We ended my last blog with Psalm 29:2 which says, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

The second point I want to bring to your attention is that God’s word tells us we are to have no other gods and we are to worship only him (Ex. 20:3). WIth an attitude and acknowledgment of His supremacy and Lordship, we worship from a heart expression of love, adoration, and praise to the one and only God.  Our life becomes a conversation with God and then a lifestyle.  God the Father becomes the One we turn to and the One we can trust for all our needs.  He becomes Father and He and His Son Jesus become the object of our worship.  To truly worship, we must be born again.

Jesus Christ must be our Lord and Savior.  Without the Holy Spirit of God imparted at our confession of faith, we will be unable to respond to God because we cannot know or understand Him apart from the Holy Spirit.  The woman in Luke 7:36-38, described as an especially wicked sinner, was so overwhelmed with Jesus and His forgiveness of sin that she began to wet His feet with her tears and as she wiped His feet with her hair, she kissed His feet affectionately and anointed them with her perfume. This account describes worship at its fullest.  Nothing could keep her from entering a home in which she was unwelcome.  She had to get to the feet of Jesus.  We all need this kind of desperation for Him!

I went to church all my young life but never fully grasped the salvation experience.  The Bible stories were moving and fun and impacted my life greatly.  I learned God’s word while in my junior high years in youth group but still there remained a void in my heart that I just could not fill.  Something was missing.  That void lasted until I was twenty-six years old when I realized that I could not live with it any longer.  God heard the cry of my heart and soon the Holy Spirit began His work in me.

I was finally ready.  The Bible says that if you search for Him with all your heart, you will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).  The search was on and God was directing it all the while. He had actually been there all the time but when my heart began to seek for the answer, something opened up inside my heart and I saw what I could not see before.  It was as though I had been blind but now I could truly see.

Baptism in the Jordan River after I had been saved many years.  Although the Jordan River was extremely cold that day, as you can see by my face, it was a moment to remember.

Next time, we will unpack the third reason we worship which is by far the primary one  and that is “Worship is of great importance to God and HE loves it.”  John 14:23 says, Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (NLV)

In His Love,
Julaine

 

To understand what worship is, I would like to divide the subject of worship into three areas that may help you have a clearer picture of true worship for the Christian – The Head, the Heart and the Hands.

THE HEAD

We must first begin our discussion by defining worship since it can mean different things to many different individuals. Consequently, I will be developing this model from a biblical perspective. The meaning of the New Testament Greek word most often translated as “worship” (proskuneo) is “to fall down before” or “bow down before.” Worship is an expression of honor, adoration, reverence, and regard toward someone. It is to give glory to something of worth and to idolize (Webster). Extravagant love and extreme obedience define true worship as it is close communion with God and it can only be experienced as the understanding of Who God is unfolds.

Consequently, it would be impossible to truly worship from the heart something we don’t understand. For instance, because I did not grow up in a Monarchy, it would be difficult for me to give my worship to a King or Queen. Even thou I would honor the office, my heart would not be in it. Movies and TV depict people bowing and weeping before their King or Queen; however, I would only be able to watch from a distance since I have no appreciation for their emotional connection. It is the same way with understanding Who God is and why we need to grasp what He has done for us in order to truly consider what worship is and the reason behind why we worship.

Sometimes it is helpful to describe what things aren’t in order to give understanding to what they are. Worship isn’t a ritualistic, emotional, formalism that we can schedule. It isn’t a “good warm-up” before a church service and it most certainly isn’t a genre or a style of music. Most importantly, it is not about us – how we felt during a service or what we received. Worship is not measured by our feelings but by the fact that He is worthy of it all.

It is important to note that although the Hebrew and Greek definitions of the word “worship” express the idea of prostrating oneself before God in reverence, whether bowing, kneeling down or kissing the hand, the old English transliteration of the word speed “weorthscipe” means to express homage to God, because He is “worthy” of it. This, then, is the modern word “worship” or “worth-ship.”

Psalm 29:2 says, “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

Love you all,
Julaine

Part III….COMING SOON!

 

 

 

 

For the first few weeks, I want to cover the subject of worship and I promise to keep the teachings short and to the point. As a worship leader for the past 36 years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to walk through many seasons of worship as it has evolved in the church. What an amazing ride the Lord has given me. The first time I actually experienced someone leading worship from the piano was in Tampa, FL, at Tampa Christian Academy during my first year of teaching.

When I heard Linda play that piano and lead the children in singing, I knew then, right at that moment, that this would be my purpose in life. God spoke to me and I cried out in my heart saying, “This is what I am going to do.” I bought a used piano, continued to play my guitar and thus, began my 36-year journey in worship. I am grateful every day that our Lord has allowed me to lead so many into the throne room over the years. What an honor and opportunity to glorify His Name through worship. Today, I stand in awe of the great music and musicians God has raised up in the church and I know there are still songs to be sung and a room full of new melodies to be written. Lord, unlock heaven for us.

