the unity we have in Christ.

So the question is not “Do you have a voice?” The question is “Do you have a song?” All believers have a song of God’s mercy and grace through Christ Jesus. How can we keep from singing?

Sing or say these words:

Sometimes a light surprises the child of God who sings;

It is the Lord, who rises with healing in His wings:

When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again

A season of clear shining, to cheer it after rain.

Ask God to help us make Psalm 89:1 our testimony:

“I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” Psalm 89:1

WORDS OF WORSHIP: HUMILITY

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2: 3-4

Someone has said, “Humility is a virtue all preach, but none practice.” Rarely does humility find a welcome home in our society. Those who are humble are often considered to be lacking self-esteem and a good self-image.

It is helpful to know that the word humility (and the word human and humor) come from the Latin word humus, which means earth or dirt or soil. People who are truly humble and authentically human are grounded!

Humble people are not doormats! They are doorways! They provide an opening for others to enter and find shelter and nurture. Truly humble folk look beyond their own interests. They bring their personal preferences and tastes under the Lordship of Christ, and create space the greater good.

Say or sing these words:

All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give.

I will every love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,

All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

Pray for God to free us from selfishness, and give us grace to look out for the interests of others.

WORDS OF WORSHIP: PRAYER

“My house is a house of prayer.” Luke 19:46

Prayer is an essential part of public worship. Some prayers are short, simple, and child-like. Other prayers are made up as they are spoken. Sometimes, prayers are longer, and have been written prior to the worship service. All of these prayers have their place in worship.

When we pray, we tell God how wonderful we know Him to be. We confess the wrong things in our lives and thank Him for His blessings. We tell God about our concerns, our desires, and the needs in our everyday lives.

Some well-meaning worship leaders tell worshipers to, “forget about their cares, concerns, and burdens, and just worship God.” This is not the best instruction. God wants us to bring our total selves to worship: our love, gifts, minds, and hearts as well as our disappointments, problems, concerns, and grief.

During our prayer and worship, we listen for God to speak words of love, comfort, encouragement, and challenge to all that we are. Then, we take those words with us, and allow them shape us during our Monday-to-Saturday lives.

Say or sing these words:

When morning gilds the skies my heart awaking cries:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Alike at work and prayer, to Jesus I repair:

May Jesus Christ be praised!

Ask God to help us deepen the prayer of our daily worship, and the worship of our family of faith.

WORDS OF WORSHIP: BLESS

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Psalm 103:1

Bless God

To bless is to do or give something of value to another. God blesses us by providing for our needs. We, in turn, bless God by giving Him our praise, our thanksgiving, and our service. Psalm 103 begins and ends with the phrase “Bless the Lord, O my soul!” In between is an incredible list of the many ways God blesses our lives.

Bless Others

The Greek term for bless comes from the word eulogy. It literally means a good word. Our words have great power to bless and bring hope and encouragement to others. It is ironic that the phrase bless out means to speak unkindly to someone. Our tongues can go from blessing to blessing out so quickly! No wonder James 3:10 says “Giving blessings and speaking bad words come from the same mouth. My Christian friends, this is not right!”

Say or sing these words:

"Lord, speak to me that I may speak

In living echoes of Your tone;

As You have sought, so let me seek

Your erring children, lost and lone."

Pray this prayer from Psalm 19:14:

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."

WORDS OF WORSHIP: HOLY

 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory." Isaiah 6:3

Holy means to be set apart. When the Bible says God holy, it means God is separate or cut off  from everything that is sinful and evil.

God is holy. In Old Testament times, the tabernacle where the Israelites worshipped had a place where God made his presence known. That place was called the Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest was allowed enter this place – and only once a year! The Holy of Holies was hidden by a curtain so thick, it took four people to move it.

Only God is holy. Sometimes we refer to a person or thing as being holy. We call them holy only because we have set those persons or things apart to serve God in some special way.

God wants our lives to be pure and holy. We are thankful that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross purifies us from all sin (I John 1:7).

Say or sing these words:

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;

Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.

Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Pray that God will help us make decisions and choices that reflect His holiness. 

WORDS OF WORSHIP: GLORY

“Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.” 1 Chronicles 16:28-29

The word glory conveys honor, praise and worship. When we glorify God, we say He deserves to be honored, praised, and worshipped. No one else deserves the worship that we give to God. Isaiah 42:8 confirms this: "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

What offering might we offer to bring glory to God? The sacrifice of praise, which is the “fruit of lips” (Hebrews 13:15). That “fruit” is the words we say and sing to praise God. We also bring glory to God when we follow His commands and obey His will.

Sing or say these words:

To God be the glory, great things He hath done, So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life our redemption to win, And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice; Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice; Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

The Greek word for glory is doxa, from which we get the word "Doxology." Pray that God will help our lives be living doxologies that bring glory to Him.

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11

The words worthy and worship are related. Worship comes from two Old English words: weorth, meaning worth, and ship, meaning the quality of something.  For example, when ship is added to sportsman, it becomes sportsmanship, defining the finest display of being a good sport.

Worth-ship is the quality of having worth. When we gather and worship in spirit and in truth, we are proclaiming that God is beyond value.

The Christ-follower seeks to understand and proclaim the “boundless riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8). In the process, we are being shaped by that which we highly value, because we become what we worship.

Say or sing these words:

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy, O Lord. Thou art worthy to receive glory, Glory and honor and power. For Thou hast created, hast all things created, For Thou hast created all things. And for Thy pleasure they are created; Thou art worthy, O Lord.

"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." Revelation 19:6

“Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.”  Psalm 149:1

“Hallelujah” is written as one word, but it is actually a two-word phrase. The first word, “Hallel” is a command to “sing praise.” The second word, “Jah,” represents Yahweh or Jehovah, which are names for God. In our Bibles, “Hallelujah” is usually translated as “Praise the Lord!”  “Hallel” is an imperative verb instructing us to sing and boast about God with our whole being.

May we proclaim our “Hallelu-Yah” to God with renewed understanding and joy.

Say or sing these words:

Let all things their Creator bless, And worship Him in humbleness, O praise Him! Alleluia! Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

O praise Him! O praise Him! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

"Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, 'Amen.' Praise the LORD!"  Psalm 106:48

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. Revelation 3:14

"Amen" is a most remarkable word. Through the ages, it has moved unchanged from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to English and many other languages. It is a universal word, perhaps the best known word in human speech. It means “So be it” or “I agree.”  It conveys absolute trust and confidence in that which has been expressed.

Psalm 106:48 is a good reminder: When a spiritual truth has been spoken or sung, “Amen” is a fitting response to express agreement and affirmation. 

Revelation 3:14 proclaims Christ as the “Amen.” Because of Christ, we can say “Amen” to the promises of God. Jesus is our “Amen,” the true and faithful Witness of God’s love for us.

Sing or say these words:

Praise to the Lord! 

O let all that is in me adore him! 

All that hath life and breath,

Come now with praises before him! 

Let the amen sound from his people again;

Gladly forever adore him. 

Thank God that we can place our confidence and trust in Him.

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