As Christ followers, have you ever had those times in your life when God needed to remind you of that which you already know? This happened to me as I reflected on Exodus 19-20. God reminded me about three practices of worship. Then He challenged me again with these practices of worship. In the process of this reflection on Exodus 19-20, I realized, once again, how easily I can become careless in my attitude towards worship.

First, we need to meditate on the character of God. He is the Creator; we are the creatures. He is perfectly sovereign; we need to be dependent upon Him. He is absolutely holy; we are absolutely unholy. He is all powerful, all present, all knowing; we are not. He cannot tolerate sin; we are sinful. When we are in the presence of His holiness, we should be driven to our knees in voluntary submission, repentance, and faith.

If we consider the examples of Moses, David, Isaiah, the apostles Peter and John, all of them fell on their faces in a healthy reverential fear and love when they realized they were in the presence of God. Our daily devotions and personal worship time with God should help us meditate on His character so that we come into His presence with reverence and awe.

Second, when we realize the perfect holiness of God, we should prepare our hearts so that we can have a powerful encounter with Him. During the course of each day, we should be letting the Word and the Holy Spirit reveal sin in our hearts so that we can repent and receive God’s promised forgiveness which was won for us at Calvary. As we spend time with God throughout the day and we choose to remain obedient to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to see His hand in all the challenges of each day. Then when we come together on Sunday to worship corporately, we will be able to come with a humble, reverential, and submissive attitude in celebration of His grace, love and mercy.

Third, we need to come to worship with a good mental and physical alertness. In practical terms, this means that we take care of ourselves so we get good nutrition and rest before we come into His presence as individuals or corporately. If we come to worship mentally and physically exhausted, we might miss the Word and the blessings God has for us. Worship can become a chore rather than a spiritual encounter with the living God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I believe the goal of transformation discipleship is that we becomes worshipers who worship God in spirit and truth. This is part of God’s process to help each of us mature spiritually from the inside out so that we may glorify, honor, and serve God and others through all our years.