Ask yourself what would I wear to battle?
~Would you wear a breast plate? “Breastplates are worn by soldiers for protection”
Now ask yourself what do I wear to worship the Father?
Do you wear the same uniform or is it different? ~~~Is Worship your “breastplate”~~~
How about, what does it mean to worship?
In the NIV bible concordance it says, worship means: To give praise, honor, and respect to God; reverence given to God
~~John 4:23-24 “(23)Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the spirt and in the truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (24)God is spirt, and his worshipers must worship in the spirt and in truth.”
~~Psalm 95:6 “come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD Our Maker”
I learned the other day from God that (WORSHIP is one of the definitions for LOVE) which I found breath taking because last weak God asked me “What is LOVE?”
+When studying “worship” I learned that there are many forms of worship, here are a few:
- sing and praises given to God.
- good deeds done for God, to others.
- teaching to others his great love.
- having joy in the good and the bad.
- obeying what the Lord has set out for you.
- hearing and praising a team weather they succeed or not, or whether they are “well know” or not. To be incomplete joy and praise for them.
- Giving something or someone attention.
Worship, its something we all do. Everyday our affection, praises, devotion, honor, and respect are given to something or someone.
WHO OR WHAT DO YOU WORSHIP?
When we worship the right way and for the right way, God doesn’t stir us up into confusion; he brings us into harmony. (Somewhere in 1corintians 14:26-33 MSG)
When we see God for who he really is, worship is true and spontaneous.
In the story about the woman who anointed Jesus feet with perfume and tears…. Why did she do this?, What motivated her to step beyond the norm in such a wild, confident way? Everything we do has a “because”, what was hers?
READ: Luke 7:36-50
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
“(36) When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. (37) A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. (38) As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. (39) When the pharisee who invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner.” (40) Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. (41) “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. (42) Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” (43) Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. (44) Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. (45) You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. (46) You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. (47) Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” (48) Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” (49) The other guest began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” (50) Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” {NIV}
The Bible explains to us that the lord is interested in the “why”, and not just the “what”. He doesn’t just want us to do the right thing (although that is good) but rather He wants us to do the right thing for the right reasons.
Jesus explained her “because” in V47 (NIV)
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven,—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (V47)
Some say she did this because she wanted forgiveness, and at first that is what I thought to when reading this passage, but God helped me break it down in a new way and now I see it as the opposite, Her service was not because she wanted to find salvation but because salvation found her.
You see, She was considered less then and known to have “screwed up” in life but she went and loved on Jesus by worshiping him in the most humble way possible and not wanting anything in return. She did it because he deserved to be praised.
Like the woman we don’t need to try and win Jesus’ love, because we have already received it.
We don’t need to do things to win his forgiveness, but rather our behavior should show that we already have it.
If we love as we’ve been forgiven, “worship” will soon become our normal.
Going back to V47 when it says “But whoever has forgiven little loves little.” Jesus payed the ultimate sacrifice by taking all our sins and forgiving us for them by dying on the cross, therefore we have no reason to “love little” because we have been forgiven so big! We should love has we had been forgiven meaning we should love in such a huge way.
We need to look at worship as something we always do rather then just opening the Bible when you feel like it or are in need of something and calling it good.
We already worship things and people that are not necessarily glorifying God, like technology or food, when we give them any form of attention its a form of worship. I’m not saying technology is bad or that you shouldn’t eat, God gave us these things as a gift to make us joyful. But if you at any point, would rather watch a movie or txt your best friend, over talking to God who are you really worshiping?
God gave our team the name Towdah its just “1” of the seven words for WORSHIP in Hebrew meaning to stretch out your arms in praise to him to thank him for the things we have and the things were going to receive.
I challenge us to make worship our normal, we do it everyday, whenever we can, it can be simple and it can be elaborate, God knows your heart and what you have to say, when your sad talk to him, when ur happy praise him, the your confused start asking questions. God want to hear your voice.
so….Love him with it!
And make it ur normal!
++Also think to your self, are you here worshiping him because you want salvation? Or because through him you already found it?
