Simple Worship

It just pains my heart to see that this generation has lost its heart for worship.Many of us think that worship is simply about coming to church and singing songs,what we call worship songs.Sadly,many of us think that that is what worship is about.Well,to set the record straight,singing worship songs=worship but worship is not equal to singing songs!God does not require us to follow a sequence of rituals to enter His presence.Of course,we are to assemble ourselves together and let all things be done decently and in order,as Heb10:25 and 1Cor14:40 tell us.As long as traditions and rituals in a service invite God's presence,they fulfill the purpose for which they were established.But God does not require a song or a hymn,or a ceremonial offering for us to enter His presence. John4:23-24 'Yet 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.God is spirit,and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.' All God requires is for us to worship in spirit and in truth by coming clean before Him and allowing Him to wash us with the water from the laver of His word.
God is interested in our heart.For God to be able to do everything He wants to do for us and through us,we must have our heart completely open to Him.When our confidence and trust are in Him and we keep ourselves open to Him by admitting any shortcomings that we need His help in handling instead of trying to hide them,we are positioned to hear from Him and obey.
God desires people who are willing to allow themselves to live and move and have their being in Him alone!He does not want hired saints who rush in to get their time in His presence as a necessary deposit to function momentarily.Certainly no one wants a loved one who has to rush to get everything together to prove that they really love you and are willing to fulfill their necessary duties.No,you want their love for you to come from the heart.This is the way our Father feels when we rush around to 'prove' we love Him as part of our preparation to minister for Him.Our love for Him is apparent when we make a point of consistently doing what we know to do to keep ourselves in a place of wanting to be in His presence as much as possible because we enjoy learning from and spending time with Him.
Throughout the Scriptures,Jesus continually shows the eternal connection between the mouth and the heart.Mat15:7-9 'You hypocrites!Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:"These people honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me.They worship me in vain;their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" Jesus viewed hypocritical worship as proclaiming worship with our mouth while housing a different attitude within our heart.
Sadly,many of think of 'worship' as the activities in the worship services we attend.We think of worship as the slow songs we sing to usher us into the Lord's presence or the preliminaries before the delivery of the message of God's Word. To us,worship may be singing the songs projected on the screen.Maybe we think of worship as such supernatural manifestation in a service as a 'glory cloud' rolling in,the gifts of the Spirit in operation,people falling under the power of God,intensely dancing in the Spirit as David did,or waiting in silence before the Lord.Whether these activities are actually acts of worship is determined by our heart attitude-whether we are worshipping God in truth in the midst of them.If we are only sacrificing our time and energy to be present and participate physically in the activities while our heart is far from God,we are in the same category as King Saul.1Sam15:22 'But Samuel replied:"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?To obey is better than sacrfice,and to heed is better than the fat of the rams."'Saul's kind of worship does not fit into the category of presenting our bodies as "a living scrifice,holy,acceptable to God"!A sacrifice is something that costs you something and is very dear to you.God views a lifestyle of obedience as far more important than a sacrificial temple offering.
God wants to search beneath the surface into the depths of your heart-much deeper into the real you.He is not impressed with the way things appear to be to the naked eye.Luke16:15 'He said to them,"You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men,but God knows your hearts.What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight."' Many times in life we tend to seek the approval of men who have rejected God.If there are places in your life where you have departed from your first love(Jesus) and exchanged activity in front of people for true worship and duty for true sacrifices,please acknowledge this to God and ask for His forgiveness.He wants you to grow closer to Him and hear His voice,so that you can move steadily forward on the path He has made ready for you rather than making choices on your own that complicate your life and sidetrack you from completing your destiny.


Light of the world
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes let me see

Beauty that made
This heart adore you
Hope of a life
Spent with you

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that
You're my God

You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful
To me

King of all days
Oh so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly you came
To this earth you created
All for love's sake
Became whole

I'll never know how much it cost
To see my sins upon that cross