Daring FaithSample

Worship Renews Your Strength

“Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.” (Psalm 100:2 NLT, second edition)

To strengthen your faith, you must unite with others in worship. Worship is for God, but it also has benefits for you. Here are two of the biggest benefits of corporate worship: It renews your faith, and it restores your joy.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (NIV).

How many times have you gotten up on a Sunday morning and said, “I am so tired. I really don’t have any energy to go to church,” but then you went to church and worshipped and afterward you were more energized? That happens because worship renews you. It strengthens you. It strengthens your faith.

You’re not going to get your strength renewed by watching golf on TV. That’s just going to make you lazier and lazier. You get renewed by worshipping God with other believers.

As a pastor, sometimes I think of myself like the coach in the boxing movie “Rocky.” Rocky is out there in the fight, and he’s pouring his heart out and just getting beat to a pulp. The bell rings and he goes, “Thank God.” He comes to the corner, and the coach says, “You’re doing a good job.” The coach throws some water on him, pats him on the back, and says, “Now get back out there.”

Sometimes I feel like that’s what I’m doing on Sunday for my church. I’m telling them, “You’re doing a good job. Now get back out there. You can do this!” But that’s not me renewing people’s strength. It’s the Word of God. It’s music and praying and worshipping together with other believers.

The Bible also says in Psalm 100:2, “Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy” (NLT, second edition).

I think it ought to be fun to go to church. That may seem strange to you because it’s not how you were raised or how you felt about a certain church you’ve attended. But the Bible says to worship the Lord with gladness — not boredom, sadness, anger, or out of duty. You should be singing for joy in church! Church should have that effect on you. Worship should renew your faith and restore your joy.

“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’” (Psalm 122:1).