5 Habits - Worship #6
Welcome to Everyday Devotions. These daily Bible readings and Prayer Pathways are designed to help you go deeper with God each day in response to what you are hearing at the Everyday Church services and Life Group gatherings.
Saturday 25th January
In this week’s Everyday Devotions, we are looking at the third habit of a healthy Christian – spending time worshipping God on our own and embracing singing as a means of deepening our friendship with God.
Bible Meditation
1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:23-24
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
1) Throughout this week, we have been looking at the importance of worshipping God through singing worship songs to him every day. What additional perspective does the apostle Paul give us in these verses about what it really means to live a life of worship to God?
2) If we are able to worship God through even our eating and drinking, then what does that mean for the areas of our lives which we tend to view as ‘secular’? Are there any areas of our lives where we cannot worship God?
3) In the movie ‘Chariots of Fire’, the British athlete Eric Liddell explains why he is not sinning against God by delaying his missionary work in order to run in the upcoming Olympic Games. “You have to understand,” he says. “I believe God made me for a purpose – for China, but He also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.” What has God called you to do today? How can you turn it into an act of worship to him? How can you feel his pleasure in all you do today?
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
4) This is clearly a big theme throughout the apostle Paul’s writings. How much are we aware of this in the Western Church today? Have we turned ‘worship’ into something that is all about singing, rather than a lifestyle of praise to God?
5) What would it mean, in very practical ways, for you to ‘offer your body as a living sacrifice’ to God today? Write down the specifics so that you can pray them back to God in just a moment.
Prayer Pathway
Let’s use The Lord’s Prayer as our prayer pathway today. Use the following headings to structure your prayers and to bring the whole of your life to God as a living sacrifice of worship.
OUR FATHER: Joyful thanks to God that today you can run freely into his arms as your Dad.
IN HEAVEN: Faith-filled proclamation of the truth of Psalm 115:3 – “God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME: Speaking God’s Name back to him from the Scriptures, asking him to be true to his Name and to make all the world confess his Name is holy.
YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE: Pray specific prayers for the will of God to be done in your own life, in the lives of your family and friends, in the lives of your nonbelieving friends, in your workplace or college, and in your nation.
GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD: Be specific with God in your answer to his question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Bring focused, specific and faith-filled requests that he will provide for all your daily needs.
FORGIVE US, AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS: Confess your specific sins to God, including the sin of withholding forgiveness from others.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: Ask God to grant you strength to resist sin, the flesh and the Devil. Ask him to help you grow in holiness, living as the new creation that you now are in Jesus.
FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER: End with a time of praising God for his greatness and that he has heard your prayers.
AMEN: Before you stop praying, connect your prayers to the rest of what you have planned for today. Receive a commissioning from God to get up off your knees and to become the answer to many of your prayers.
OUR FATHER: Joyful thanks to God that today you can run freely into his arms as your Dad.
IN HEAVEN: Faith-filled proclamation of the truth of Psalm 115:3 – “God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.”
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME: Speaking God’s Name back to him from the Scriptures, asking him to be true to his Name and to make all the world confess his Name is holy.
YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE: Pray specific prayers for the will of God to be done in your own life, in the lives of your family and friends, in the lives of your nonbelieving friends, in your workplace or college, and in your nation.
GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD: Be specific with God in your answer to his question: “What do you want me to do for you?” Bring focused, specific and faith-filled requests that he will provide for all your daily needs.
FORGIVE US, AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS: Confess your specific sins to God, including the sin of withholding forgiveness from others.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: Ask God to grant you strength to resist sin, the flesh and the Devil. Ask him to help you grow in holiness, living as the new creation that you now are in Jesus.
FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY FOREVER: End with a time of praising God for his greatness and that he has heard your prayers.
AMEN: Before you stop praying, connect your prayers to the rest of what you have planned for today. Receive a commissioning from God to get up off your knees and to become the answer to many of your prayers.
End with Worship
In order to help you to respond to God in sung worship, we have created two playlists for you on Spotify.
The Everyday Devotions playlist contains a handful of songs which are particularly relevant to our Everyday Devotions this week. This song list changes each week along with our devotions.
The Everyday Church Song List playlist contains most of the songs that we are singing right now across the venues of Everyday Church. This is a wider song list for you to play throughout the day to help you worship as you wash up, as you drive, as you shower, as you sit on the bus and as you go about your daily life in other ways.
If you are somewhere where you can sing loudly, why not use these two playlists to end by singing some songs of worship to the Lord? If you are on the bus or train, why not put on your headphones and sing in your heart to God instead?
The Everyday Devotions playlist contains a handful of songs which are particularly relevant to our Everyday Devotions this week. This song list changes each week along with our devotions.
The Everyday Church Song List playlist contains most of the songs that we are singing right now across the venues of Everyday Church. This is a wider song list for you to play throughout the day to help you worship as you wash up, as you drive, as you shower, as you sit on the bus and as you go about your daily life in other ways.
If you are somewhere where you can sing loudly, why not use these two playlists to end by singing some songs of worship to the Lord? If you are on the bus or train, why not put on your headphones and sing in your heart to God instead?
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Connect: We’d really like your feedback on how these Everyday Devotions are helping you and how we might help you even better. Talk to us by emailing: devotions@everyday.org.uk
Continue: your connection with us by attending our Online Church Service
Connect: We’d really like your feedback on how these Everyday Devotions are helping you and how we might help you even better. Talk to us by emailing: devotions@everyday.org.uk
Continue: your connection with us by attending our Online Church Service