Worship in Gainesville

If you are like me music can be a sort of drug. When I was drowning in suffering I would drown myself in music instead. I used to view worship as a tool as well. I went into most worship ceremonies subconsciously expecting to tangibly feel God’s presence or walk away free of sin patterns or critical thought processes. What I got out of worship was a tool I could use to bridge the gap between me and my heavenly Father so he wouldn’t feel as far. This made my relationship with musical worship very hot and cold. If I didn’t feel anything I walked away with no gain and when I did feel something it became the expectation for next time. I believed that my hurt was the abyss that separated me from God but in reality, we see in Genesis that it is sin that separates us from a perfect relationship with the Lord. Praising him is a way that we can make a bridge to our Father, worshiping him the way we were created to do. His character commands praise. 

Even worship songs now are becoming more about us when worship has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. Training camp has shown me that worship is for one reason. We worship because our Father in Heaven is worthy of it. We worship because He is good not because we feel good or are desiring to feel good. How lovely is it that we can worship our Savior! 

“We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 2:15 

Worship gives us an invitation to join the angels who bow at his feet singing hallelujah since the beginning of time. It gives us a taste of heaven. 

During training camp in one of my worship leadership sessions, I learned the primary root word for praise in the Bible, ‘hallal’. It is where we get ‘hallelujah’ from (hallal-yahweh). The definition of hallal is, to praise, to boast, to shine, to act madly or foolishly. One example of this acting foolish for the sake of the Lord is when David is praising so outlandishly his clothes start to fall off. I kept asking myself “am I willing to act foolish for the sake of giving God the glory he deserves?” The answer has been no for most of my life, but now that I say yes I find more healing in worship; when I leave myself at the door and become nothing I can give Him everything by dancing, kneeling, or shouting for his praise. I bow so he may stand. I do this not because I am expecting a feeling or a transformation but because of the unchanging fact that, even when I am not, God is good, and even when I’m not, he says I am. My domestic outreach in Louisiana starts tomorrow and I cannot wait to live worship like this out, for as John Piper says, “Mission exists because worship doesn’t.”