True Worship
Bible speaks often of creation worshipping God. There is not anything made that does not reverence, think highly of, and greatly appreciate the creator.
Worship is central to God’s purpose for creation
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ”(Ps.19:1-2)
“Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.” (Ps.69:34)
“Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord.” (Psalm 98:8-9)
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him.” (1 Pet 2:9)
“All the angels stood around the throne…. and worshipped God….” (Rev. 7:11)
Every living form we read about in the Bible exhibits a form of praise and worship. The heavens speak out the glory of God who made them, waters make praise by their lapping sounds, angels recite their verses, and people sing out praises unto God. Creation renders worship unto God in each of our own special ways.
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” (Ps. 150:6)
We are all the work of God, for we are all from His creation. It has been designed from the beginning that we shall be made to give glory to God: “All your works shall praise You, O Lord.” (Ps. 145:10).
There is an inbuilt compulsion in man that turns him toward a higher power than himself. Because it is an enormous responsibility to have charge over everything else in the universe, and there is none who can fathom it, man will always have an inclination towards a higher influence. Even wise men of old feel the inner need to worship (Mt. 2:1-2) even if it meant travelling many miles following a solitary star and finally falling down before an infant in worship. We can be an ace in academics or a whiz in business, but, deep within, we like to believe in a higher power that created all the things we never founded and controlled all the situations we never understood. Every one of us exists with a capacity to worship. It is like a switch inside of us - we may not feel it there all the time, but we won’t be able to ignore its presence all the time. At the end of the day, we have to accept this reality: we are not always in charge.
Every civilization and culture in world history has worshipped something or somebody. Every pagan, every primitive savage, every materialist, every atheist, and every agnostic have some material God of their own invention. Why? Because man was created to worship.
Worship Is The Root Of Spiritual Warfare
Man had been designed to worship God, yet, because of sin, our relationship with the Lord was broken. The moment that harmony was lost, the devil threw down his baits and men began to fall prey to them. Soon, God, who is the original and rightful recipient of our worship, was replaced by false gods of materialism, man-made idols, success, etc.
The devil did that because receiving worship was exactly what he’d always coveted. He wants to be like God and tries to rob God of His worship. Satan wants to obtain what God is getting above, for his purpose is not only to make men sin but also make them worship him (2 Thess.2:4; Rev.13:3-4; Isa.14:12-14).
Today he is still diverting people from God towards the worship of every imaginable thing on earth. He is the face behind the mask of every false religious worship today.
If Satan desires worship so much, it must be because it brings great satisfaction. God delights in receiving our worship. In fact, He is most jealous and easily provoked when His people turn to worship other things apart from Him. It was one of the things God never tolerated.
“(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)…” (Ex. 34:14)
Isn’t that amazing? The God who made everything we see and do not see has absolutely no lack or need of anything. Yet, although being complete in Himself, the Bible says that God is constantly looking for true worshippers who will bring their offerings of worship before Him, “for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (Jn. 4:23).
However, God doesn’t force His way into our heart and turn on the switch inside there to worship Him. He gave us the freedom to choose our object of worship. This is the love of God, and the liberty of man, which Satan aggressively attacks. The contention for man’s worship is thus the root of spiritual warfare that takes place in all humanity. All of us are made with an ability to worship God, and God desires that; but the covetous devil desires us to worship him too. He will come in disguise and deception to try and entice our hearts away from God .
“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them” (Deut. 11:16)
Now, we know that no ridiculous person will be enticed by something awful or bad—well, hopefully not! The enticement will therefore very likely be something that looks good and acceptable on the surface.
Be very alert, because enticement can trap even the most discerning Christian. We better know what form this warfare is going to take, so we may recognize it when it comes. We will need to find out what true worship really is (yes, it goes beyond the singing and clapping that we know) and what it takes for us to be considered rendering an act of worship or otherwise We will then know what the devil will get us to do to draw us away from God and to him instead. In our hearts, we have something which God wants and satan wants: worship. It we do not have the right understanding of worship, we can be easily deceived. Worse, if we are not careful, we can be drawing worship to ourselves in the things we do for God.
We are very mistaken if all along we thought the devil’s sole duty is to get man to sin against God. That certainly is not his only intention; for if it were, then all forms of spiritual attack would have stopped after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit! Our first parents sinned and brought the nature of sin into all mankind in one single act of transgression. However, the devil is not satisfied even though the whole creation of mankind was drawn into the mire of sin. Like we said, he has a deeper desire beyond that - to get us to turn away from God to worship him.
“I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me." (Judg. 6:10)
God’s warning there is as much for us as it was for the Israelites. God told the people not to worship foreign gods, and we believe they meant to keep their promise not to do so. Yet, they still end up being unfaithful to God as later they began to worship the gods of the foreign land. Today, we are in a similar position. We are citizens of heaven but living in the land of the world. God is saying to us the same word He gave the Israelites, telling us not to worship the gods of this world. Most of us have purposed that we would not, however many of us have since strayed from their devotion to God, like the Israelites.
