Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Worship: Is there a best way?

I was fortunate to have Dr. Elmer Towns as a professor, he expressed how “True worship upsets the way we have lived, and demands more sacrifice from the worshipper. True worship never allows us to remain the same person we were before we came into the presence of God.”

You can find such a place, a place within the presence with God.  I have learned as I follow Christ in life that many people worship different. But guess what, the manner does not matter. The essence of worship is not engaging softly in hymns, in the manner of respondent liturgy, outward robustness of charismatic celebration, nor in the stillness of silence.  It is all that, and more.

Worship is not the expression, but inward change from an encounter with the Lord God Almighty.  When you walk away from worship my hope is that your life is as Towns notes, upset – and your life is changed. Worship brings change, a heart seeking truth, a willingness to be obedient to the whisper of God’s Spirit instilling God’s will for you.  Apostle Paul expressed it like this, “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” (Romans 12:1).  Worship is a sacrifice, without such, one only engages for the appearance religion, not for the manifestation of Christ’s Spirit. Worship is the awe of God when you have found yourself embraced by Christ.
 
Jesus taught the woman at the well a lesson that holds a tremendous impact for you today.  Always be mindful of what Jesus spoke to her about.  The act of spiritual worship, to which He opened her eyes to how “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23b-24).
 
Don’t stop singing, lifting hands, expressing liturgy, shouting, sitting in silence, standing, or falling prostrate before the Lord.  But continue to “worship in spirit and truth.”  Empty yourself of self and be refilled and immersed within God, who is Spirit. 
 
Thinking of you, praying you are blessed in worship,
Owen <><

            

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