AN INTRODUCTION TO INTIMATE WORSHIP

The crowd was uncontrollable, stomping their feet and yelling so that even if it were possible, the stars would have shook. What a night! It was tense but the enthusiasm and excitement even exceeded the cold frost in the air. Nothing could keep this crowd in their seats. As the final minutes approached, everyone stood in awe, screaming in adoration as his or her team ran the winning touchdown.

There is a desire deep within each of us to attach worship to someone or something. Our world is demonstrating this need by our actions and lifestyle. This object of worship could be our favorite American Idol, an actor or actress, a friend or family member, an athlete or a team, government official and/or our profession. The list is endless.

I believe this intense, unexplainable longing to worship comes from another source. It is God the Father, the Creator and Source of all things who put this longing inside man. God is the One thing we should aspire to set our love upon because of His great love for humanity. He gave His only Son Jesus Christ so that one-day we would spend eternity in heaven with the Father.

Ephesians 2:3-5 describes God’s great love for us this way:

But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation). (AMP)

In other words, God loves us so much that He chose for His only Son to die for our sins. It is the greatest exchange in all of history. Jesus came – took sin on His back – went to the cross – died – rose again and now offers to us by faith, eternal life. Jesus paid for it and this gift of God’s grace is free but cost Jesus His life. The resurrection of Christ bought life to all who will receive it.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (NKJ)

That is why worshiping Him brings us into close communion with His heart and opens a window to see Him in all His glory.

Matthew 4:10 states: “…You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you sere.'”

To give an example, years ago while in my middle twenties, my life seemed empty and without purpose. Frantically trying to satisfy the emptiness with material things and hard work, I crashed, and the pain caught up with me. I realized that if this was what life was all about, I didn’t want it anymore. In that moment of desperation, I began to cry out to God and it was then that a friend shared with me the love of Christ and the power of salvation. I received Christ as my personal Savior and the emptiness and void that had been there were filled with His love. From that time on, my desire to worship Him became the passion of my life. Today, I want to give back to Him by sharing the immense joy I have found in worshiping Him.

Join me for Part I next week on the subject of worship. How is it biblically defined?

What does it look like? How can I enter into a deeper place in worship? All these and other questions will be answered in the days ahead as we come together to learn about the beautiful subject of “Intimate Worship.”

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the children of the world.”

Let’s not forget that while the news media screams that we are becoming a divided nation,  Jesus was never divided in His love for us; thus, we must battle the enemy and his lies in order to stay focused on this foundational truth that God loves His children.

As Christ loves, so do we.

We have become so earthly minded here in America that we have lost sight of eternity. Colossians 3:1 speaks about setting our affections on things that are above and not on the earth. The earth draws us and feeds us its delicacies until we are so fat with its delights that we have forgotten our eternal purpose.  Its tasty desserts have become our food rather than the Word of God. Remember that a life of sugar can kill us in the end.  Solid food produces life.

It promotes and parades its lofty ideals until we buy into it believing that truth is represented through the news, advertisements and college professors.  We buy it and eat until we, too, look and act just like the world.  We are no longer separated …Jim Caveziel says it this way: “You weren’t made to fit in.  You were made to stand out.” Currently, we are not standing out but standing in.  We fit in.  We blend in.  We are no different. Fitting in is the trend even in the Christian community. Let’s not upset the cart.  Be careful what you say as you may offend someone – even if you misquote God’s word.

We even try to mold the Word of God into our ungodly way of thinking. We cannot allow the world to shape our values!

The Word of God is our value system.

Romans 12 says that we are not to be conformed to this world.  It actually means that we are not to be molded into its shape.  On my current Facebook chat, I talked about the piece of clay and how it is formed into its designated shape.  When you place a fragment of clay in a pot or wheel, it develops as you work with the lump.   If the potter has design in mind, then that lump of clay will be converted into the potter’s design as he/she uses wet hands to mold it into the projected image.  With a high-speed wheel and much practice, the clay ultimately becomes.

Likewise, if we spend too much time in the world listening to it, walking like it, talking like it, believing it, then we too become molded into its shape and design.

The world molds us.

Our intended God-given purpose becomes roughly anything other than its original intent.  Psalm 139 states that we were formed by God from the beginning of our conception. He has already given us shape but setting our affections on the world will transform our God-given design into the world’s image.

Set your affections (love) on the things above. ABOVE?  Look to the eternal One.  Look to Christ.  He is seated in heaven beside the Father.

Love not the world.  I John 2:15 challenges us with these words: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in them.” We love people no matter where they come from, what they look like or even the choices they have made. But we don’t love the rhetoric of the world and its tactical narrative that would try to persuade us to worship anything other than Christ Jesus.

Does that mean I have to quit living?  No! It just means that we are not to forget who our God is.

If the tasty delights of the world become our God, then we have lost our way.  Time to find our way back to the simple truths.

“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”

Come home to Jesus.  Let Him rule and reign in your life.  He loves you so much and so do I.

Love,

Julaine