Who are the gods of this world? They can be a few things: cast images, money, ambitions, sexual gratification, and the like. In short, they are what the world esteems or attaches a high value to. God is telling us not to attach ourselves to these things or principles and to keep ourselves pure and devoted to Him. This brings us to the next point.
Refuse To Worship The Devil - Love Not The world
“Adulterers and adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 Jn. 2:15)
Everyone knows how it’s like to be friends. When you are a friend with someone, you like that person. You spend time with him, and in a way you are letting him have an influence over your decision on how you want to use your time. You enjoy being in the company of that person, you share some common things, and both of you are associated as friends because of some form of identification that you have with each other.
Being friends with the world is something like being friends with another person. If a man is a friend to the world, then he spends time in doing things that the world loves. The values of the world soon become his own as he begins to enjoy more and more what there is in the world. Soon, he becomes a ‘friend’ of the world because he identifies sufficiently with its culture and practices. Just like how the Israelites soon became emotionally and spiritually attached to the Amorites’ culture and practices, such people are soon be caught in the ways and values of the world. These are a dishonouring act against God, for the heart is no longer warm towards Him, but is constantly leaning towards the attractions of something else while suppressing the inner prompting to return to spiritual worship before God.
Worship Enthrones Spiritual Power In the Object Of Worship
“But you are holy, who inhabit the praises of Israel” (Ps.22:3)
When we worship something, it is an invisible act of crowning that thing with spiritual power and authority. Worship enthrones spiritual power upon the object being worshipped. After all, the psalmist did say that God is enthroned on the praises of His people. Whatever a nation adopts as the object of worship, the character of that idol becomes a dominating influence over the entire nation. It can’t be understood in absolute terms but we will notice a universal trend behind any activity of worship, that the greater the sacrifice offered, the greater the enthronement of the object of worship and the release of spiritual power.
People are seldom used to the idea of worshipping in the abstract. That can hardly constitute worship at all if we only have the idea in our head but are doing nothing to display it! Observations of cultic practices will reveal that satanic worship invariably involves some form of blood or life sacrifice. In the Old Testament, we know that children, even offspring, were sacrificed to foreign gods for the purpose of establishing supernatural power.
Being a Christian does not automatically guarantee that God the Father becomes our focus of worship. Is it not true that having been saved, many Christians continue to cling on to idols in their hearts, whether they are pleasure, a love partner, material wealth, or the need for the approval of man? Whatever we dearly adore and desire has the potential to become an idol of worship in our lives. The rich young ruler in the Gospel loved God but also held the idol of material wealth in his heart. Let us be careful, therefore, for whatever becomes an idol in our hearts will naturally and steadily grow into a stronghold in our lives, preventing us from giving our hearts wholly to the Lord and from fulfilling our call in Him. When we set our hearts on wealth, we are enthroning the spirit of materialism, when we set our hearts on pleasure and lust, we are enthroning the spirit of sensuality, etc.
When we worship the Lord, we get divine guidance and draw His presence into us. In the same way, when our hearts worship an object, our lives are unconsciously drawn under its influence. When we consistently encounter great difficulty in worshipping God, it is time for us to check our hearts. Every decision that we make will enthrone the spiritual power within us.
The Nature Of True Worship
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:1-2, NIV)
First and foremost, worship is the giving of our own lives as “living sacrifices” to the Lord. This does not mean the surrender of our physical bodies on the altar of God! But it does mean that we commit the patterns of our life, the things that make up life, to the power of God. Worship is not just a part of our Christian life, it is the Christian life.
It has been this way since ancient times and hasn’t changed. When we worship, we yield our lives, our possessions, our all. Nothing should be left behind, nothing kept aside. Take a look at this principle illustrated in Moses’ words:
“Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” (Ex. 10:26)
Three lessons we can see from that verse already:
First lesson: Everything shall go with you when you make a commitment to worship God. If you don’t “bring” them with you, you will one day look back longingly for them. “Our livestock also shall go out with us…” Livestock is what you make money out of. After gathering kith and kin, livelihood and other living materials join the carriage. It is not a good idea to draw distinctive boundaries as to spiritual devotion, career, family life, personal goals, and so forth. God is the center of all things seen and unseen, and it is much better if you could see how all other things could be incorporated into your worship of the God you love. It is not how you can bring God into your career or your family life, but how those things can help you love God and let Him take delight in you. That is worship.
Second lesson: God may require some of those things to be placed at the altar (and of course anything placed there is not for ornamental purposes but will be consumed by fire). Everything shall go with you, and some will end up on the altar: “For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God.” Let’s face it - loving someone always involves sacrifices, right? Loving God is no different, or, perhaps, the only difference might be that we get overwhelmingly rewarded for our sacrifices, and our gains far surpass our giving.
Finally: You never know all there is to worship until you get there: “even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” That is the magical part about worshipping God - there’s just so much to it He can never tell you at one go all the experience you will get from worshipping Him! If a man continues an intimate relationship by walking with God and remaining in God’s perfect will, then that is an act of worship unto God.
