Jesus says the first command is to love God: in other words, to worship. Worship is the lifeblood of the Christian journey. When we worship, we declare and celebrate who God is and what He has done for us, and in doing so we set Him in His rightful place, at the very top of our priorities. But worship is also a very powerful act in which we encounter the presence of God.

There are as many ways to worship as there are people in the Church. It’s not so much about how we worship—the style or format—but what we worship “in Spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

Worship on Sundays

The primary act of worship is what we gather together as the Church to do each Sunday. Meeting with other followers of Jesus to worship is an essential part of the Christian life, and this practice needs to be something we all do on a weekly basis to sustain and strengthen our faith.

Music and More

Many people love to worship through music, singing God’s praises, and this is the most common expression of worship in the Bible, but there’s more to worship than singing. Liturgy—words, often poetic, which speak God’s praise—is another way to worship. Receiving Communion—bread and wine, blessed and shared—has been a central act of worship from the Church’s earliest days.

Worship at Home

As wonderful as it is to worship together in church, we can worship at home, too, whether in a small group or alone. Find some songs of worship on YouTube. Play some on Spotify in the car. These precious moments of celebration reconnect us to God, and recalibrate our priorities.

Digging Deeper

Why no seek our some fresh worship music to praise along to this week? Wings Music Group curate playlists with the latest Christians music on Spotify and Apple Music. And how about making one of our Sunday services at River Church a fixed part of your weekly worshipping RHYTHM? Find our all the details at river.church/sundays.

Prayer is conversation with God, and like any good conversation it involves both speaking and listening. We need to make space in our lives for regular, frequent prayer, sharing our thoughts, cares, and desires with the Lord, and listening for His voice guiding and directing us.

The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus taught us to pray what we now call ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. It goes like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

It’s a great idea to pray this prayer daily—we can’t improve upon Jesus’ own prayer!

Specific Prayers

As wonderful as the Lord’s Prayer is, it’s also good to bring more specific prayers to God. You could set aside specific things you’ll pray for on specific days (i.e., your family on Mondays, your friends of Tuesdays, your work on Wednesdays.) or keep a list of things you’re currently praying about.

Praying with Others

We read in Matthew 18, Jesus saying, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” There is power in praying with others because Jesus promises He will be there too! This could look like coming to a prayer meeting at church, praying with your friends or family, or perhaps forming a small group of other Christians (something called a Prayer Triplet, if there are three of you!) to intentionally meet and pray with at regular intervals.

Praying Alone

Jesus often took time in the wilderness, alone, to pray, and He teaches us to find our own, private space for prayer too. When you are alone, you can focus your mind on God’s voice, free from distraction. You can pray in your head, in writing, out loud, or even in tongues—a powerful gift of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer Prompts

Sometimes memorable prompts can help us remember what to pray. TSP (think ‘teaspoon’) stands for ‘thank you, sorry, and please’. PRAY stands for ‘praise, repent, ask, and yield’. There are many more, and you can always create your own!

Prayer Journalling

Writing down our prayers can not only help us to concentrate on Jesus without getting distracted, but it creates a record of what we’ve been praying for to look back over. Each daily page in your RHYTHM Journal has space to jot down your prayers that day. Over time, look back at previous days’ prayers, give thanks to God for the ones you’ve seen answered, and reflect on those He’s not answered yet—sometimes we need to keep praying persistently for some time, and sometimes God answers in a way we weren’t expecting, or leads us in another direction. You can also use the Prayer Journal section on the RHYTHM App for this.

Digging Deeper

If you want to press into prayer and go deeper, take a look at 24-7 Prayer or Practicing the Way, who provide fantastic resources to inspire our prayer lives! And why not make weekly 7am Prayer or Overflow part of your RHYTHM if you’re part of River Church? Check our river.church/prayer.

Reading the Bible is like our daily bread—it feeds and sustains us. The Bible is God’s Word, authoritative and true, and is the ultimate guide for the Christian life. It’s incredible to think that we can hear God’s voice, on demand, by opening the pages of Scripture.

Daily Reading

Having a plan to guide us through reading the Bible every day is a core Christian practice, and your RHYTHM Journal gives you just that, with a Psalm or Proverb, an Old Testament passage, and a New Testament passage each day. You can read all three and this will take you through the whole Bible in a year, or focus on one section or another. You might find the acronym WRAP helpful as you approach the Bible: Welcome the Holy Spirit, asking Him to open up the Scriptures to you; Read the passage, making notes on what stands out and what you sense God saying; Apply the passage to your own life and decide how you’ll live aligned with the Bible that day; and Pray through the passage in response.

Reading Together

Reading the Bible with other Christians can be hugely life-giving, and can often open our eyes to parts of the Bible and perspectives we wouldn’t spot on our own. Why not meet a friend for a coffee and a Bible study on a regular basis?

Bible Study

The Bible is rich with meaning and there’s always more depths to plumb! If you’re particularly interested in a book or a passage, find a well regarded commentary—either in print or online—to read alongside it, which will give you insights into the context of that part of the Bible, the language used, and how that might affect its meaning.

Digging Deeper

One of the best resources for learning about the Bible available today is the Bible Project, whose videos and resources make learning about the Bible engaging and accessible. There are also copious resources on the YouVersion Bible App to help you engage with Scripture.

We grow when we are planted in community, and finding that community of people is often a pivotal moment in our journey of faith.

Join a Hangout

A Hangout (sometimes called a small group, connect group, or life group) is a group of Christians, usually 12-15, who meet together, regularly, to read the Bible together, pray for one another, and build community—often over a meal or a coffee! Hangouts meet in all sorts of places, from homes, to coffee shops, to workplaces, to gyms, and sometimes even churches! The people in our Hangouts spur us on towards Jesus, and build us up.

Digging Deeper

Most churches have Hangouts or similar groups available, but if yours doesn’t, why not start one? If you’re part of River Church then you can find a brilliant, local Hangout to join at river.church/hangouts.

Jesus calls all His followers to give financially as an act of worship to God—He doesn’t say, “If you give…” but “When you give…” so for Him it’s kind of assumed! But generosity is hard, and making it part of our RHYTHM helps us to grow in this area.

Give to your Local Church

Whichever church you are a part of, that is where you should start your journey of generosity. The Bible gives us a rule of thumb of 10% of our income as a good amount to give to God, but is also clear that even the tiniest amount can have a huge kingdom impact (10% of your income might be very different from somebody else’s). This might seem like a lot, but we need to remember that everything we have comes from God, and so giving a small portion back to Him is the least we can do, knowing that He will provide for our needs. Giving as a weekly, monthly, or yearly RHYTHM aligns our finances with our faith and breaks the power money can sometimes hold over us.

Giving Above and Beyond

Giving 10% to church (sometimes called tithing, which means ‘tenth’) isn’t the only way to give. As we grow more and more like Jesus who gave everything for us, we’ll see opportunities to grow our giving further. Perhaps you could help out a neighbour who is struggling financially with some meals or some shopping, or donate to a good cause in your local area? Studies show that giving is good for us, and generous people are often happy people, so I’m convinced that building giving into your RHYTHM will become something you enjoy!

Digging Deeper

If you want to discover more about giving as a spiritual practice, you could check our the Journey of Generosity online. If you haven’t already, why not setup regular giving at your local church, today, and if you are part of River Church, you can do that at river.church/give.