Is God the object of your worship?

[NewSong]

I was reading an article and it caused me to think about this question quit a lot. I love to worship God but I had to examine myself if I loved to worship God because it "felt" good and because I was "refreshed" and "felt unashamed" because I do it or if I truly worshipped God without me in the equation somewhere.

What about that worship in Spirit and in Truth?

I want the purity to worship without thinking about what there is to gain from worshipping God.

 

[JAS4Yeshua]

I don't think it is possible for us to worship God outside of worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth. Sure, we can honor God by saying we love Him, and thanking Him for what He's done. But after a while, it can become ritualistic. How many times have you said grace without really thinking about it? I can honestly admit I've done it more times than I should have.

We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need His power to help us worship, to guide us and direct us. He will pick up where we leave off. And Truth is vitally important, for we need to know who God is in order to worship Him properly. He's not a "genie in a bottle" but the all-powerful God that created the heavens and the earth. He's not some "cosmic killjoy" that's out to ruin our lives, but our Father in heaven that loves us and sacrificed His Son so that we might live.

God must be the object of our worship. We should always worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

 

[NewSong]

I agree with you JAS...

I just really felt led to post the post because so many times we fall into that vain repetition and vain mode and forget what is all about HIM...

Thanks for sharing your post.

 

[geetrue]

I love that scripture, "Worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth"

I remember wondering if I was doing this while waiting for a church service one time. It was about six years ago and I was attending a small country church with Baptist Hymn books, which I now love, but I didn't really understand that scripture and so before the service started I prayed, "Lord what does this mean to love you in Spirit and in truth"?

The music started and I stood up and thought well maybe it means to sing the songs better, like from our heart or something.

Two weeks go by and I'm sitting back in the same small christian country fellowship church. I was just sitting there all alone while the some 30 other members were still arriving. That's when I heard the Lord say, "Remember when you asked what does worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth mean"?

I said, "Yes sir"

The Lord said, "It just means love Him"

Now I just love Him ...

 

[Simon_Templar]

I was reading an article and it caused me to think about this question quit a lot. I love to worship God but I had to examine myself if I loved to worship God because it "felt" good and because I was "refreshed" and "felt unashamed" because I do it or if I truly worshipped God without me in the equation somewhere.

What about that worship in Spirit and in Truth?

I want the purity to worship without thinking about what there is to gain from worshipping God.

This is a hugely important point for the Charismatic movement to look at.

Worshipping God is not dependant upon feeling. One of the things that really stood out to me in studying the traditional church and comparing it to my own church a few years back was that in the bible, and in the original churches, was the focus of the service.

Originally, the first purpose of the service was that the believers corperately, ministerd to God. Then that the body itself was built up and edified through receiving from God.

In my church, most of the focus was on having a "good worship", but that was entirely defined by how people felt about it. I remember my parents often talking about how worship was either good, or bad, that sunday and it was entirely based on how it felt. Did it feel energetic? did it feel dull? etc.

Its not that I am against emotion, I think we should respond emotionally in worship. However, if we can't worship God regardless of how we feel, I think there is a problem. God is God wether I feel dull and tired, or energetic and happy.

Another big aspect of that is the attitude of judging whether God is present in a service. There was very much an attitude that God was only really present at the services where people felt energized, or felt "spiritual"... what happened to "wherever two or three are gathered..."
God is always with us, and he is always present in our services, whether we feel 'spiritual' or not.

I think those are some big dangers of basing worship on feeling.

 

[simpleone]

Nice OP....

I have often wondered this...I love to worship God...and also through music...just listening and singing along and thinking about his goodness. But sometimes I wonder....am I worshipping God or the music....coz then it would be idolatry?
But i think it has been more of a reminder for me...so I dont worship the music but God....but yes...worship him in spirit and in truth....I think a big part of this happens....if you feel refreshed not from the music itself but from seeing/hearing Jesus lifted up

 

[leonizel]

I am a catholic but I don't usually go to church. My reason is I don't feel His presence there, I mean, I don't feel spiritual thing during mass (with it's routinary activity). I have nothing against with catholic church coz i am part of it, but sometimes I don't think i'm growing spiritually in attending mass.

