When You Don't Feel Like Worshipping

A church member recently passed on an article to me called *When You Don’t Feel Like Worshipping. I found it incredibly valuable and shared it with the Worship Committee at my church. I’d also like to share some of my thoughts about it with you.

A part of the reality of the Christian life is that frankly, we don’t always feel like worshipping. Often times church leaders address this fact by trying to incorporate things in worship that people do feel like doing, hoping that these things will help the body of Christ to worship. The problem is that these church leaders ask the wrong question. They ask, ‘What do our church members want to do?’ and then label those things as worship. They should be asking the question, ‘What does God want us to do? And how do we encourage our congregation to do those things even when they don’t feel like it?’ 

What I appreciate about this article is that it addresses this question from the perspective of the individual. It’s not the responsibility of the Pastor or Worship Leader to make you to want to worship; that is your own responsibility. The article encourages the Biblical concept of waiting on the Lord. It says, “The Hebrew word for waiting does not mean passive waiting; it means eager seeking. It means taking the steps that God has promised to use to help us, while trusting him expectantly to work.” I think this is incredibly helpful as a believer. Even more helpfully, the author gives four specific action points that I want to share with you:

1. Look to Jesus expectantly. Don’t focus on your lifeless heart. Instead, look to Christ with faith, trusting him to meet you, help you, and change you.

2. Pray and ask him to help you worship. Be honest with him about the dullness of your heart. Confess any known sin, and be assured of forgiveness based on the finished work of the cross. Then ask for more of the Spirit’s work in your heart to enable you to feel joyful praise, awestruck wonder, and heartfelt longing for him.

3. Set your heart on the truth of who God is as revealed in Christ. If worship is fire, then truth is the fuel that causes the fire to burn. The more fuel — the hotter the fire. So focus prayerfully and relentlessly on the truth in the songs, the prayers, and the Scriptures.

4. Continue the above steps — patiently. It’s called waiting for a reason. God might change your heart instantly — or not. But his timing is all about his perfect love for you. So humbly continue waiting for him.

What I most appreciate about these action points is how Christ centered, Spirit dependent, and Gospel saturated they are. Even as we are waiting on the Lord we are to lean on the Spirit to awaken our hearts anew to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And when that happens, it seems there is nothing more appropriate to do than to offer worship to the God who is worthy.

* The article ‘When You Don't Feel Like Worshipping’ by Steve Fuller can be found here:http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/when-you-don-t-feel-like-worshiping