“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

How do we behold the Lord? We worship Him. We express our gratitude to Him. When we read His word, we are beholding His glory. We read of what He has done. He is our Creator. He is great, He is magnificent, He is love. He loves us. We owe our existence to Him. He planned for each one of us to come to be on this earth with a plan for the course of our lives. (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:16)

If I was going to teach a new believer what to do first, I think I would start with worship. If you want to really know God, learn to worship Him. You will behold His image (spiritually) as you worship Him and the scriptures says, you will be transformed! So how do we worship God? Is it just singing songs to Him? Is it praying? What exactly is worship?

Let’s look at some examples from the bible to get an idea of what worshipping God might be like and what it does for us. The bible is the instruction manual. The answer to every question is in that book. In the beginning of man’s history, Adam and Eve were placed in the garden. The garden was perfect. There were no problems, it was a paradise. Everything was supplied for them and they had no worries. Adam and Eve talked with God in the cool of the day, the scriptures say. There was no devil. The pair were supposed to tend the garden and could freely talk to God and He to them. There was only one thing that God asked them not to do, and we know what happened there and that changed everything. But as long as they walked and talked with God, everything was good.

After Adam gave his dominion over to satan when he was tempted, things changed. Animal sacrifices began in order for man to have relationship with God. We see this in the animal coverings that God made for them to cover their nakedness. We briefly see their children, Abel and Cain, make sacrifices and worship the God of their parents after they had been driven from the garden to live in the world where man no longer had dominion. He was now a slave to satan. Everything was difficult, but God was still involved in their lives.

Joshua, the successor to Moses, spent all of his time learning from Moses and stayed in the presence of the Lord in Moses’s tent. He was eventually chosen to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.

King David spent a lot of time worshipping out on the hill by himself while tending his father’s sheep. David was a worshipper and because of that, he had the courage to challenge the giant Goliath. When David worshipped, he was built up on the inside as he worshipped and listened to God. David had the courage to kill a lion and a bear when they threatened his sheep. David found victory when he worshipped God.

King Jehoshaphat put the praise team out in front of his army when he was surrounded by foreign armies who were coming to destroy him. Who would do that? But that is what God told him to do to obtain victory over their enemies. He was told, “You will not have to fight today, for the Lord will fight for you.”

Most of the Psalms are written records of King David’s prayers and worship to God. Some are written by other worshippers. The heart of a worshipper is seen in the Psalms. Start there to experience God’s presence. Read the Psalms aloud. It is helpful for your heart to hear those words. It builds faith. They can become your prayers too. Psalm 150 speaks of praising and worshipping the Lord. Worship should be a major part of a believer’s relationship with God as patterned in the scriptures. In the book of Revelations, we find worship going on in Heaven.

I promise you, you will find victory when you worship Him. He will empower you.