What is worship? A band on Sunday morning playing songs? How about singing hymns with the choir? What about going to your job and giving your very best? Or maybe it's being a mentor to students? I guess many of us would say it's the first two scenarios. But that's the thing, worship isn't just music and songs. The church in general seems to have forgotten that. Worship is meant to be so much more than just a song! It is meant to be giving your all to God every day in whatever opportunity you have. As Webster's Dictionary says, "Worship is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission". How did we collectively miss the heart of worship?

Pure worship is just our hearts thanking God for everything He has done for us. The verse Psalms 71:8 says it so well, "My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long". Imagine all day every day you are praising God for what he has done for you. Do you think that when David wrote that he was singing Bethel worship songs 24/7? I doubt it. He is saying that in whatever he does he gives it to God as praise. Worship is living our lives for Gods glory!

Worship is an action. It is a choice to say, "God I want to be yours, I want to be used by you, I want to live in such a way that others notice and that through the presence of the Holy Spirit you will transform others!" That is what the heart of worship is! But don't get me wrong, worship certainly is singing his truths and giving him praise with music. However, it is so much greater than that! Music is an incredible and powerful way to worship God but it goes way beyond. Bethel, Hillsong, Jesus Culture all of them are so full of Gods spirit and the songs they have led are so full of his truths. But, what if there was more?

It is time for something even bigger to hit us, it is time for an awakening of even greater worship. Being able to live out worship daily is certainly life transforming. Living to worship, is living to change the world. Each one of us are called as children of God and that means worship is in us. Here are some other great examples of how we can worship outside of music. Spending time in prayer for others, pouring your best into the day whether that be in class, work, or with other people. Really anything is worship when we do it for God. I know cliches get old but sometimes they are just too true to ignore. Like this one, worship isn't an event to be attended, it's a lifestyle to be lived! If we can grasp that as a culture of worship than it would transform so many lives.

God has made us in his image and that means worship is in our veins. We all have a song in our hearts now all we need to do is let that song out in whatever way God give us. Worship radiates through our entire lives when Jesus is receiving all the glory. True worship, all surrendering worship, is giving up yourself to God and telling him to take control.

So I pray each and every day that your worship would be so much more than songs, that it would be your own personal conversation with God about how much you love him. Worship in everything, all the time!