Like a candle that must eventually burn itself out, every life is ebbing away with every ticking of the clock. We will all one day come to our last breath like the flame that fizzles off at the last wisp of the candle wick. A candle’s pride will be to burn brightly to its end. Ours will be to live out lives as God’s light to the world until the time comes for us to leave it. That itself is worship unto God, for in doing so we are fulfilling the desire of God for us to be a light to the world.
True Worship Is An Outward Expression Of An Inward Relationship
True worship is love responding to love - our love responding to God’s love for us. Amidst the longstanding arguments over the various forms and traditions of worship, do not miss the truth that worship is primarily an attitude rather than an act. Flowing from a grateful heart that is full of a sense of the greatness and goodness of God, worship reflects the love that one has for God.
“For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
People may tell you how captivating you look dancing before the Lord in melodies of praise and adoration, or they may tell you what splendour your voice creates in the worship songs you sing. These are all wonderful qualities that a person may possess, thanks to God who give them to His children. But they are, however, not always the true measure of worship that one gives to God. True worship is the depth of love and affection we feel on the inside for God. It doesn’t need to come out in a beautiful and attractive form, but anyone who sees it will not miss to detect the love that the worshipper has for God.
God’s children in the music or worship ministry should be very alert in their discernment in this area, because they are the ones who are leading the rest of God’s children into exhibiting one of the most expressive forms and actions of worship. Therefore, do not be too hung up on the technicalities or the quality of voice in our worship services. The need for the consecration of hearts takes priority. That is the most delightful instrument of worship you can give unto the Lord - a consecrated heart that loves Him and that holds pure and undivided love for Him. Achieve that wholeness and you will naturally strive to improve and better the skills because you want to offer nothing but the best to God whom you love.
That will be the kind of power worship that can break off chains and throw open prison doors. Even if offered under the harshest and most uninspiring conditions, worship from a sincere heart moves the heart of God that makes Him respond to us in the way that we’ve always dreamed of. Paul did not allow the chains that bound him in the prison cell hold him back from singing praises to the Lord. God saw that heart of worship. He received that offering of worship and was moved to deliver Paul from imprisonment through an earthquake that tore open the prison doors. Now look at something even more interesting:
“Now when they began to sing and to praise, the lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.” (2 Chron. 20:22)
When did God intervene in the battle? Not while they were sharpening their weapons or bulking up on their muscles, but while they were singing and praising Him! It was the praises of the people that emerged from hearts of worship that moved God to fight the battle for them! If you are one with God in heart, His enemies are yours and your enemies become His as well. Love God and praise Him unceasingly. That will leave your enemies creamed, thoroughly and utterly, the way they should be!
True worship comes from within and needs no encouragement or reminders from external sources. The music, the ambience of the chapel, the person next to you, your living conditions, your monthly pay packet, the kind of clothes you can afford, will not influence your desire to worship God. With or without them, a heart that loves God will not fail to worship Him day after day, faithfully and tirelessly. Worship is stirred up by the love in the heart of the lover, the worshipper. Its sole purpose is to bring pleasure and delight to the greater Lover (God) who receives the worship.
The forms that worship take are not that crucial compared to the character of worship. Determine the kind of worship you want to bring to God - it should be something special from you because every one of us is made to be special in our own ways.
While we do not deny you the right to share in the pleasure of worship (it can be thoroughly enjoyable to be loving God in expressed gratitude and adoration through lifting our hearts in praises unto Him), we urge everyone to remember that worship is ultimately for God and not for ourselves, to please our eyes or ears. The chief concern would still be to delight Him with the sincerity of our hearts and the purity of our lives as living sacrifices, not the gracefulness of our steps or the clarity of our voices.
True Worship Is Determined By the Heart Of the Worshipper
The quality of worship is determined by the spiritual condition of the worshipper. A spirit too encumbered by the cares of this life will never be free enough to worship God. An essential quality of true worship is that it must be sincere and honest. True worship strips all pretences and falsehood and tears down every mask of men before God.
God, in the Old Testament, only accepted worship from people whose lives are a consistent reflection of their love and sincere attitude. Correctness of doctrinal belief and outward conformity to scriptural principles must come together with that, of course.
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savour your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)
God is not a vain person who only wants to be worshipped and fussed over all the time and requires not that there is any worth or value in the offerings of worship. He only receives worship that is given in spirit and in truth. He thoroughly hates meaningless and worthless worship, we promise you. In biblical terminology, empty worship is nothing less than an “abomination” to Him.
More than anything, God is looking for a consistency between standing and state; between lips and life; between belief and behaviour; between profession and expression. And where a choice has to be made between strict observance of ritual and goodness or sincerity, the latter will always be preferred.
“The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. (Isa. 29:13)
Stoically following a set of rules and observing codes and customs handed down to us without a heartfelt conviction is not the way to worship God. That is hardly worship at all. No wonder sometimes we are led to think worship is hardship. Such worship in fact intensely irritates God. (You can tell by the way Jesus spoke about this matter in Matt. 15:7 “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you…”. God certainly hopes to have more from us than just a performance. Correct actions and positive gestures without a corresponding heartfelt love is hardly anything at all.
