There are a lot of different teachings on the concept of worship. I want to talk about worship at a very fundamental level. Sometimes I hear people say that they can't understand why God would "need" worship. Is he conceited? Have a godlike ego? The reality is true worship has nothing to do with conceit or ego. It has everything to do with relationship. A living relationship where life is flowing between us and God.

Let's look at a passage from Ephesians 6.

 ¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

So we have our armor on. In the course of our daily life we struggle against spiritual things coming against us. So an adversary comes at us with a sword and we put up a shield, or block the adversary's sword with the word of God. We stand firm. And we get used to fighting. After a while fighting and resisting things can become habitual. Then one day an adversary with a big sword comes against us and when we look at him we see that it's our heavenly father. What do we do?

We throw down our shield and sword and take off all the armor. We completely expose ourselves to him and allow him to use his sword on us in any way he wants. We do this because we worship him. We have a relationship where God can speak in our lives, change us, do whatever is needed to form us into the image of Jesus. His sword does not come at us to destroy anything except our flesh and our own will. God's sword imparts strength. It gives life. When we don't expose ourselves to his sword it cost us strength. It cost us life.

It is important to understand that worship is for God alone. There are men we submit to but never worship. It is extremely unhealthy for one person to worship another person. But when we worship God it results in life and health and peace.

Set your heart to stand firm in the armor of God. And set your heart to remove anything that might "protect" you when God comes with his sword. That's worship.