5 Habits - Worship #7
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.
Sunday 26th 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. Today is the day of the week when we get to worship together as a church, so let’s end our week of Everyday Devotions by preparing our hearts to worship.
Bible Meditation
Ephesians 5:18-20
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1) The apostle Paul appears to think that the two great places where people are likely to sing with joyful exuberance are at the pub after a few beers or a bottle of wine, or at church after being filled with the Holy Spirit! How does the scene that Paul pictures here instruct and challenge us about what our corporate worship ought to be like as a church today?
2) Paul wants our worship today to come ‘from the heart’ and to be full of ‘giving thanks’. If you compare our corporate worship times to singing at the pub or to the chanting of a football crowd, which seems more heartfelt and more excited? Does this explain why Paul encourages us that true worship is only made possible when it comes ‘from the Spirit’?
3) What do you think it means for us to worship God ‘from the heart’ and ‘from the Spirit’? How can you prepare yourself to sing such worship songs with your brothers and sisters in Christ today?
Colossians 3:15-17
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
4) Why do you think it is significant that in both of these passages the apostle Paul sees sung worship as something that we ‘speak to one another’ and not just to God? How do you think we ‘teach and admonish one another’ through our corporate worship as a church?
5) The US President Calvin Coolidge argued that “It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.” Why do you think corporate worship is such an essential factor in our growth as Christians and as a church together?
6) What difference do you think it would make to our church if we all arrived a little earlier than the start of the service and if we all prepared our hearts for worship before the worship leader ever struck their first chord?
7) Why do you think it is significant that the apostle Paul broadens his definition of worship to include the way we act towards one another as a church (v15) and the way we serve within the church (v17)? How can you worship God in all three of these ways today – through your loving, through your singing and through your serving?
Prayer Pathway
Prepare your heart for worshipping with your Christian brothers and sisters today by praying The Trinity Prayer. Linger over the rich meaning of 2 Corinthians 13:14 – “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
THE LOVE OF GOD: Worship God the Father for his deep love towards you. Be as specific as you can about the ways in which you have witnessed his love towards you. Be as specific as you can about why it makes you want to worship him.
THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: Worship Jesus the Son of God for his grace towards you. Praise him for dying on the cross to be your Saviour and for rising from the dead to be your Lord. Thank him for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Worship the Holy Spirit as your Senior Partner, who has come to dwell inside you so that you can worship God in the Spirit and in truth. Ask him to help you to worship ‘from the Spirit’ throughout today.
THE LOVE OF GOD: Worship God the Father for his deep love towards you. Be as specific as you can about the ways in which you have witnessed his love towards you. Be as specific as you can about why it makes you want to worship him.
THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST: Worship Jesus the Son of God for his grace towards you. Praise him for dying on the cross to be your Saviour and for rising from the dead to be your Lord. Thank him for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: Worship the Holy Spirit as your Senior Partner, who has come to dwell inside you so that you can worship God in the Spirit and in truth. Ask him to help you to worship ‘from the Spirit’ throughout today.
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