But what about the times when we are discouraged and do not feel like worshipping the Lord? Those who nevertheless persist in worship at such moments say it is a display of commitment made unto God. Those who don’t denigrate such worship as a hypocritical act. We think there is a distinction between them. Let’s take a look.
The understanding of worship as a commitment is perhaps best illustrated through the biblical examples of Job and David. Certainly, worship could not have been the natural response when all of Job’s children were killed and he was himself suffering in pain with boils over his entire body (Job.1:13-21, 13:15). And it probably wasn’t so as well in the case of David when he learnt that the son he had begotten through his sinful union with Bathsheba had died in spite of his earnest prayers and fasts (2 Sam.12:18-20). Nevertheless, they both demonstrated a commitment to worship the Lord in spite of the circumstances they were in. As we continue to worship and trust Him in times of pain; and particularly where there does not seem to be an answer (Isaiah 50:10), the turning point will eventually come when the oppression over our lives will be broken by the entrance of God’s goodness and restoration. Such a commitment to honour God over our personal happiness is truly the key to destroying the works of the devil over our lives.
Hypocrisy takes a different form. It is self-glorifying instead of God-glorifying. Jesus many times referred to the Pharisees as hypocrites who worshipped God with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him. It is true that being immature, we may not always be aware of the extent of love we really have towards God, even when we honestly admit this reality in our worship times. It is also true that a Christian who cannot reconcile the problems he is facing with the God he knows may be worshipping out of pure effort to please the Father though he has no great feelings of love for God inside him at that moment. So, we wouldn’t include these foregoing situations as examples of hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is defined as “pretending to be what we don’t intend to be.” The hypocrite worships God for the purpose of being seen while the praises of his lips contradict his heart, which has no intention of being subject to God or true to the degree of love he professes. It looks good for him to be in the mannerisms of worship, but, in reality, there is nothing in his heart or life that reflects that. Hypocrisy is an attitude which demonstrates a preference for the praise of man over the approval of God, and the sure sign of a self-centered life (Mal.1:7-14). Singing songs of worship and declaring utmost commitment and undying love to the Lord without a heart that feels or knows all those things and a life that mirrors them are actions performed before men in order to keep up appearances. Again, we repeat, there is no worship in that at all. You may have scored points with everyone in your circle, but there is no point at the end of it all if God is not part of the party. For Him to take delight in your worship, let there be truth and genuineness of heart.
Service
We have, so far, considered worship through our lives and through music. Worship can be expressed in two other areas—through our service and our giving.
One of the ways we show our love for another person is in performing deeds of kindness and labouring to make improvements for him or her. Similarly, those who truly love the Lord will also find themselves eager to serve Him in one way or another out of the affection they feel for Him. But the converse is not necessarily true. Activities done in the name of God do not indicate any form of worship from the doer to Him at all. Otherwise Paul would not have taken pains to give examples of how the most “spiritual activities” will profit nothing when these do not stem from love for God (1 Cor 13).
Giving
Through giving, worship finds another way to the heart of God. Love is not love if giving is not involved. The word of God tells us that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son” (John 3:16). If we truly love someone, we will want to give of ourselves to the person.
In our tithes and offerings to the Lord, much emphasis has been placed on the degree to which the Lord is able to bless us in return for our giving. Indeed, many times we see that the encouragement for the congregation to give is in the scriptural promise to receive many times more than what we give. But giving for the sake of receiving can hardly be love or worship at all! True love is given unconditionally and with no expectation of return from the recipient. Therefore, do not let returns or reward become the focus of your giving. That cheapens what could potentially have been a lovely sacrifice of worship and transforms it into a low, grasping means of receiving.
The act of tithing was instituted by the Lord to constantly remind His children that He is our provider. As an act of worship, we need to check ourselves constantly as to the attitude of our giving. Are you giving cheerfully and sacrificially unto God, or are you grudgingly parting with your money? It is your attitude and not the act which determines the kind of worship you are giving God.
If God is truly the One you love most, and you choose to worship Him, then follow the instructions of Moses to the people: Take along your kith and kin, livestock and all, and follow hard after God. Believe in His goodness (this is knowing that God will not hoard your money for nothing, for He doesn’t need them anyway), so you will feel secure and happy even to give your nearest and dearest to Him.
Finally, we just want to say this: If you have someone who’s been a dear and treasured presence to you, you would want to tell people about him or her. You are not being boastful; you are only declaring to the world how well you are faring with such a lovely person by your side. It is the same with God. Because Job worshipped God with all his heart and life, God took the opportunity to display his pride over His child before Satan, telling of the blameless life Job lived before Him. A heart that holds God dearly in spite of poor circumstances without regard for reward is worship that enthrones God. Such worship crowns God with glory before the face of the devil. Like the parent who delights in taking pride in his children, the Lord desires that He might be given the chance to take pride in our love for Him.
