In an essay assignment asking the question, “What worship means to my faith?”, one of our teens, Ella Mayer, shared her insights. Read and be encouraged by her thoughts.
What is worship and what does it mean to my faith? There are three types of worship: individual and congregational, habitual and intentional, and revelation and response. Individual and congregational worship being are done in your own time of worship or with a group of people. Intentional acts should be the overflow of a lifestyle of worship, which is a habitual act. Revelation and response style worship is our response to what God has done and is doing for us.
During individual and congregational worship, it’s about the mindset of the individual and the group. As an individual you have to know and understand that everything you say and do is for the glory of God, making every single action an act of worship to God. As a congregation, everyone needs to know and understand the same thing, that everything they do is for the glory of God. People tend to act different when they are in a group than by themselves, so if they do not have that mind set it may cause another believer to stumble. As a believer, I have to be constantly aware of my actions, knowing that when I am by myself or in group, God is always watching me. Not only is God watching but other people are as well, both believers and non-believers, to get what should be a proper representation of how a Christian should act.
Habitual and intentional worship is hard for some people (like myself) too understand. Having a lifestyle of worship, having the mindset mentioned during individual and congregational worship, but all the time, is habitual. When you break down the word habitual, its prefix is habit, meaning you perform an action that you have done so many times you do it subconsciously. When you put that in the context of this type of worship, you are purposefully or intentionally already in the mindset that this is for God. As a believer, I know that I will stumble and do things for me and not the Lord, but after eleven years of being told to do everything for Jesus, I would like to say that I do perform this type of selfless worship in my everyday life. I get excited and happy when I am doing something for the Lord, especially when I have the opportunity to share it with others.
The last type of worship, and the most common type of worship, is revelation and response. The revelation is showing God that we see that He is working in our lives and telling Him that we know He is there, always present in our lives. The response is through thanking Him for what He is doing and for what He has done in your life. There are several accounts of different types of responses in the Bible. Abel gave the best he had for God, Cain didn’t give because he wanted to but because he had to. His intentions weren’t pure. Abel was giving wholeheartedly and in humility to God. Abel was worshiping God by giving Him the best he had. His response to God was through sacrifice.
Another example is David, who put aside all of his riches for the temple that would be built. This was a form of worship, because like Abel, he too was giving his riches wholeheartedly and in humility to God.
Not every response of worship is through sacrifice though. Psalm 116 talks about being thankful for what the Lord has given us and telling God. It talks about putting your trust in God because you know He will carry you through your hardships and giving a promise to God that you will do everything you told Him you would do in front of God’s people, to keep you accountable. When I am praying I always start talking to God by thanking Him for everything and telling Him how grateful I am to have such an amazing Creator. It’s my personal response to everything He has done and my revelation to His greatness.
What is worship and what does it mean to my faith? From what I have just talked about worship is being in the right mindset so you don’t cause others to stumble. Always knowing and doing everything knowing it is worship to the Lord. The third is showing how grateful you are for all that God has given you.