This will be our final article on Private Worship - The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to stimulate you not only to "do your own homework" in the subject of worship, as my Chuck always says, but also to prompt you to begin your own daily time of intimacy with the Lord.

This month and next, we will be wrapping up our series on Private Worship: The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to encourage you and provide you with practical steps to experiencing His joy through worship.

Last month, we shared a little about spiritual warfare and its connection to worship. We said that if we are going to learn to worship on a daily (and deeper) basis, then we must be knowledgeable in the art of warfare.

Spiritual warfare? What does this have to do with learning to worship the Lord on an intimate basis?

Why is worship the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do? This is the subject we have been exploring over these past several months.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

Since last summer, we have been exploring the subject of worship and have found it to be one of the most important things a Christian can learn to do. A.W. Tozer said of worship, “Worship is important because it’s the reason Christ came; the reason He was crucified; and, the reason He rose again.”

Over the last several months we have been exploring the subject of worship, its meaning, its application and its implementation in our lives.

We began our articles on worship three months ago by saying that "we become like what we worship." Consequently, if we want to become more Christ-like - more conformed into His image - we must learn to worship more.

Over the past several months, we have been studying why worship is the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do. Worship is critical because it is the "key" to joy and our being able to withstand the trials that God allows into our lives.

There is an old proverb that says, "We only prepare for what we think is important." And, it's so true. If we don't feel that the subject at hand is important, then we certainly won't prepare for it. However, if the issue is something that matters greatly to us, then we'll conscientiously do whatever is necessary to make ready for it.

Over the past few months, we have been studying the subject of worship, and we’ve come to the conclusion that worship is the single most important thing a Christian can learn to do. It’s important because it’s the “key” to holiness and God’s presence and the secret to true joy and happiness.

We began our exploration of worship a couple of months ago by defining worship as "the means by which we come into the Lord's presence and adore, praise and love Him in the same nature as He - in the spirit." The definition of worship that I really like, however, is that worship means "catching fire with the Love of the Lord."

For the purpose of new readers just joining us this month, let's review for just a moment. This series began two months ago with my own story of several years ago, where I had become so discouraged and so disheartened at some of the horrific events in my life that I had lost the joy of my salvation.