Pekka Hautakangas: What is worship?

In worship, man knowingly draws himself close to God. The bible teaches that when we draw ourselves close to God, He draws Himself to us. God’s arms are always open, but He invites us to take our own step towards Him. God is holy and perfect. When a creation experiences the presence of his Creator, his automatic reaction is admiration and praise. Man’s heart is filled with deep honor, love and gratefulness towards his Creator. Worship is thus a natural reaction to God’s presence.

Why?
God is good and His mercy endures forever. God has prepared salvation to man through His Son Jesus Christ. Through the atonement of Jesus we own the perfect forgiveness of our sin and a place as God’s children. This gives Christians a constant reason to worship. Experiencing personally the love of God, makes us want to give love back. In Luke chapter 7 we read about a woman in sin who came to Jesus and showed powerfully rare and brave worship. Jesus said, that the reason for this woman’s great love is, that she understood that she was forgiven much.

The bible clearly shows us, that worship is not tied up in feelings or circumstances. God is always worthy of our praise. The bible simply commands us to worship God.
Revelation 19:5 “Then a voice from the throne, saying: Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great!”

According to the bible, looking at Christ changes man in a positive way into His likeness (2nd Corinthians 3:18). When we stay in God’s presence and let the Holy Spirit glorify Christ to us, we learn to know Him. The attitude of our heart changes and we want to grow into His likeness. When we proclaim with our own mouth biblical truths about Him, and do not let our emotions or our limited experiences prevent it, this truth affects positive change in us.
Praise directs our sight away from our incompleteness to God’s boundless possibilities. That is why praise helps us to get over hardship and strengthens faith. It says in Acts chapter 16, that Paul and Silas chose to worship the Lord in difficult circumstances in prison. They had been sent there without fault. After that circumstances changed. Lifting God up is a powerful weapon, because it opens a possibility to God’s supernatural manifestation. The people of Israel experienced it many times (for example 2nd Chronicles 20:22).

How?
Worship is a way to experience and receive love between man and God. That is why everyone worships in their own personal way. The bible promises, that where the Holy Spirit is, there is freedom. Experiencing the love of God drives away every fear.

Even though the most important thing is to worship God in your everyday life, mostly in church one worships together. In worshipping together, likewise in praying together, there is an extremely great power.
In praise we proclaim God’s victory and honor Him. This affects the worshipper, but also the spirit realm. It pleases God when the church comes together in unity and the members love each other. God appears in this kind of atmosphere (for example Acts 4:31-32).

Praise and music are many times connected together. Music is an important part of the church service and worship. For example King David, who renewed the church service, gave a great importance to music (1st Chronicles 25). Music is just only one way to worship. One can worship God without music, even without words. What counts is a genuine attitude of the heart.
You can take part in worship in many ways and find your own way to express worship to God. Some sing, play, dance, laugh, cry, some pray silently and some shout for joy. Everything happens though in the direction of the Holy Spirit and everyone’s attention is on the Lord. It is also important to recognize, that your expression doesn’t have to stay the same but God wants to liberate us from our inhibitions and our constricted assumptions, the fear of man etc. In Hebrew there are many words to describe worship that have very different accents. There you can see the whole tapestry of man’s different feelings and the enormous riches of expression, from bowing in silence and honor to rejoicing in strong feelings, jumping for joy, shouting for joy etc. When God can liberate us, we can worship Him in the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every circumstance and in many ways.

Praise guides us into experiencing God’s presence. In God’s presence the worshipper is filled with love towards God. This is called worship. Praise should lead us towards worship, into experiencing God’s presence more deeply, where everything else looses its meaning. Then God can really appear and talk to us. In these circumstances God can also heal us and make us whole. It is so good to be in God’s presence that you don’t want to leave. There we feel like home. It is our right and for that we have been created.

Psalm 103: 1-2 “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all his benefits”

Psalm 18:1-3 ”I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold”.

Psalm 63: 1-8 “O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me”
Song of Songs 2:16 “My lover is mine and I am His…”

Text: Pekka Hautakangas
Photos: Martti Kortelainen
Translation: Tammy Young