Have you ever been in a church service and felt like you were just going through the motions? You sing. You pray. You read scripture. But you’re not really there. Your body is, but your mind is somewhere else. You want to be worshipping, but you're distracted or disengaged, and no matter how hard you try, it feels empty. Most Christians have experienced this. I certainly have. When this happens, it is frustrating. You feel discouraged because you feel so far from the Lord. One of the truths I recently remembered is that worship doesn’t begin when the first song starts. It begins long before that. It begins when the heart is prepared to seek God.
The Bible shows that worship is a response to God. We see this in the life of David. In Psalm 27:4, he writes, “One thing have I asked of the LORD…that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD.” David simply wanted to be near to God and to know him intimately. When David says he wants to dwell in the house of the Lord, he’s expressing his desire to be in God’s presence. Notably, he wants to do this “all the days” of his life. Not just during a worship service. And when he speaks of “gaze[ing] upon the beauty of the LORD,” he’s saying he wants to think deeply about who God is. He wants to know His character. When our attention settles on God, worship follows.
But hearts that respond to God like that don’t just automatically happen. Scripture repeatedly shows that preparing our hearts for God requires two things: putting away what pulls our affections from Him and setting our hearts again on what leads us back. 2 Chronicles 19:3 is helpful, “...some good is found in you, for you destroyed the Asheroth out of the land, and have set your heart to seek God.” Notice the two parts of that statement. The idols were removed, and the heart was set on seeking God. Preparing to worship God works the same way. That is, we get rid of the things that distract us from God, and we purposefully turn our thoughts toward God. Notice their intentionality. They “set” their “heart to seek God.” The idea of setting your heart means deliberately fixing your attention on Him.
Pastor Greg recently wrote about this idea from a different perspective, specifically, how do we guard our hearts in moments of spiritual “duty.” His blog is worth reading alongside this. You can find it here.
So what might this look like in practice?
Start by removing distractions before you even arrive at church. Sometimes, almost as soon as we wake up, our minds are filled with work, stress, or plans for the day. Often, it seems like these things just happen to us. Other times, we do things that pull our minds away from Jesus. Things like doom scrolling, scrambling to get the kids ready, watching the news, etc. Not all of it is bad, in and of itself, yet it provides fertile ground for wandering thoughts later during the service. On Sunday mornings, it may be necessary to eliminate any superfluous activity that doesn’t directly take your mind to the gospel of Christ. That may mean that instead of first reaching for your phone, you reach for your bible. It may be worthwhile to ask yourself a few honest questions like these: What is it that steals my time from getting ready? What is it that pulls my mind to work or worldly things? What can wait until after church? Eliminate those things.
But what can we set our hearts on before the service that will lead us to Jesus? Go to the Lord in prayer and seek Him in the Scriptures. Allow yourself enough time to read slowly, to pause, and to consider the things you’ve just read. A devotional may also be helpful. Whatever it is that stood out to you or caused you to marvel, pray to God about those things. Once you’ve read a little, listen to the bible being read. I’ve found this to be tremendously helpful. Use the church directory and pray the scripture you’ve just read over two or three folks. Listen to gospel-saturated worship music. Sing along with it. Play it in the car on the way to the church and let it begin to set the tone for the service. Repeat a verse or two of scripture over and over that you read earlier. Memorize it before you get out of the car.
As you walk into church, set your mind on encouraging and edifying others. Rather than talking about the busyness of your week or making small talk (essentially allowing your mind to move on from the Lord), steer your conversations to eternal matters. Talk about what stood out to you in your reading that morning and how it prepared you for corporate worship. Before service starts, quietly quote the scripture you memorized in the car. Redeem every moment so that your mind and heart are swelled full of love for Jesus.
It is also important to remember that worship is not about an emotional feeling. Feelings are nice, and they may come, but they aren’t necessary or foundational for worship. God cares primarily about the heart. Hebrews 13:15 even calls praise a “sacrifice,” which one commentary says, “indicates that praise is a valuable offering to God, requiring intentionality and sometimes personal cost, especially in difficult circumstances” (italics mine).
Even though you’ve prepared for worship and everything seems to be going well, don’t be surprised if, during the first song, your phone buzzes, or your mind jumps to the email you forgot to respond to, or one of your kids asks if they can go to the restroom. These distractions will happen. When they do, refuse to let them linger. Immediately, redirect your mind to what is happening in the service at that moment. Think about the words you are hearing and may be singing. Let the truths that are being expressed be more pressing to you in that moment than anything else that may be happening.
Worship isn’t always going to come naturally. Often, it will require intentionality. Often, it will require purposefully removing distractions and setting our hearts on seeking God. And it is worth it. In many ways, this intentionality is the basis for more genuine and God-honoring worship because it is a heartfelt response to who He is and what He has done in and through Jesus.
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