Worship Is...

Just a few thoughts to answer the age-old question, "What is worship?"

— Worship is pouring out our hearts to God

— Worship is gazing at God and seeing His glory

— Worship is encountering God face to face

— Worship is the whole of me responding to the whole of God

— Worship is an encounter with God that will "ruin" you for the ordinary

— Worship is God breaking in on us, and us responding

— Worship is God's heart and the worshiper's heart becoming entwined

— Worship is kissing God

— Worship is loving God

— Worship is adoring God

— Worship is magnifying God

— Worship is revering God

— Worship is prostration before God

— Worship is ascribing worth to God

— Worship is being loved by God

— Worship is a cycle of my love for God and His response to my love

— Worship is the fragrance of our hearts before God’s throne

— Worship is the perfume of our devotion that touches Gods garments

— Worship is responding to the presence of God

— Worship is born in the reality of His presence

— Worship is an opportunity to linger in and enjoy God’s presence

— Worship is our response to God's manifested presence

— Worship is direct, two way communication with our Creator

— Worship is God’s language of communication

— Worship is intimacy with God

— Worship is a journey into God and his courts

— Worship is standing as a priest before God and ministering to Him

— Worship is a journey into unseen realms

— Worship is walking and talking with God

— Worship is heaven's heartbeat

— Worship is giving glory to God

— Worship is receiving glory from God

— Worship is heaven's unveiling our faces and looking at glory

— Worship is responding to glory

— Worship is being transformed by glory into glory

— Worship is removing the barriers we put up to behold God’s face

— Worship is what allows us to be changed and formed in His image

— Worship is the beginning and end of our relationship with God

— Worship is a Heavenly act performed in an earthly place

— Worship is our response to God's revelation of Himself to us

— Worship is an unparalleled expression of love

— Worship is evangelistic

— Worship is serving all nations and people

— Worship is God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven

— Worship is declaring God's covenant to the nations

— Worship is a declaration of God's Kingship throughout the Universe

— Worship is relationship with God in spirit and truth

— Worship is engaging spirit to Spirit

— Worship is the bridge from the physical realm into the spiritual

— Worship is uninhibited

— Worship is our means of connecting with Heaven

— Worship is when God touches us and we touch Him

— Worship is when God speaks to us and we speak to Him

— Worship is life changing

— Worship is a lifestyle

— Worship is evidence of God's life changing work in my heart

— Worship is the enjoyable encounter on the worst day of your life

— Worship is the enjoyable encounter on the best day of your life

— Worship is seeing God as He truly is

— Worship is an uncovering of our hearts before God

— Worship is exposing

— Worship is our response to God revealed

— Worship is God revealing His heart to His children

— Worship is impossible without a revelation of God

— Worship is God Emmanuel (God with/among Us)

— Worship is where we are changed into His image

— Worship is where we find the peace that passes all understanding

— Worship is an open door to the throne room audience with God

— Worship is the tenderness of God’s Love

— Worship is delighting in God

— Worship is initiated by God

— Worship is transformational

— Worship is contagious

— Worship is hearing and obeying His word

— Worship is obedience

— Worship is Intercession

— Worship is just one touch of the Masters hand

— Worship is where we allow the voice and will of God to be heard

— Worship is God filling our deepest longings

— Worship is joy unspeakable and full of glory

— Worship is the undoing of self as we pour out our hearts to God

— Worship is a fresh fire in our hearts for God every day

— Worship is healing: physical, spiritual, and emotional

— Worship is sharing the thoughts of Christ

— Worship is spending quality time in conversation with God

— Worship is an encounter with His name

— Worship is an open heart to hear from God

— Worship is a tiny glimpse of the glory and nature of God

— Worship is the counsel of God

— Worship is deep calling to deep

— Worship is the heartbeat of the Church

— Worship is a revelation of God that leaves a wake of destruction in my humanity

— Worship is God's call to intimacy and maturity

— Worship is our response to God for who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing

— Worship is a Holy Ghost ultrasound; it enlightens and detects the conditions of our lives within

— Worship is where God opens up the womb of heaven to deliver an announcement, revelation, or presentation of Himself to us here, in the earth
— Worship is loving Him, receiving Him, being changed by Him, showing Him, and then serving Him
— Worship is a full life response to the greatness and grace of God (Louie Giglio)
— Worship is getting to know and communicate in the heart of the Lord (Howard Faltz)
— Worship is an encounter with God for all generations, all, nations and all denominations!