Bible speaks often of creation worshipping God. There is not anything made that does not reverence, think highly of, and greatly appreciate the creator.
Worship is central to God’s purpose for creation
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. ”(Ps.19:1-2)
“Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them.” (Ps.69:34)
“Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord.” (Psalm 98:8-9)
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him.” (1 Pet 2:9)
“All the angels stood around the throne…. and worshipped God….” (Rev. 7:11)
Every living form we read about in the Bible exhibits a form of praise and worship. The heavens speak out the glory of God who made them, waters make praise by their lapping sounds, angels recite their verses, and people sing out praises unto God. Creation renders worship unto God in each of our own special ways.
“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” (Ps. 150:6)
We are all the work of God, for we are all from His creation. It has been designed from the beginning that we shall be made to give glory to God: “All your works shall praise You, O Lord.” (Ps. 145:10).
There is an inbuilt compulsion in man that turns him toward a higher power than himself. Because it is an enormous responsibility to have charge over everything else in the universe, and there is none who can fathom it, man will always have an inclination towards a higher influence. Even wise men of old feel the inner need to worship (Mt. 2:1-2) even if it meant travelling many miles following a solitary star and finally falling down before an infant in worship. We can be an ace in academics or a whiz in business, but, deep within, we like to believe in a higher power that created all the things we never founded and controlled all the situations we never understood. Every one of us exists with a capacity to worship. It is like a switch inside of us - we may not feel it there all the time, but we won’t be able to ignore its presence all the time. At the end of the day, we have to accept this reality: we are not always in charge.
Every civilization and culture in world history has worshipped something or somebody. Every pagan, every primitive savage, every materialist, every atheist, and every agnostic have some material God of their own invention. Why? Because man was created to worship.
Worship Is The Root Of Spiritual Warfare
Man had been designed to worship God, yet, because of sin, our relationship with the Lord was broken. The moment that harmony was lost, the devil threw down his baits and men began to fall prey to them. Soon, God, who is the original and rightful recipient of our worship, was replaced by false gods of materialism, man-made idols, success, etc.
The devil did that because receiving worship was exactly what he’d always coveted. He wants to be like God and tries to rob God of His worship. Satan wants to obtain what God is getting above, for his purpose is not only to make men sin but also make them worship him (2 Thess.2:4; Rev.13:3-4; Isa.14:12-14).
Today he is still diverting people from God towards the worship of every imaginable thing on earth. He is the face behind the mask of every false religious worship today.
If Satan desires worship so much, it must be because it brings great satisfaction. God delights in receiving our worship. In fact, He is most jealous and easily provoked when His people turn to worship other things apart from Him. It was one of the things God never tolerated.
“(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)…” (Ex. 34:14)
Isn’t that amazing? The God who made everything we see and do not see has absolutely no lack or need of anything. Yet, although being complete in Himself, the Bible says that God is constantly looking for true worshippers who will bring their offerings of worship before Him, “for the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (Jn. 4:23).
However, God doesn’t force His way into our heart and turn on the switch inside there to worship Him. He gave us the freedom to choose our object of worship. This is the love of God, and the liberty of man, which Satan aggressively attacks. The contention for man’s worship is thus the root of spiritual warfare that takes place in all humanity. All of us are made with an ability to worship God, and God desires that; but the covetous devil desires us to worship him too. He will come in disguise and deception to try and entice our hearts away from God .
“Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them” (Deut. 11:16)
Now, we know that no ridiculous person will be enticed by something awful or bad—well, hopefully not! The enticement will therefore very likely be something that looks good and acceptable on the surface.
Be very alert, because enticement can trap even the most discerning Christian. We better know what form this warfare is going to take, so we may recognize it when it comes. We will need to find out what true worship really is (yes, it goes beyond the singing and clapping that we know) and what it takes for us to be considered rendering an act of worship or otherwise We will then know what the devil will get us to do to draw us away from God and to him instead. In our hearts, we have something which God wants and satan wants: worship. It we do not have the right understanding of worship, we can be easily deceived. Worse, if we are not careful, we can be drawing worship to ourselves in the things we do for God.
We are very mistaken if all along we thought the devil’s sole duty is to get man to sin against God. That certainly is not his only intention; for if it were, then all forms of spiritual attack would have stopped after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit! Our first parents sinned and brought the nature of sin into all mankind in one single act of transgression. However, the devil is not satisfied even though the whole creation of mankind was drawn into the mire of sin. Like we said, he has a deeper desire beyond that - to get us to turn away from God to worship him.
“I said to you, `I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.' But you have not listened to me." (Judg. 6:10)
God’s warning there is as much for us as it was for the Israelites. God told the people not to worship foreign gods, and we believe they meant to keep their promise not to do so. Yet, they still end up being unfaithful to God as later they began to worship the gods of the foreign land. Today, we are in a similar position. We are citizens of heaven but living in the land of the world. God is saying to us the same word He gave the Israelites, telling us not to worship the gods of this world. Most of us have purposed that we would not, however many of us have since strayed from their devotion to God, like the Israelites.
