So what do they mean by "worship"?

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

John 4:24

I had never stumbled onto this verse until today as I was getting ready to write this post. I was just blown away by beauty of it and floored by the amount of power there was in this simple truth. But let's take a second and focus on the word "worship". It's a word that means so many different things depending on who you ask. Sometimes it might even have a negative connotation to it, implying that you are obsessed or too focused on a a person or thing. Because of this and the fact that I'll be writing on the topic, I want for us to discover why exactly this means or should mean to a follower of Christ, and most importantly - what worship means to you!

So here is the definition of worship according to www.dictionary.com:

noun

1.

reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

2.

formal or ceremonious rendering of such honor and homage:

3.

adoring reverence or regard:

4.

the object of adoring reverence or regard.

verb (used with object), worshiped, worshiping or (especiallyBritish) worshipped, worshipping.

6.

to render religious reverence and homage to.

7.

to feel an adoring reverence or regard for (any person or thing).

verb (used without object), worshiped, worshiping or(especially British) worshipped, worshipping.

8.

to render religious reverence and homage, as to a deity.

9.

to attend services of divine worship.

10.

to feel an adoring reverence or regard.

Now, I won't go into a grammar or English course, but if you notice in the definition above, the word worship can either be used as a noun or an action. It's either a "thing" or something we do. For those of you reading that attend church regularly or have in the past, worship might mean to you the time spent in song and music at the beginning of a service. For those that don't, worship might just mean idolizing or obsessively loving or rendering homage to something. And you know what? Your both right. The type of worship I'll be writing about for the next 30 days is the worship we offer the Most High God, and it's a mix of those types of worship but also so much more.

As followers of Christ, we are called to worship God and only God, but more than that, we were created to worship Him constantly in everything we do. How do we do that? I'm not a worship singer. Actually I have no musical talent whatsoever, yet that will not stop me from worshipping my God as much and as proudly as I can. The angels in Heaven worship Him 24/7, they call out to Him and bow before Him singing "Holy, Holy, Holy!". How can it be honoring to God if I only go to Him in worship on Sunday mornings or when there's an event at church? How do I bring worship to Him every waking second of my life without scaring people away with my singing or having my husband call the loony bin on me? Then I ask myself, 

"Is there space in my life to worship constantly right now?"

Yes. That's the tough question that I want us to pray on as we walk this journey together. Is there space in your life RIGH NOW to offer worship to your Heavenly Father and Savior on a constant, consistent, and regular basis? If the answer is not YES, I need you to:

            1. PRAY.

            2. RE-READ THE DEFINITION ABOVE.

            3. ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REVEAL WHO AND WHAT YOUR 

               WORSHIPPING.

Sweet peeps, tribe members, brothers and sisters I say this in love...I say this to myself: There are people, things, programs, objects, charities, friends, artists, pastors, celebrities, children, possessions, you fill in the blank, that we are worshipping. They are little "g" gods that our distracting us from from our true mission, what we were created for in the first place - worshipping God.

Our first step is to identify. Then we repent of worshipping other things besides God. Don't confuse this with guilt and DO NOT put yourself down for it. The beauty of the Holy Spirit is that once we ask and He reveals, we just take it to The Lord. We surrender it to Him and we MOVE ON. No looking back! Maybe you didn't realize that you were worshipping other things, and that's OK! Today is a new day! It's the first day of INTENTIONALLY seeking to worship God as often and as boldly as possible while you are still on this side of Heaven. And that, IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE!

Make the decision to make this a priority in your life and I'll be doing the same and standing with you in prayer. We will hold each other accountable (because that's what brothers and sisters do). And together we will learn how to worship the Almighty in ways we have never thought about before. It will be a lifestyle change, a way of life, a new beginning! I'm excited, are you? What things did God reveal that you were worshipping instead of Him? Share, comment, discuss. We're all in this together and your struggle might just open the eyes of someone else to their truth.

Much love and Blessing,

Cristina

My ALTAR'D COURSE

The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham." So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well. - Genesis 26:24-25

So here we go. The write31days challenge accepted. Just the act of sitting here and getting this far has been a feat within itself. Some of you reading may know me, I'm assuming that most of you don't. Either way what most people don't know about me is that I've felt the call of the Lord to write for over a year and a half now. But something, everything, has stopped me. Today that ends. The excuses stop. The disobedience on my end stops. It stops now.

My name is Cristina. I am a child of God.

That is my identity and in case you don't know it...it's your identity too. Now that we have that out of the way, we can get to the rest. I'm a wife, daughter, mother, stepmother, friend, periscoper, and now blogger (eek!!!). I love to cook, eat, entertain, serve, read, travel, and spend time with my family. I'm passionate about prayer and showing people (especially women) the power of prayer. From that passion and a couple very important women in my life, @WNOPtribe was born. WNOPtribe is our periscope/twitter/Facebook community. WNOP stand's for Women's Night of Prayer (more info on that in my about section)and the "tribe" is well, you...and me...and everyone that joins us on this journey to pursue or God more fervently, passionately, and fearlessly through prayer.

I'd love for you to join us on this journey, but I know that before you join anyone on a trip it's good to know a little bit about them. You want to know their background, if they travel well, their quirks, habits, and strengths. But most importantly you want to know where they are going. So let me tell you a little bit about me and my ALTAR'D COURSE.

A little over two years ago the course of my life was forever altered. After 32 years of searching, seeking, living anxious and depressed, I came to the most amazing encounter of my life. I encountered the LOVE of my Heavenly Father and the redemption and freedom through His Son Jesus Christ. Once I encountered His perfect love, there was no going back. I decided then and there not only to surrender my life completely to Him but that I would live my faith in Him and love for Him boldly and  wholeheartedly. With reckless abandon.

It's been an amazing journey. It is an amazing journey. And the further I grow the more I learn, the deeper I love, the bigger my faith, the stronger my determination to see more people come to know His love and the freedom it brings. So why did I name this blog "ALTAR'D COURSE"? Simple. From that moment on the Lord has taught me to build altars along the journey. Markers of faith to go back to when I need them, sweet moments where the incense of prayer has gone up to Heaven and returned in answered prayer, and places of rest where I stop to praise and acknowledge everything the Lord has done for me. So when of thinking and praying of a title for this blog my friend said, "make sure it's something you can live for forever". (No pressure at all!) I thought what would be the one takeaway I would want people to have if they took the time to read, no matter what the topic I was writing about would be. And it was this: I want people to walk their walk and travel their journey building altars along the way. You know why? Because your gonna need them. There will be days that are tough, where everything looks bleak, you're discouraged, sick, broke, hopeless, anxious, or depressed. And those are the days you will go back to those altars built before and draw on that faith already set in stone and established. So that's the vision for this space, I pray you join me as we build altars of faith together.

This month I will be writing for 31 days consecutively. And the challenge asked us to pick a theme or topic to carry through the month. So if you wish to join me on this journey during the month of October we will be "Stitching Worship into the Fabric of Our Lives". There's no better way to build altars than through worship. We will explore what worship is and isn't, who and what we are to worship, and how to go from just worshipping on Sundays to it being a way of life.

Yay! I just finished my Day 1 blog post ...see ya tomorrow!!!

Cristina

xoxo

  WRITE 31 DAYS SERIES

Day 1: My ALTAR'D COURSE
Day 2: What do they mean by worship?
Day 3: Why do we worship? - Part 1
Day 4: Worship Wednesday - Praise Break
Day 5: Why do we worship? - Part 2

Day 6: People Worship - What it is and how the Lord is stripping me of it