Worship Experience

I've been thinking about worship.

My church has been through an experiment, of sorts, recently. We had a few people who felt like the worship service was lacking. It was "draggy" and didn't prepare hearts for the message. The suggestion for a better worship experience was to change the order of service.

My best worship experiences have been at church camp and at CIY conferences. And I think I know why.

I'll let you guess, before I tell you what I've come up with.

Top Ten Guesses Why Lyndi's Best Worship Experiences Have Been at Camp/CIY

10. Hundreds of voices.

9. Surrounded by young people.

8. Technology.

7. Something different.

6. Venue.

5. Worship with peers.

4. LOUD volume.

3. New songs.

2. Cool, trendy band.

1. Good musicians.

Good guesses – but none of these are correct, because they are all external factors, just like the order of service. Worship begins in your heart. I think CIY and camp were great experiences because I was there to worship. I had spent the days in Bible studies and prayer times. I was prepared to worship.

Psalm 63 reveals David's heart. If we walk into a worship service with the same desire to worship God that David displayed, I think it will be our best worship experience.

Psalm 63

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

 1 O God, you are my God,
       earnestly I seek you;
       my soul thirsts for you,
       my body longs for you,
       in a dry and weary land
       where there is no water.

 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
       and beheld your power and your glory.

 3 Because your love is better than life,
       my lips will glorify you.

 4 I will praise you as long as I live,
       and in your name I will lift up my hands.

 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
       with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

 6 On my bed I remember you;
       I think of you through the watches of the night.

 7 Because you are my help,
       I sing in the shadow of your wings.

 8 My soul clings to you;
       your right hand upholds me.

 9 They who seek my life will be destroyed;
       they will go down to the depths of the earth.

 10 They will be given over to the sword
       and become food for jackals.

 11 But the king will rejoice in God;
       all who swear by God's name will praise him,
       while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

 
 

New International Version (NIV)

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