God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ~John 4:24
References:
· The Call to Worship Part 1
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Posted on Wed, Jul 30, 2008
The Call to Worship - "What is True Worship?" Part 2
By Pastor Charles Cowan
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. ~ Genesis 22:15-18
Abraham passed the test of true worship. He acted in obedience to God's command by offering his best. He offered Isaac. God called this worship. Have you passed the test of true worship? God wants the best. God gave his best and he expects no less out of us.
Because Abraham was willing to worship God with everything he possessed, covenant promises began to flow. Likewise when you worship, covenant promises will come your way when you learn how to be true worshipers in deep regard and respect to God to the point where we give him everything that we have. Then, the covenant blessing begins to flow. Look at verse 17 again, "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;". The seeds of worship that we sow will possess the gates of our enemies. When we worship God, there is something in the spirit realm that God does that will absolutely put a hedge where Satan cannot destroy your life. He cannot take you down and cannot keep the blessings of the covenant out of your life. When you worship God. When you give to God your very best. You give him yourself. Whatever he asks you to do. You worship him in Spirit and in Truth. If you worship him in Truth, you've got to worship him from and by the word of God; otherwise, you can't worship him in what he calls the Truth. Your worship will absolutely possess the gate of your enemy and stop the enemy and the avenger.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. ~ Psalm 8:2
Giving yourself to God in worship brings something to your life. Many times you don't see the schemes and the tricks of the enemy that he has planned for you to take you down; but, God sees out there in front of us. When we give ourselves to him, like Abraham did, and worship God and give him the very best that we have, God is out in front of us. God is out there working. He is out there dealing with those things that we don't see or those things that we are not aware that Satan has set a trap. We walk right on by because God was out there in front of us. We possess the gate of our enemy through the seeds of our worship by giving our hearts, giving our lives, and giving our all to God.
The running and jumping is vain worship without this involved in it and, is not acceptable to God. We want to be a people who knows what it means to worship. Give ourselves to God in a way that God instructed us. We may not be the natural seed of Abraham; but, I can tell you that we are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Galatians 3:29 says, "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise (blessing)." When we worship God in the way Abraham worshiped God, that is, in the giving of himself to God, God will do the same thing for us because, we are in covenant with God through Jesus Christ. We are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. So, the far reaching affect was established in the earth because Abraham worshiped God.
If we are true worshipers, we are not going to question what God instructs us to do. We aren't going to question what God tells us. When God says it in this book, we say, "I'm a worshiper. I love God. When God tells me to do something in this word, I'm not going to question God. I'm not going to give God any excuses why I can't do it. I'm going to do it. I worship God. I have a deep reverence and love for God and what he tells me to do, I'm going to do it because it is in that that I become a true worshiper." The Holy Ghost will get involved now. Now you know why you're running or why you're jumping. You know you're not just having some physical or emotional release. There's something on the inside of you that's crying, "I love God with all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all my mind, and with all of my being.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ~ Matthew 22:35-39
If someone offends you, there is absolutely no question how to respond. You say, "I forgive because I am a worshiper." I'm not giving because I'm forced to give. I give because I have a reverence and love for God that goes beyond any offense that can come in my life. Abraham's act of worship with Isaac established a precedent for understanding worship throughout the bible. What was it that Abraham did that set the precedent? What characterized Abraham's worship? It wasn't because he ran, jumped or hollered. It was his absolute surrender, unquestioning obedience, and unwavering trust in his God, knowing, "If I worship God, it will be done unto me as God has said it." Confess this: When I worship God, it will be done unto me as God has said it."
God wasn't after Isaac. He was after Abraham's heart. When God gives you a command in his word, he's not after what you've got. He's after you! When he gets you, there is absolutely no limit to what God will pour into your life from the natural, material, financial, and spiritual, once he captures your heart. He captured Abraham's heart. When you get into this kind of worship, you give the devil a tough time.
"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;" ~ Genesis 22:17
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