Crosswalk.com

That's Why I Worship! 5 Day-Making Reasons to Praise the Lord

Alicia Purdy
That's Why I Worship! 5 Day-Making Reasons to Praise the Lord

A lifestyle of worship is a spiritual discipline that will sustain your faith in hard times, carry you through to victory, and testify to the world of who God is.

Worship is one thing: Ministry to the Lord.

God designed worship to refocus our minds and energies off of “self” and onto the Lord. That is where the power of worship ignites! (In case you are wondering, Satan does not want your mind fixed on the Lord, so he will give you every reason to look elsewhere instead of on the eyes of Jesus today!)

Will it be easy? No, not always. Will it be worth it? Yes, every time!

Remember this from Psalm 119:68 – God is good and only does good. That’s it. Anything bad is not from the Lord. He has your future and hope in His hands.

That’s why I worship!

Here are 5 day-making reasons to worship the Lord today:

Photo Credit: ©Thinkstock/Molchanovdmitry

1. He is who He said He is.

1. He is who He said He is.

Isaiah 55:11 says that the Word of God is send out and will not produce emptiness, and furthermore it will produce the things God sent it to accomplish. In Jeremiah 1, the Lord said He watches over His Word to see it come to pass. That is a God you can trust in, rely on and worship.

Everything He said in His Word is true. And, in His timeline, it has already come to pass!

The Word of God is full of names that give us a glimpse into His character. At different times in your life, He will reveal those names to you and you can worship Him according to His name: Waymaker, Promise Keeper, Defender, Strong Tower, Mighty Warrior, Help in Time of Trouble, Strength, Healer, Righteousness and more.

Maybe today you don’t feel like worshipping - but therein lies its power - in the sacrifice of praise! God speaks the language of “sacrifice” because He sent His Son to do that very thing.

Today, worship the Lord as an act of faith, knowing that He is who He said He is!

Photo Credit: ©Pexels

2. His mercies are new every morning.

2. His mercies are new every morning.

When Saul was pursuing David, David needed the mercies of God to see him through very difficult times. It was in right in the midst of these times that David wrote things like, “I will sing aloud of Your lovingkindness in the morning.”

Solomon wrote the saddest book of the Bible, Lamentations, and in there he said proclaimed that the mercies of God are new every morning. “…joy comes in the morning,” David wrote in Psalm 30:5. Also read Psalm 136 today!

Sometimes it takes a little boost to get your faith into gear and the Bible is the best place to get some spiritual energy for the day. Nine times in Psalm 119 the Psalmist wrote, “Revive me” – so it’s okay if you need a jumpstart! You worship a God who gets you!

We all experience seasons of darkness and those awful “night seasons,” but God is faithful to be with us through any shadowed valley. Psalm 42:8 says, “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song will be with me.”

In Psalm 77:6 Asaph wrote, “The memory of my song comes back to me in the night.” Songs of worship are a vital part of your journey through the “night” and when the darkness has passed and a new day comes, the mercy of the Lord will continue to bear you up, sustain, and protect you.

Today, minister to the Lord because His lovingkindness is better than life (Psalm 63:3) and because His mercy endures forever! (Psalm 136)

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash

3. Worship wins wars.

3. Worship wins wars.

You may not feel like a conqueror today (although Romans 8:37 says you are more than a conqueror through Christ), but that’s alright.

Maybe today is just another “faith opportunity” in your life and the last thing you want to do is clap your hands or put them in the air and sing to Jesus, but that’s alright too! In fact, it’s more than alright.

Your choppy water produces the perfect conditions for “battle worship!” Battle worship is ministry to the Lord on the worst day, during the toughest part of your life, when everything seems dark, hopeless, irritating, overwhelming and more.

Battle worship is what you do when you harness all those emotions, channel them into praise, and shout to the Lord about His goodness. It is faith on steroids. And when you worship and minister to Him, you are a physical sacrifice to the Lord.

Remember, God speaks the language of sacrifice. Sacrifice grabs His attention. Because His Son sacrificed first.

When Abraham was willing to worship the Lord by sacrificing the thing he held most dear - his son- it was at the point of death that the Lord broke through and a miracle happened. When you put to death your mind, will, and emotions and bring your body to the Lord in worship; that is a “holy and acceptable” gift to Him (Romans 12:1).

Breakthrough, miracles, healing, answers to prayer - all are found within the presence of God, where He dwells (Psalm 22:3). Let faith rise up in you today and worship the Lord as an act of faith. Remember, it is impossible for God to do nothing! (Luke 1:37)

Photo Credit: ©Pexels/Min-An

4. God dwells within praise.

4. God dwells within praise.

Here’s the thing: Every believer who loves and follows the Lord desires to draw closer to Him; to connect with His Holy Spirit. You were created to worship.

Everyone worships something, even if all they ever worship is themselves, because the spirit inside each person is searching for a spiritual connection. Why? Because every human on earth was made to fellowship with the Lord.

Psalm 22:3 says that God dwells within praise. Yes, God is omnipotent (everywhere, at all times), but where He chooses to dwell? Worship. There is a unique anointing of the Spirit of the Lord in worship. The Bible is filled with promises for those who enter into His gates, the place where He dwells.

“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)

“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that will I seek after — for me to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He will hide me in His pavilion; in the shelter of His tabernacle He will hide me; He will set me up on a rock.” (Psalm 27:3-4)

“In the cover of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You store them in Your shelter from the strife of tongues.” (Psalm 31:20)

Did you catch all of that? Answered prayers, joy, wonders, rest, beauty, shelter from troubles, safety, protection…and those are just a few of the promises attached to coming into His presence, His courts, with praise.

Worship Him today, because all you have needed His hand has provided!

Photo Credit: ©Thinkstock/Arkira

5. He watches over His Word to see it performed.

5. He watches over His Word to see it performed.

Worshipping the Lord in “spirit and truth” is the most foundational aspect of “true worship”, as Jesus noted in John 4:23-24.

It is from the spirit that one worships and connects with the Spirit of God and then, using His Word as the source of all worship that is written, sung, or expressed. Worship is set on fire as God honors what He, Himself, has spoken.

This is why all worship must have direct roots in God’s Word in order to have any real anointing or power.

In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord said, “My word be that goes forth from My mouth shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  But it gets better than that!

In Jeremiah 1:12, the Lord promised, “…For I will hasten My word to perform it.” That means that the Lord is watching over His own Words, making sure they are carried out!

Anything spoken from the mouth of God, any promise He ever made, is still in effect right now for you.

So, when you stand in faith on His Word, when you worship and use His own Word as the foundation, you are reminding the Lord of what He said, the promises He made (not that He actually needs the reminder) and He steps in and will “hasten” that Word. He will not allow His promises to leave you empty-handed!

Will they take longer than expected? Perhaps, but they are still in effect!

So today, worship the Lord who is a Man of His Word. Get into His presence today with your sacrifice of praise. March right up to those gates and walk right in, entering with thanksgiving (Psalm 100). He is waiting for you there!

That's why I worship!


Way of the Worshipper Book CoverAlicia Purdy is a worship leader and author of “The Way of the Worshipper” and “The Way of the Worshipper: A Devotional Workbook”. Her passion is to write about a real faith in a real Jesus and to inspire, encourage and support the body of Christ. You can learn more at her blog: TheWayoftheWorshipper.com. She and her husband minister and serve in their local church and together they have 5 kids and 1 cat, named Chester.

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash