Lifestyle of Worship: Die To Yourself...?

When people use this terminology, they may be talking about singing and they may not, but the meaning or point is to create a lifestyle that is focused on God.

When I personally think of a lifestyle of worship, I do fill my mind with worship music because it's what speaks to my soul.
From the time I was young, I was always drawn to music. Though I never really became a "musician" per se, as a little kid, my mom used to show me off to her friends because at a very young age I was doing Elvis impressions and singing pop songs on the radio verbatim.

But a love for music is not what drew me to worship music. What drew me to worship music was what would happen when I would worship God through it.
It was His presence! It was and still is!

When I worship (through music and also read His Word and muse on life with Him in mind) I am focused solely on Him and His presence fills my soul. He begins to take over my thoughts and desires. He begins to give me a Heavenly perspective on my circumstances, my future, my family...

Gal 5:16 "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

When I choose daily to give my whole thought life over to Him, I am a different person than the one who chooses not to.
My natural man gives in to temptation, pressures of life, disappointment, anger.... But my Spiritual man is purposeful, thoughtful, loving.

Gal 5:19 "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: [i]immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

But notice this very important key...
The vehicle for ME to "walking by the Spirit" is by doing something that I LOVE! I personally LOVE to worship God through music and other means of MUSing. Those things feed my spirit because they feed my soul...

We have this mentality sometimes that when Jesus said "deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me..." He was saying that everything we want or like needs to die - that we're not allowed to be ourselves!
Now there is a truth in that if we're living by THE FLESH, we're not feeding our spirit. But as we read above, the deeds of the flesh are evident.

But He never said "die to yourself." He did not say "who you are - the person that I created fearfully and wonderfully - is worthless." Denying your flesh is completely different than denying your soul!
You were made to worship Him, but you were made to approach Him from WHO YOU ARE. He gave you gifts and talents for a reason.

There's a song we used to sing (and sometimes we still do) called "Surrender" (the Vineyard song, not the hymn) that we used to constantly sing incorrectly.
I would constantly find both worshipers and worship leaders singing the second verse like this:

I'm giving up my dreams
I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride
For the promise of new life

The issue here is that the actual lyrics are actually "I'm giving YOU my dreams..." THIS is the correct approach! He did not call you to squelch everything about you and your passions and start from scratch. But what He does want is for you to present those things to Him as an offering so that He can take those things and tweak them or even bless them!
If I had a dream to become an amazing worship leader or songwriter, why in the world would He want me to throw that away? What makes more sense is that I willingly give it to Him so that He can make it way more powerful and effective than ANY efforts of my own!

We were created to worship Him. But we were not created as lifeless, soulless robots. We were created with passions, dreams, gifts and talents so that we can worship Him from WHO WE ARE!

So what does a lifestyle of worship look like to you? Is it painstakingly boring or hard or is it natural and joyful to your soul?
Consider how you're approaching Him. Ask Him, "what of mine do You want and how can I use it to get close to You?"

Jeremiah 29:13
"You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

He will undoubtedly show you and it can and will transform the way you approach Him and very possibly bring breakthrough in your life.