Does worship connect us to God?

Does worship connect us to God? Sounds like a no-brainer, right? I have to admit that if I were asked that same question a few years ago, I would jump at the chance to blurt out, "Yes". But, over the the past few years, and after hearing that question asked in several different ways by a lot of leaders, pastors, and worship leaders, I now lean more toward the answer of, "Well, kind of". I have come to the conclusion that worship, true worship, doesn't really connect us to God as much as we would like to think it does. In reality, not until we are connected to God, can worship begin.
I see it working like this; we sit down and open our Bibles to spend time with God. Now this is not a time-limited encounter with the Word. This is time that we set aside for God to reveal to us what He wrote for us to read. After careful study (reading and listening), we begin to want to know more. We begin to get hungry. We become desperate for more. There must be more. And, there is. We not only read the words there in the Bible, but we go back over the same words and listen to them this time. They speak to us. They inspire us. They encourage, comfort, direct, calm, excite, and engage us in a conversation with God; prayer. We are now connected to God. We find ourselves talking to Him, asking Him questions, laughing with Him, crying with Him by our side, reaching for Him to hold us, and blessing His name. Sound familiar? We connect with God, and we enter into a worship of Him so real that we can't wait to get to a place where we can share that same worship with other believers. So, when you show up at a service this week-end, don't plan on just listening to the Praise Team play and sing the Worship songs to you; share your worship with us. It is what we all need to hear, and what our Heavenly Father longs to hear.