Thoughts On Worship

God Manifests Himself

In worship God communicates His presence to us. Isaiah 6:1-4 ¹In the year Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory," ⁴At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.¹

As we worship, God manifests Himself to us. We sense His presence, He speaks to our hearts, emotionally we are moved, and the cares and worries of the world seem to become insignificant as we enter into the presence of God.

Passion Is Important

As we enter into worship we should feel passionate about God and be focused upon Him. Psalm 27:4 ⁴One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.² Is this the cry of our hearts? Or are we distracted by the people around us, by the worship team, or by what we need to get done?

Phil 3:7-8 ⁷But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ.²

Everything in our lives should be like rubbish (literally excrement or poop in the Greek) compared to Jesus Christ. A quick way to find out what is important to you is to look at your calendar, check book, and credit card statements. What you spend your time on and how you spend your money will tell you where your heart is.

We Worship In Spirit And Truth

John 4:19-24 ¹⁹"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." ²¹Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth."³

Jesus had cleverly confronted this Samaritan woman with her sinful lifestyle and she attempted to change the subject to worship. She did not understand God nor true worship. She thought the location of worship was important but Jesus stated that location did not matter. What mattered was one's spiritual orientation and truth. One's spiritual orientation needs to be that of a follower of Christ centered around truth. The absolute truth that God has made evident.

¹ Isaiah 6:1-4, NIV.
² Philippians 3:7-8, NIV.
³ John 4:19-24, NIV.