How Can I Prepare for Worship on Sunday Mornings?

PREPARE for worship before you come on Sunday morning. How can you prepare?

Remember WHAT worship is all about. It is the offering up of our whole lives to the God who has lavished mountains of mercy on us (Romans 12:1). Worship is acknowledging God’s worth. Worship is focusing the heart on God and gazing at His character according to the truth of His Word. Worship is expressing the joy of our salvation in melody.

Remember WHO worship is all about. Worship is about God. It is about the TRIUNE God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worship is NOT about me. That is, I am not the focus of Christian and biblical worship. Worship is not about whether my likes and dislikes have been met on a particular morning. It is about latching onto God with my soul and drinking deeply of His beauty: Psalm 27:4. Look for Jesus in the worship time; nothing else.

Ask for the HOLY SPIRIT’S help. God-centered and God-pleasing worship is only possible with the Spirit’s empowering (Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16). But, OH, how He empowers! We are told to ask for His help and the Father will give it: Luke 11:13.

Make sure there is no lingering and unaddressed sin in your life. David made it clear that if we have sin in our hearts the Lord will not hear us: Psalm 66:18. If we have been loose with our tongue or reacting in anger to others and have not confessed our sin to God and to those we have offended, the Spirit of God is grieved: Ephesians 4:29-31.

Start preparing for Corporate Worship the night before. Staying up late watching a soul-numbing movie or surfing the net or beginning the Lord’s Day with an hour in the newspaper and no time in the Word will leave an unhealthy slime on your heart that leaves it unprepared for the pursuit of a holy God and His Son. Instead, get to bed sufficiently early the night before and begin the next day with private time before the Lord in prayer and His Word. Time in His Word, listening to His voice, tunes the heart for careful listening later.

Pray as a family BEFORE you get to the church facilities. Pray together asking God to do the things we’ve mentioned above. Allow the children to pray. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you as a family to learn something that will help you know Him better and serve Him more faithfully. Tell Him together how much you love Him. AND IF you happen to have one of those Sunday morning family “meltdowns” before arriving at church, GET IT RIGHT with each other BEFORE you leave your car.