I'm excited about sharing with you a subject that is so important to your life and mine and that is living our lives in true worship of our GOD. Please read below and if this impacts you in some way please share that with me at: lisashawcares@cfl.rr.com God bless you!
Matthew 22:36-38 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. Here the Lord is instructing the disciples and all of us on what worship is all about. It's about loving God with every fiber of our being.
John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The Lord is clear to us that worship is important to our Heavenly Father but not just 'any' type of worship but rather worship that is in spirit and truth.
John 14:15, 24: If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mind, but the Father's which sent me. Again, we see here that if we love the Lord then we will obey Him and obedience is worship.
Many years ago Dr. Mary Ann Brown was preaching at one of the Holy Convocation services being held at the church I was a member of in Virginia. She said something that profoundly yet simplistic and powerfully defined worship for me. She said, "Worship is love responding to love". Allow that to soak in. Now say it aloud: worship is love responding to love. Think about the magnitude of that statement. It makes me think of John 3:16 a Scripture that is often quoted but how often does it REALLY soak into our hearts and minds? John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What Dr. Brown said meant that my worship of God is the way that I show Him just how deeply that I love Him for loving me. As I sat there many years ago I don't recall the Scriptures or even the rest of the message but that one statement rang so deeply in my heart that it caused me to desire to live a life of worship unto God on an even greater level than I had already been living at that point and it's a desire and a process I continue to grow in day by day.
So often people define worship as purely a physical act such as singing worship and praise songs or saying, "Father I worship You", "Lord Jesus I adore You". Both (singing and words) are important and beautiful expressions of our love for the Father and Son but TRUE WORSHIP is engraved in lifestyle. How we live out those feelings of love and appreciation to our GOD. That's true worship. How we express ourselves in our daily lifestyles. How we respond to each other when we are in conflict. How we behave in traffic when we're in a rush or when someone cuts us off. That's true worship. How we interact with people of different races, cultures, ages and stages of life. It's how we respond when church people hurt us, co-workers gossip about us, bosses overlook our hard work, bonuses are not reflective of the hard work done for the year, family members turn against us, friends betray us, when there doesn't seem to be 'enough' and when our bodies fail us -- how we react in these situations will be based on our understanding and revelation of the TRUE WORSHIP of GOD. Not to suggest that we won't fail and fail often. We will come up short on a regular basis in our behavior, thoughts and words and that's why WE NEED JESUS!! We need His presence in our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit to teach us and lead us in the truth of our LORD and when we daily submit (obey) to that truth we are living in worship of our GOD.
Worship for me is a lifestyle not just something I do at church service, it's who I am when no one is looking. Worship is how I treat God when it's just me and Him. It's living my life unto Him as an offering back to He who owns me and loves me more than I could ever love myself. TRUE WORSHIP is living by faith when every circumstance dictates otherwise. God won't lie! His word is truth always! [Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?]
TRUE WORSHIP is praising GOD even when hell is up against us realizing that satan is already defeated by the BLOOD OF JESUS!
TRUE WORSHIP is my desire to please my Abba Father and my Lord Jesus Christ. It's our desire to trust in Him and Him alone even when our flesh says to turn in another direction. It's not just the acknowledgment of His creation but of Him as Creator.
TRUE WORSHIP is our dependency and the acknowledgement thereof of our need for GOD. It's the acknowledgment of His Sovereignty, Righteousness, Holiness, Authority, Majesty, Glory, Dominion over all the earth! It's our acknowledgment that through the privilege of a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, we can come boldly before the throne of God the Father and receive everything we need -- peace, comfort, strength, joy, wisdom, discernment, power, ability and provision -- everything and anything that is needed for us to live the life He has pre-ordained for us before the beginning of time.
TRUE WORSHIP is the understanding that it's never about us but only about glorifying God. It's hungering to spend time with GOD in prayer and in studying the Bible. Fellowship with God is a beautiful thing!
TRUE WORSHIP is repenting when we're wrong before the Lord. Realizing that we are filthy sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone and it's realizing that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We're not righteous on our own but solely through Jesus. It's determining ourselves to be humble before our GOD and to dye daily to our flesh with the help of our Helper the Holy Spirit.
TRUE WORSHIP is laying the accolades, praises and applause at JESUS' feet because He is alone worthy to receive it. It's a cry of consecrate our hearts LORD. Clean out every disgusting thing within us. Grant us a new and clean heart that reflects our understanding that WE LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU FIRST LOVED US.
I recently began reading a book that has caused me to really pause. It covers the tenderness of God's mercy and one of the things the author caused me to focus more on is the greater awareness that "Abba, I belong to You". Declare that: "Abba, I belong to You". I already knew it but even when we know or think we know we still can use refreshers (reminders and encouragement) in our faith. I invite you to call out to Abba because you belong to Him and He absolutely adores you without a doubt! Declare it and speak it with reverence and love unto GOD, "Abba, I belong to You". Write it on index cards and tape it on your frig, bathroom mirror, glove compartment in your car, closet door, inside your Bible, on your computer screen, inside your briefcase or pocketbook. Any and every where you daily go have it in front of you as a reminder that you are not your own. You were bought back (redeemed) from your sins at the highest price (BLOOD OF JESUS) because Abba Father and the Lord Jesus Christ LOVES YOU SO MUCH. Now that revelation will cause you to live a life of true worship in your faults and all, you will still desire to live for GOD.
I believe worship here on earth is a very 'small' example or preparation for how Heaven will be. Up close with God is going to be absolutely incredible!! There aren't any words or earthly expressions that would adequately describe that never-ending, life everlasting -- for eternity experience we will have of LOVE RESPONDING TO LOVE!
2 Corinthians 5:21 - "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." What better reason to worship GOD in spirit and in truth -- to offer our lives in true worship but the fact that God loves us so much that He would send his SINLESS Son for us so that we could become the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ and His incredible sacrifice. That is LOVE RESPONDING TO LOVE -- True Worship.
Do you know how much Abba Father loves you? Do you know how much you mean to JESUS? You are important and valuable to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Are you living a life of true worship? We all must examine ourselves daily and submit to the teachings of the Bible and to the leading of the Holy Spirit to live lives that are that of worship unto our awesome Almighty GOD.
God bless you.
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