How can I get better at worship?
Some of us go to church not because we want to but because we have to. Sleeping in sounds like a better way to spend a Sunday morning. Why? We do not know how to truly worship, nor do we understand how important it is. How do we enter into the presence of an almighty and majestic God?
The Israelites sang Psalm 95 as they went up to the temple in Jerusalem to worship. This Psalm instructs us in the reverent attitude we should have toward God our King. Psalm 95 opens with a call for all believers to join together in worshiping the Lord.
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Verse 1
This is the first of two appeals to worship in this psalm. The second is found a few verses later.
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Verse 6
The first is an invitation to sing; the second is an invitation to pray. So, in the opening passage of this psalm we are told that congregational worship consists partly of singing and prayer. There is a reason worship involves singing together.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
Verse 2
The psalmist tells us that congregational singing should be an expression of thanksgiving and praise (extol means praise). Thanksgiving and praise are essential elements of worshipful singing.
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hands are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it and his hands formed the dry land.
Verses 3-5
Do you see what the psalmist is doing in this passage? He is giving us the essential reasons everyone should give thanksgiving and praise to God. God is creator God and a God who deserves our praise and worship.
Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.” Verses 7b – 9
What event does the psalmist speak of here? He is writing of an incident in Exodus 17. It occurred shortly after God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt by parting the Red Sea. The people had only journeyed a week or two in the wilderness and had come to a place where there was no water. Becoming thirsty, they complained to Moses. Just days after the parting of the sea, the people demanded that God prove Himself again. The peoples’ hearts were hardened because of the difficulties they faced. A harden heart cannot hear God’s voice. A hardened heart will not and cannot connect with God’s Spirit. A hardened heart is self-centered not God centered and refuses to put God in first place in their lives. A softened heart will carefully listen to the sermon that a pastor will give. A softened heart will understand what God is teaching through scripture.
How can I get better at worship?. By joining with other Christians and recognizing that God is King and making Him a top priority in your life. Decide in your mind and heart that God deserves our praise and prayers. By having a deep desire to hear God through His Word and allow God to change you to be more and more Christ like.