Getting To The Heart Of Worship

“O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.” – Proverbs 23:26.

God said “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) God said “if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.” (Deuteronomy 4:29). God said we have to “serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” (Joshua 22:5). God says “…obey with all your heart and all your soul…”  (Deuteronomy 30:2). And God says, “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.” (Psalms 9:1)  The Bible is filled with verses on the heart, 830 times to be exact in the King James Version. But also notice that God likes the word “all” as well. 

If God tells me to love him with some of my heart, I’m on it. Seek him with some of my heart? I can do that. Serve him with some of my heart? No problem. But God doesn’t want some. It’s what most of us give Him, but he’s not interested. God wants all of you, not just a part of you. He wants you to be fully committed to Him, not just 90 percent committed. He wants 100 percent, with no reservation. 

So true worship is about our relationship with God, it’s about who sits on the throne of our heart, because whatever we worship, whatever we put first, whatever trumps prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and serving others, communicates what we love the most. Worship is expressing love. And yet time after time we find ourselves being enticed to worship other things. You see, any time our hearts are filled with anything but God, we find our lives are full, we’re busy, we’re distracted, but we’re just empty on the inside, because all the things of this world can’t satisfy the heart created to be satisfied by God.

Desire for other things that can grow up around us and reduce the “all” to “not all.” It can be pressure from money, relationships, illness or a variety of other circumstances and situations. There is no better time to give all of your heart to God than in the midst of trials and tribulations. And there is no better time to pour out your heart to God than during the Christmas season. The best decision you can ever make is to fully commit your heart to God and His plan for your life, whatever your circumstances.

A.W. Tozer said, “God is trying to call us back to that for which He created us, to worship Him and enjoy Him forever.”

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you define worship?
2. Worship involves communication with God through such means as prayer and quiet time. What can you do to remind yourself to think about God and talk to Him more often throughout the day?
3. Which is more pleasing to God right now—your public worship or your private worship? Why?
4. Worship is expressing your affection to God, focusing your attention on God, and using your abilities for God. What is one thing you will do this week to become a better worshipper?