January is in full swing. The holidays are over, and the energy of the new year is here. Many of us are entering this season with long to-do lists, rooms to declutter, routines to start, and goals to accomplish.

If we’re not careful, it’s easy to get caught up in striving and checking things off our lists. We look up months later feeling tired, anxious, and disconnected from God, having relied on our own strength instead of His.

But what if there’s another way?

What if we could move into the new year with joy and expectation while staying connected to our Father, even in the inevitable hurried pace?

I believe one way we stay connected to our Father is through worship. And one of the simplest ways to worship is by looking back. When we remember what God has done, we’re reminded of His faithfulness and why He alone is worthy of our lives.

For the last handful of years, I have been using a gratitude practice called Counting the Fruit that I first heard coined from a Christian writer, Jess Connolly. It is simply remembering what God has done and recalling this faithfulness to you.

I believe that this practice of gratitude will lead us to worship. And that worship will lead us to a good and kind Father ready to fill our cups each and every day of this new year.

When we remember what God has done, we’re reminded of His faithfulness and why He alone is worthy of our lives.”

What Do We Mean When We Say “Worship”?

When we say worship, what do we actually mean? You probably have a general understanding at minimum. You might think of our worship gatherings on Sundays or singing along to your favorite worship album in the car. And you would be right.

But I believe there is also a deeper image to look towards. One of the Greek words used for worship in scripture is proskuneo, which literally means to kiss toward. That image alone can change our perspective. Worship is not distant or routine; it is intimate, affectionate, and intentional.

Revelation echoes this idea when it says, “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:4 ESV) Worship is the act of turning our attention toward God.

I recently heard a worship leader describe worship this way: “Gaze and linger, looking to Jesus until He comes into focus.” I love that. Worship is the act of fixing our attention until truth becomes clearer. But that takes time, we must fight to linger longer than often our instincts say or what feels convenient.

Worship is more than emotion. Worship is obedience. It is a discipline. An intentional act of remembrance and celebration of who God is and all He has done.

Scripture doesn’t suggest worship; it commands it. And the commands of God are always for His Glory and Our Good.

Worship is more than emotion. Worship is obedience. It is a discipline.

Why Does God Command Us to Worship?

First, worship is for His Glory, because He is Worthy.

Luke 19 paints a powerful picture of this as Jesus rides into Jerusalem. The crowd is praising Him loudly for all the mighty works they’ve seen. When the Pharisees tell Jesus to rebuke them, He responds, “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

All of creation responds to the worthiness of God. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:10–11 NKJV). Worship will happen, it’s not a matter of if, but from whom, and to whom.

And worship is what Our Souls Need.

Psalm 63 captures this longing beautifully:

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you… Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” (Psalm 63:1–3 NIV)

Worship satisfies something in us that nothing else can. It is what our souls were created for.

But worship is also For Our Good.

Again, it’s not a question of whether we will worship, but who or what. We know this because we worship lesser things constantly: comfort, relationships, success, security, approval. Our hearts are always tempted to worship created things instead of the Creator. These lesser things always leave us feeling empty and exhausted.

Romans says, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25 ESV) Worship to the only one who is worthy brings us back to our source of life and joy.

So Why Don’t We Worship?

If worship is so good and so necessary, why do we struggle to be a worshiping people?

I think there are two primary reasons: discouragement and distraction. Discouragement, life is painful and difficult. We wait for circumstances to change before we worship. We assume worship should come after the breakthrough, once the prayer has been answered, the longing fulfilled and not before. Worship then becomes a response to circumstantial blessing rather than a declaration of adoration and trust.

Second: distraction. We are busy, overstimulated, and forgetful. Our world moves at a pace that we were never meant to sustain. In the hustle of everyday life we forget to remember. We start to believe that life, joy, holiness, peace and value are ours to produce. We forget all we have been rescued from and freed for.

And this is where Counting the Fruit becomes a powerful gift of remembrance.

Counting the Fruit: A Tool to Fight Defeat

Celebration is how we actively remember the goodness of God. It is how we fight discouragement and reposition our hearts toward truth amidst a world clamoring for our attention.

Psalm 63 says, “I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.” (Psalm 63:2 NIV) The psalmist is remembering—bringing past faithfulness into present reality.

This practice really took a hold in my life during a season where I was fighting to believe that God was kind and that He cared about my life. I was holding many unanswered questions and longings unfulfilled. I had fixed my eyes on what I wanted to look different about my circumstances and had lost sight of all God had done.

In His kindness, He brought me back to a place of worship through remembering the character of my God and all the evidence I had seen of what He was like. It turns out that once I started to look for all the ways God was good, I just couldn’t stop.

Now, this didn’t change my circumstances. In fact, I still hold many of those same questions and longings today but what it changed was me. I became utterly convinced of the kindness of God and that has changed everything. My only response after recounting His never ending faithfulness could be worship. Because celebration isn’t the goal, only a vehicle to bring us to the feet of our Savior.

What Would It Look Like to Live as a Celebrating Church?

What would happen if you daily looked for reasons to celebrate what God is doing in your life? What if you celebrated what He is doing in the lives of those in your Community Group? What if we really gave our all in worship during the Gathering as we remembered what God has done in and through our Church? Not for celebration sake but rather so our hearts would continue to be repositioned in worship back to the only one who is worthy.

Let’s count the fruit. Celebrate. Sing. Worship. And when we do, we push back darkness—not by pretending life is easy, but by declaring that God is faithful and good.

Jesus: Our Perfect Example

Jesus Himself modeled celebration and worship in the hardest moments of His time on earth.

After the Last Supper, knowing exactly what awaited Him on the cross, scripture tells us that Jesus sang a hymn before going to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26) Many biblical scholars believe that most likely these were the Hallel Psalms (Psalm 113–118), songs of praise and thanksgiving.

Psalm 118 declares, “The Lord is my strength and my defense; He has become my salvation… The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.” (Psalm 118:14, Psalm 118:24 NIV)

Imagine our Savior singing these very words knowing that He would so very soon go to the cross. Jesus never lost sight of who His Father was or why He could trust Him. He took on our sin, our condemnation, our punishment so that we could be free to worship—regardless of circumstance.

Because of the cross, we always have a reason to celebrate. We are alive. We are redeemed. We are headed toward eternity with God.

So let’s count the fruit. Let’s remember who He is and what He’s done. Because we cannot worship someone we do not know, and we cannot celebrate what we do not remember.

My challenge to you today is to take some time to sit down and recall the fruit of 2025. Look back over your last year and see if you can find as many places to celebrate as you can. Write them down. As you look back over the list, I promise that you will experience worship as it begins to rise up.

God is a Good and Faithful God. And worship, rooted in celebration, is how we come alive to that truth again and again.