Mark 12:30
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.

God doesn’t want a part of you life. He asks for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. God is not interested in half-hearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires your full devotion, not little bits of your life.
Where you worship is not as important as why you worship and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship.

Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics.

1) God is pleased when our worship is accurate

We can not just create our own comfortable or politically correct image of God and worship it. That is idolatry.
Worship must be based on Truth of Scripture, not our opinions about God.

John 4:23
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.

2) God is pleased when our worship is authentic

When Jesus said you must “worship in spirit”, he wasn’t referring to the Holy Spirit, but to your spirit. Made in God’s image, you are a spirit that resides in a body, and God designed your spirit to communicate with him. Worship is your spirit responding to God’s spirit.

1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Worship involves delighting in God, it engages your emotions.
Many forms of praise are mentioned in the Bible, among them confessions, sighing, shouting, standing in honor, kneeling, dancing, making a joyful noise, testifying, playing musical instruments, and raising hands.

Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Psalm 7:17
I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
Ezra 3:11
And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:
“For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.”
Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
Psalm 149:3
Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.
Psalm 150:3
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp!
Nehemiah 8:6
And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.
Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

You don’t bring glory to God by trying to be someone he never intended you to be. God wants you to be yourself.

John 4:23 (msg)
But the time is coming – it has, in fact, come – when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

3) God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful

“love with all your mind” is repeated four times in the New Testament. You must engage your mind.
Jesus called thoughtless worship “vain repetitions”

Matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Try praising God without using the words praise, hallelujah, thanks, or amen. Instead of saying “we just want to praise you”, make a list of synonyms and use fresh words like admire, respect, value, revere, honor, and appreciate.

1 Corinthians 14:40
Let all things be done decently and in order.
1 Corinthians 14:16-17
Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say? ¹⁷ For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

Being sensitive to unbelievers who visit your worship gatherings is a biblical command. To ignore this command is to be both disobedient and unloving.

4) God is pleased when our worship is practical.

Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Without your body you can’t do anything on this planet. In eternity you will receive a new, improved, upgraded body, but while you’re here on earth, God says “Give me what you’ve got!” He’s just being practical about worship. As long as you’re on earth, your spirit can only be where your body is. If your body isn’t there, neither are you.

2 Samuel 24:24
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

One thing worship costs is our self-centeredness. You can not exalt God and yourself at the same time. You don’t worship to be seen by others or to please yourself.
Worship takes effort and energy. It is not always convenient or comfortable, and sometimes worship is an oxymoron.

Heart of Worship by Matt Redman

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.

Point to Ponder: God wants all of me
Verse to Remember: Mark 12:30 – And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.
Question to Consider: Which is more pleasing to God right now – my public worship or my private worship? What will I do about this?

You know, this really didn’t hit home till recently.
I will say, it does matter what I do and say in public, but my worship and where I worship is just right for me. I personally like worshiping in my own time, in my peace of mind, in the quiet so I can hear within my spirit. I want to in tune to what God wants to tell me.

Day 1 – It’s Not About Me
Day 2 – You are Not An Accident
Day 3 – What Drives Your Life
Day 4 – Made to Last Forever
Day 5 – Life from God’s View
Day 6 – Life is a Temporary Assignment
Day 7 – The Reason for Everything
Day 8 – Planned For God’s Pleasure
Day 9 – What Makes God Smile
Day 10 – The Heart of Worship
Day 11 – Becoming Best Friends with God
Day 12 – Developing Your Friendship with God