Worship: An Encounter with Almighty God
People tend to get caught up in where they should worship, what music they should sing in worship, and how the worship looks to other people. Focusing on these things completely misses the point. Worship is a heartfelt encounter of men and angels with the true God. This means we worship from the heart and the way God calls us to. It is an act of attention to the living God who rules, speaks and reveals, creates and redeems, orders and blesses. “The essence of worship is genuineness.” Worship may find expression in thought, in prayer, in praise, in song, in body position, and in activity such as dancing or uplifting of arms- but without genuineness all becomes false worship. Jesus instructed the woman at the well in this matter, saying: ‘But the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:23).
A. Worship itself does not invoke the presence of God---rather, worship is a response to the presence of God.
B. People who do not have a worshipping lifestyle are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world, with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.
C. Being in church every Sunday doesn’t make you a worshiper any more than attending the opera makes you an opera singer. Worship takes time, discipline, and sacrifice.
D. God is not a denominational God! He is not Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic, or Methodist. Worship points directly to the heart of God. John 4:24 makes no distinction as to denomination, nationality, ethnicity, or culture. It merely states that “God is a Spirit; and they that worship him in spirit and in truth.”
E. True Worship cannot happen without the horizontal relationships with our brothers and sisters being cleared up. (Matthew 5:23-24) (Matthew 6:14) We are to forgive others because we ourselves were forgiven. God requires that we genuinely forgive those who have offended us before we can worship him with a clear conscience and a true spirit of praise.
Worship No Matter What the Situation Says
The Bible is full of unquenchable worshippers- people who refused to be dampened, discouraged or distracted in their quest to glorify God. I love the heart attitude of the prophet Habakkuk, who decided he would chose to respond to God’s worth, no matter how bleak a season he found himself in:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior (Habakkuk 3:17,19)
Even at our lowest points, there should be an underlying trust and, therefore, worship. It is worship that can overcome any obstacle and rise from the heart of the troubled believer to the very heart of God. You must have the ability to press into the very presence of God even in the midst of adversity. Honestly when your level of worship begins to rise, the more resistance you will experience.
The closer you draw to God in your worship, the more you will see and discern the attack from the enemy. You will start to see a new resistance in areas that you didn’t see before. The more you increase your worship, the closer you get to God, the more you will see that some people you thought were friends and had your best interest at heart were working against you. The more you worship the more your spiritual eyes will be opened, and you will begin to see things you never saw before.
You will find that the true worshippers don’t have a lot time to get caught up in clicks and groups. You will discover that as a true worshipper you are so thirsty and hungry for the presence of God, you can’t be involved in a bunch of foolishness.
Louisville KY 40213 Pastor Timothy Findley Jr. "Holy Spirit Led, Not Tradition Bound"
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