Who are the gods of this world? They can be a few things: cast images, money, ambitions, sexual gratification, and the like. In short, they are what the world esteems or attaches a high value to. God is telling us not to attach ourselves to these things or principles and to keep ourselves pure and devoted to Him. This brings us to the next point.
Refuse To Worship The Devil - Love Not The world
“Adulterers and adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 Jn. 2:15)
Everyone knows how it’s like to be friends. When you are a friend with someone, you like that person. You spend time with him, and in a way you are letting him have an influence over your decision on how you want to use your time. You enjoy being in the company of that person, you share some common things, and both of you are associated as friends because of some form of identification that you have with each other.
Being friends with the world is something like being friends with another person. If a man is a friend to the world, then he spends time in doing things that the world loves. The values of the world soon become his own as he begins to enjoy more and more what there is in the world. Soon, he becomes a ‘friend’ of the world because he identifies sufficiently with its culture and practices. Just like how the Israelites soon became emotionally and spiritually attached to the Amorites’ culture and practices, such people are soon be caught in the ways and values of the world. These are a dishonouring act against God, for the heart is no longer warm towards Him, but is constantly leaning towards the attractions of something else while suppressing the inner prompting to return to spiritual worship before God.
Worship Enthrones Spiritual Power In the Object Of Worship
“But you are holy, who inhabit the praises of Israel” (Ps.22:3)
When we worship something, it is an invisible act of crowning that thing with spiritual power and authority. Worship enthrones spiritual power upon the object being worshipped. After all, the psalmist did say that God is enthroned on the praises of His people. Whatever a nation adopts as the object of worship, the character of that idol becomes a dominating influence over the entire nation. It can’t be understood in absolute terms but we will notice a universal trend behind any activity of worship, that the greater the sacrifice offered, the greater the enthronement of the object of worship and the release of spiritual power.
People are seldom used to the idea of worshipping in the abstract. That can hardly constitute worship at all if we only have the idea in our head but are doing nothing to display it! Observations of cultic practices will reveal that satanic worship invariably involves some form of blood or life sacrifice. In the Old Testament, we know that children, even offspring, were sacrificed to foreign gods for the purpose of establishing supernatural power.
Being a Christian does not automatically guarantee that God the Father becomes our focus of worship. Is it not true that having been saved, many Christians continue to cling on to idols in their hearts, whether they are pleasure, a love partner, material wealth, or the need for the approval of man? Whatever we dearly adore and desire has the potential to become an idol of worship in our lives. The rich young ruler in the Gospel loved God but also held the idol of material wealth in his heart. Let us be careful, therefore, for whatever becomes an idol in our hearts will naturally and steadily grow into a stronghold in our lives, preventing us from giving our hearts wholly to the Lord and from fulfilling our call in Him. When we set our hearts on wealth, we are enthroning the spirit of materialism, when we set our hearts on pleasure and lust, we are enthroning the spirit of sensuality, etc.
When we worship the Lord, we get divine guidance and draw His presence into us. In the same way, when our hearts worship an object, our lives are unconsciously drawn under its influence. When we consistently encounter great difficulty in worshipping God, it is time for us to check our hearts. Every decision that we make will enthrone the spiritual power within us.
The Nature Of True Worship
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom 12:1-2, NIV)
First and foremost, worship is the giving of our own lives as “living sacrifices” to the Lord. This does not mean the surrender of our physical bodies on the altar of God! But it does mean that we commit the patterns of our life, the things that make up life, to the power of God. Worship is not just a part of our Christian life, it is the Christian life.
It has been this way since ancient times and hasn’t changed. When we worship, we yield our lives, our possessions, our all. Nothing should be left behind, nothing kept aside. Take a look at this principle illustrated in Moses’ words:
“Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” (Ex. 10:26)
Three lessons we can see from that verse already:
First lesson: Everything shall go with you when you make a commitment to worship God. If you don’t “bring” them with you, you will one day look back longingly for them. “Our livestock also shall go out with us…” Livestock is what you make money out of. After gathering kith and kin, livelihood and other living materials join the carriage. It is not a good idea to draw distinctive boundaries as to spiritual devotion, career, family life, personal goals, and so forth. God is the center of all things seen and unseen, and it is much better if you could see how all other things could be incorporated into your worship of the God you love. It is not how you can bring God into your career or your family life, but how those things can help you love God and let Him take delight in you. That is worship.
Second lesson: God may require some of those things to be placed at the altar (and of course anything placed there is not for ornamental purposes but will be consumed by fire). Everything shall go with you, and some will end up on the altar: “For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God.” Let’s face it - loving someone always involves sacrifices, right? Loving God is no different, or, perhaps, the only difference might be that we get overwhelmingly rewarded for our sacrifices, and our gains far surpass our giving.
Finally: You never know all there is to worship until you get there: “even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” That is the magical part about worshipping God - there’s just so much to it He can never tell you at one go all the experience you will get from worshipping Him! If a man continues an intimate relationship by walking with God and remaining in God’s perfect will, then that is an act of worship unto God.
