When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:2
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

Metaphorically, worship is often likened to fire, biblically and traditionally. We’ve seen that the spirit of worship is fire within us, and the fuel that causes the fire to burn is our wonder and awe of Jesus. The more fuel, the hotter the fire. The more we seek God—the more we focus relentlessly on Jesus, the hotter our worship.

Problem is, it’s sometimes hard to get that fire started. For some Christians it’s just about impossible (without the Holy Spirit working in us). So how do we seek God? Today we’ll look at 3 ways we see in the Bible:

1) Praying and asking God to put a heart of worship within us.
-being honest with Him about the dullness of our heart.
-confessing any known sin, and be assured of God’s forgiveness (1Jn 1:9).
-asking for more of the Spirit’s work in our hearts to enable us to feel joyful praise, awestruck wonder, and heartfelt longing for Him.**

2) Setting our hearts on the truth of who God is as revealed in Jesus. Repeating to ourselves the traits of Jesus that the Bible gives us. (e.g. Immanuel, God with us, Lord of lords, Alpha and Omega, Advocate, Almighty, I Am, Lamb of God, etc. <you can Google a full list if it helps>).

3) Taking control of our thoughts. Like the woman in Mark 5 who pushed through the crowds to get to Jesus to touch the hem of his clothes, we push through the thoughts that crowd out Jesus in our mind as we come to worship. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing (our thoughts) into captivity” (2 Cor 10:5).

Then we continue the above steps patiently. It’s called ‘waiting’ after all. God might change our hearts instantly, or He may not do it on our schedule. But He promises:

-When we seek him with all our hearts, we will find him (Jer 29:13).
-When we press in to know the Lord, he will come to us like spring rain (Hos 6:3).
-When we come to Jesus, our heart-hungers will be satisfied (Jn 6:35).

In other words, he will change our hearts so we experience Spirit-given, heart-felt worship, and see and feel the glory of God in our praise.

**I think one of the toughest things for some Christians is that they’re afraid. They’re afraid if they draw near to God, He’ll do something weird or they’ll look or feel foolish. It’s not like that’s never happened…even in the Bible. But that’s one of the reasons we’re called to trust Him. Drawing near involves trust.