"When you come to appear before me,Surely these words indicate that God looks at a worship service differently than we do because he reads our hearts. These words reveal that worship is not something we do. Worship does not deal with what we make our bodies do, (either singing, kneeling, or praying), but worship consists of who we are, what our heart is feeling.
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
their incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations --
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates,
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you,
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;
wash and make yourselves clean.
Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow." (Isaiah 1:12-17)
The word comes from the old English worth-ship which means "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone."
In the fourth chapter of the Gospel of John, we learn about worship from the lips of Jesus himself. At that time, he was speaking to a woman at the well of Samaria who was lonely and miserable after five failed marriages. Obviously she had tried to satisfy herself and her longings by marriage, but it was all to no avail. Obviously she was thirsting for something and had probably reached the place where she no longer expected to find it. Without bothering with marriage she was now simply living with a man. Reading her lonely heart, our Lord offered her new life using terms derived from the spot where they were gathered. As they sat by the well, he offered her a well of living water which would constantly be flowing, springing up to give her continuous life. He told her she could come to it any time and it would refresh her. She did not need to return to the physical well for the slaking of her soul's thirst. Finally, Jesus said:
God is a Spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)He reveals himself in the world of nature. Scripture tells us, and experience confirms, that we get a sense of God's wisdom, majesty, and power in the world of nature.
. The majesty of God is visible in the beauty of his world, the lofty height of the mountains, and the roaring of the sea. These all evoke a sense of worship.
Second, God reveals himself in Scripture.God has spoken in his Word. It reveals his character, it tells us of his work both in creation and redemption, and it unfolds the great ultimate purposes of God
We are enormously impacted by these great words of Scripture or even by standing on a mountain top looking out over a beautiful vista at a glowing sunset, we are moved by the majesty and greatness of God to know him in greater vision.
This, then, is God's self-revelation through his Spirit to our spirit, and it is another way of knowing God. The saints who have lived with God for years and years begin to reflect that knowledge by taking on his character. All of this is testimony to the witness of Scripture that we learn to know God through these three means. The two major factors that we learn about God are his holiness and his grace:
Four different times the Scriptures use the phrase "the beauty of holiness," (1 Chr 16:29, 2 Chr 20:21, Psa 29:2, Psa 96:9). True holiness is beautiful and attractive;
In Isaiah, Chapter 6, the prophet suddenly saw a vision of the greatness of God while in the temple. He saw God lifted up and seated on a throne. The smoke of incense filled the temple and he heard seraphic beings, angels, burning creatures, bowing down before God and crying out endlessly,
"Holy, Holy, Holy!"
the Hebrews express comparison through repetition. Many times, in both the Old and New Testaments, you will find words repeated to express intensity or comparison. If the Hebrews wanted to describe great joy, they said "joy, joy." If they wanted to speak of great fear, they said, "fear, fear." Notice in the King James Version of the Bible how many times Jesus says "Verily, verily, I say unto you..." This expression is derived from his Hebrew background. He is saying, "What I am about to say is really true, true, true!" This is a high degree of comparison. A great angel in the form of an eagle flies through the heavens crying out, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the earth!" (Rev 8:13). In other words, there could be no greater time of trouble, no greater woe could affect the earth, than during that time. The only other time this repetition is used is in Isaiah 6:3 where the angels cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Superlatively, they are saying, God is perfect! This perfection creates a sense of awe, and even fear, before him.
Grace is God's love in action. This becomes the feature that draws our hearts to God. We read of his love in Romans 5:8 and Romans 8:32: "God commends his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," and "He who spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" The more we read of God's love manifested toward us, forgiving us at infinite cost to himself, through much pain, agony, and sacrifice to satisfy the demands of his justice, the more we are drawn to him. We are able to come to him, not as suppliants crawling on our knees pleading for help and mercy, but as beloved children, as part of his family. We are cared for and protected by a tender Father's heart. This is God's grace as seen in the Scripture.
David expressed this kind of worship in a psalm found in First Chronicles 16. Part of his hymn of praise to his God is in Verses 23-31:
Sing to the Lord, all the earth;As the book of Ecclesiastes says,
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
For great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him,
strength and joy in his dwelling place.
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
ascribe to the Lord the glory due unto his name;
Bring an offering, and come before him;
worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
Let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!" (1 Chronicles 16:23-31)
"God has set eternity in men's hearts," (Ecclesiastes 3:11).Deep within us all there is a cry for God. That is what makes us worship
As the psalmist puts it, "Give unto Him the glory due unto His name," (Psa 29:2, Psa 96:8). God is our Creator. He made us. He fashioned us. He sustains us. We live and breathe because of his creative power. But more than that, he is our Redeemer. We would have destroyed all that he created, including ourselves, had he not found a way to solve the problem of our sin and guilt, to cleanse us and forgive us, and give us gifts of life, of truth, of insight and power which we would never have had otherwise. We come to thank him for those gifts, to praise him for his mercy, to express to him the glory due unto his name.
It's easy to become caught in old habits and human efforts, but the Lord wants us to receive something better—when you worship Jesus, you will see good days!
There are some truths about praise and worship that I believe will not only give you victory in your circumstances, but will cause you to continuously see good days!
The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This phrase was repeated a number of times in the book of Proverbs.
There is so much promise in just that passage of scripture...but I want to focus on the "fear of the Lord".
There's been teaching about the "fear of the Lord" to mean that we are to be afraid of God, but that's not what the "fear of the Lord" means when we are living under the new covenant of God's grace.
In fact, Jesus Himself defined for us what the fear of the Lord is. When the devil tempted Jesus to worship him in the wilderness, Jesus answered, "...it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God...'" (Matthew 4:10)
Jesus was actually quoting from the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy, where it says, "You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him..." (Deuteronomy 6:13)
So when you say the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom that means when you worship God, wisdom begins. Do you see the divine connection between worshipping the Lord and wisdom?
Worship ushers you into the
manifest presence of Jesus.
It is so important to understand this connection—as you worship the Lord, wisdom comes to you for every situation.
Beloved, as you worship Jesus, you draw near to Him. When you draw near to His presence, everything about Jesus—His glory, His peace, His wholeness, divine life and wisdom will rub off on you!