AUTHENTIC WORSHIP - PART 2

“The Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”

1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT)

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP 
FROM THE HEART

When Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart and soul” (Luke 10:27) he meant that worship must be genuine and heartfelt. It is not just a matter of saying the right words; you must mean what you say. Heartless praise is not praise at all! It is an insult to God.

When we worship, God looks past our words to our hearts. The Bible says, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person’s thoughts and intentions.”
Since worship involves delighting in God, it engages your emotions. God gave you emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling, but those emotions must be genuine, not faked.
God hates hypocrisy. He doesn’t want showmanship or pretense or phoniness in worship. He wants your honest, real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely.
Of course, sincerity alone is not enough; you can be sincerely wrong. That’s why both spirit and truth are required. Worship must be both accurate and authentic. God-pleasing worship is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use both our hearts and our heads.
Today many equate being emotionally moved by music as being moved by the Spirit, but these are not the same. Real worship happens when your spirit responds to God, not to some musical tone. In fact, some sentimental, introspective songs hinder worship because they take the spotlight off God and focus on our feelings. Your biggest distraction in worship is yourself – your interests and your worries over what others think about you.
Christians often differ on the most appropriate or authentic way to express praise to God, but these arguments are usually just personality and background differences. Many forms of praise are mentioned in the Bible, among them confessing, singing, shouting, standing in honor, kneeling, dancing, making a joyful noise, testifying, playing musical instruments, and raising hands.
The best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love for God, based on the background and personality God gave you.
(an extract by Rick Warren)

AUTHENTIC WORSHIP

The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,

But the prayer of the upright pleases Him.

Proverbs 15:8

Several Bible passages tell us that the Fear of God is where wisdom begins (Proverbs 1:7, 2:5, 9:10 ). If we are to be truly wise, we must understand who He is. All of creation was based on His character. His heart is written into the fabric of every part of this universe, even if sin obscures it. Those who find understanding will be those who can recognize the imprint of God in the depths and design of creation. They will be ardent observers of the way He deals with humanity. They will take their cues from Him.
Proverbs 15:8 points out numerous such cues. This verse tells us something profound about our Creator. He desires the ESSENCE OF WORSHIP more than its demonstration. In Old Testament times, the sacrifice would have often been an animal or a grain offering. Today, it comes from our finances at one level and our time and talents at others. In any case, it's not the gift that matters most. God already owns everything anyway. What really matters is the HEART of the giver. Why? Because things do not honour God nearly as much as does a devoted, living being.
Why does God hate the sacrifice of the wicked? Because it is superficial. It is an attempt to brush Him off and get on with the self-life. It bears the appearance of devotion, but there is nothing of relationship in it - no love, no honor, no passion. That tells us volumes about the One who made us. He is no distant force, a cosmic "first cause" who observes us from afar. He is deeply, intensely personal.
Have you really considered the implications of that? It means that when you think He's far off, He isn't. It means that those deep longings in your HEART - you know, the ones that leave agonizing, gasping holes went unfulfilled - are longings He wants to satisfy in the right way at the right time. It means that your soul is a place of warm communion, not cold solitude. It means that what you thought was too good to be true - His  unconditional love and His enjoyment of your personality - is real
(An extract from Walk With God Devotional by Chris Tiegreen)

The sacrifices of the wicked were those sacrifices offered without faith. For some it was a mere formality to bring their sacrifices to God's altar. We think of Cain's offering as an example: " On Cain and his offering He (The Lord) did not look with favor" (Genesis 4:5). The prophets often spoke against Israel's half-hearted sacrifices. For instance, "'When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?' Says The Lord" (Malachi 1:13). Even Jesus warns against heartless worship: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." (Matthew 15:8).
Let us come to the heart of worship every time we come before The Lord our Almighty God who is worthy to receive all glory, honor and praise!

EXTRAVANGANT WORSHIP

As I step into the New Year 2015, I was asking the Lord what would be a good resolution that would help me to maintain my desire to be a Lifestyle Worshipper?

 "Extravagant Worship!" - that's what the Lord has challenged me to do. Some of us could immediately identify the book "Extravagant Worship" written by Darlene Zschech... as you read this book, there is one common ingredient found in most extravagant worshippers and that is PASSIONATE about worship.

It is easier said than done because it would take quite a bit of DISCIPLINE to be a PASSIONATE WORSHIPPER. So the Lord reminded me to get back to what I had posted in my first article in TPWC's blog in the year 2006:

THE DISCIPLINE OF WORSHIP - "To The degree You Are Willing To Discipline Your Life, God Will Be Able To Accomplish His Desired Plan For You. To Bring To Pass Those Desires That He Has Placed In Your Heart And To Bring About Those Things For Which You Are Believing Him. It Doesn't Happen Merely Because God Said It Was Going To Happen. A Lot Depend Upon You And Me." 
(The 2nd Flood - The Discipline of Worship by John W. Stevenson)

To this day I can never forget meeting pastor John Stevenson (1991 in Kent Henry's Worship Seminar in Missouri USA). There in the midst of one of the worship, workshops, pastor John was playing the keyboard and leading worship, singing "I Worship You Almighty God" and the glory of the Lord fell in that room of about 80 believers. We stood for the whole session for about one and half hour just immersed in His holy awesome presence! Later I met pastor John in person; he is such a humble person and you could just sense that sweet spirit of a passionate lifestyle worshipper in him.

Some of the ways we can maintain the Discipline of Worship:

- DAILY replace the spirit of grumblings with the spirit of thanksgiving
- In EVERYTHING give thanks (1 Thess 5:18)
- Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS! (Phil 4:4)
- CONTINUALLY offer to God a sacrifice of praise (Heb 13:15) 
- At ALL TIMES - Bless The Lord and CONTINUALLY - Let His Praise Be In Our Mouth (Psalm 34:1)
- Each day offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable WORSHIP (Romans 12:1) 
- Whenever OPPORTUNITY ARISES, lavish upon the Lord, worship because it belongs to God.
- In His dealings, CHOOSE to bow down and worship the ways of God. 

"Come Let Us Bow Down In Worship, Let Us Kneel Before The Lord Our maker; For He Is Our God And We are The People Of His Pasture." (Psalm 95:6-7)

We can be like Mary in the Bible who anointed and lavished Jesus with worship (John 12:3). Be blessed by this song: "Pour My Love On You" by Phillips, Craig and Dean.

Blessed New Year!
TPWC