To have effective worship is to enter into a deep and meaningful relationship with God, through honouring, adoring and communing with Him. This is transformative when it is a sincere expression of love that takes all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength, Mark 12:30.

Created to Worship

Humans, created in the image of God, Genesis 1:27, were created to have a relationship with God. His desire is to dwell in the midst of His people, 2 Corinthians 6:16. That is to have a personal experience with the great I Am That I Am, Exodus 3:14.

God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth, John 4:24. It is where the finite creature has intimate communion with the infinite God.

The art of effective and authentic worship only happens when the worshipper has a real-life experience with the Creator. Therefore, effective Worship is not from the head, the seat of knowledge, or the heart, the seat of emotions. It is when the Spirit of God in us, 1 Corinthians 3:16, rises up to magnify the Almighty God, for the Spirit alone instigates true worship.

Authentic Worship

The art of authentic worship is not about performing spiritual rites but engaging with God. It is having full confidence in the Creator who deeply loves and owns what He created, 1 Peter 2:9, John 3:16.

This is only made possible through what Christ did at Calvary. It also acknowledges that God has an eternal plan for His children, for He knows the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46:10, He has a good and perfect purpose for each of us.

Divine Exchange

Effective worship is a ‘divine exchange’, between two parties who are in covenantal relationship. This divine exchange is a lifestyle, for it is ongoing and automatic to the true follower of Christ. It is meaningful fellowship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in a two-way conversation.

However, it is important to realize that praise and worship are two different things. Praise is to offer a sacrifice of praise or thankfulness. Worship is losing self in the adoration of another.

The best place for effective worship is in what Moses called the Most Holy Place. A place where worship is automatic, not something we strive for. It is something that starts our day, is in our day, ends our day and carries us through the night. It is the language of heaven.

First Mention

When a major biblical theme is first mentioned it sets the tone throughout the rest of the Bible. Worship is first mentioned in connection with Abraham, Genesis 22:5.

He went through the ultimate fiery test that any human being can go through. He was asked to sacrifice his true son as a form of worship. However, Abraham loved and trusted God more than the son he had yearned for. For Abraham, to obey God was more important than life itself.

This fiery trial was prophetic of what God would do in sending His own Son to die in our place, John 3:16. The Son who would obey the Father no matter the cost, Matthew 26:39.

Centre of Effective Worship

All true worship is circular thinking. It begins and ends with Jesus Christ, who died and rose again that all sinners might have access to eternal life, John 3:16.

You can only have a circle when you have a pivotal point in the centre. Effective worship is where God is the very centre of your life and your entre being. Daily you are sold out to the Way of the Cross and all that entails.

Effective worship comes from being familiar with the God. He gave His Son that you might enter into that personal relationship with Him that lasts into eternity.

Major Problem

The problem with most Christians is that they serve a God who is too small in their mind. They try to bring the Creator down to their level, instead of rising up in the art of effective worship, standing in awe of who God is.

It’s like a tiny ant looking up at an elephant. It cannot comprehend the vastness of the animal above it. As finite humans we have difficulty rising above our life of time, space and matter, to a place where the infinite God is above all things, Ephesians 4:6.

With God past, present, and future are one for He lives in the ‘now’, beyond anything we can imagine. John walked with Christ as a disciple, but when he had a vison of the glorified Christ, he fell as a dead man, Revelation 1:17. That is the kind of awe we need to discover in effective worship, as the Spirit reveals God to us, 1 Corinthians 2:10. 

Heart Yearning

The true follower of Christ thinks like the Psalmist. My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God, Psalm 84:2. Effective worship is a deep yearning for the presence of God, as being a taste of what is to come in eternity.

Like the four living creatures we cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come, Revelation 4:8. The 24 elders fall down and cast their crowns before the Lord and cry, Worthy are You our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power. For you created all things and because of Your will they existed and were created, Revelation 4:11.

What it is Not

Effective worship is not praying with a ‘shopping list’ of wants and needs. We do receive what we ask the Father for in the name of Jesus, John 14:13, if it is in the will of God. That is necessary in a sin-weary world where Satan deceives people he is the supreme ruler. 

However, God is much more than the source of our needs. He is the source of a deep and meaningful, covenantal relationship. It’s good to take our needs to Him, but unless we stop and worship Him, we have missed the truth of what Christ achieved at Calvary.

Effective worship is not how loud or long we pray. Jesus scorned the Pharisees for their ‘public’ praying, Matthew 23:14. Effective worship all about the sincerity of your heart.

How to Have Effective Worship

In experiencing the true art of effective worship you come face to face with God in awe, fear, and wonder. You experience a love that is both painful and delightful at the same time. Painful as to how much of a sinner you are. Wonder at His pleasure in saving you for a personal relationship with Him, 1 Peter 2:9

He alone gives us the ability to know effective worship. A relationship that nothing can surpass and one that transforms us little by little into the measure of the stature that belongs to Jesus Christ, Ephesians 4:13. The Art of effective worship is what we need more than all else, for it transforms who we are and prepares us for heaven. After all, our relationship with God is the only thing we will take to heaven.

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Dr. Wendy Stenberg-Tendys is a freelance writer and servant of the Lord who enjoys researching a topic and sharing words of encouragement from the Word of God.

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