Christian Worship – My Faith Journey

There is a significant difference between wanting God and wanting God to fix our circumstances.

While reading Biblical Worship: Theology for God’s Glory, I was challenged by the discussion of Israel’s pattern of crying out to God during times of distress. Israel repeatedly experienced the consequences of pursuing other gods, only to turn toward the Lord when those pursuits failed.

This raises an uncomfortable question for believers today:

Do we seek God because we desire Him, or because we desire what He can do for us?

A Conversion of Convenience

Benjamin K. Forrest describes one of Israel’s responses as a “conversion of convenience.” Israel acknowledged its sin and removed its idols, but the larger biblical pattern demonstrates how easily people can turn toward God because circumstances have become unbearable rather than because their hearts genuinely desire Him.

We can encounter the same temptation today.

Sometimes God becomes our last resort rather than our first pursuit.

Prayer becomes urgent when the diagnosis comes. We seek God when the relationship begins falling apart. We suddenly become interested in His direction when our own plans stop working. We ask for deliverance when consequences finally reach us.

There is nothing wrong with crying out to God during suffering. Scripture repeatedly invites us to do exactly that. The deeper question concerns the posture of our hearts.

Are we seeking deliverance from our circumstances, or are we surrendering ourselves to God?

Authentic repentance is more than wanting circumstances to change. It involves allowing God to change us.

Prayer Is an Act of Worship

This challenged me to reconsider prayer as more than simply presenting requests before God.

Prayer is worship.

If worship involves recognizing who God is and responding appropriately to Him, then our prayer lives reveal something about our understanding of God.

When God becomes someone we primarily approach during emergencies, our relationship with Him can slowly become transactional:

God, I have a problem. Please solve it.

But a life of worship develops another posture:

God, whether I am experiencing peace or difficulty, I belong to You. Lead me.

Developing a consistent life of prayer prepares us for the storms that eventually come. Instead of discovering God only when everything collapses, we learn to walk with Him before, during, and after the storm.

Crisis does not create our relationship with God; it reveals the relationship we have been cultivating.

Rediscovering Confession

Another aspect of worship that deserves greater attention is confession.

I was raised Catholic, so confession was familiar to me from an early age. My understanding of confession has changed significantly since then, but studying worship has caused me to reconsider something important: perhaps Christians from nonliturgical traditions can learn from traditions that intentionally create space for confession.

In many evangelical and Pentecostal settings, we commonly emphasize confessing our sins directly to God—and rightly so.

But Scripture also gives confession a communal dimension.

James 5:16 instructs believers to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

That challenges an exclusively individualistic understanding of repentance.

There are sins that need to be brought before God privately. Yet there are also moments when healing requires trusted Christian community, pastoral care, accountability, prayer, and confession to another believer.

Sin thrives in secrecy.

Healthy Christian community brings what has been hidden into the light.

What Could Confession Look Like in the Church?

This does not necessarily mean standing before an entire congregation and publicly describing every sin we have committed.

Healthy confession requires wisdom, appropriate relationships, pastoral safeguards, and discernment.

But what would happen if our churches became places where Christians were less afraid to admit that they were struggling?

What if small groups became places where people could say, “I need prayer because I am struggling with this,” without immediately fearing rejection?

What if mature believers intentionally mentored younger believers through repentance and restoration?

What if pastors and ministry leaders modeled a Christianity in which spiritual maturity did not mean pretending to have no struggles?

Perhaps confession should become more visible within our understanding of discipleship.

The church should not become a place where sin is celebrated or minimized. Neither should it become a place where people become so afraid of judgment that they learn to hide their sin successfully.

The goal is restoration.

From Convenient Christianity to Genuine Discipleship

This brings me back to Israel.

A “conversion of convenience” seeks God when God becomes useful.

Discipleship seeks God because He is Lord.

That distinction forces me to examine my own spiritual life. I do not want prayer to become something I suddenly rediscover when circumstances become difficult. I want prayer, repentance, and confession to become ordinary rhythms of worship.

And perhaps our churches need the same examination.

Are we creating disciples who know how to ask God for help, or disciples who know how to surrender their lives to Him?

Are we creating communities where Christians hide their struggles, or communities where repentance leads toward healing and restoration?

Most importantly:

Do we want God’s intervention, or do we want God Himself?

True worship cannot merely be a conversion of convenience.

It is a life continually surrendered to the One who is worthy of our worship—in seasons of blessing, seasons of suffering, and everything in between.

Scripture for Reflection

James 5:16 — “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”