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'Teach Me To Worship You' was composed by Quek Li Huan, a Singaporean and the Music Minister at St John’s - St Margaret’s Anglican Church. A comment in the Blog - Voyages of the Pilgrim read, 'This song never fails to encourage me. I pray that you too will come to know the joy of coming before God in simple worship. No complicated chords, no mind-blowing revelations. Just the simplicity of wanting to walk deeper into His arms.'
Teach me to worship You
Teach me to adore You
I want to love You with my whole being
I want to love You with my whole being
To learn to praise Your name
Each day to do the same
Teach me O Lord the way
To worship You
I want to worship You
I want to adore You
I want to love You with my whole being
To forsake my sinful ways
To look upon Your face
And understand Your grace
O Lord my God
What does it mean to love God with your whole being? This song clearly defines worship which is the act of ascribing ultimate value in God in a way that it synergises and engages your whole person, your whole being. It involves our mind, our emotion and our will, our entire being, our everything.
There is another song in the Bible that describes worship as involving our entire being, Psalms 95
- Our Emotions. 'Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song' Psalms 95:1-2
- Our Minds. 'Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock of His care.' Psalms 95:6-7
- Our Wills. Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness.' Psalms 95:7b-8
There are two expressions or forms of worship, the corporate and the personal acts of worship.
The Corporate Worship is usually exhibited in congregational worship in which worshippers praise God with singing and prayer usually following a ritual or liturgy in a church, hall or at home. Liturgy is a set of words, music and actions (usually in structured format), used in religious ceremonies. These church worship expressions help to reassure and strengthen our faiths in God , deepen our bonds with each other and provide us with a sense of purpose and mission. The writer to the Hebrews advocates and encourages such meetings where we vocalise our worship and praise God together
'Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.' Hebrews 13:15
This regular congregational worship should then result in communal sharing and ministry to one another within and without the church, thereby pleasing God.
'And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.' Hebrews 13:16
The corporate worship service should be centred on the Holy Trinity. We worship the God the Father who calls us to be His people by sending His Son, Jesus Christ as our redeemer and giving us the Holy Spirit as our counsellor.
The second form, Personal Worship, is usually done individually and privately. Personal worship is to spend time with God on a regular basis. It involves the Holy Scriptures and Prayer. Henri Nouwen wrote (Ref 1), 'The word of God should lead us first of all to contemplation and meditation. Instead of taking the words apart, we should bring them together in our innermost being;... we should be willing to let them penetrate into the hidden corners of the heart. Secondly we need quiet time in the presence of God, this is when we pray, sometimes silently.' Henri Nouwen wrote, 'Being silent in the presence of our God belongs to the core of all prayer. In the beginning we often hear our own unruly inner noises more loudly than God's voice. But surely, very slowly, we discover that the silent time makes us quiet and deepens our awareness of ourselves and God.
The Christian who can worship God with such wholeheartedness, is a Christian who has a right understanding of God's nature and right value of God's worth. This is what is meant by worshipping God with all of our being.
John Piper surmised (Ref 2), "The inner essence of worship is to know God truly and then respond from the heart to that knowledge by valuing God, treasuring God, prizing God, enjoying God, being satisfied with God above all earthly things. And then that deep, restful, joyful satisfaction in God overflows in demonstrable acts of praise from the lips and demonstrable acts of love in serving others for the sake of Christ."
It is often useful to begin worship with an Invocation prayer. The Invocation is a prayer for the blessing of God. The liturgy of the traditional Methodist worship service starts with an invocation hymn. This hymn, attributed to Charles Wesley, 'Come Thou Almighty King' helps invoke in each one of us an awareness of the presence of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Come, Thou Almighty King, help us Thy name to sing.
Help us to praise:
Father! All glorious, O’er all victorious
Come and Reign over us, Ancient of Days.
Come, Thou Incarnate Word, gird on Thy mighty sword
Our prayers attend!
Come and Thy people bless and give Thy word success
Spirit of holiness, on us descend.
Come Holy Comforter, Thy sacred witness bear
In this glad hour!
Thou, who almighty art, now rule in ev’ry heart
And ne’er from us depart, Spirit of Pow’r.
To Thee, great One in Three, eternal praises be
Hence ever more:
Thy sov’reign majesty may we in glory see
And to eternity, love and adore.
Lionel
Ref 1: Henri Nouwen. Reaching Out - The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life. Chapter 8, The Prayer of the Heart. Image Books Doubleday, 1986
Ref 2: John Piper What is Worship? April 2016 Desiring God Interviews
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-is-worship
