Home churching may be intimidating if you are used to going to church every weekend. However, whether you are worshiping with a small group, just your immediate family, or by yourself, it is possible to gain a rich Sabbath day’s blessing while worshipping at home.
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Revelation 18 contains a clear command to leave Babylon: “Go out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (1599 Geneva Bible) No denomination is exempt. All religions and denominations have been contaminated by error.
But that presents a problem. Church attendance has become synonymous with worship. So, where (and how!) are believers to worship?
Worship is an action verb. It is defined as: “To adore; to pay divine honors to; to reverence with supreme respect and veneration.”1 It comes from the Hebrew word, shâchâh which means to bow down in worship. “It is the common term for coming before [Yahuwah] in worship.”2 This is something everyone can do at home with their family, or even by themselves. In fact, there is Biblical precedence for remaining at home on the Sabbath!
In Exodus 16, prior to the giving of the law at Sinai, Yahuwah told Moses: “See! For Yahuwah has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day.” (See Exodus 16:29-30.) The children of Israel did not go stand around the tabernacle, or the earlier tent of meeting every Sabbath to listen to Moses preach a sermon. Rather, each family stayed in their own homes and worshipped Yahuwah there.
You can, too.
Home worship
Salvation has always been an individual matter, not a group activity. Worship at home is perfectly acceptable to Yahuwah and is actually more in keeping with the spirit of true worship. Following are some ideas for making worship at home a spiritually rich experience.
Worshiping alone
Many believers who flee Babylon are forced to do it alone. Following the lamb withersoever he goeth can be a very solitary walk. But rest assured that if you find yourself in this category, your praise and worship is as cherished by Yahuwah as though there were not another person in the world for whom He gave His son. For a meaningful time spent with your Creator, consider doing the following:
- Start a prayer book. Make a list of people or situations for whom you are praying. Be very specific in your requests and pray over your prayer list during the week. On Sabbaths, review your list and write down answers to prayer you receive. It will increase your faith to watch your prayers answered.
- Worshipping alone means you are not bound by another’s interests or limitations. You can dig deeply into the word of Yah. Study a portion of Scripture. Ask yourself: 1) What does this reveal about Yahuwah? 2) What does this reveal about myself? 3) What does this reveal about Yahuwah’s will for my life? The Sabbath is a time for intimate communion with our Maker. Spending time in His Word through reciting, reading, proclaiming, memorizing, and rehearsing the Word of Yah will draw the heart close to Him as nothing else can. Such total immersion in Scripture is even more possible when worshipping at home, than in the narrow confines of traditional church worship services.
- Spending time in nature is a powerful way to feel the Creator’s nearness and power. Even if it is only a quiet corner of a city park, nature draws the heart to our Maker.
Worshiping with family
If you have family that left Babylon with you, you are blessed indeed. Don’t be overwhelmed at the thought of providing a meaningful worship experience for your family. Home worship can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it, but a rich blessing awaits all who spend time with Yahuwah.
- You don’t have to be accompanied by a pipe organ to be blessed singing praises to Yah. Time spent in active praise of the Father draws all hearts upward. You can obtain your own songbooks, or get recorded music to sing along to, but however you do it, singing has as great an impact on the soul as prayer.
- Present the beauties of salvation in a way that is simple and understandable to even the youngest children. You are laying a foundation that will last all their lives. Read a Bible story and then put into your own words what it reveals about Yahuwah’s love and watch-care.
- Bible quizzes are a fun way to teach Scripture to children. They can be found in either books or on-line.
- Consider asking each family member, where possible, to contribute something to the worship experience. A greater blessing will be had by all.
Worshipping with friends
There is something very special about worshipping in a group of like-minded believers. Care should be taken, however, that the worship experience does not degenerate into a stylized form of worship that simply mimics that left behind in Babylon.
- “Praying with one accord” can be an incredibly powerful way to draw close to Yah and fellow believers in a group setting. Rather than having just one person pray, or pray around the circle, have one person begin by saying what is in his heart, then another prays as moved by the spirit of Yah. No need to interrupt with an “Amen” as this is, really, all one prayer. Prayers spoken “with one accord,” where anyone is free to speak up and add thoughts as moved by the spirit become a conversation between Yahuwah and worshippers of all ages. Such intimate, interactive prayer time can become the highlight of any worship service. Forty-five minutes to an hour can pass swiftly when believers are praying with one accord, so if it is more comfortable to sit for some, that should be allowed.
- Time to share personal testimonies of Yahuwah’s blessings is a wonderful way to honor Yah and inspire faith in all present. In fact, Malachi 3 states:
Then those who feared Yahuwah spoke to one another,
And Yahuwah listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear Yahuwah
And who meditate on His name.
“They shall be Mine,” says Yahuwah of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.” (See Malachi 3:16-17.)
Even the youngest children can join in sharing the ways they have experienced Yahuwah’s blessings through the week.
- Don’t be afraid to get creative when it comes to worship at home. It is not necessary to have one person prepare a sermon to preach to everyone else. A group Bible study, uplifting videos, even WLC Radio programs can all be ways to worship Yahuwah with a group of various ages.
True worship is (or should be) far more than simply sitting in rows, listening to one person preach. Interactive worship in prayer, song, and testimony honors Yahuwah and draws hearts to Him.
Rich blessings await all who obey the command to leave Babylon, even if they must go alone.
“And Yahuwah shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of Yahuwah, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: “Then shalt thou delight thyself in Yahuwah; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Yahuwah hath spoken it. (See Isaiah 58:11, 13-14.)
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For more ideas on how you can worship at home, watch for “Worshipping in spirit and in truth” on WLC Radio.
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1 Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828.
2 #7812, The New Strong’s Expanded Dictionary of Bible Words, 2001 ed.