Skip to main content

Follower or Imitator- Where is Your Worship?

All we are...All we ever will be...found only at the Cross


One of the greatest blessings of Christian fellowship is the mystery of worship. 

The God of the universe, creator of all things, ruler of the stars, longs and desires to fellowship with us. In fact, He is jealous over His time with us; seen in Exodus 34:14 as we are told “you must worship no other Gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you”. 

What an honor and privilege to worship. 

Worship is inherent in creation. Luke 19:40 shows Jesus answering the Pharisees who commanded Him to silence the disciples from offering worship, and Jesus stated “I tell you, He answered, “if they remain silent, the very stones will cry out.” 

All creation was designed to offer worship and praise to the creator. The winds blow praise. The waves crash in praise. The mountains stand majestic in praise. The creatures of the earth and see proclaim God’s glory, and Jesus shows that if we do not praise Him, the very stones of the earth would shout in our place!

In the days of the Old Testament, the people of God offered many different types of things as praise. They had grain offerings, wave offerings, thank offerings, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, etc. However, they were limited by the veil that separated them from the Holy of Holies…from the very presence of God. 

When Jesus crawled upon that cross, and bore the penalty of sin and death once and for all, that veil was rent in two! We who come after are granted the privilege and honor of heart to heart communication with the God of the universe, with no priest needed to mediate between us. 

Jesus is our high and holy priest, and the cross was the ultimate mediation!!

Worship is so much more than a few moments of singing on a Sunday morning. It is a lifestyle. It is a conscience, a state of constant observance of the moving and working of God in every moment of our lives. It is seeing Him in all things, and offering our praise. Seeing Him a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Seeing Him in the kindness of a stranger. Hearing Him in the giggle of our children. 

Worship is communion. It is a life “lived out” – a waterfall of praise being constantly poured forth from within us. It is not always a “feeling”- it is often a choice. An act of our will – because He is worthy. We worship Him because of all He has done for us. Remember the old hymn, Count Your Blessings? He has done too much in us, through us, and for us - We cannot remain silent!! 1 Thes 5:18 tells us to “give thanks in everything, for this is the will of Christ Jesus in you.” 

He does not tell us to give thanks for everything, but to give thanks in everything!

How is your worship? Is it constant? Is it blocked by the trials of this life? Just like a beaver can build a dam that will stop up even the strongest river, so can the despair and pain of this life build up in us if we allow it. 

The Holy Spirit is the flood that can crush any dam that has built up within us. If you are feeling dry in your spirit, if they well-spring of praise in your heart has stopped up, you can cry out to the creator today. You can sing out with the very stones in praise to God! 

Worship is essential in the life of a Christ imitator- because Christ lived out the essence of worship. 

He told us that if “we have seen Him, we have seen the Father” in John 14:9. 

He is God in the flesh, and He lived out His life in worship and praise to His Father. We should follow Him in like manner and live our moments and days in praise to the God who is jealous over us.

Questions:

1.   Are we worshipping the Lord with all that we are? If not, what the things that may be impeding our worship?

2.   Have we allowed life to crowd out the praise in our hearts? Pray now and ask the Lord to purge your heart of the darkness that would suffocate our praise!



3.   What are things we can do to ensure that our lives are a fragrant incense of worship being constantly lifted before the throne of God?


Scriptures to Consider:

Psalm 103:1 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His Holy name!”

Eph 5:19 “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart.”

John 4:23 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him.”

Psalm 95:6 “O come let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord God, our Maker!”


“God gave worship so that we might become partners in His highest purposes.”   - Dr. Jack Hayford
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shack- A review of the controversy

Not all things can be taken at face value- sometimes you must dig a bit deeper *** Spoiler alert- I am going to be writing my thoughts about The Shack , by William P. Young. In this review/discussion, some of the details of the book will be revealed. Some may not have read the book, some may not care to. I pray that my discussion will at least pique your curiosity to investigate it for yourself, but I do apologize for any plot revelations. *** Things are not always what they seem. At least that has been my experience in life. As soon as I think I have a situation/person figured out, they shock the daylights out of me. Some things in life are predictable; we know the sun will rise each morning, most of us have our "routine", but there are times when life just surprises. I was given a copy of the book, The Shack  by William P. Young, from a friend at church who told me, "this book has changed my life; you should read it". I took it from her happily, bei
5 comments
Read more

Eternal Choices

Beautiful Gates- Eternal Hope The story posted below is a true account of the night I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I pray it will minister to you. Allow yourself to get swept into the truth of Heaven, the beauty of Jesus, and the reality that we all must make that decision- what will we experience...Heavens' Gates or Hells' Flames? A Decision Made in Eternity           “Can you even understand what he is saying?”, a fellow student whispered to me. It was the fall of 1997, and we were sitting in a college algebra class listening to a first-generation Chinese professor attempt to holler instructions across the vast auditorium of nearly 150 teenagers. “Um…no…sorry. I can’t make out a word.” I answered back sheepishly. Truth-be-told, I had not been able to grasp one concept he had droned on about in the nearly three-week eternity that was the class so far.           As he continued to ramble on about facts and figures, that sounded as much like his foreign accent as
2 comments
Read more

Would you sink?

Will you trust Jesus to hold you up, even in the deepest waters? Jesus is the guard of my life How hard is it to trust the Lord? Some moments it seems so easy…but other times it is so difficult. Why is that? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if He is not changing, why should our trust in Him change? It really all boils down to perspective. Where our focus is at that moment. If we are keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord in the midst of a difficult situation, it seems smaller, and we are less apt to stress out. But if we remove our eyes from His face and focus on the situation at hand, it often appears insurmountable and we begin to feel overwhelmed and despair. It makes me think of Peter, when he stepped out of the boat and began to walk on the water towards Jesus in Matthew 14:27-31. There is more to this passage of Scripture that we could look at in terms of being in the midst of a storm, but for the intent of this post, I want to focus on Peter and what
Post a Comment
Read more