Worship That Pleases God ~
God wants all of us during our times of worship. He wants our heart, our mind, our soul and with all our strength. Half-hearted worship is not worship at all. Mark 12:30 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, your soul and your strength.” Everything within us should love God and consequently, we when worship in truth and in spirit, it is all of us that should be praising Him.
John 4:23 & 24 tells us that now is the time to worship God in spirit and in truth. These are the true worshippers God is seeking.” (Bible, 2008) What does this mean to us? God wants us to worship Him for Who He is, not for who we think He is. Often, we put God in a box, refusing to believe he could do this or that for us. We misjudge Him and see His as an authoritarian being ready to punish us for our every sin. We tend to see God as distant, vague and thoughtless. In reality, He is far from any of these ideals. God is very near and wants to be as close to you as your heart is close to your body. He wants to encompass you and fill you with His Holy Spirit. He told us in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” This, we can believe. God clearly shows us who He is in His very word, the Bible. All over He says he is an all powerful God who knew us before we were created, loved us enough to send His own Son to die for our every sin, wants everyone to believe in Him and spend eternal life with Him. He is our strength when we are weak, comforts us when we are discouraged, carries us when we are beaten down, chastens us when we need corrected, teaches us all things to live, and grow and bless others. He’s close to the broken-hearted and despises the wicked that prey upon us. He reminds us to do everything for His glory, he’s provided a way of redemption by simply accepting His free gift of salvation, and He chose us before the foundations of the world. He calls us His own, waits patiently for our return to Him when we go our own way and He parties in heaven when even one person accepts Him into their life. Worshiping God in truth involves knowing Whom we worship. God’s thoughts toward us are for good and not evil (Jeremiah 29:11). We are held in high regard in God’s book. Our importance is relevant as we are on God’s mind continuously.
God wants us to worship Him in our spirits. Not just mouthing words to a song or humming along without regard to the noise we are making. Because if our spirit which is our very being, is not active in worshiping God (thanking Him for Who He is and what He has done for us), this kind of worship is worthless. As Rick Warren puts is in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, “Heartless praise is not praise at all!” In I Samuel, it says God looks at the heart, not at our outward appearance. He knows our hearts. He wants our spirit to connect with His. Worshiping in spirit is what God desires of our worship. Any other kind is vain and useless. It is like complementing someone on their wardrobe without even knowing what they are wearing. You might even tell them their blue shirt completed their wardrobe perfectly when in reality, their short was red. Ouch! This is how God feels when we just utter vain words without them coming from our spirit. Our spirits involve our emotions and true worship allows our emotions to express our real love for God. Sincere worship in our spirit moves us to hear God speaking to us, gives us the desire to change ways that are not pleasing to God, and it encourages us to go on when we feel like giving up. Worshiping from our spirit can lead us to raise our hands to Him, bow to Him, kneel or shout to Him. We dance before Him, sing with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength, as well as worship Him through our giving of finances, helping others in need, giving way to self-centeredness and offering sacrifices worthy of His pleasure. Worship comes in many forms and although God does not tell us what form to use or refuse, He does want us to worship Him in truth and in spirit. It is up to us to be genuine and love Him with our whole being.
Honoring God with our worship is what is required of those following after Him. It’s not too much to ask from a God Who thinks the world of you. Roman’s 12:1 exhorts us to “present our bodies as living sacrifices; holy and acceptable to God for this is our reasonable service unto Him.”
We must first be willing sacrifices, and then we may become living sacrifices. Worshiping that pleases God; this is worship well worth giving to a God well worth living for.
