Recently, thanks to the guidance of Brandon Simpson, the male housing coordinator at North Greenville University, I have begun to go through the book of Psalms using the bible to interpret each verse. The idea of this comes from Philippians 4:8 –
Philippians 4:8 (New International Version)
whatever is true,
whatever is noble,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—
think about such things.
The idea is to think about each verse in the book of psalms individually using Philippians 4:8 as a method of evaluating and delving (diggin') into God's Word further.
Now you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with worship? He's just talking about reading his bible.”
And I have to say that you've made a good observation in asking this question. But in all honesty, not to mention based off the Word of God, reading and studying the holy inspired Word of God is the very essence of personal worship.
Too many times as a “Christian” nation we get wrapped up in corporate worship, we fall into the stereotype of people that are
“good” hand raisers or, “good” singers or “good” clappers or, “good” whatever you do to feel like worship in a church service setting
and too many times we miss out on the personal side of that worship.
God wants a personal relationship with you,
not with the group that you are with,
but with you specifically.
In a service, or a crowd of people that are doing the same thing as you, it is easy to fool your neighbor, or even the church staff, into thinking that you are worshiping (when in fact you are just playing the part).
Some of this is hard to read,
but I urge you keep with me here,
it gets better, maybe. ;-)
The truth of the matter is there are two main ways that God can regularly interact with us.
The first is through prayer. Prayer is a substance of worship.
The veil was torn so that there can be a direct line from us to God. What people tend to not realize is that the line of connectivity that was made, was not just made for wishes alone. The “genie” complex comes into effect, we ask for what we want or need like rubbing a magic lamp hoping for our prayers to be answered affirmatively.
I ask you this, “What if what you're asking for is out of God's Will for your life?' Will you hold a grudge against God or thank and praise/WORSHP your Father through it all because He is almighty and sovereign? This is the human selfishness at its worst.
The second way is through bible study and meditating on His Word.
The Philippians 4:8 way that I have described is just a suggestion for how you can get involve in personally worshiping the Almighty God. There are many books out there that can lead you through a personal worship style of bible study.
Worship To Me
Worship to me has become more personal through the study of His Word. Singing is just one point of that which is worship. Corporate worship is great, but if its all you have you are going to be burnt out more easily. Our college minister saying that our witness, true witness, comes “out of the overflow” of our lives. We cannot even begin to hope and be filled to the point of overflow without a personal worship style study time in the Word of God. Therefore I urge you to not waste time, begin your overflow and begin worshiping through studying your bible.
Next I have posted the first chapter of Psalm. Try out the method that is posted at the beginning, and then pray and thank God for whatever you find in the passage to be true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.
Psalms 1
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
