Our church places a huge emphasis on worshiping God, and on our cell meetings. Worshiping God is to obey God’s commandment to love Him, and joining cell meetings is to obey His commandment to love our neighbours. In terms of priorities, as our relationship with God is the most important, we aim to fully devote ourselves to worship. That’s why one of the main slogans on the church homepage is “Fully reliant on the glory of worship – Desiring the promise of God in worship more than anything else”.
Through our experience of worshiping as a group, we need to learn how to engage in private worship. It is impossible to worship alone while ignoring the value of worshiping together in a service that was diligently prepared and prayed for by a group. At our Sunday Services, we sing praises that were carefully selected by the Praise Team, who have practiced for hours and set out the lyrics for us on screen so that we can sing along with ease; we listen to a sermon that was prepared by a pastor who has researched, analysed and prayed over the scripture for hours and hours during the week and preaches with the wisdom of God – it is no wonder that God’s grace is abundantly present in such a service. This is why learning how to worship in a group is an essential building block in establishing private worship.
The second step for us to take is to worship God through our daily lives by living for His glory, rather than just focusing on Him through praise, sermons and prayer. Back when I was in university, there was a friend who got told off by a church elder for coming to church on Wednesdays but not actually participating in Wednesday Service. As he himself was proud of the relationship that he thought he had with God, he was upset by this, and I remember him complaining that the elder didn’t know he was talking about – his argument being that his act of worship should be measured through the way he lived his life, rather than by the number of services he attended. However, it is impossible to live in a way that glorifies God without even being able to worship him by attending services, where each step is planned and laid out for you in a way that makes worship so simple – especially as we live in the midst of a spiritual battlefield in our daily lives.
This is why Christians who prioritise and look forward to attending church services are better at private worship than those who don’t. Those who seek to obey God and please Him through their lives will try their very best to participate in Wednesday services, and will always try to find time, no matter how busy or tired they may be, to read the bible and pray. Those who have not yet developed a habit of spending quiet time with God will talk the talk about “worshiping God with your life”, and “personal relationship with God”, pretending to be holy – in the same way that empty vessels make the most sound.
To solve difficult math problems, it is essential that you learn the times table; in the same way, getting off on the right foot is important in your spiritual life as well. If your faith is still feeble, and your relationship with God needs strengthening, you should allow the church to help. After all, the church exists to build up Christians (Ephesians 4:11-12). Those who consider themselves to be spiritually immature should rely on the body of God, rather than trying to grow alone. That is how spiritual development takes place – which is why fellowship in the church is so important.
