Knowing Your Identity in Christ: I am a Worshipper (Ephesians 5:18-20)

Is worship just for Sunday mornings, or could it become the heartbeat of your family life?

In this episode of 7 Minute Devotions for Busy Parents, host Christen Clark peels back the noisy layers of modern family life to explore what it truly means to be a worshiper—right in the middle of carpool lanes and laundry piles. Christen shares inspiration from Ephesians 5, plus practical insights for raising Christian kids who see faith at home as their foundation, not just a Sunday ritual.

• [00:01:43] How worship extends beyond singing
• [00:03:22] The surprising power of worshiping together

Resources:

• Instagram: @7minutedevotions, @christenclark
• Family Podcast: @collidekidspodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello, and welcome to 7-Minute Devotions for Busy Parents. I'm Kristen Clark, and I am so glad you're here. You know, life can feel loud sometimes, can't it? There's always noise, notifications, schedules, conversations, responsibilities, worries, opinions, the little chatter that's happening in the backseat of your car. And in the middle of all that noise, it's easy for our hearts to drift towards stress instead of worship. But today's passage calls us back to something really important: not just singing songs on Sunday morning, but living as people whose hearts are turned towards God. So today's truth is this: I am a worshiper. In Ephesians 5, 18 through 20, Paul is instructing the Ephesians church and he says this: be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love that Paul starts with this phrase in this passage. He says, be filled with the Spirit, because worship isn't supposed to come from hype or performance or emotional manipulation. True worship flows from hearts that are filled with God. When I used to lead kids' worship, I would tell the kids that the root word for the word worship is worth. Whatever you find valuable, whatever you believe has worth, that's what you're going to give your attention to. That's what you're going to think about or talk about. That's what you're going to spend time on and focus. So when we worship God, we are declaring, God, you are worthy. And worship is so much bigger than singing. In this passage, Paul is specifically talking about singing and music here, but he also says we speak to one another with psalms and spiritual songs. In other words, we remind each other of God's truth. We share scripture. We encourage each other with what God says. We speak truth instead of just giving random opinions or our own advice that we came up with ourselves. Even reading the Bible can be an act of worship. And I know sometimes people joke that that's such a Sunday school answer. You know, when you ask the kids, how do we worship God? Read your Bible. But it's true. There's something powerful about reading scripture and reading it out loud. In fact, in the book of Revelation 1, verse 3, it says there is a blessing for the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and whose hearts hear it and take it to heart. So if you're looking for a blessing, God's word is telling us to start there, start with scripture, start reading scripture out loud in your home. And then there's the singing part. Scientists and researchers have actually found that singing together with other people can reduce stress, improve mood, increase feelings of connection, and even help with anxiety and depression. And honestly, that makes so much sense to me because God designed us for worship. And He designed us to worship together. Now, this does not mean that you have to join the choir at your church. I am a member of my choir and I love it. So I highly recommend it. But not everyone has the time or the talent or the willingness to do something like that. And that's okay. But I think it's important to note here that we are designed to worship together. Now, listen, I absolutely have moments where I'm singing in my car at the top of my lungs by myself. Sometimes it's worship music. Sometimes it's just me trying to process frustration through like some really heavy music or loud or something to get my emotions out. Does anyone else do that? Does anyone else need to jam out to get your frustrations out? Maybe that's just me. I don't know. But listen, there is something uniquely powerful about worshiping together with other believers, singing together, praying together, reminding each other of truth. We've talked about this a lot in this season that we are not meant to follow Jesus and to grow in our relationship and grow in our faith, that we are not meant to follow Jesus and grow in our faith in isolation. Worship is one of the ways that God uses to connect us together. Another thing that Paul points out here is gratitude, always giving thanks. I've read before that one of the practices often recommended to help people dealing with anxiety is gratitude. Intentionally focusing your mind on things you're thankful for replaces the anxiety in your brain. And it makes me think: what do people who don't have a relationship with God, who do they thank? Who are they grateful to? Because as believers, we know where our gratitude goes. Every good and perfect gift comes from God. So we're giving that gratitude back to the one who gave us all the things that we have to be thankful for. So even when life feels difficult, even when things are not going the way we hoped, we still have reason to worship. And honestly, those are the moments we need to worship the most. Worship shouldn't happen after everything works out and everything's okay. Worship is often what helps us carry through while things are still really hard. We worship God because of who He is, not just because life is going well. And this is such an important thing for our kids to see us do. Our children need to see worship as a part of our everyday life, not just something we do at church once a week. They need to hear us pray out loud. They need to hear us sing. They need to hear us talk about God's goodness. And maybe even more importantly, they need to see us worship when life is hard, when we're stressed, when we're disappointed, when things don't make sense. We need to speak God's word over the things that are happening in our lives and give gratitude to Him, because that teaches them that worship is not based on our circumstances or our feelings. It's based on who God is. One of the greatest gifts that we can give our children is showing them where to turn when life feels overwhelming. And the answer is not more scrolling, more entertainment, or more distraction. The answer is worship, turning our attention back to the one who is worthy. Well, before we pray, let's practice our identity rhythm. This is something we're doing every episode in this season. So I'm going to read these three statements: who we are in Christ, why it's true, and how we live from it. And then I would love for you to repeat the identity statement with me at the end and say it out loud, like we've been talking about. So our identity statement for today is I am a worshiper. God is worthy of my attention, gratitude, and praise because he has filled my life with his spirit and his grace. Because I'm a worshiper, I choose to turn my heart towards God in every season and encourage my family to do the same. Let's say the identity statement one more time together. I am a worshiper. Let's pray. Father, you are worthy of our worship. You are worthy of all praise and all gratitude. You are worthy of our time, our efforts and our love and all the things that we give to you because you have given them to us. God, we pray that you would help us to not just worship you with our words, but with our whole lives, with the way we live. Thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness and your presence in our lives and in our families' lives. And help us to lead by example. Help us to show our children how to worship you, even when life is hard. Help us to give that gratitude back to you because we are worshipers because of Jesus Christ. We love you and we thank you for all that you've done for us. We worship you, God, in Jesus' name. Amen. Friend, worship is not just something you attend, it's a posture of your heart. So this week, find a way to intentionally worship God, not just when things feel good, but right in the middle of everyday life. Turn on some worship music in your car or in your house while you're doing chores. Read scripture out loud. Pray with your kids. Thank God for something specific and talk about the things you're thankful for. And if this episode encouraged you today, I hope that you will share it with another parent who might need this reminder today. Thank you so much for listening and remember who you are and who you belong to.