Is Worship A Feeling?

Today I want to talk about worship less from a theological perspective, I’ll leave that to my husband, but from a place that is often confusing…the “corporate worship setting.”

As a lover of corporate worship, I will start with this one point:

Worship is not a feeling

Yes, I love to worship and couldn’t stand still if you paid me. I am “in it to win it”.  I love those moments when we feel the Holy Spirit just sit right on our heart and the physical feeling is so deep that we are immersed…yet that feeling isn’t worship. Really, that is quite the opposite. That “feeling” is merely another example of God’s grace. That is our Heavenly Father pouring His Spirit out in a way that empowers us to go out and is a comfort us.

It’s often categorized as the right song, in the right key, with the right soloist at its proper place in a service. Then, as a result, I get that “feeling”, and it is great worship. WRONG! 

I caution you to not make the “feeling” of worship the thing that you worship. Yes, we crave God’s presence, but we worship Him and Him alone.

Romans 1:25 warns “…So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! “

Worship IS what we pour out on our Savior. 

Hopefully the corporate worship setting is only a reflection of what has happened in our own private time. It is a group of people who are pouring love and adoration out on God together. That is why it should be over the top and truly our heart’s cry to give this time our ALL! It is not another “drive thru” activity. It is sacred time. 

It is like a sports arena filled with fans. Separately, you have your own connection to the game, the region of the sport and the team members…but get everyone together, devoted to one team and what extravagance! 

Worship is both a noun and a verb in the dictionary. And I love the Webster verb definition “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion” –

Worship IS extravagant and should be about devotion.  When you are devoted to something or someone – love is not conditional.  I’m thankful God always loves us unconditionally, and we can choose to worship Him when we “feel” it or when we don’t.  When we remember this we can worship with songs we know and don’t know. We can worship with music or silence. He is always worthy, and we must always desire to bless His heart.  Let’s make every opportunity to worship, privately or corporately, simply be about pouring out our devotion on our Savior.