Like a candle that must eventually burn itself out, every life is ebbing away with every ticking of the clock. We will all one day come to our last breath like the flame that fizzles off at the last wisp of the candle wick. A candle’s pride will be to burn brightly to its end. Ours will be to live out lives as God’s light to the world until the time comes for us to leave it. That itself is worship unto God, for in doing so we are fulfilling the desire of God for us to be a light to the world.
True Worship Is An Outward Expression Of An Inward Relationship
True worship is love responding to love - our love responding to God’s love for us. Amidst the longstanding arguments over the various forms and traditions of worship, do not miss the truth that worship is primarily an attitude rather than an act. Flowing from a grateful heart that is full of a sense of the greatness and goodness of God, worship reflects the love that one has for God.
“For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)
People may tell you how captivating you look dancing before the Lord in melodies of praise and adoration, or they may tell you what splendour your voice creates in the worship songs you sing. These are all wonderful qualities that a person may possess, thanks to God who give them to His children. But they are, however, not always the true measure of worship that one gives to God. True worship is the depth of love and affection we feel on the inside for God. It doesn’t need to come out in a beautiful and attractive form, but anyone who sees it will not miss to detect the love that the worshipper has for God.
God’s children in the music or worship ministry should be very alert in their discernment in this area, because they are the ones who are leading the rest of God’s children into exhibiting one of the most expressive forms and actions of worship. Therefore, do not be too hung up on the technicalities or the quality of voice in our worship services. The need for the consecration of hearts takes priority. That is the most delightful instrument of worship you can give unto the Lord - a consecrated heart that loves Him and that holds pure and undivided love for Him. Achieve that wholeness and you will naturally strive to improve and better the skills because you want to offer nothing but the best to God whom you love.
That will be the kind of power worship that can break off chains and throw open prison doors. Even if offered under the harshest and most uninspiring conditions, worship from a sincere heart moves the heart of God that makes Him respond to us in the way that we’ve always dreamed of. Paul did not allow the chains that bound him in the prison cell hold him back from singing praises to the Lord. God saw that heart of worship. He received that offering of worship and was moved to deliver Paul from imprisonment through an earthquake that tore open the prison doors. Now look at something even more interesting:
“Now when they began to sing and to praise, the lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.” (2 Chron. 20:22)
When did God intervene in the battle? Not while they were sharpening their weapons or bulking up on their muscles, but while they were singing and praising Him! It was the praises of the people that emerged from hearts of worship that moved God to fight the battle for them! If you are one with God in heart, His enemies are yours and your enemies become His as well. Love God and praise Him unceasingly. That will leave your enemies creamed, thoroughly and utterly, the way they should be!
True worship comes from within and needs no encouragement or reminders from external sources. The music, the ambience of the chapel, the person next to you, your living conditions, your monthly pay packet, the kind of clothes you can afford, will not influence your desire to worship God. With or without them, a heart that loves God will not fail to worship Him day after day, faithfully and tirelessly. Worship is stirred up by the love in the heart of the lover, the worshipper. Its sole purpose is to bring pleasure and delight to the greater Lover (God) who receives the worship.
The forms that worship take are not that crucial compared to the character of worship. Determine the kind of worship you want to bring to God - it should be something special from you because every one of us is made to be special in our own ways.
While we do not deny you the right to share in the pleasure of worship (it can be thoroughly enjoyable to be loving God in expressed gratitude and adoration through lifting our hearts in praises unto Him), we urge everyone to remember that worship is ultimately for God and not for ourselves, to please our eyes or ears. The chief concern would still be to delight Him with the sincerity of our hearts and the purity of our lives as living sacrifices, not the gracefulness of our steps or the clarity of our voices.
True Worship Is Determined By the Heart Of the Worshipper
The quality of worship is determined by the spiritual condition of the worshipper. A spirit too encumbered by the cares of this life will never be free enough to worship God. An essential quality of true worship is that it must be sincere and honest. True worship strips all pretences and falsehood and tears down every mask of men before God.
God, in the Old Testament, only accepted worship from people whose lives are a consistent reflection of their love and sincere attitude. Correctness of doctrinal belief and outward conformity to scriptural principles must come together with that, of course.
“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savour your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)
God is not a vain person who only wants to be worshipped and fussed over all the time and requires not that there is any worth or value in the offerings of worship. He only receives worship that is given in spirit and in truth. He thoroughly hates meaningless and worthless worship, we promise you. In biblical terminology, empty worship is nothing less than an “abomination” to Him.
More than anything, God is looking for a consistency between standing and state; between lips and life; between belief and behaviour; between profession and expression. And where a choice has to be made between strict observance of ritual and goodness or sincerity, the latter will always be preferred.
“The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. (Isa. 29:13)
Stoically following a set of rules and observing codes and customs handed down to us without a heartfelt conviction is not the way to worship God. That is hardly worship at all. No wonder sometimes we are led to think worship is hardship. Such worship in fact intensely irritates God. (You can tell by the way Jesus spoke about this matter in Matt. 15:7 “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you…”. God certainly hopes to have more from us than just a performance. Correct actions and positive gestures without a corresponding heartfelt love is hardly anything at all.
