Worship, what is it?

Worship is an exercise of the human spirit that is directed primarily to God; it is an enterprise undertaken not simply to satisfy our need or to make us feel better or to minister to our aesthetic taste or social well-being, but to express the worthiness of God Himself....To worship God is to ascribe to Him supreme worth, for He is uniquely worthy to be honored in this way. John MacArthur, Jr. is absolutely correct when he says: "That consuming, selfless desire to give to God is the essence and the heart of worship. It begins with the giving first of ourselves, and then of our attitudes, and then of our possessions -- until worship is a way of life".

The emphasis in true worship is on giving, not receiving. Those who complain that the singing is uninspiring; the sermons are dry, dull, and dusty; and the service is boring, etc. often do so, I'm convinced, because they have missed the fundamental essence of what worship is all about in the first place. I fear that the microwave mentality of our convenience-crazed society has crept into the souls of Christians to such an extent that we want a "fastfood faith" and a "remote-control religion". Now, I am certainly not defending sloppy singing, sorry sermons, or shabby services, but when it comes to this thing called worship, if we are thinking more about me, myself, and I than we are about God, we have gotten the cart before the horse, and things will never be what they ought to be until we change that.

The emphasis in true worship is on giving the best we have, not the left-overs. All throughout the Old Testament, God demanded the very best from His people: the firstlings of the flock, the firstborn of man and animal, the firstfruit of the harvest. When the site and the sacrifice were offered to David free of charge so that he might appease the wrath of God, because he had presumptuously numbered Israel without God's approval David said: "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" (1 Sam. 24:24). The heart that says: "Let's worship God, but let's do it as quickly, conveniently, cheaply, and effortlessly as possible" does not understand the very essence of what true worship is all about. If God would not accept "the leftovers" from His people in the days of the prophets (Mal. 1:7-8, 10; cf. Amos 5:21; Hos. 6:4-6; Isa. 1:11-15), He will not accept anything less than the very best that we have to offer Him today.

It is only when we come to realize that worship is a selfless act of giving and when we give selflessly to our God that worship will be the meaningful experience for us that we and God want it to be. This is one of the great paradoxes of the spiritual life. Just as we must lose our life to find it (Mt. 10:39), and hate our life to keep it (Jn. 12:25), and humble ourselves to be exalted (Mt. 23:12), so we must give of ourselves completely and totally to the worship of God to receive abundant spiritual blessings in return. It was Jesus our Lord who said: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Lk. 6:38). No wonder Jesus said "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), for it is only in giving that we really can receive. At the end of a worship service, the questions that each of us should ask are not: "Did I enjoy it?" or "Did I get anything out of it?" but rather "Was God pleased?" and "How did I do?" The person, whose primary concern is "What's in it for me?" (Mal. 3:13-15), does not understand what worship is all about.

http://www.bible.ca/ef/topical-what-the-bible-says-about-worship.htm

The above was said by someone else, but I think says it better then I could.

worhip is to live our lives to glorfy God. In everything..

"My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches." (Ps 63:5,6)

Or....

Charles Spurgeon said:

There is no effect produced upon a man’s conscience by his being sprinkled, or by his taking the sacraments, he can do all that and be as much a pleasure-lover, or a worshipper of Mammon, as he was before; but, to worship God spiritualty, a man must give up his sins, must overcome his pride and lust, and his evil concupiscence must be cast out of him. Many persons might honestly declare, “I do not mind worshipping God if it consists in doing penance, or going without meat on Fridays; but if I am to give up my sins, love God, seek Christ, trust to him, I cannot attend to that.” Furthermore, man, for the most part, somehow cannot get the idea of this spiritual worship into his brain, Oh the many times I have tried to preach spiritual worship here, and yet I am conscious that when I try at it I do not interest many of you, and some of you think, “if he would only give us more metaphors, more anecdotes, and so on;” I say I will do that, for I believe we should speak by parable, but sometimes I do not know how to clothe these spiritual things without making you look at the clothing rather than the spirit. It is not your worshipping God by words in hymns and prayers, or sitting in a certain place, or covering your faces at certain times that is accept able to him; true worship lies in your heart paying reverence to him, your soul obeying him, and your inner nature coming into conformity to his own nature, by the work of his Spirit in your soul; and because men can scarcely get the idea of this till the Holy Spirit gives it to them, this is a reason why it is so rare, so exceedingly rare.

Click to expand...

I can't make up my mind which one hits the nail on the head better....hmm...

It's what happens when we acknowledge how infinitely small we are compared to God.

Worship is our lives when they glorify God.

The tabernacle and temple were representations on earth, the closest we could come to the activity that goes on around God's throne in Heaven. Why was there no description of "Christian" worship or liturgy specified in the NT? Because everyone knew what worship was - it was what went on in the Temple.

Worship

God does not require,
we simply just desire.

Worship is what happens when we suddenly just stop and think about the fact that God's just pretty darn cool.

It can happen whether you're in a church surrounded by hundreds of other people or just taking a walk through a meadow or forest and you spot a deer or a particularly pretty flower.

Job 1:20
At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship.
i love this verse -it addresses one of the aspects of worship: we should worship even when things are horrible. why? because God is good and does not change regardless of our circumstances. He is always worthy to be praised.

these are great and come from the heart of one of the greatest worshippers spoken of in the Old Testament.
two of the aspects that really stand out to me when I read these are God's Holiness and that it's not about us, but it IS all about Him.
Psalm 29:2
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
Psalm 86:9
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
Psalm 96:9
Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
Psalm 99:5
Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.
Psalm 100:2
Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 99:9
Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.