“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such
to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23, 24
God's presence comes through worship.
Have you ever wondered
what God really wants from us? God wants to be worshipped.
Marriam-Webster Dictionary lists worship as this:
Reverence offered a divine being or supernatural
power; also: an act of expressing such reverence.
Reverence is to honor and admire profoundly and respectfully.
The Creator of the
universe wants to be worshipped. God wants to be honored and
acknowledged. To worship Jehovah God is to place Him first before and
above everything else. This is not always easy as so many things will
try to take the focus away from God.
No
Lip Service to the King
Have you ever had
someone speak to you and you can tell that they were just saying a bunch
of words and that the words spoken were not from their heart? It almost
makes you sick to your stomach. Imagine God looking at you and watching
you talk to Him and you are so used to saying certain things to Him that
it is all just repetitious words.
God deserves our praise and worship.
He is looking
for clean hands and pure hearts. No more lip service to the King. Now is
the time for the true worshippers to rise up. God's presence comes
through worship. Worship God with all of your heart. Worship God in
spirit and in truth. Go to another level in God through worship.
How do we do we worship
God in spirit and in truth? We worship Him from our hearts. We mean what
we say when we talk to Him. In I Samuel 16:7, the prophet Samuel was
sent out by God to look for a new king to lead the nation of Israel. In
Bethlehem, when the sons of Jesse were passed before Samuel, Samuel made
his own assumption as to which one should be the next king but God
mentions otherwise.
“But the LORD said to
Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature,
because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as
man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart.’”
And so at a young age,
David was anointed king in the midst of his brothers not because he
looked the part but because he was a man after God’s own heart. (Read I
Samuel 13:14)
The condition of our
hearts is so important to God. While Jesus was walking on
this earth, one of the things He spoke about was the condition of the heart.
The scribes and the Pharisees come to Jesus with a
question about hand washing.
“Then the scribes and
Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your
disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash
their hands when they eat bread.” He answered and said to them, “Why
do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your
tradition?
For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your
mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put
to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother,
“Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift
to God”— then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you
have made the commandment of God of no effect by your
tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their
mouth, and honor Me with their lips, But their heart is
far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Matthew 15:1-9; read
also Isaiah 29:9-16
The Pharisees were
always trying to come against Jesus with the law yet they were always
breaking the law themselves. Jesus came to fulfill the law not to get
rid of it. The Messiah, Jesus Christ Himself, was in their midst yet
they were so full of religion, so full of tradition, they couldn’t see
Him. They allowed traditions of man to make the commandment of God of
no effect! They were so caught up in their own doctrines (not the word
of God) that they failed to see that defilement really comes from
within, from the heart.
“When He had called
the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and
understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes
out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Then His disciples came and
said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they
heard this saying?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My
heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone.
They
are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both
will fall into a ditch.” Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain
this parable to us.” So Jesus said, “Are you also still without
understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the
mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
But those things which
proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the
things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not
defile a man.”
Matthew 15:10-20
God is tired of lip
service. He is tired of works, the things that we try to do to get His
attention. When all He wants is our hearts because when He has our
hearts, He will have all of us.
“Every
way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs and tries
the hearts”
Proverbs 21:2
God wants clean hands and pure hearts
“Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Matthew 5:8
The Scribes: Which Is the First Commandment of All?
Then one of the
scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving
that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first
commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the
commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD
is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength.’
This is the first commandment. And the second,
like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” So
the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken
the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.
And to
love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the
soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as
oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are
not far from the kingdom of God.” But after that no one dared question
Him.
Mark 12:28-34
When you love the way
that Jesus commands, you are doing God’s will. Your heart is in the
right condition. You may wonder what this has to do with worship. Well,
actually a lot. It would be very hard to worship God in spirit and in
truth if your heart is not in the right condition.
Man looks at the outside but God looks at the heart.
Circumcision of the heart
Under the Abrahamic Covenant, God required that every male be
circumcised in the foreskin of his flesh.
“And you shall be
circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of
the covenant between Me and you.”
Genesis 17:11
“He who is born in
your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised,
and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.”
Genesis 17:13
“And the
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken
My covenant.”
Genesis 17:14
Now, we are under a
better covenant.
“For if that first
covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought
for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold,
the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them,
says the LORD.
For this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying,
‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them
to the greatest of them.
For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.” In that He says,
“A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now
what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Hebrews 8:7-13
The first covenant is
obsolete because now there is a new covenant. Jesus became a surety for
a better covenant. (Read Hebrews 7)
“For if the blood of
bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God?
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new
covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the
promise of the eternal inheritance.”
Hebrews 9:13-15
Every believer in Jesus
must now have their hearts (flesh) circumcised through Christ.
“In Him you were also
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him
through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was
against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross.”
Colossians 2:11-14
In the book of
Romans, Paul mentions that circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit
and not of the flesh.
“For circumcision
is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of
the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an
uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will
not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
And will not the
physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who,
even with your written code and circumcision, are
a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one
outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in
the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the
letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”
Romans 2:25-29
You
are what you think
“For as he thinks in
his heart, so is he.”
Proverbs 23:7a
You are what you think
and what you think will pour out of you. When you worship God, whatever
is in your heart will come out. It is not about having fast or slow songs in praise and worship. It is not about how many people you get
shouting.
It is not about who is looking good while doing their
“worship” to God. It should always be and must always be about God the
Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever been in
the company of others and they are talking to the person beside you
about you? Example: What type of music does "____" listen to? They are
talking about you and you are standing right there in front of them!