Sometimes, i feel more comfortable in my room praying alone. But i know i have to participate in a community to grow spiritually but i really find it difficult. Maybe the problem is within me, it's just i'm so confuse right now.

I really want to worship God in Spirit and in Truth but I don't know how... :-(

 

[JAS4Yeshua]

When I grew up in the Catholic Church, I don't recall ever getting taught about praying in Spirit and in Truth. You prayed with the rosary, but those were "canned" prayers, that were just repitious and said as second nature. No real thought is put into the prayer. Now, I'm not saying those that pray the rosary can't do so in Spirit and in Truth, but it is very easy to just fall into the ritual, and forget why you are praying and who you are praying to.

Next time you go into your room to pray, start by asking for a filling of His Holy Spirit. He promises to give us His Spirit when we ask for it. The Spirit will guide you in what to pray next. When you pray, pray expecting to receive the Spirit. You may feel something, you may not, but trust that God has given you His Spirit when you asked.

Once you have done that, start into prayer. Try to avoid the "canned prayers" like the "Our Father" but honestly thank God for what He has done in your life. Pray for missionaries, pray for those you know, pray for healing of yourself or others, pray for salvation for the lost. Let the Holy Spirit guide your prayer. Don't be afraid of what He might have you pray for, but thank Him for everything.

I hope this helps.

 

[geetrue]

Hello leonizel ... welcome aboard.

Do you live in a rural area or in a big city?

There is a Holy Spirit Catholic church movement and Lester Sumerall has a church in the Phillipians too that I would recomend.

Find some good worship music and pre-plan ahead of time what scriptures to read in your bible on sunday.

Invite family or friends and sing a song, read and discuss the scriptures you've decided to go over ahead of time.

You can start your own home church that way.

Don't forget to invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and into your sabbath day.

God never denies a small sincere prayer of faith of inviting Him to attend your service.

Good luck and God bless you ...

 

[NewSong]

This is a hugely important point for the Charismatic movement to look at.

Worshipping God is not dependant upon feeling. One of the things that really stood out to me in studying the traditional church and comparing it to my own church a few years back was that in the bible, and in the original churches, was the focus of the service.

Originally, the first purpose of the service was that the believers corperately, ministerd to God. Then that the body itself was built up and edified through receiving from God.

In my church, most of the focus was on having a "good worship", but that was entirely defined by how people felt about it. I remember my parents often talking about how worship was either good, or bad, that sunday and it was entirely based on how it felt. Did it feel energetic? did it feel dull? etc.

Its not that I am against emotion, I think we should respond emotionally in worship. However, if we can't worship God regardless of how we feel, I think there is a problem. God is God wether I feel dull and tired, or energetic and happy.

Another big aspect of that is the attitude of judging whether God is present in a service. There was very much an attitude that God was only really present at the services where people felt energized, or felt "spiritual"... what happened to "wherever two or three are gathered..."
God is always with us, and he is always present in our services, whether we feel 'spiritual' or not.

I think those are some big dangers of basing worship on feeling.

I agree with you. You made a lot of good points.

 

[NewSong]

I am a catholic but I don't usually go to church. My reason is I don't feel His presence there, I mean, I don't feel spiritual thing during mass (with it's routinary activity). I have nothing against with catholic church coz i am part of it, but sometimes I don't think i'm growing spiritually in attending mass.

Sometimes, i feel more comfortable in my room praying alone. But i know i have to participate in a community to grow spiritually but i really find it difficult. Maybe the problem is within me, it's just i'm so confuse right now.

I really want to worship God in Spirit and in Truth but I don't know how... :-(

Hon, what does worshipping in "Spirt and in Truth" mean to you?

For me, I started off asking God how to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The next thing I know I was impressed with this scripture below......

Romans 12

Living Sacrifices

1Therefore, 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. 2Do 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.


What I outlined in orang is clearly what I heard God say to me. I further inquired of the Lord about the Word HE impressed me with and HE told me that my Worship to Him is more than vocal that it is in service to HIM by serving others and by the way of example when I go places and talk to others that it shouldn't be lip service only.

