Do you ever feel like you have already been through the trial you are running into today? Are you living in rerun episodes of life? Sometimes God gives us repeat performances of the problems we face because we are just not making the changes He wants us to make. Today I was diligently working on an article which the topic interested me, but as I wrote it I was not sure if it was enough. Having written today's article in my note book I was drawn to a past issue of In His Word that spoke to my heart today. If you recall a few weeks back I wrote about the subject of Worshiping the Lord, The following is a "rerun article" from three years back that spoke to my heart today; as I was drawn to it I felt an overwhelming desire to re-post this article today. I trust that the Lord has someone that needs to read what He wrote in His Word via my blog today and pray that it touches you right where you are.
What is Worship? In His Word
What is worship anyway?
You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we
Jews know all about him, forsalvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed
it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in
truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who
worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:22-24
This weekend I had the opportunity to enjoy true worship with other
believers at a women’s breakfast. The songs that were chosen were a little
older than my church usually uses, but I still knew them all. The leader really
entered into the worship and even though a couple of times some of us were off
track with the singer/leader it did not hinder the presence of the Lord in the
room.
She named him Seth, for she said, “God has granted me another son in
place of Abel, whom Cain killed.” When
Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began
to worship the LORD by name. Genesis 4:25-26
God is so awesome we should always want to stay in the Throne Room!
I the tabernacle there was a place called the Holy of Holies where the
actual spirit of the Lord would be. We are blessed today because His spirit
follows us via the Holy Spirit once we accept Christ as our Lord and believe in
His promise of Salvation.
Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?” They replied,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your
household.” And they shared
the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Acts 16:30-32
Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you
will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ And
since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”
When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising
God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege
of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.” Acts 11:16-18
What an advantage to be able to accept the Lord!
Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. Deuteronomy 12: 4-5
Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. Deuteronomy 12: 4-5
But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who
will worship him that way. For
God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
We need to really be worshiping Jesus in truth. This means we need to
show Him that we adore Him as well as that we respect His authority; which is
to give Him reverence. To do this we need to do as He says in His Word.
Get in His face and spend time not just doing lip service but truly entering
in, in prayer, in song and in standing silently before the throne waiting for
the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and mind.
Look for the directions in His Word, and then follow them.
When we do not worship Him in spirit and in truth we are like a person
who asks for directions and then goes their own way. Or when you go out and get
a GPS and forget to turn it on. We can end up out in the middle of no where
with no one to help us find the way home.
God has given us direction in His Word and so we need to follow the
Map He has provided. Life will be much better over all, but more than
that peace flows in our lives when we have been in His presence worshiping Him.
He will provide us with the answers, the direction we are seeking for
when we just take the time to worship Him.
Honor Him with your presence, your heart and mind included! We can
honor the Lord with our mouth and forget to honor Him with our heart and mind.
We need to give Him all of us, all our attention. The more we look to Him, the
less we will notice that there are wrong turns out there to tempt us. The more
we look to Him the more our walk will be straight.
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to focus on You each day of this week.
Let the things of this earth grow dim in the light of Your presence. In Jesus
Name, amen.
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