I'm a little behind in our study notes but here is the chapter review from week four of our study:
Expanding My Worship Experience
(Chapter Four)
Come let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God.
Psalm 95-6,7
In this chapter, Linda shares with us how we can expand our worship experience. She illustrated this by recounting several very different personal worship experiences she’s had in the past. One was a very formal experience in Cambridge, England where the King’s Choir sang prayers and Psalms. Another experience was a more contemporary worship service in Colorado Springs where worship was more exuberant and free. Linda also takes her worship outdoors to another “sanctuary” made by God’s Hands, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains where she goes on what she calls, a “holy hike” and “bows her knees in an attitude of the heart”. Linda also worships in her home office. Here in God’s presence this room becomes her “private sanctuary” where Linda “basks in His presence”.
In these experiences, Linda worships with God alone, but she goes on to share that she also joins with a close friend to worship as well. Together they “whisper words of adoration… and offer thanksgiving” as they worship through prayer and song together. Linda says that “Prayer flows naturally from our worship”. Have you found that in your worship times these past few weeks?
Through these examples of worship, Linda has shown us that “we can worship God anywhere, and that we can worship in community or in solitude”. She emphasises that our “sensitivity to God’s voice and presence is far more important than the actual place.”
Linda discovered that worship and prayer flow together. In fact, Jesus taught His disciples (and us) this through the Lord’s Prayer. Not only is this a beautiful prayer that we often recite, and sometimes without really thinking about what we’re saying, but it’s also a pattern for prayer that we can implement into our worship. Worship starts and ends this prayer. Linda points out that “of the 68 words in the Lord’s Prayer, 36 are words of worship”. Hmm… more words than request… think Jesus is telling us something here?
Andrew Murray points out that we often reverse the order of prayer, asking of God more than we praise and honor Him. He reminds us that “in true worship, the Father must be first, must be all”. How are your prayers focused? Do you, like me, need to re-order your prayers so that God is honored more?
Like Linda, do you find that prayer is a weak link in your devotion to God? She found that as God began to change her from a servant to a worshipper, she became a woman of prayer. Prayer began to flow naturally out of her worship and Jesus’ pattern became her pattern. Linda encourages each of us to bow before God, asking Him to teach us how to worship so our prayers flow together naturally with our worship.
She goes on to tell us how her worship experience expanded as she learned to worship God in spirit and in truth. We often hear this phrase, but do we really understand what it means? Linda tries to enlighten us in this next section of chapter 4 by referring us to John 4 and Jacob’s well where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman.
This lonely, misguided woman only knows two ways of worship – the Samaritan way as she’d been raised (all spirit, no truth) or the Jewish way (all truth, no spirit). Jesus introduces to her another way – worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth.
Linda helps us understand Jesus’ new way of worship. Firstly, Jesus was specific as to who we’re to worship – the Father. This was new to the Samaritan woman. Jesus also points out that God the Father seeks worshippers. I love how Linda points out that “God needs nothing, but He still seeks worshippers”. That amazes me for some reason. Jesus also pointed out to the Samaritan woman that “because God is Spirit, we must worship Him in spirit and truth”. Did you catch that? We MUST. That’s a command. Not a suggestion – a command! So what does that mean though, you may be asking.
Worshipping in truth means that we worship truly. Linda suggests, “it is giving the true God the honor of an enlightened mind, one filled with the trust of who He is. To worship in truth, I must know God’s Word and be sincere”.
We worship God according to our understanding of the truths about Him, Linda believes. “Who He is determines how I worship. My knowledge of God limits my worship”. Is your worship limited because of your knowledge of God? Linda says that “to worship in truth, we must first and most importantly fill our mind and heart with Scripture”. She highly recommends memorising God’s Word as part of our worship.
Part of coming to worship truly is coming into God’s presence with “sincerity, integrity and purity of heart”. Psalm 7:9b tells us that God looks deep within our hearts and minds. So, to worship with a sincere heart involves coming to God with our masks off, hiding nothing from Him. Linda imagines God asking, “When you sing songs of worship, when you bow or kneel or raise your hands to honor me, are you sincere? Is your worship genuine and authentic or are you hiding something behind a mask?”
