Listen: Your Worship Will Shift Atmospheres and Break Things Open. Dry Bones Will Come To Life, Mountains Will Move, Red Seas Will Part, And Hope Will Arise. Anything You Do That Brings Pleasure To God Is An Act Of Worship. Can you imagine something being so important and vital to God that He comes looking for it? That He pursue it? He seeks after it Well, that’s the power and attraction of true worshipers. There is something so phenomenal about their worship, that God seeks for, looks for, goes after, and relentlessly pursues them. Reminds me a lot of ‘new love’. We go so out of our way when it’s ‘new love’. The phone calls are never-ending, the flowers flow in constantly, the ‘I love you are dear, genuine, passionate, and daily, the time together is precious, and you never want it to come to an end. You rearrange your entire schedule (and life) just to spend a moment with the one you love. You give everything to them because you love them. It’s new, exciting, fun, and life-giving. It brings you joy, happiness, and contentment, and you can’t stop telling everybody about somebody who has stolen your precious heart and refuses to give it back. You want to hold hands all the time, your intimacy knows no limits or boundaries. All because you love them. Often their response matches yours because when someone knows just how special, valued, cherished, treasured, important, and loved they are, they tend to give even more of themselves in return out of gratitude.
I wonder what would happen if we would dare to love God like that? What would it be like for our worship to resemble that kind of ‘new love’ in word, thought, and action?
You can find in Isaiah 6 perhaps the greatest worship scene in the Bible. The prophet Isaiah says the following in Isaiah 6:1-4 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple. Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings: with two wings he covered his face, he covered his feet, and with two wings he flew. And one called out to another, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is filled with His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke” (AMP)
This is what you would call true worship! It is getting lost in the worth of who He is and being overwhelmed by His very presence. It is the place where no flesh glories in His sight. It is the place where the true worshiper dwells.
John 4:23-24, “But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (AMP)
The God’s Word Translation says, “…The Father is looking for people like that to worship Him…” (GWT). Then the Good News Translation finishes like this, “…God is Spirit, and only by the power of His Spirit can people worship Him as He is.” (GNT).
KEY: “…the Father SEEKS such people to be His worshipers…”
What would it be like for our worship to resemble that kind of ‘new love’ in word, thought, and action? Instead of that old stale familiar ‘I still care about you, God’, kinda ‘love’. This sounds a lot like Revelation 2:4-5, “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall! “Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.” (MSG) I don’t know about you, but that encouraged me to love God afresh, with a NEW love! I want to be one of those true worshipers whom God pursues!
Could you imagine how relentlessly God would pursue us for rendering such worship on Him? If only we would give God even a tenth of what we give to people. Selah…
Which makes me wonder, if we spend no time with God, no time talking to Him and hearing from Him; if we spend no time in prayer, no time in His Word, no time in His Presence, how will we ever be able to worship Him in spirit and truth? You can’t worship Him when you spend no worthwhile time with Him. How can we worship Him, by His Spirit, when our Spirit takes no time to learn who He is? Which is hard to do in an era of the church that is “Praise” focused…ONLY. Now, is there anything wrong with praise? Not! From cover-to-cover of the Bible, you will hear about the praises rendered to our God and His favorable responses to them.
HOWEVER, I’m afraid that we’ve become so Praise-Centered, that we no longer know how to get to the Core of Worship.
There’s a wonderful new emphasis in many places today on praise and worship. And I for one certainly recall it being called “devotion”. You see, it was the time in my former church when the Deacons and Deaconesses led in prayer, praise and worship, and testimony service. It was a time when the people remembered to make the Lord the focus, and finally took time to forget themselves instead and experience just how big God is. People from all over the sanctuary would share what the Lord had done for them and their loved ones, their health, their employment, marriage, etc. It was wonderful, encouraging, empowering, motivating, faith-building, inspiring. We would sing, and clap and dance, and holler. We would give God our best and noisiest praise! It was sort of our standing ovation for God! Much like the preparation for when A President is about to enter the room and speak.
Isaiah 6:5 says this, “Woe is me! For I am ruined, Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (AMP). Worship is supposed to lead to REPENTANCE. When you are in the presence of the Lord, you should see His holiness and the sin that you have not dealt with. You need to make things right with this awesome God. Worship that doesn’t lead to cleaning up your sin is just dead-end applause, and we should not leave until God has spoken. Worship should remind us that we’ve sinned, it should convict us of our unrighteousness when we realize just how righteous He is. It should uncover our unholiness when we realize just how holy He is. Worship should challenge us to change for the better. Worship should remind us that although we serve an awesome, loving kind, and generous God, He is also HOLY.
“Because it is written, “You shall be holy (set apart), for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16 AMP);
“Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 AMPC)
This is how vital holiness is. We are to be holy because He Is Holy and without Holiness, No One Will EVER See Him. So, when we worship God, it is a time of preparation to hear from God. We enter that place of holy worship where we acknowledge that we are unclean and need to be bathed in His presence. We need to be made right. We need to begin again. Start afresh, start anew. We need to reevaluate ourselves, our attitudes, our speech, our thoughts, our deeds, our motives and intentions, our desires, our longings, our hearts. Because we need to hear Him, we must come close to Him, and have Him cleanse us and position us. Praise is wonderful, it gets us to the door, thanksgiving opens it up, worship allows us to enter in, and holiness allows preparation to hear God speak.
Isaiah 6:6-7, “Then flew one of the seraphim [heavenly beings] to me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from off the altar; and with it he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.” (AMPC).