For me God defined Worshipping in Spirit and in Truth as not mere words but true actions along with words. When I say I LOVE YOU LORD to show it by the way I treat others and to be obedient to HIM. It is not how wonderful I talk to HIM and adore HIM although that may be part of it but GOD don't want flowery praises no more than we as women want someone trying to seduce us with empty words. GOD wants my heart and my body and mouth to all line up saying the same thing.

I hope it didn't become complicated by my explanation for what GOD required out of me for true Worship.

's

NewSong

 

[spiritlead]

The bible says that we[our hearts] are the temple of His Holy Spirit, and in a spiritual temple their is praise and worship.

As we spend time in the secret place praising his holy name, He inhabits[dwells in] our praises, and fills our temple with His glory[spiritual breakthru] and then we feed on His Word[the truth], and walk it out in service unto others.

And He would have us to be filled on a regular basis, daily, if possible, the children of Israel were to pick up the manna daily.

Question, would the glory He fills us with be the shekinah glory?

 

[Simon_Templar]

I am a catholic but I don't usually go to church. My reason is I don't feel His presence there, I mean, I don't feel spiritual thing during mass (with it's routinary activity). I have nothing against with catholic church coz i am part of it, but sometimes I don't think i'm growing spiritually in attending mass.

Sometimes, i feel more comfortable in my room praying alone. But i know i have to participate in a community to grow spiritually but i really find it difficult. Maybe the problem is within me, it's just i'm so confuse right now.

I really want to worship God in Spirit and in Truth but I don't know how... :-(

First off there are a lot of Catholic charismatics around, you might get lucky and find some in your area.

Secondly, when it comes to prescripted services and prayers, it is easy for them to become thoughtless routine. However, that doesn't have to be the case. Honestly, in my charismatic church, our non-scripted services often fell into a routine as well in which people just did what they always did, because its what we did. thats human nature.

If you put your heart into the liturgy and actively engage your mind in thinking about what you are doing and saying, invest yourself into the service, it will become something more than routine.

God desires our worship to be from all areas of our being. With our mind, our emotions, our will etc. That means you need to engage those things purposefully when you worship. Its not always easy to do.

The phrase "worship in spirit and in truth" was originally said by Jesus in response to the question of WHERE we should worship. Up to that point worship services to God had to be held in the temple in Jerusalem.
So, worshipping in spirit is as much an issue of where, as it is an issue of how. What that means is this, the bible teaches us that God is revealed to us in our spirit. Our spirit is the portion of our being where we understand God, it is the portion of our being where God dwells.
We are often not aware of our spirit however, because our nature is that we focus on our soul and only see our soul.
The challenge then is to submit our soul to our spirit. To open the connection between our soul and our spirit so that we can worship God as he dwells in the temple of our spirit.
I'm still learning how to really do that

In prayer I would suggest two things. One is that prescripted prayers are a good discipline. They are good for calming the mind, disciplining the mind etc, they are good for training yourself to pray always.
Yet prayer should also be personal. Just talk to God as though he is there with you, because in truth, He is. Talk to him as you would a father.

 

[he4rty]

Not read all the posts, but was listening to a song yesterday when the lyric

I will offer up my life in spirit and truth

Really hit home, and what I felt God was saying to me was....

The truth he wants from me is to be honest with him about who I am, not to come to him as a poor imitation of what I think I should be, God wants to love Me and You and that means coming to God as who we really are.

 

[NewSong]

Not read all the posts, but was listening to a song yesterday when the lyric

I will offer up my life in spirit and truth

Really hit home, and what I felt God was saying to me was....

The truth he wants from me is to be honest with him about who I am, not to come to him as a poor imitation of what I think I should be, God wants to love Me and You and that means coming to God as who we really are.

Excellent post! When I initially asked God, I seen myself as artificial and false words on my part. Someone said to me do it anyway until it becomes first nature. I felt like a liar inside until GOD put me straight about what HE wanted from me.

I like your post, it says so eloquently and simply.

 

[spiritlead]

We are often not aware of our spirit however, because our nature is that we focus on our soul and only see our soul.
The challenge then is to submit our soul to our spirit. To open the connection between our soul and our spirit so that we can worship God as he dwells in the temple of our spirit.
I'm still learning how to really do that

What i have found Simon, is that as we worship in Spirit and Truth, in our secret place with Him, our spiritual man inside builds up and the natural man[soul] dies to what it wants, thus we walk in the Spirit, being used of God daily, as Paul said, he died daily. If our natural man has its way, we would say, aw, i'll skip intamacy with Him today, but if we fellowship with Him intimatly daily we triumph over the world, the flesh and the devil! And we become a sweet smelling aroma unto Him, and He fills us with His Glory, and we shinefor theworld to see, and they want that joy and happiness, glory!

