Christian Living

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True Worship

John 4:24 God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I recently read of a man who died and went to heaven, as he approached the gates, the angels were there to meet him. He was in awe of the beautiful music he could hear in the background. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. He asked the angels where it was coming from. They took him to a window and as he peered through the window he looked down and say a multitude of congregations scattered all over the earth. Apparently it was Sunday morning and people were in their places at church. He was puzzled and said to the angels, "that is the most amazing sound I have ever heard, but I always imagined that it would be much louder" The angels went on to explain, "you see sir, their are many singing to God from their hearts, but many more are moving their lips, but their heart is far from God."
Mathew 15:8&9 This people draweth night unto me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the command of man.

How much of my worship does God see and hear? Do the songs I sing, the praises I give Him, the ministries I labor in really reach the heart of my heavenly Father.
John 4:23 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.
Now I ask myself, what is true worship? What is the worship the word of God so clearly tells us God desires from us?

Often when we hear the word "worship" we envision a congregation standing in song to God, or one person on bended knee lifting up holy hands to the Lord. While these are types of worship, it goes beyond that dedicated time we set aside for Him, it should continue as we leave our prayer time or morning worship services if we are to truly understand what it means and practice worshipping in spirit and truth.

A pastor said it this way, "All true worship is a response that comes from God's truth. When we see a truth, understand it and act on it, God sees that as true worship"
When we see a truth and we are enlightened, our hearts are filled with joy and more faith in God and we are thankful and give praise and glory to God. This is worshipping in spirit and in truth.


Worship in time alone with Him
Psalm 95:6 O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before our maker.
God considers true worship when we spend quiet time with Him. This time consist of His word being soaked into our soul becoming the truth in which we live our lives. It consists of time of praising Him for who He is and who He is in our lives. It consists of cleansing our hearts by confessing our sin and asking for strength, wisdom and power to forsake the sin in which His truth has just revealed. It consists of bathing our day, our walk, our families, and all our daily cares in prayer.
When this time is ended, we carry it out wherever our next opportunity to worship lies. We continue in that spirit as we begin our daily duties, chores, jobs, ministries or whatever our lives consist of.

Worship Him in doing His will
Mathew 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth His will, Him He heareth.
Obedience to His truth is a form of worship. As we are shown His will in His word, and we act on it, God sees this as true worship. As God calls on us to perform certain ministries and we do them faithfully and for His glory, we are at this call worshipping Him. When we are obedient in doing things daily, even the little, seemingly minute duties, we are worshipping Him in spirit and in truth and He is glorified and pleased as we do so.


Worship Him in the sanctuary
Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
Psalm 84:4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee.
Luke 34:52-53 and they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;
And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.
Worshipping God in spirit and truth is found every week in churches. I once had some one say to me after some time of conversing about the matter of church attendance "Please don't be offended but I really just don't like to be around Christians, I am just not comfortable and they are not my type of people" My response was "No offence taken, but did you not just tell me 'of course I know I am going to heaven'? Then why would you want to go for an eternity to a place where there will be nothing but Christians?"
It is such a wonderful time to go to the house of the Lord and be around like-minded people and worship the Lord in such a way that it affects the rest of your week.
Hebrews 10:25 says "Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another' and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
This verse says so much about the importance of church attendance! First of all it is a command to not forsake it. Do we not see how much of a blessing and safety net we have in this privilege, people in some countries can only dream of such a luxury. "Exhorting one another" God is not being selfish when He tells us to come to His house on Sunday and worship Him. He is giving us an added blessing of the encouragement, instruction and fellowship we all desperately need in this world that on any other day or place is just the opposite!
So we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth by setting that day aside and coming into His sanctuary and enjoying the worship to Him as well as the blessing we ourselves receive.

So worship does not stop as we pull ourselves up off of our knees from prayer time. It does not stop as we pull out of the parking lot of our weekly worship spot. Worshipping in spirit and in truth is a constant dwelling under the shadow of the Most High as we go throughout our day. We continue in the spirit as we interact with our families, friends, co-workers and yes even our enemy! God seeks worshippers and wants to hear every thing your lips are saying and see every ministry you are involved in. So worship Him in spirit and in truth

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