7 Tips to Worship When You Don’t Feel Like It
Good intentions are great, but often they fall short when our motivation runs out. So what do you do when you you’re not feeling it? How do can we shift our actions away from following our emotions to following through on our commitments? When it comes to worship and spiritual growth there are things we can do help us overcome the pull of our feelings away from the good intentions we have of giving God the focus He is worthy of. Here are 7 Tips to Worship when you Don’t Feel Like It:
1. MIND YOUR SURROUNDINGS
In the business world, there is a lot of focus on the work environment. Both on a macro level in designing an office building, but also on a micro level regarding your personal office and desk. The reason they focus so much on it is because it’s been proven that if you give attention to improving your workspace it will result in more productivity. The same principle applies to our spiritual lives. Your environment makes a big difference. If you want to improve your connection with the Lord, then pay attention to your surroundings. Do you have a designated “spot” to meet with the Lord? What about that spot helps you connect with the Lord? Is there anything you can do to help yourself “go there” in worship?
Whether you’re setting up a date or merely getting yourself ready for bed, there are ways that you prepare your surroundings to be most effective. Setting the stage in your environment will almost always help in accomplishing your goal. Worship is no different.
2. JUST SCHEDULE IT
There is a well know productivity axiom that says,”if it isn’t on the calendar it doesn’t exist.” I think all of us can relate to this and acknowledge that if you don’t schedule something it is far less likely for it to actually happen. When it comes to our person walk with the Lord, you must be purposeful otherwise it is way too easy for the Lord to not get the attention that is due Him. Life happens. Urgent things come up, but that is no reason of the Lord to be neglected.
When I’m struggling to cultivate the habit of meeting with the Lord, I like to envision my time with the Lord in the same way I would as setting up a consistent appointment with an important person in my life. I get it on the calendar with clear dates, times and places so I can block it out to avoid interruptions. If you had a breakfast date with a hero in your life I would guess it would take something drastic to highjack that meeting. Reality is, you are meeting with the most important person in your life. He is worthy of your undivided attention and schedule.
3. KNOW WHAT STIRS YOUR AFFECTIONS
When you first meet a crush it takes very little effort for your emotions to be stirred. Everything is new and you find yourself with butterflies in your stomach with just the thought of them. You daydream about them and conjure up ways to just be near them. Emotions are incredibly powerful, but they are short-lived. One minute you may “feel” passionate about a person and the next your feelings with tell you something all together different. In the your love life, it is incredibly important for me to understand the difference between emotions and affections. Emotions are fleeting but affections are long-standing. Emotions will lead you on an erratic path to fulfill your every whim whereas your affections are steady and enduring.
Your relationship with the Lord will be full of ups and downs. In some seasons you won’t have to motivate yourself to love the Lord, but there are other times that you will need to learn the skill of stirring your affections for the Lord. Sometime I will expound on this further, but it is the ability to remind yourself of why you followed the Lord in the first place. Maybe its taking communion or recalling times in your life where the Lord was particularly faithful. Maybe its an activity or a place that draws you closer to the Lord. Whatever it is, I encourage you to learn what kinds of things stir your affections for the Lord? What practical steps can you take that you can regularly go back to to better connect with Him in your life?
4. IDENTIFY WHAT ROBS YOUR AFFECTIONS
If affections are longstanding, then you will certainly deal with things in your life that will tend to erode it. It’s important to know and identify the things that rob your affections so you can eliminate or guard against them. Most of these things will creep up on you not even knowing they are numbing or distracting you. Likely they are things that tend to lead your eyes off of Jesus and on to other things. Worry and Fear are classic robbers that distract away from the Lord to focus on problems around you. Other times it’s activities you do to “get away” from life whether it’s Netflix binging, social media or alcohol and drugs. Learning to identify these things will help your faith from eroding without even knowing it.
5. STOP COMFORT-LEECHES
Scripture tells us that a primary role of the Holy Spirit is Comforter. John 14:16 says, “And I will pray to the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” The Holy Spirit lives within you and is intended to actively function in your everyday life. Comfort-leeches are things that we tend to turn to for comfort other than the Lord. Some of the things I listed above may overlap into this category, but it is important to examine our lives to see if we are medicating ourselves in any way instead of relying on the Lord. When we seek comfort in other things we rob ourselves of being comforted by Him. When we sooth our pain with things of this world we will find ourselves perpetually seeking more and more, but never being fulfilled. Ultimately, only the Lord can truly satisfy but comfort-leeches will sap the life out of your passion for the Lord.
6. REMIND YOURSELF
Anything that takes endurance requires the ability to mentally overcome the hardship of the scenario in front of them. A runner has to look past the immediate pain and discomfort to remind themselves of the training and goal set before them. Without a doubt, our relationship with the Lord is a marathon versus a sprint. You will often lose focus or wan to give up. First Love has history and much of the spiritual life is developing a history with the Lord. From that history we must develop the skill to remind ourselves of why we worship Him in the first place. Reminding ourselves of who He is and what He has done both in our lives and throughout history. Much of the Psalms are cries to themselves to remember who the Lord is and what He has done. Reminding yourself is a way of drawing your perspective away from the here and now to focus upon the character and faithfulness of God which leads us to respond in worship.
7. FEED YOUR SOUL
“For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45
The more healthy a tree is the more fruit it will bear. The more healthy and full your heart…the more naturally worship will flow out. You were made to worship so the better you can feed your soul will perpetuate in an overflow of worship to Him. If you don’t feel like worship then perhaps its because your heart isn’t full. The same way you feed your stomach on a schedule…feed your soul so it can respond as it should. Your heart needs rest. Your heart needs nourishment. One of the easiest ways to feed your soul is be reading God’s Word. It rarely feels exciting at first, but if you endure you will find your heart being filled and worship will be the result.
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