Prayer 101-03

Worship

Worship God with your whole life

Worship is an act of acknowledging and acclaiming greatness of God in ways that He prescribes.⁠⁴ We often think of worship in terms of corporate worship, something done on Sunday morning at church. While corporate worship is an important part of worship I believe worship should be defined in more personal terms, in terms of our daily activities as we go to work, do our shopping, or simply live our lives. 

In Genesis 2:4 we see God, Jehovah-Elohim, the creator of all creation. We are told man was created in God's image and given dominion over all the earth. We represent God on earth , we are His representatives here on earth, and should reflect His glory. Man was created to be in constant communication and fellowship with God. As His representative here on earth we were created to reflect God's glory². In Romans chapter 12 Paul begins to apply Christianity and give instructions about Christian life. Paul begins with worship.

Romans 12:1 KJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Because we are God's representatives here on earth Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a "living sacrifice" as our "reasonable service." Other translations translate "reasonable service" as AMP "rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship," NIV84 "spiritual act of worship," and NIV "true and proper worship." Our reasonable, logical, and intelligent worship is to glorify God with our total life. 

To build a relationship here on earth requires time. Time talking, time listening, and time simply being with someone. Our relationship with God is no different it requires time talking to, time listening to, and time simply being with God. This time is our prayer time. Our relationship with God forms the basis of every other relationship in our lives. For a long time I struggled with prayer devoting only a few minutes a week and much of that was only during some crisis in my life. But I never knew how to pray. I began to read the Bible and look for examples of how to pray or what to pray. Then I came to Matthew 6:5-15. Beginning next week I will begin to explore Matthew 6:5-15