Witnessing the Holy Spirit move through our praise is a beautiful experience. The passion, the tears, the power that you feel, even when you don’t understand is a powerful thing. Growing up in church, seeing hands in the air, shouting and speaking in tongues, is what I was used to seeing. This is what I knew as worshiping the Lord. As an adult serving the Lord for myself, I have learned that this is not the only way one can worship.

The definition of worship is to show reverence and adoration for a deity. For our purpose, worship means to show God gratitude and honor for our daily lives. Worshiping Him is being thankful for the God that He is, for the air that we breathe and the privilege of being in communion with our Father. Does this mean the only way to worship is in a church? No! We can freely worship the Lord anywhere or anytime we want. We can worship Him while we are driving, doing household chores, at work, or even at school. I thank God every day for waking me up, for my family, for friends, and even for a cup of coffee in the morning. I like to sing to Him and just talk to Him throughout the day out loud or in the quietness of my own heart. Being thankful in our daily lives, even for the small things, is a form of worship. I notice when I am feeling overwhelmed or down, when I worship Him, it brings a peace over me that no human can possibly bring.

Why is worship important? Why can’t we just wait for Sundays to worship the Father? After all, isn’t that what going to church is for? Worship is a daily privilege that isn’t limited to only one day a week. Worship is fully surrendering to Him, being grateful, sitting at His feet, and being engulfed in His presence. Even in the midst of our pain and suffering, we should worship the Lord. Worship gets us out of our own way and allows God to fill us with His peace. God lives inside of us and He tells us in Psalms 150:6, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” And in Psalms 71:8, “My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.” This means we are to worship and praise Him despite our circumstances or how we are feeling; God is always worthy to be praised.

I hope this encourages all of us not to limit praise and worship to just Sundays or when we are around other believers. So let’s lift our hands, sing, praise, pray and talk to Him. He is our Father and He longs to have a relationship with us.

Written by: Bonnie Vargas