"Good" Worship

For those of you who go to church, you most likely know what the term worship is referring to.

It's the part where we sing the songs before the message/sermon.

As a worship leader at my church for the last 6 (almost 7 years...or is it 7, almost 8? I can't remember!) there have been a few times where people have come up to me and told me that they were blessed by my worship...by the songs that I had sung.  I understand what they mean.  I hear it as I did a good job singing the songs and being the lead singer for the band.  I really appreciate that. I do.  My confidence isn't that strong, so when people come up to me and share kind words like that, I am blessed. So thank you.

But from my vantage point, here's what good worship is to me.

When all of our hearts come together and give glory to our God; Our Savior who rescued us from hell. And by His mercy, grace, and love forgiven us, when we put all our hope and trust in His Son Jesus who laid down His life as the payment for our sins...past. present. future.  When our hearts respond to the revelation to that truth...that is "good" worship.  It's not so much about how well we sound or which songs we sing, but more about if we mean what we sing...what we say...what we pray.

There have been times at the H.I.M. conference with the main room filled to capacity and David Crowder Band leading the church where God's people sang out with all their hearts because of what He had done or what He is doing in their lives.  You could just sense something more than singing was happening in that time.

But there were times just as amazing but far less extravagant.  It was one of my first times to Fiji and a few of us went to a Fijian prison to minister to the inmates there.  As we entered the facility, we were lead to a room.  The walls were some kind of stone and there were bars on the windows.  The chairs were cold and metal.  As the inmates were brought into the room, they sat down and watched us perform and heard us share our stories of how God made a difference in our lives.  At some point after we shared, they shared a song with us...and I remember being in awe.  The passion that they sang with blew me away.  The power in their voices seemed to make the walls shake.  I remember thinking to myself, "Wow. Look at these men. They only have a limited amount of free time out of their cell and they choose to come here, to church.  Not only that but when they come, they worship and praise the Lord with such passion. They who have so little (compared to myself), they who seemingly have much less to praise the Lord for, worship the Lord as if they have been given everything."

So what is good worship? It's not when we sing the newest song.  It's not when have the biggest band.  It's not when we sound like professionals.  It's when we can truly say that in whatever we do, we do it with all of our heart in honor of our Lord and King.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:23-24 ESV

These are just some thoughts that I've had. 
What is "good" worship to you?