You
probably wonder why they wouldn't just take the time to talk directly to you. You would probably become irritated. Well, let’s say that you
were visiting a friend and when your friend opens the door, they didn’t
even greet you and if they did, they said “oh it’s you again”. Would you
enjoy visiting that person?
This is what we do to
God. We show up in church
and sing songs about ourselves, our needs and never talk directly to the
Lord Himself. There is never acknowledgement of His power, of His ways,
of His goodness. We are having a good old party, shouting and dancing as
if the Lord is there and yet He is so far away.
Just because the gifts are in operation
does not mean that God's tangible presence is there. This is not
so. The gifts and the callings are irrevocable (read Romans 11:29). That
means that they will be there because He has given them to us and none
of us did anything to deserve them.
God wants relationship.
His heart longs to be intimate with His children. The Father’s heart is
longing for fellowship.
Seek After Him
God wants us to seek after Him with our whole heart. He wants us hungry
for Him, hungry for His touch, His Word, His power. When we seek after
Him with our whole heart, He will heal our land. When we seek Him with
our whole heart, we will find Him.
“If My people who are
called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face,
and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
II Chronicles 7:14
“And you will seek Me
and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13
“But without faith it
is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that
He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11:6
Believe that God
Exists
The Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please God. You
have to believe that God is real. You have to believe what He says in
His Word, what He speaks in your heart.
What do you put first in your life? Many times, we say that we do not
have time to do certain things. One youth pastor mentioned it this way.
"When you are about to go on a vacation or a trip of some sort, you would
make sure that all of the chores or tasks that had to be done before you
left for your trip, were done. If we worked like that every day, we
would accomplish so much for the Kingdom of God. When something is a
priority to us, we will make sure it gets done."
It is sad to say that a lot of things that God has asked me to do were
not a priority to me. This showed that I was lazy and slothful in doing
the things of God. This was a terrible heart condition because I was not
putting God first in every area.
Holy Fear of God
What does it mean to fear God? To fear God in this sense does not mean
that you are afraid of Him, afraid to get near Him. To fear God is to
show Him reverence, to honor Him. We will not disrespect God when we
fear Him. When we fear God, we will be obedient to His will, His Word, His desires.
Remember the children of Israel? They were afraid of the presence of God
that they backed away from it. They would rather hear from Moses instead
of directly from God.
“Now all the people
witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the
trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it,
they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak
with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we
die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to
test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not
sin.” So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick
darkness where God was.”
Exodus 20:18-21
They were used to seeing the acts of God while Moses was the one who
knew the ways of God. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man
speaks to his friend (see Exodus 33:11).
The fear of God makes you want to draw closer to God. You would rather
obey God than man. Are you so concerned about what others think about
you? Are you a man-pleaser instead of a God-pleaser? Do you care about
what others think about you or what God thinks about you?
I want to please God. I must admit that it wasn’t always this way. All
of my life, I felt that I had to do things to gain love, affection,
acceptance. I felt that I couldn’t really be myself and that I had to
be whoever that other person wanted me to be. I needed to know that people
liked me and that I was accepted. I wanted to please anyone and everyone
just so that I would be accepted. I had a fear of man.
The Lord began to work on my heart. He showed me that I was putting
everyone before Him. He showed me that I would rather be with others and
not be with Him. He showed me that I didn’t think that He was enough.
The more I allowed Him into my heart, the more I could
feel His pure love pouring into me, healing me.
He was always there,
pouring out His love and mercy to me but I wasn’t always willing to receive it
because I thought that I didn’t deserve it. When I began to see that the
only acceptance that I needed was from Him, the opinions of others
began to fade. The revelation of His love
took me to another level in Him. Worshipping Him and showing Him how much I
loved Him began to fill the hole that was in my heart. I was designed
to worship Him and so were you!
Worship Him because
He deserves it!
What better reason to worship God than because…He is God! He is God
almighty, Creator of the Universe. He gave His only Son to die on the
cross so that we can spend eternity with Him. This is love that Jesus would leave
heaven, come to earth in the flesh, die a horrible death on the cross
so that we could be with Him. He loved us before we ever loved Him. Now,
Jesus is alive and in heaven right now, sitting at the right hand of the
Father (see Mark 16:19).
Worship is
important
Worship will bring the presence of God in a tangible way. From the
moment that we receive Jesus into our hearts, He is there with us,
living inside of us. As
believers, we are never without His Spirit because Jesus Himself said
that He would send the Comforter (see John 14) who would never leave us
but would teach us and guide us.
Worship creates an atmosphere for the
manifestation of His presence. When we seek after God in worship, He
shows Himself. The Lord responds to true worship.
Don’t limit God.
Don’t tell Him that He can’t flow this way or that way
or that He is only allowed to move in a particular way in a service. Allow the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of God to flow the way that He wants to in worship.
Be sensitive to what He is doing and wants to do at that moment.
Allow the gifts of the Spirit to come forth in worship (see I
Corinthians 12). Don’t surrender to the gifts but wait until His
presence is there. Learn to wait on the Lord. Learn to wait on His word,
to what the Father is saying at that moment.
We can also release the voice of the Lord through praise and worship. The Bible
talks about clapping our hands (see Psalm 47:1), offering up a shout
(see Psalm 47:5), singing praises to the Lord (see Psalm 47:6) and dancing (see Psalm 149:3).
Now, take this opportunity to spend time worshipping the Lord. Being in
the presence of God will change you.
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