The Answer to Boring Church Services

Lets get excited about Jesus Christ. Living for God should never become boring, drab and dull. Our church meetings should never be boring and lifeless. The reason they should not is because God is not a boring God. When we get excited about who God is and what God means to us, church fellowship and worship will not be boring. Many seek God for what God can give them, some seek God when they get into trouble, and some seek God just because they want to get to know Him.

When we are lost and without God, we need to seek God by repenting of sins and receiving Jesus Christ as our savior. After that time, we need to seek God daily to have continual fellowship with Him and learn His word. The more we spend time with God, the more we will desire to spend time with Him. The less time spend in prayer and bible study, the less we will desire to spend time with Him. The more time spent with God, the less we will desire the things of the world. When our love for God increases, our love for the world decreases. May I encourage any reader of this article to heed:

•  Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” 

We think that we need to be constantly entertained to keep from boredom. Even some churches have turned their services from genuine worship into entertainment. Ah, listen, what a poor substitute entertainment is to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Five minutes in the sweet presence of the Lord is worth much more than hundreds of hours of entertainment. If you find that your church services is boring and dry, try spending a few minutes before church service in prayer and see if things start to get better.

Some churches have dropped all hymns and now sing upbeat choruses. This may or man not be the answer. The best music is not substitute for the Holy Spirit. The hymns written by those who loved the Lord is our heritage. It is not necessary to forsake all those good songs to entertain and work up the crowd. I’m not saying that we drop all new music but our focus needs to be on seeking the Lord in our worship. Depend on the Holy Spirit to draw us to Him in worship. We don’t have to sing a chorus over and over again to get people worked up. One verse of Amazing Grace is enough to remind me of the wonderful salvation Jesus paid the price for, that I could be free from sin. What a story that one song tells us. We need to sing and praise the Lord, yes, but we need to be careful not to worship the music and the beat but worship the Lord. I like upbeat songs myself that causes us to rejoice instead of feeling sad. We rejoice in what the Lord has done for us and what He means to us. That is good, in fact that is great but the use of music is to draw us into worship in spirit and in truth. In saying all that, God still uses and anoints song writers that write new songs. It is not bad just because it breaks tradition. Both are good if it glorifies God and reminds us of what He had done on our behalf.

Although I love beautiful music and do worship the Lord in song but even that is not substitute for earnestly seeking God at an altar of fervent prayer. Many churches limit prayer to opening and closing a service. I miss those days when we gathered around the altar and prayed before and after a service: even sometimes during the service if God arranged it that way. Fervent prayer is where we receive the strength we need to live in holiness, love the lost and desire to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit. It also keeps us in the “first Love”. The love we have for God when we first got saved, the love for souls, the love for the word.” 

Being led by the Holy Spirit is vital. He is never boring. Whether we weep, smile with joy, pray in the Spirit, sing in the Spirit, pray out loud all at the same time in concert prayer or one at a time, it is our motive and faith that God sees. Whether at home or church, fervent prayer is necessary to keep us in fellowship and walking in love for our Lord. We also can't limit God by doing things a certain way. Some walk, some stand, some kneel. It is what is inside of us that counts. We also must not be bound by tradition. God sees our heart and motives.

Not all things in the past are good but there are things that were good that we have forsaken. Not all new things are bad but some of it is and we need discernment to reject the bad and keep the good. 

We need to hunger and thirst after the knowledge of the word of God. If we truly love God, we will long to hear what He has to say to us.

John 14:15 have the words of Jesus saying:

• “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

If we truly love God, we will desire to find out what His commandments are. I believe them to be more the 10 commandments. I believe it is every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

• Matthew 4: 4 says, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

You might say that the bible is hard to understand. That brings to mind another beautiful work of the Holy Spirit. He is the teacher. I’ve sat under many good Spirit anointed bible teachers. The bible comes alive when a bible teacher is filled with the real teacher, the Holy Spirit. This is another reason for fervent prayer and seeking the Lord.  He will give us understanding of the bible when we really desire to understand and do the will of God. Again I repeat the verse:

• “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they SHALL be filled.” 

You will live as close to God as you want to live. If you want to be close to God and desire to live by His word, you can. He is not the one holding out. We are. 
 
In Revelation 2:4, 5 Jesus speaks to the church at Ephesus. 

• “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove they candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Have we gotten away from the first love for God?  The remedy is to repent and turn around toward Him again. Let us seek Him fervently so that He will not have to say to us that we have left the first love. Some say the first love is our love for Him, some say it is soul winning. Some say that it is our zeal and excitement for the Lord and our desire to spend time with Him before anything else. I do promise this, once we start seeking the Lord and spending quality time with Him, we will not be bored. God is not a boring God.

Dorna