Verse 8 says, “THEN I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD SAYING, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (AMP).
A lot happens after the initial cries of “Holy, Holy, Holy”. Just as a lot happens before Kings, Queens, and Presidents speaks. There’s a process before the proclamation. Isaiah didn’t get happy just because of who he was around (the angels, or for us it’s other church folks). He didn’t even get happy because of the ovation and applause (“Holy, Holy, Holy”, or for us it’s our Praise Breaks). But Isaiah declared his sin, I’m unclean and unholy. And since I’m in your presence and can hear you speak, I’m not stopping here, I’m not staying here, I’m leaving here changed and better. And the very thing he declared was unclean (‘I’m a man of unclean lips’), the angels touched him and gave a new declaration, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.” And what happens after he confesses and gets cleaned up?
When we see our sins and receive God’s forgiveness, then we should see the people who don’t have a Savior yet. Our hearts should ache for those who haven’t seen the King. Worship is not just getting a good feeling because you get close to God. When you see the Lord, it will help you see the lost people who haven’t gotten close to Him yet. Worship that is worship will lead to repentance and then to evangelism.
“Here am I, Lord. I will go for You into the lives of the people around me who have yet to see the King as I have.”
We don’t get clean just to brag about our cleanliness. We don’t get clean just to hang around other clean folks. We get clean so we can go to them who are still in the filth of their sin, and we tell them I know a Man that can clean your sin better than Tide can clean your laundry! John 4:39-42, “Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him BECAUSE OF THE WOMAN’S WITNESS: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed for two days. A LOT MORE PEOPLE ENTRUSTED THEIR LIVES TO HIM WHEN THEY HEARD WHAT HE HAD TO SAY. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” (MSG) That’s what we’re supposed to do in church. Leave worship with the witness that I know a man that can save you, help you, heal you, deliver you, redeem you, forgive you! And that passionate witness will lead them to listen to Him for themselves. See, the people entrusted their lives to Him when they heard what He had to say. We stick around when Presidents, Kings, The Pope speaks because we want to hear what they have to say. Well, we need to learn to stick around Jesus to hear what He has to say! Why? Because there are far too many lives at stake without Him! And all they need is our witness after worship to lead them to the one who is still the truth, the way, and the light! Church, there is So Much More to the Reason We Worship!
Don’t lose the core importance of the Presence of God. It is not to tickle our ears or our fancy, it’s not hearing what we want to hear, it’s not about houses, cars, land, business opportunities, checks in the mail, job promotions, ministry elevations, and new spouses. It’s about becoming better. It’s about spending so much time with God that you finally start to sound like Him, walk and talk like Him, think and act like Him, reflect Him.
Acts 4:13, “They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. THEY RECOGNIZED THEM AS COMPANIONS OF JESUS, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright—so healed! —what could they say against that?” (MSG)
Can you imagine spending so much time with Jesus that even when you’re not with Him, people can look at your life and lifestyle and see the evidence that you’re one of His companions?
Now this is what you can call a great witnessing tool! When you’ve been around Jesus so much so, that even unsaved folks will have no other choice but to say even they can see what being with Jesus has done for you!
So, can people be able to look at you and see, recognize, be certain, know, and realize that you’ve spent time with Jesus?! Can they look at you and your lifestyle and be amazed and realize what being with Jesus has done for you? Because that’s the profound product of worship. You walk away reflecting His image and likeness, representing well His characteristics and glory.
Can you imagine spending so much time with Jesus that even your speech betrays you?! Matthew 26:73, “A short time later those standing there came and said to Peter, “You must be one of them. The way you talk gives you away.” (CEB) Listen to these translations:
Peter couldn’t hide his Galilean accent; it came out naturally because it was a part of who he was, where he came from and who he’d been around. Do you spend enough time in worship in God’s presence, that you sound like God? Do you sound like you’ve been among believers and worshipers, praises, and faith walkers? Can people see the evidence of your Sunday worship still on you when you’re stuck in Monday traffic; Tuesday conflict; Wednesday stress; Thursday health decline; Friday failures; and Saturday temptations? Can they still hear you speaking faith and not fear; can they still hear your worship and not your worry? Do you still sound like you’ve been with the Savior, even when you’re in the presence of sinners? Or do you lie like Peter and say you don’t even know the man? Or worse yet, are you living so beneath the code of conduct lifestyle of a believer that you don’t even have to open your mouth and say the words, but your lifestyle speaks on your behalf that you don’t know the man? Don’t just talk about God, you ought to spend so much time with Him that you even talk LIKE God!
And then, what happens when your worship experience is written all over your face?! Exodus 34:29-35, “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT THE SKIN OF HIS FACE GLOWED BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN SPEAKING WITH GOD. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his RADIANT FACE, and held back, afraid to get close to him. Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, BUT WHEN HE WENT INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD TO SPEAK WITH HIM, HE REMOVED THE VEIL UNTIL HE CAME OUT. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, THEY WOULD SEE MOSES’ FACE, ITS SKIN GLOWING, AND THEN HE WOULD AGAIN PUT THE VEIL ON HIS FACE UNTIL HE WENT BACK IN TO SPEAK WITH GOD.” (MSG)
Is your time in God’s presence this evident in your life from day to day? Can people look in your face and see the Glow of God’s Glory? If not, get back to worship until it does!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.journeyintotheword.com
Join Journey Into The Word each Sunday morning at 5:30 AM CST & 6:30 AM EST on The Now Network http://www.theNOWnetwork.org
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