I hear these words so much when people ask me for God advice. My answer is always that worship doesn't have to be as official as you think it does. You don't have to be in a church, with your youth group, or at summer camp to worship a God who is grateful for your praise always.
I don't have one specific way of worshipping, either. I don't think anyone does. If we did the same things all the time, we'd forget their meanings and just go through the motions.
You feel this too--I know you do. I do. Don't you ever just sit in church and think, "This is so boring....get me out of here....I'd rather be sleeping"? WE ALL DO. Every single one of us has probably felt that way multiple times, I know I have (hey, I'm not gonna lie about it!). But great news: there are other ways to spend time with God.
God loves our attention. Hey, if I created the universe, I'd love recognition too! But He also loves it because we're taking time to think about Him. When I hear "worship", I automatically think "spending time with God". They're synonyms.
When I interviewed for my job at Sky Ranch Christian Camps last year, they asked me what my favorite way to worship God was. I thought about it for a moment. What was my favorite way? I had done a lot, but my favorite was just simply having a conversation about Jesus. Seriously: that's not only my favorite way to worship, but my favorite thing to do ever. Wanna get to know me? Just say "Hey...you like Jesus, right?" and we can talk for 3 hours. Is this worship? YES!!!!! The question is, how is it not? You're spending time with God and diving deeper into His love. The best part about it is that you're sharing what you know about His word to other people and you're getting insight on what others feel, too.
Another thing I do (okay, I try to keep up with it, I really do) is prayer journaling. Working on books of the Bible, dissecting verses, writing to God...you get more out of it when you write it out. It's a slower and more thoughtful way. You have time to digest everything as you fill those pages with ink.
Music. Alright, this is a runner-up to conversing. Did you know that they're such a thing as Christian music? Okay, well if you did, did you know that if comes in literally every genre imaginable? Some people are so opposed to it. Why? It's literally just a normal song you'd hear on the radio...just with better lyrics. I try to listen to it in the morning when I wake up so that I can start my day of right before I go to school. My favorite Christian music is worship music, though. At night, I blast it in my car and those are some of the most prayerful moments I have.
Check out some of these worship songs...I know a million but these are the ones that truly leave me in awe of what a powerful God we serve.
"Cannons" by Phil Wickham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GNVWAo1pY
"After All (Holy)" by The David Crowder Band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXElUPuIDTw
"Overcome" by Jeremy Camp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqXZD_z3eCc
"You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4cYdP1ngw
"How He Loves" by The David Crowder Band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCunuL58odQ
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