Everything is an Act of Worship

In his book The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer included a prayer that I believe should be the prayer of every Christ follower:

“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more.  I am painfully conscience of my need for further grace.  I am ashamed of my lack of desire.  O God the triune God, I want to want Thee. I long to be filled with longing, I thirst to be made thirstier still. Show me thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know thee indeed.  Begin in mercy a new work of love in me. Say to my soul, “Rise up my love, my fair one and come away. Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.”

One of the reasons I believe that this prayer is a challenge to all of us is because of our tendency to separate the secular from what we perceive to be the sacred.  We forget that the Bible tells us of our Lord, that in growing up he gained wisdom, stature and favor with God and man while working in Joseph’s carpentry shop.   Or we forget that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he was tempted to abandon the sacred plan by secular responses.  Turn the stones into bread and jump from the cliff.  Or we forget that in His model prayer He wove both sacred and secular into how we should pray “Our Father who art in heaven (sacred)” give us this day our daily bread (secular).  He also said, “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven.”  God’s word declares, “Whatever you do in thought, word or deed, do all to the glory of God.”

One of the greatest, most treasured books down through the centuries on the subject of worship is entitled, “The Practice of the Presence of God.”  This was written by a man they called affectionately, Brother Lawrence. 

Brother Lawrence’s real name was Nicholas Herman who lived from 1614-1691.  He was not a pastor or member of the clergy and yet people would come to talk to him and learn.  Brother Lawrence spent his life in the kitchen of a monastery cooking and cleaning pots and pans.  Close to 4oo years afterward people are still touched by that book.  Why? Because he had learned that there is no difference between the sacred and the secular, when everything is done for the glory of God!  One more quote of his:

“We can do little things for God, I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of Him and that alone; if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him, who has given me grace to work.  Afterwards I rose happier than a king.  It is enough for me to pick up a straw from the ground for the love of God.” 

Contentment in the little things, at least what we may consider to be little because there is no light being shed on us to be seen of men. Yet the impact He made being in the kitchen, happy, settled, and content where God placed Him.  Contentment but not complacence!

May you and I commit to doing everything to His glory!  Everything is an act of worship!!!

Here are some steps that you can take provided by Brother Lawrence:

• Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God.  Perhaps all besides is but folly and vanity.

• I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of God

• We should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence by continually conversing with Him.

• Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions.  He is always near you and with you, leave him not alone.

Allow me to be candid, the more you seek to practice the presence of God the lonelier you will become in this world.  However, you will gain the sense that you are experiencing the joy of knowing Jesus and that is the one constant that will carry you into eternity.  My wife and I raised six children.  We were determined to enjoy every stage of their life, from infancy to all of them being adults.  Some of them have children of their own and soon some will get married and have children of their own.  The years have flown by and so the time of intense involvement in their lives has passed.  What would I have done differently?  I would have made even more of an investment in their lives, but with the constant focus on seeking God.  Oh the joy of knowing Jesus and to walk in His love divine. When at death I must cross over Jordan’s banks I shall cross with His hand in mine. 

©2025 David W. Drake, President, Renewed Hope, Inc.