In the last blog post, Sing a Song, we talked about praise. In this post, let’s explore what it means to worship.

Worship is that sweet-smelling savor that fills the nostrils of God. It is an offering, an act of devotion and obedience. Where praise lifts God with expressions of love and gratitude, worship goes deeper. It is a posture and expression of awe, a reverence for the majesty and might of the Father. Worship is yielding, it’s an acknowledgment in word or deed that He is Him, the Great I AM, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. He is God. In moments of worship, true worship, that’s all that is in view: how big, holy, and set apart God is. Often tears pour, thanksgiving begins, and His presence is felt inside and out. Worship is wow.

Jesus said that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23–24). This is not about form or location; it’s about posture. It is about the state of our hearts that is yielded and aligned with what is true about who God is, and how He operates.

Come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. (Psalm 95:6)

Worship is not performance or presentation, and it certainly is not formulaic. It is not something we put on, nor should it be something that we should feign. Worship is often a quiet, inward act of yielding. It’s a call by the Holy Spirit to go deeper to not only declare with our mouths, “You are Lord,” but to demonstrate that declaration through our will and actions.

1 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. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1,2).

Under the old covenant, worship was centered in the temple. There were sacrifices, offerings, and priests who ministered before the Lord. Those offerings were described as a sweet savour rising before Him (Leviticus 1:9).

But now, with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are the temple. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

And the offering is no longer an external thing that we bring; it is ourselves. Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice is an act of worship, worship that is no longer confined to a place or limited to predetermined moments like under the old covenant. It is the continual offering of a life yielded to Him.

Worship is not one-sided. Worship and the presence of God are closely tied together. Not because worship brings Him close, but because it brings us into awareness of what is already true. He is present, has been, and will continue to be, and His posture is toward us. But our hearts can be distracted, divided, and pulled in different directions, obscuring our view and realization of that truth. Worship brings the heart into alignment. It quiets what is loud and brings us into a place where we can hear and respond.

“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said…” (Acts 13:2). The Apostles were not trying to make something happen. They were before Him, ministering to the Lord, and in that place and posture, the Holy Ghost spoke.  

There is a beauty to worship that is difficult to describe until it is experienced.

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Psalm 29:2)

In response to our worship, we begin to experience how God has already been turned toward us, present and active.

Scripture shows us that He rejoices over His people, that He rests in His love, and even sings over them (Zephaniah 3:17). The Word says that as we minister to Him, He speaks (Acts 13:2). There is an exchange as we yield. The heart bows, and we give place, and in that place, His peace settles, and His joy strengthens. His presence is no longer something we simply acknowledge, but something we experience and respond to. The result is that we experience clarity, strength, and a deepening of relationship and understanding of who He is and how He operates.

This is part of life in the Kingdom of God.

7 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)

The Kingdom of God is not distant. It is not a place we visit; it is where we live. Worship is part of how we conduct ourselves there. Sometimes it is expressed outwardly, and sometimes it is quiet and unseen. But regardless of how it is expressed, it is a yielding to the One who is already present, strengthening, guiding, directing, and protecting. And what began as a bow becomes a life lived and yielded before Him.