Go HERE and HERE to find more definitions on worship

Definitions of Worship

Here are some fabulous definitions of worship:

• Louie Giglio: Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.
• Josh Riley: Worship is everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do, revealing that which we treasure and value most in life.
• John Piper: Worship is what we were created for. This is the final end of all existence-the worship of God. God created the universe so that it would display the worth of His glory. And He created us so that we would see this glory and reflect it by knowing and loving it-with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. The church needs to build a common vision of what worship is and what she is gathering to do on Sunday morning and scattering to do on Monday morning.
• Mark Driscoll: Worship is living our life individually and corporately as continuous living sacrifices to the glory of a person or thing.
• Harold Best: Worship is the sign that in giving myself completely to someone or something, I want to be mastered by it.
• Warren Weirsbe: Worship is the believer’s response to all they are – mind, emotions, will, body – to what God is and says and does.
• William Temple: Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose – and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.
• David Peterson: Worship of the living and true God is essentially an engagement with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible.
• A.W. Tozer: To great sections of the church the art of worship has been lost entirely, and in its place has come that strange and foreign thing called the ‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which now passes for worship among us.
• William Barclay: The true, the genuine worship is when man, through his spirit, attains to friendship and intimacy with God. True and genuine worship is not to come to a certain place; it is not to go through a certain ritual or liturgy; it is not even to bring certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.
• John Frame: Redemption is the means; worship is the goal. In one sense, worship is the whole point of everything. It is the purpose of history, the goal of the whole Christian story. Worship is not one segment of the Christian life among others. Worship is the entire Christian life, seen as a priestly offering to God. And when we meet together as a church, our time of worship is not merely a preliminary to something else; rather, it is the whole point of our existence as the body of Christ.
• John Piper: Strong affections for God, rooted in and shaped by the truth of Scripture – this is the bone and marrow of biblical worship.
• Vivien Hibbert: Worship is a journey into God

Go HERE and HERE for more definitions of worship

Comparing Traditional Worship With Prophetic Worship

Here is a chart that outlines the differences between traditional worship and prophetic worship. By "traditional" worship, I am referring to all of our churches and denominations - every one of us have traditions that dictate how we do things over the years. The traditions themselves are not wrong - it is only when we put our traditions above the presence of God that they hold us back.

Look at this short discussion on: Traditions vs Traditionalism 

Prophetic Worship is any worship where we allow God to speak back into our personal lives, or in the Church. When His voice and will are made known, and His presence is prioritized - that is prophetic worship.

Traditional Worship	Prophetic Worship
1. Worship is defined by what we are doing: our various expressions and forms of worship etc. Many feel that praise is defined by fast songs and worship by slow songs.	Worship is defined by what the Lord is doing. Praise includes all our expressions of what He has done, is doing and is going to do. Worship is our response to His manifest presence.
2. The worship leader is in control.	The worship leader leads, but is also a door keeper and facilitator. The Holy Spirit is primarily the worship leader—the one directing and in control of the service.
3. A small number—those on the platform (pastors, singers, musicians, etc.), function as ministers in the service.	The whole congregation is a holy, royal, priesthood. Each one is responsible for participating in the service and ministering to the Lord.
4. There are definite time limits on the worship service.	No time limits. Worship takes as long as the Holy Spirit directs.
5. The songs/hymns are regarded as being less important in the overall service than the preaching of the word.	The songs/hymns and whole worship time are regarded as having equal importance with the preaching.
6. Our denomination determines the way we worship and has definite ideas about worship forms.	The word of God is our guide and foundation for worship structure and forms.
7. Our worship may be determined and greatly influenced by our culture.	Our nation of birth and/or residence is not our focus. We belong to a new nation—the Kingdom of God, where the standard for appropriate worship is determined by the King. Worship is made suitable for the King and not necessarily the culture.
8. There is an emphasis on the music. Music and all art forms are used for performance, entertainment and accompaniment. There is art for art’s sake. Any art forms used in worship such as music are an end unto themselves. Success is measured by excellence in the art form.	There is an emphasis on the manifest presence of God. Music and all art forms are for ministry to God and His people. The goal is the glory of God. All art forms must be ministered in a prophetic sense. They are a means to an end. Success is measured by the presence of God and His work in our lives.
9. There is little or no change of music styles and repertoire over the years.	The music and songs we sing are seen as an ongoing reinforcement of the things that the Lord is showing us, therefore they are continually changing.
10. In order for the congregation to participate in worship they do not need to mature. Nothing more is required of the worship leader and team than to be artists.	Prophetic worship is only possible with a congregation that continues to mature and grow in the likeness of Christ. The worship leader and team are required to be students of the presence of God and to carry a prophetic anointing on their lives.
11. Worship is an individual experience.	Worship does not stop at being an individual experience, it must include the corporate journey.
12. There is little or no expectation of hearing God's voice today in the worship service. The majority of the direction of our spiritual communication is from "man to God."	The hearing of God's voice for today is one of the primary objectives of prophetic worship. There is openness for "two-way" or reciprocal communication with God, i.e. man to God and God to man.