But what about the times when we are discouraged and do not feel like worshipping the Lord? Those who nevertheless persist in worship at such moments say it is a display of commitment made unto God. Those who don’t denigrate such worship as a hypocritical act. We think there is a distinction between them. Let’s take a look.
The understanding of worship as a commitment is perhaps best illustrated through the biblical examples of Job and David. Certainly, worship could not have been the natural response when all of Job’s children were killed and he was himself suffering in pain with boils over his entire body (Job.1:13-21, 13:15). And it probably wasn’t so as well in the case of David when he learnt that the son he had begotten through his sinful union with Bathsheba had died in spite of his earnest prayers and fasts (2 Sam.12:18-20). Nevertheless, they both demonstrated a commitment to worship the Lord in spite of the circumstances they were in. As we continue to worship and trust Him in times of pain; and particularly where there does not seem to be an answer (Isaiah 50:10), the turning point will eventually come when the oppression over our lives will be broken by the entrance of God’s goodness and restoration. Such a commitment to honour God over our personal happiness is truly the key to destroying the works of the devil over our lives.
Hypocrisy takes a different form. It is self-glorifying instead of God-glorifying. Jesus many times referred to the Pharisees as hypocrites who worshipped God with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him. It is true that being immature, we may not always be aware of the extent of love we really have towards God, even when we honestly admit this reality in our worship times. It is also true that a Christian who cannot reconcile the problems he is facing with the God he knows may be worshipping out of pure effort to please the Father though he has no great feelings of love for God inside him at that moment. So, we wouldn’t include these foregoing situations as examples of hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is defined as “pretending to be what we don’t intend to be.” The hypocrite worships God for the purpose of being seen while the praises of his lips contradict his heart, which has no intention of being subject to God or true to the degree of love he professes. It looks good for him to be in the mannerisms of worship, but, in reality, there is nothing in his heart or life that reflects that. Hypocrisy is an attitude which demonstrates a preference for the praise of man over the approval of God, and the sure sign of a self-centered life (Mal.1:7-14). Singing songs of worship and declaring utmost commitment and undying love to the Lord without a heart that feels or knows all those things and a life that mirrors them are actions performed before men in order to keep up appearances. Again, we repeat, there is no worship in that at all. You may have scored points with everyone in your circle, but there is no point at the end of it all if God is not part of the party. For Him to take delight in your worship, let there be truth and genuineness of heart.
Service
We have, so far, considered worship through our lives and through music. Worship can be expressed in two other areas—through our service and our giving.
One of the ways we show our love for another person is in performing deeds of kindness and labouring to make improvements for him or her. Similarly, those who truly love the Lord will also find themselves eager to serve Him in one way or another out of the affection they feel for Him. But the converse is not necessarily true. Activities done in the name of God do not indicate any form of worship from the doer to Him at all. Otherwise Paul would not have taken pains to give examples of how the most “spiritual activities” will profit nothing when these do not stem from love for God (1 Cor 13).
Giving
Through giving, worship finds another way to the heart of God. Love is not love if giving is not involved. The word of God tells us that “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son” (John 3:16). If we truly love someone, we will want to give of ourselves to the person.
In our tithes and offerings to the Lord, much emphasis has been placed on the degree to which the Lord is able to bless us in return for our giving. Indeed, many times we see that the encouragement for the congregation to give is in the scriptural promise to receive many times more than what we give. But giving for the sake of receiving can hardly be love or worship at all! True love is given unconditionally and with no expectation of return from the recipient. Therefore, do not let returns or reward become the focus of your giving. That cheapens what could potentially have been a lovely sacrifice of worship and transforms it into a low, grasping means of receiving.
The act of tithing was instituted by the Lord to constantly remind His children that He is our provider. As an act of worship, we need to check ourselves constantly as to the attitude of our giving. Are you giving cheerfully and sacrificially unto God, or are you grudgingly parting with your money? It is your attitude and not the act which determines the kind of worship you are giving God.
If God is truly the One you love most, and you choose to worship Him, then follow the instructions of Moses to the people: Take along your kith and kin, livestock and all, and follow hard after God. Believe in His goodness (this is knowing that God will not hoard your money for nothing, for He doesn’t need them anyway), so you will feel secure and happy even to give your nearest and dearest to Him.
Finally, we just want to say this: If you have someone who’s been a dear and treasured presence to you, you would want to tell people about him or her. You are not being boastful; you are only declaring to the world how well you are faring with such a lovely person by your side. It is the same with God. Because Job worshipped God with all his heart and life, God took the opportunity to display his pride over His child before Satan, telling of the blameless life Job lived before Him. A heart that holds God dearly in spite of poor circumstances without regard for reward is worship that enthrones God. Such worship crowns God with glory before the face of the devil. Like the parent who delights in taking pride in his children, the Lord desires that He might be given the chance to take pride in our love for Him.
