Gathered Worship

I believe that our times of gathered worship are very significant. When we worship God in a corporate setting with other believers there is a release of God's presence, power, and life, that is different from our personal or private worship. Often when people are experiencing a difficult time in their lives, they have the tendency to separate or withdraw. I myself have experienced these same feelings when I have been in a difficult place. Perhaps this is human nature. However, my advice to myself, and others who are struggling, is that times of struggle are the times that we need to immerse ourselves in gathered worship.

Why is gathered worship important? Let me suggest several reasons:

1. It is a profession of faith

When we worship, we acknowledge that there is, in fact, a God in heaven. As we do this together, there is a release God’s presence, power, and life. There is something very significant about the church worshipping and declaring together that God "is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11.6).

2. It releases the power community life

We live in a very fractured world. There is power in what we sing and declare together as the body of Christ. Many times in the New Testament we read about being of "one heart" or of "one mind". There is power in agreement. As believers we walk together in a covenant relationship with one another. When we worship together, the life of that common relationship is released.

3. It transforms

Our own lives are often very fractured. In gathered worship there is also a healing that takes place as we worship God as one complete person- body, soul, and spirit. Worshipping God with others releases a transforming power that can bring healing to our own inner man, to who we are as a person.

As King David said, "I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD” (Psalm 122.1).

In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews said …

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 10:23–25).

As we worship God together we can encourage one another and experience the healing presence and power of God. Let us go up to the house of the Lord together and worship God.

(Some thoughts for this blog were taken from an article by Adam Russell on the importance of worship.)