Worship and Water

I love the musical worship we have at Torch. If you have ever been there, you have likely witnessed me in the back with my bass going positively nuts. But God has laid on my heart a challenge to the way that we approach worship.

Worship ≠ Music

Two things happen during musical worship; there is an emotional reaction to the music and a physical/audible expression of that emotional reaction. This is only an appropriate response when first a spiritual and cognitive surrender to God is present. It is possible to have an emotional reaction without this but this isn’t worship. You might feel really good in the middle of it, but without surrender, if I can be so bold, this is the opposite of worship; comparable to the Pharisees praying obnoxiously on the streets so that people would notice them.

Worship = The act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving oneself to God.

Let that sink in a little bit. This means that anytime you are in a place, situation, or atmosphere that facilitates worship with God and you are not giving yourself to Him, then you’re not worshiping. It doesn’t matter how many times you sing along to a “worship set” sit through a sermon or sign a tithe check because none of that is worship until you’ve given your heart to God.

In Psalm 51 David points out that burnt offerings and sacrifices aren’t what God is looking but rather a broken and contrite heart.

This definition of worship also means that anytime you give yourself to God, you’re worshiping no matter your location, circumstance or environment. And this is what we are being challenged to do.

In John chapter 4 Jesus talks about being thirsty for God, with a heart that worships in spirit and in truth. Church (Torch) should never ever be the only time that you consider yourself worshiping.

Worship is like water. You need to worship the same way you need to drink water.

Let me explain. God doesn’t have some psychological complex of needing to be patted on the back. It doesn’t lower His self-esteem when you don’t worship Him. You don’t have anything to offer God that he doesn’t already have. He doesn’t “NEED” you to worship Him.

He wants you to have a heart condition of a need to worship Him. You’re the one who needs to need to worship Him. Without a thirst for Him, without a hunger for His presence, you’re going to spiritually die.

Dehydration1 is the greatest enemy to any athlete. I don’t consider myself an athlete by any standard, but it’s a good analogy so go with me on it. 50-60% of your body weight is water. Think about that, divide your weight by half and that is how much of you is made of water. Without water you wouldn’t be alive. You know you can go several days without food but only a few without water.

Dehydration1 becomes fatal after only 15% of water loss and you start to feel the effects of it after only 2%. At that point athletes have a 30% decrease in performance. That severe of a detriment looses races, I’m not talking second or third place either. I mean looses.

God prepared me for this message by pointing out a two day period when I hadn’t had any water. I seriously sat down and could not remember a single drink in something like a 48 hour period. That was stupid. I contracted a serious migraine and drinking water right away didn’t help.

In the same way when you aren’t worshiping God, even the slightest bit your spiritual health takes a major hit. Keep in mind our definition of worship.

Worship = The act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving oneself to God.

So whenever you are not wholeheartedly giving yourself to God, your spiritual health is in trouble.

All of that to say: when are you not living for God? At what point in your week are you more concerned with what’s going on or how you feel than about giving your life to God? Because it’s those things that are gonna kill you. Little by little you are spiritually dehydrating yourself.

When my little sister was four, she had a serious infection in her bladder. She was on medication and underwent lots of treatment but the doctor's primary prescription was “Drink Water”. She hated it! My mother in her loving way tried everything. Ice cold/ or luke warm/ with a straw; she even bought tons of flavored water. But my sister fought it the whole time. Such a simple thing was her cure and she fought it so hard she could have died. This particular infection was prone to spread to the blood stream and had it remained in her system for much longer the issue would have been much more severe. Now, she has been recovered for several years but still to this day has a hard time just enjoying a glass of water.

Sometimes we treat worship the same way. But you need to worship God. If your life isn’t about God then it’s not worth living.

Wherever you are in class/at work/at home, God wants you to be taking little sips all day long. Have the attitude and follow through the act of giving your every moment to God.

Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 42:1-2


In Christ,
Mickey