Why worship?

May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity. The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! (Psalm 115:14-18 NLT)

The heavens belong to the Lord. We cannot fathom the true majesty of his heavenly realm, even though we have powerful telescopes that help us to explore the skies. The 'human eye' cannot see the divine in all his glory, but the human heart can come to know and appreciate the mystery of his intense love for his creation. 

We may think of praise and worship as engaging in behavior that 'glorifies God' through song, raised hands, dance, and even silence at times. Yet it is so much more. There is a transformative power within praise and worship. It regenerates our hearts and focuses our minds. We might just find that praise and worship do more for us even though our focus is God himself!

Worship also has a very significant impact in the spiritual realm. It is part of spiritual warfare. We are declaring war on the devil every time we engage our hearts and minds in times of attentive worship. It is as though there is a 'shift' in control when we praise God. Satan no longer has access to our minds or hearts, and heavenly hosts engage along with us in turning our enemy on his heels.

While the biggest thing we appreciate about praise and worship is how it brings us close to the heart of God, it isn't our closeness to him alone that matters. It brings his people together, sometimes breaking down walls of division that otherwise would exist. God's desire was always for his 'people' plural to enter into worship - it is not just an 'individual' thing. There is tremendous power in corporate worship.

Perhaps you notice a renewed strength or vigor while praising God. There is a lightening of the load we carry when we lift it to the Lord in worship, isn't there? If you are burdened under a tremendous load of anxiety, fear, or even guilt, there is no better way to unburden than to begin to praise God. As you do, those things have less and less influence over you. It isn't a panacea to life's worries, but it sure does go a long way to melt them away! Just sayin!