 

[JoyToTheWhirled]

This is very much where my heart is right now. I came away from charismatic beliefs because they seemed to be solely focused on how I felt and only secondarily on the Lord.

I've had a long time away, learning the scriptures in a beautifully committed and grace-filled church, and I've found that now, as I've begun to REALLY get to know the Lord God Almighty in His word, and I've been asking Him to fill me with His Spirit as I read, charismatic expressions of worship seem much more natural to me.

Raising my hands flows out of a heart that wants to submit to Him, pondering the grace of the cross and resurrection fills me with humbled awe.

When I was first a believer, it was definitely too easy to get caught up and have the feelings of worship take a higher place than the object of my worship - the Lord Jesus Christ. But as I've grown over the years and learned more of Him from the scriptures, I am beginning to feel that my mind is much more fully engaged than it ever was before, and it is wonderful. All glory to Him!

 

[cyberlizard]

a long time ago (around 10 years back), we transferred all our churches song from handwritten acetate to computer printed versions. I remember it well, I typed them. After three hundred sheets going through a dot matrix printer you can be sure you never wanted to go near a computer again, but I did.

one thing I found was the bulk of praise and 'worship' songs are not about God. They are about us, either the church, or relationship to him, or relationship to one another. but not many purely directed Godward.

After that I made myself a promise. Every time a new song came up, I would read the lyrics before deciding whether or not I was going to sing it. What a blessing. No more blindly singing whatever is projected, but calmly, thoughtfully and deliberately bringing the words I agree with to my redeemer and my awesome God, THE all sufficient one, the only true Shalom.

 

[LeadWorship]

Newsong, thank you for putting in here Romans 12:1. That so beautifully states what our spiritual worship is: a lifestyle.

As is my ministry in the church, I choose the songs we lift up for our church, no matter the function. I seek God on these, and rely upon Holy Spirit to discern what needs to be there and what doesn't. Cyber, you realized something about P&W songs: they are not all to Him, some are for us to remember Him.

So, in regards to Sunday Morning worship, let me state my heart. "Most" P&W services are as follows: Upbeat faster music, then moderate, then slower music. That's pretty much across the board. Ever wonder why that is? Well, if you read the lyrics of upbeat songs, you'll notice they are about God, rather than to Him. These are the rallying cries - joining His people together, building up their spirits of the things He's done or promised... it's dancing in the outer courts.

Then move into the "moderate" tempo songs. These go either way - Praise to or about God. Some even start off upbeat and end slow, or slow in the middle with a moderate ending. These are more notably "transition songs". Yes, because they provide a physical slow down into more worshipful songs, but moreso (by me at least) because you are transitioning from the outer courts into the inner courts. You are making a spiritual progression.

Now enter the slower songs. Most all of these (or recent ones rather) are written to be from "my heart to God's heart". They are prayers put to music. This is where we are in the Holy of Holies, loving on God, letting him Love on us, at his feet bowed in reverence or cuddling into his bosom. Ever wonder why most Invitational / Ministry songs are slow? Because they spiritually place us there, which Him. Now, I'm not saying it only happens this way either.

There's times when Holy Spirit decides, "Well Bob, we're gonna hit the Throne Room right at the start and stay there today. Any problems with that?" and others He'll say "We have momentum! We need to build each other up because some people are really needing that right now. They need a huge shout and glorious proclimation!!" and so on. Pray for your Worship Leaders. Worship is spiritual battle. As we journey from the Outer Courts, to the Inner Courts, to the Holy of Holies we must be resilient to the schemes and attacks, the distractions and thoughts, the sights and smells that will come from the enemy to distract us. Be vigilant, remain in the Spirit, and "Let the Glory of the Lord, rise among us!!"

WOOOHOO!! I'm SO ready for Worship this Sunday!!

 

[JAS4Yeshua]

Great post, Bob.