Personal Worship – Part Two

We looked yesterday at suggestions to enhance our worship on the Lord’s Day:

Take Part – Sing – Open – Listen – Respond – Partake – Give – Fellowship – Pray.

These are all essential areas that demand our attention if we are to fully benefit from God’s family gathered for worship. But it all actually starts before you arrive. I want to add three more suggestions:

ARRIVE – You and your family need to arrive early enough to adjust from the business of normal time . . . to the reverence of worship time. Far too many families are rushing into worship the way they might rush into the ballpark to make sure they don’t miss the first pitch. That’s fine for a spectator at an entertainment venue. But worship, as we have seen, is not entertainment and you are not a spectator; you have a part to play … the joyful service of worship.

Of course I should mention, as an admonition, there are some families who are not rushing into worship: worse – they are dragging into worship. Most people don’t try and arrive at the middle innings of a baseball game, even as a spectator. You surely should not make a habit of arriving after worship has begun.

PREPARE – You must work to prepare your heart for worship. There are many ways to approach this preparation. I suggest it should begin on Saturday evening. To be fully prepared for vital worship on the Lord’s Day should impact what you do the night before. If you choose to burn the midnight oil on Saturday, you will likely fight to stay awake on Sunday.

Prayer is also a vital part of your heart preparation. You can always join us in the Pastor’s office for prayer before worship - - but you can also gather your family together before you leave the house (or even in the car) and ask God to give your children an open, attentive ear. Ask that He would grant your family wisdom and insight through the instruction. Ask that He would use you to minister to the body in some meaningful way. Thank Him for the joy and privilege of worship.

LISTEN – We’ve already had one “listen” - - listen to the sermon - - but here I have in mind a quiet listening to the prelude that is always offered before our worship begins. Settle your children and encourage a quiet anticipation of the worship hour.

I would also add here that we should be “listening” to those around us as God uses this gathering of His children to open doors of ministry, encouragement, and edification.

Together as we practice these simple suggestions we might well expect God to honor our worship with an even greater measure of His grace. Any guests who might be visiting will surely be impacted by our united reverence of our Holy God.