Worship is...

What comes into your mind when you hear worship?

According to Merriam Webster worship is: A reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence and a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual.

What are the things that you consider worship? Is worship when you only sing songs to God at church? Raising your hands towards the heaven? Closing your eyes when praying? Uttering words of honor and praise to God? or everything you do in church is worship? Yes they are worship. But not limited to stuff like those, worship is far more than what it is used to be or what it is meant to be by word.

When I hear the word worship, it does not only happen in church with our church mates but mostly also outside the four walls of our churches with other people who are unbelievers.

Many of us sometimes forget what worship is all about when we are out of church, when we are moving and interact with the real world, with the real battlefield, in a place where worship should be practiced importantly and diligently.


For me worship is also...

- Honoring God's name
- Loving God
- Thinking God in every thing you do
- Trusting Him more especially in times of trials
- Following what Jesus told us to do during His time here on earth
- Trusting and believing God's word
- Sharing the salvation to other whenever there is opportunity
- Practicing justice
- Loving people
- Serving other people
- Doing simple things in the name of Jesus
- Extending arms to people who are hurting and are in need of help
- Declaring victory over trials and problems
- And all other things no matter how big or small they are as long as they glorify God's name, I can say it is worship

What about you? How do you define worship in your own way? Or should we say how do you practice worship in your own way? I may not know you personally but I am sure that you also have lots of ways of showing your worship to God. Just always keep in mind that as long as it is according to the word of God, giving glory to God, pleasing to the eyes of God, not breaking the law of God, and putting smile on God's face, it is worship.

© Youth Under Christ's Kingdom

Seek God Wholeheartedly

I just realized that as a Christian and follower of Jesus, one of the things that we should maintain in our life is to continue seeking Him. Continue seeking His face, glory and guidance for the rest of our life in walking with Him. It does not mean that if you are already a christian, you will stop seeking God, because before what I understand was, seeking God was only for those who have not found God yet in their life. I was wrong. We should continue to seek God's face, and the more we look and long for Him the more we become attach to Him and the more we continue to know God deeply.

God's word promises, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" in Jeremiah 29:13 NIV. And we are also being promised that God "rewards those who sincerly seek Him" Jeremiah 11:6.

I can say to myself that when we say wholeheartedly, it is equivalent to say "with our heart or with all our heart and sincerly." Means that whatever we do while following Jesus, we should be doing it with all our heart or together with our heart and not only because we are after the rewards. Doing with heart or wholeheatedly also means that we are doing it because we love to do it and we are enjoying it and not because we need to or have to or we are being forced to do it. Let us wholeheartedly seek God.

Let me give you some little tips on how we can continue to seek God. Although it is little for me but I believe that it will help us tremendously in walking with God and help us know Him better as we continue following and living a life with Him.

First is by reading His word regularly. Many I have heard that reading God's word is one of the ways of how we listen to God. It is really impossible to know God without listening to Him, so reading your bible is a must. Some of you may say that I do not have time to read my bible due to some activities and circumstances that are out of my control but I do make sure that I go to church every sunday and listen to our pastor's message and closely listen to the bible passages he shares, which is undisputedly good but I strongly advised to read the bible yourself or experience it first hand and not second hand. First hand means you read the bible with your very own eyes while second hand means you encounter it by listening to someone saying or reading the bible.

So listen to God, read the bible. We listen to him when we consistently spend time in the scriptures. Psalms 119:15-16: "I will study your commandments and reflect on your ways. I will delight in your principles and not forget your words."

Second way we practice our desire and sincerity in seeking God is by being obedient to what He commands us to do. Obeying God does not only shows how we really love him but also this is one of the ways of putting smile on God's face. I remember Jesus said and promised in John 14:21, "Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.

Dr. Bill Bright said that sin, rebellion and disobedience blind us to the light of God's magnificence. If you want to get closer to God and know Him intimately, then you must be willing to obey Him in all things.

Third and last thing I will share is by Praying. If reading God's word is the way we listen to Him, then Praying is talking to Him. To know Him more, we should not only listen to Him, we should also talk to Him. Tell him what you need, what you feel and everything about you in prayer. Although God knows everything about you, He still longs for your voice talking to Him personaly like a dad talking to his son.

Most of all let us do all these things with love in our hearts. Seek God wholeheartedly and above all love God wholeheartedly. Just like one my favorite bible verses says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." - Mark 12:30.