This leads us to the next part of worship that Jesus’ spoke of to the Samaritan woman – worshipping in Spirit. Linda defines this as “giving God the honor of an affectionate heart”. The spirit refers to our inner person – that “intangible, untouchable but real part of who we are”. This is the part of us that God desires to meet with.
Watchman Nee suggests that “since God is Spirit, we must use spirit to worship Him”. Does this make sense? Linda defines it a little further when she writes, “We must be spiritual in thought, word and deed… continually asking God to examine my heart as I pray from Psalm 19:12-14 or Psalm 139:23,24”.
We can’t fully worship God in spirit though without the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus mentioned this to the Samaritan woman in John 4 and we have other verses that confirm the Holy Spirit’s help in our worship. Romans 8:26 says the Holy Spirit prays for us. John 14:26 tells us the Holy Spirit teaches us the words of Christ. And Romans 5:5 tells us we are loved by God.
Jesus told the woman at the well that when she drinks of the Living Water He provides, the Holy Spirit will live inside her. “This” Linda says, “is why worship comes from the inside-out. When the living water of the Holy Spirit infuses our human spirit in worship, it becomes a spring that bubbles up, producing a river of praise that delights the heart of God and blesses us in the process”. Have you had the privilege of experiencing this for yourself?
Linda went on in this chapter to share how she learned to worship with her body. While reading the Psalms, she saw the hunger David had for God and how this hunger turned into exuberant and physical worship. David was uninhibited in his worship and sang and danced loudly in his joy and praise to the Lord. This wasn’t how Linda worshipped, nor is it the way I tend to worship. How about you?
For some of us, outward physical worship is a challenge, but with prayer and reading the Psalms, Linda was able to let go and worship with her body. She suggests that “if you worship in freedom, you will experience more joy and delight.” As she became freer physically in worship, she found herself filled with greater joy. She’s not suggesting that we must change the way we worship, but encourages us to spend time asking God how He wants us to worship Him. We can do this by reading the Psalms and asking Him to reveal His will for us in this area, just as Linda did.
Linda shared an example of this freedom in worship when she told of Joni Eareckson Tada’s worship dance from her wheelchair. Joni, for those who don’t know, was paralysed in a diving accident in her teens. For decades she has been wheelchair bound but that hasn’t stopped her from worshipping God. In the email Linda shared, the writer detailed how Joni with the little movement she has, manoeuvred her wheelchair into the most beautiful of dances before her God. There are no limitations in the freedom God can give us to worship Him with our bodies, is there?
So, Linda leaves us in this chapter with some practical tips on how we can expand our worship experience.
First she suggests we ask God to give us a picture of who He is. This involves using your mind’s eye (or imagination) to get a glimpse of God. Hannah Hurnard, the author of Hinds Feet in High Places, uses her gift of imagination while praying and imagines Jesus sitting close beside her for a face to face chat. Others use their imagination to visualize God on His Kingly throne, while others see Jesus as the Lion of Judah. Some see Him as their Shepherd. For me, I often visualize God as my Bridegroom. Have you used your imagination to commune with God? How do you see Him?
Linda also suggests that we search out special places to worship. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:6 that when we pray we should get alone in private where we can meet with Him uninhibited by people and things around us. Like Linda shared in the beginning of the chapter, this could be more than one place and not necessarily indoors. Do you have a place that speaks worship to you? If not, ask God to show you where He wants to meet with you.
Lastly, Linda suggests finding music that lifts your spirit and leads you into worship. Music is totally one way God uses to speak to me. Psalm 150 calls for everything that has breath to praise the Lord. Linda suggests that music is a great way she’s found for shutting off life around her so she can focus on God. I can’t help but think about that old saying by William Congreve, “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak”. God has blessed us with so many talented musicians the centuries over. Find what music speaks to you and let it flood your soul in communion with God.
Linda closes this chapter by saying: "Worship is all about our amazingly wonderful God. I pray you are encouraged and motivated to expand your worship experience. May you grow as one who bows her knees in the specific act of worship and declares, “Holy, Holy, Holy!"
This concludes section one of our study. Next week we’re going to be putting into practice what we’ve learned so far as Linda Robinson comes to share with us about “Soaking” prayer. You won’t want to miss that!
The following week we’ll get into section 2 of our study – Walking in Worship.
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