1. By knowing the One Whom we worship

Ascribing the proper worth to God requires a deep and vital relationship with Him, spending time with Him, learning of Him, His ways and His character.

Our worship must be based upon fact, not emotion. And if we don't know the facts, we need to get into God's Word to find out what He says about Himself, because we cannot worship what we do not know.

Our worship will only be as deep as our understanding of the fearful distance between our holiness, and God's holiness. We need to see God for who He is, and see ourselves for who we are and then respond accordingly.

When Isaiah saw that awesome vision of God, seated upon His throne, high and lifted up, the train of His robe filling the temple, he said, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

2. By subordinating my will to the will of the Father

Worship must be on God's terms, not ours. We must declare that His desires, His priorities, His word and His presence be exalted in our lives and in our times of worship.

Isaiah 2:3 says, "Many peoples shall come and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem."

We must decide to live our lives in submission to the Holy Spirit and to the word of God.

Isaiah 66:2 says, "All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word."

Standing alone infinitely high above every other is one great act of submission . . .

Matthew 26:39 says of Jesus, "And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt'."

And have we not all been made beneficiaries of His submission ?

3. By making room for God in our lives and in our worship services

A minister, who was away from his family for an extended time, called home to check on his 5-year old daughter. He said, "What are you doing honey?" She said, "I'm having a tea-party Daddy". He said, "Well, would you set a place for me, so we could pretend like I'm there?" She said, "I already did, Daddy. I set 5 places for you, 'cause I didn't know where you'd rather sit".

Are we setting a place for God in our meetings? Or are they so cluttered with our agendas, there's little room left over for Him? Is it just that little moment between the fast songs and the slow songs?

Have we set a place for Him in our homes? Is there an altar there for Him, or is it so cluttered with the busy-ness of daily living that there's just no room?

Have we set a place for Him on the throne of our hearts? Or, when He tries to come in, does He find it cluttered with all the other things that vie for our devotion?

4. By worshiping in private

The key that opens the door to an expressive time of worship corporately is a deep, intimate time of worship privately. We must allow our private passion to crash in on our public gatherings.

In 2 Samuel 6:12 and following, what David did as he danced with abandon before the ark of the Lord as it was brought to the City of David, was the same thing that he had done for so many years on the back side of the pasture, where no one could see him but God and the sheep.

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor said that if you're not worshiping in your own private times of devotion, chances are that you won't feel the freedom to worship Him in public either.

5. By deciding, every day, to live the yielded, crucified life

We must offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, every single day.

Our lives should be lived continually exalting the Lord, blessing Him and praising Him, no matter what our circumstances might be.

Suppose I decided that, because I didn't like the song that the worship team was doing, I was going to hold my breath.

You see how the one thing is totally unrelated to the other? But we often withhold our worship from God, for some totally unrelated issue. We tend toward making the worship service self-centered instead of God-centered.

So after a service, if I say that worship wasn't very good this morning, it was because I failed to send up praise and glory and honor in humble adoration of the King of all creation. I probably let something distract me from giving God the praise He deserves.

6. By a passionate display of heartfelt gratitude

For the sacrifice He made for us on the cross; for delivering us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light; for healing us; for the daily provision of all our needs . . . the list just goes on and on forever.

Psalm 79:13 says, "Then we, Your people, the ones You love and care for, will thank You over and over and over. We'll tell everyone we meet how wonderful You are, how praiseworthy You are !"

1 Samuel 2:1-10 is Hannah's prayer of praise to God for giving her Samuel, the son whom she had prayed for. In this prayer she said, "My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance".

In Matthew 15:8&9, Jesus (quoting Isaiah 29:13) says, "These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote".

If we're merely paying lip service to God, not feeling any sense of admiring awe or astonished wonder, we're not worshiping.