Going to DefCon1- The Worship of GOD!

Last week we left off with the stone of prayer. I hope that you’ve been praying, and during that time you’ve happened to glance upon our next stone within the shepherd’s pouch, Worship.

Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worhsip the Lord in the beauty of holiness." Ps. 29:2

            There is no greater weapon than worship, for when we worship God, and we truly enter into that oneness with Him, nothing can stand against us.

“And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked?’” Gen. 3:11

Worship of the LORD GOD is akin to dropping an atomic bomb on the enemy. There is nothing like having total intimacy with God that makes the enemy flee. The issue with the worship of God is that it is also the point of attack that the enemy goes after time after time because no one wants to be obliterated, so sin has to take out our most powerful weapon, our cohabitation on the most intimate level with God. In Genesis three, when God asked Adam who told him he was naked, it wasn’t because God didn’t know the answer, it was because it got to the heart of the matter. In that question God said, “Who destroyed our intimacy so that you would be ashamed of it? How could you allow anyone to make you feel shame about what we have together?”

Jesus brought us back into relationship with God thru His death and resurrection so that we could once again enter into worship, and we can answer before God, “No one, Lord, I am undone before you.” We have just moved the enemy’s camp to DefCon 1. And why shouldn’t we worship Him when we consider the depth of that great a love for us. Our love for each other is so conditional. The closest we come to unconditional love is the love we have for our children. A parent’s love for a child can temper through a lot of trials, but even it has been known to have its limits. As painful as it is to tear that relationship, there have been times when a parent has had to release a child in order to guard their lives, or the lives of others around them. Maybe that is love, but it doesn’t seem like it to the child. God is a lot like that. He risked allowing us to go off and decide we would rather not have His unconditional love in exchange for having our complete and devoted love. It’s call a free will creation. I was once asked what God was thinking when He created us to have a free will. I honestly answered that He knew that without our free will we couldn’t love Him with the strength necessary to carry even a small amount of the love He holds for us.  Jesus took the cross for us, the least we can do is choose Him.  

We can worship in many ways. Most people think of worship as singing in church, and that is a definite form of worship. Psalm 66:4  All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Music is a great form of worship. Who doesn’t love a good serenade? As corny as it sounds we all like having Happy Birthday sang to us by people we love, or to hear ‘our song’ sang into our ear as the one we love dances with us. Since we are created in His image we probably get that desire for those sweet songs of closeness from God.

Other than music, there is the melody of your life and how you live it. Worship of God isn’t limited to those moments in which we have to be alone with Him without others around. God adores corporate worship as well. When His children come together and glorify His name together. How we live with others is a definite act of worship. Putting a smile on the face of another person is Worship before the Lord. Taking the hand of someone who needs to have his or her hand held is an act of worship. In other words, doing the Jesus things is worshiping God. As the formerly blind man said when called to explain his healing, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.” John 9:31 We need to worship God by being the vessel of Christ for others. What better form of worshipping our Creator could we be than being what He created us for?

Aside from the corporate side of worship there is when we worship God by just sitting with Him. Over one summer I spend a lot of time alone with the Lord. I read through His word in order to draw close to Him. It took me 70 days to read through the 66 books of the Bible. During that time, I had a doctor’s appointment. I went into the doctor and he asked me what I was reading. I lifted up the Bible as if he should read the title. Then I said, “I plan to read the 66 books this summer.”

            He answered, “Oh, and what’s the next book?”

I realized he didn’t notice I was reading the Bible, so I told him, “I’m reading THE 66 books,” and handed it to him.

His eyes widened and he said, “I’ve never read the Bible, only parts of it. I don’t know if I’d want to know God on that level.”

I replied, “He knows you on that level, and He still loves you.”

He answered, “I think maybe you’re right. I should try to get to know Him.”
            I said, “Better make it soon too, because you never know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.” He asked me if that was in the Bible. I told him yes, it was in Jeremiah 29:11. We went on with my examination. Seed planted- mission accomplished.  It was my act of worship toward God, to not fear man but to acknowledge God.

The worship of God does require one major sacrifice on our part. To truly enter in with our heavenly Father we must really empty ourselves of worldly desires, of selfish ambition, and the distractions of the flesh. It’s extremely hard to do that without having the other two previously discussed stones in play. We must have God’s word firmly planted in our heart so we can hear his voice as He speaks to us. We must also have the communion of an unceasing prayer life. To hold these open conduits of worship it is essential to make God not just first place in your life, but the center from which everything else spins out. You don’t have to be an over the top obnoxious person to have that come out of you, but it should be something attractive that other people notice. So worship God, through your smile, through that unexplainable joy that permeates everything around you. Lift your head up and walk like you know that all eyes are on you and it’s your wedding day, because you are…the Bride of Christ—Church! And He is worthy of our praise:

“The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy,holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!' Whenever the living creatures give glorth and hontor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who loves forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:; 'You are worthy, O Lord , To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”  Rev. 4:8-11