3: True Worship

  We have been called back to our original purpose, which is to worship God, and out of our worship the love of God flows through our mind like a cool summer breeze. Removing the character flaws of our earthen past, it instills in us the true character traits of who we were prior to our physical birth. Our spiritual age is undetermined along with the many things that will be revealed to us upon our death or resurrection. To receive our revelation we must understand that the Holy Spirit only descends upon us while we are in worship, and out of our worship our service to others is revealed. Our ministry was set before God prior to the foundations of the earth and is given to us while our mind is full of the glory of God.

Examples of true worship can be found in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Revelation. In Isaiah 6:1-3 we read, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” They are worshiping our awesome God in joyous celebration. In Ezekiel 1:1-28 we are treated to some of the events of the throne room, and a personal description of God. All of God’s creations are in continuous worship of their Majesty, and in Revelation we read, Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13) It really makes us humans look totally pathetic in the way we treat our God, our Father.

  When we get down on our knees, alone in private, we use these Biblical examples to guide us through the process of true worship. We imagine the atmosphere of heaven, the colors and sites we see in our mind’s eye. We focus our attention on the One who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb of God. Joyous noisy worship explodes from the disciples, for they cannot hold back their love for Him anymore. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen. The crowd detonates in glorious praise saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:37-38) Some of the Pharisees complained to Jesus about the crowd, demanding that He quiet His followers, and Jesus said, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Worship is as important to us as food and water yet we starve our soul to death without our spiritual blessing. We are bankrupted and starving little children who have run away from our heavenly parent. The apple in the eye of Christ is paying the price of being led by people who aren’t in personal worship with the Lord. It is evident by the decline of the modern church. People feel they don’t need the rituals anymore, because they have no spiritual meaning, and they turn to other mediums that lead them astray. When I go to church I want to be among a group of people who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through daily Bible study and prayer. There is no wondering who these people are: you can see their joy through the window of their soul.

The intention of Christ is to guide us into the same relationship that He has with the Father. He holds back nothing from us. He lays everything down on the table, and is willing to share all that He is, and all that He has with us, the lost darlings of the universe. There is more to worship than feelings and emotions. It is a state of mind that enables us to grow in refinement and in power to the point that when we open up our eyes we feel as if we have been somewhere. It deeply humbles us as a person, and it fills the longings of our heart. We always walk away wanting to know more because of the beautiful presence we have just left. We place our confidence in Him on the highest level and we respect Him like no other. Father we adore You we honor and obey You. We bow our head in humble worship and prayer.

There are those of us who have respect for God in a theoretical way, but are unable to admire God because we base our knowledge of Him on intelligence. We have been given the capability to admire Him when we know God through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of worship we have a quizzical desire to seek out the mysteries of God. It brings exhilaration to our soul, an obsession to understand His character, and at the same time an amazing wonder at the vastness of His magnificence. Our deep love and respect for our Father in heaven fans the flame of the fire of our soul that is consummated through the Holy Spirit. With all the power that is inside of us we try to comprehend with fear the wonder and awe of almighty God. I kneel before the Lord in selfish desire with a love that cries out, “Thou art mine, oh Lord.”

These things cannot happen in a church. There are too many distractions. I believe the average pastor today can stop time, our maybe it just feels that way. I look around the sanctuary and there are people nodding all over the pace. The Spirit of the Lord is not there, but the results of the night before are there. We have to seek out God in the loneliness of our soul, and there is no one else who can do it for us. Until we get down upon our knees before the Lord we will never know what it is like to truly love other people. The only love we will ever know is ourselves. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:22-23)

The greatest churches I have found are in places like the Philippines, Africa, and Vietnam. These people are on fire for the Lord. We really need to bring them over here to America so they could start a revival we so desperately need. Not many know that the Muslim nations are growing closer to Christ. Sixty percent of their populations are under twenty-five, and they are questioning their beliefs by the millions. Our churches are sick, because we have lost our love for God, and replaced Him with the god of entertainment. People just don’t understand that we were created to worship, and if we are not worshiping God we have lost the reason why we are born. I wish we can simply understand that we have no need for a building because we are a portable sanctuary. God has put the desire in your heart to worship. I promise you He will not desert you. He is there waiting for you, stretching out His arm, His hand, and His fingertips, yearning to have fellowship.

  Our approach must be humble for us to see God in all His supremacy. When we stare into that unapproachable light where no man can see Him and live, our understanding of just how mighty He is and how small we are comes to a better understanding. There is a secret that many struggle to understand: you, me, and God are one person because all that is God’s was given to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. So now here we stand with all of God, we just have to make sure God has all of us. There is our nature and the nature of God fused together inseparably, created in the same image. When God became man, He created the avenue in which we have a path to righteousness, to regain what we had lost through sin, and to reclaim our sonship.

To have a total life in Christ we need our toolbox of obedience, loyalty, faith, and love. Without these tools there is worship that pleases God. We cannot set one part of our life aside for worship while the other parts dwell in the flesh. We must make personal preparation before we begin our worship. The word of God is designed to destroy the things in life that are destructive to our relationship. It makes it obvious to us where we are lacking by convicting us of our sins. So we yield ourselves to the operations of the Holy Spirit which cleans us from all the things that are contrary to God. This process seems harsh at first, but as we grow we discover it to be very satisfying.

  When we ask anything in the name of Jesus Christ we are conforming ourselves to His nature. If I am not living in His name, then I cannot expect anything by asking Him in His name. Through obedience we pray correctly to His nature. We cannot live according to our nature and worship in His. When we harmonize our beings through the guidance of the Holy Spirit we begin to come in contact with the presence of His being. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) The same power that united Christ with God unites us with Jesus.