How do you prepare for worship on Sundays? 

Like any event or task, proper preparation leads to a good experience. A good cook makes sure that they have all the necessary ingredients before they begin preparing a meal.

An athlete prepares for an event way before the event takes place so when it is time to compete they are warming up.

When you head out on vacation, you plan for what you need for that week.

We must also prepare and train for our Sunday worship experience. If we just show up on Sundays and expect to connect with God, it probably won’t happen. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but the likely hood of this happening is small. When we do not prepare for worship on Sundays, we set ourselves up for a less than fulfilling time of worship. And it sets us up to be more critical and in that we become more self-focused and not God focused. And what does the enemy want us to do? He wants us to think about ourselves our needs and our feelings and not to think about the greatness of God.

Here are a few things you might find helpful in preparing for Sunday Worship.

Prayer: not just a quick prayer on Sunday morning but prayer throughout the week. Praying for the gathering on Sunday. Praying for the leadership and those who will have a part during the worship time. Also, those who are serving on Sunday, like the greeters and the people in the nursery. How about the people who will be sitting around you? Ask God to prepare them too.

Prayer is a time when you can intercede for others with God and a time you can commune with God and talk to him. Make the most of that time.

Scripture Reading: Just as we use prayer to speak to God; God uses his word to speak to us and to reveal himself to us. The more we study the scriptures, the more we learn about God and grow in our understanding of who he is. This growth deepens our relationship with the Lord and stirs up the desire to worship him in a deeper more meaningful way.

Meditation: Taking time to think about God, and his attributes. Reflection on what you have read in the scriptures. Focusing on God and getting your mind set on him is a tremendous help in preparing for worship, why because we take the focus off of ourselves and set our affections on the one who is truly worthy of our worship.

I pray these suggestions will be helpful as your prepare for worship this week.