Day 13: Worship that pleases God

..::*+ Small Talk +*::..
Guess I know how much people around me can influence me.
Guess I know how much she influenced me.
Guess I know how much she influenced me.
Guess I know how sweet the interaction is.
Guess I don't know how to control myself.
Guess I don't know how hard it is to keep promises.
Guess I don't know myself that well.

But I know I love my God. Therefore, God, I'm sorry, for the excuses and fake-busyness that I'm now behind the pace. I'm catching up, now.
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Day 13: Worship that pleases God

We know God created us. We know too, that God wants us. To be precise, He wants the whole of us, not just any part of our lives. He interests not in partial commitment, doubted worships, false praises, halfhearted obedience... He wants full devotion from us.

Where you worship is not as important as why you worship and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him.
Hebrew 12:28 Good News Translation

It is not a must of how you conduct the worship. It has no protocol or steps to follow. But it has 4 main characteristics:

1. God is pleased when our worship is accurate. We cannot just create our own comfortable or politically correct image of God and worship it - That is idolatry. Our worship must have foundation from the Bible, not our own thinking.

True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
John 4:23

Here, the phrase "worship in truth" means worshiping God as how he is truly revealed in the Scripture.

2. God is please when our worship is authentic. Referring to John 4:23, the "worship in spirit" is not about Holy Spirit, but our own spirit. Our spirit that is inside our body is designed by God to communicate with Him.

Worship is your spirit responding to God's Spirit.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

Our love toward God must be genuine and heartfelt, not a total-copy-and-not-knowing-the-meaning version. It does not matter about saying the right words; it is about saying what you mean. False praise is not praise at all. It is more like an insult to God.

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
1. Samuel 16:7b

We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship Him insincerely.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

And to be sincere with God, we need both accurate and authentic. Most of the time, the biggest distraction in worship is not anyone else other than yourself - Your interests and your worries over things that you should not worry about - what others think of you. But hey, it does not matter how others think of you. Don't worry to show your genuineness (is there such words?). In Bible there a lot of ways to give praise, including confessing, singing, shouting, standing in honor, kneeling, dancing, making joyful noise, playing instruments (like me!), rising hands etc. But you we are not forced to choose from the list; there are tons of your original ways to express your love toward God.

If God intentionally made us all different, why should everyone be expected to love God in the same way?
Gary Thomas

Just like a husband and his wife: he can't possibly to say only "I love you" to his wife for his entire life, no? If so it will be real boring. Gary identified 9 ways how people draw themselves near to God. Naturalists are most inspired to love God in natural settings. Sensates love God with heir senses and appreciate beautiful worship services that involve the 5 senses. Traditionalists come near God by rituals, symbols and unchanging structures. Ascetics prefer to love God in solitude and simplicity. Activists love God through confronting injustice, working to make the world better. Caregivers love God by loving others and meeting their needs (me?). Enthusiasts love God through celebration. Contemplatives love God through adoration. Intellectuals love God by studying with their minds. Don't be surprise if you do not feel any of these you belong to. As we've discussed, it's all about genuineness, right?

3. God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful. If we study the New Testament carefully, we'll notice that Jesus repeated "love your God with all your mind" four times. It means nothing if you shout "praise the Lord" or whatever without meaning it.

If worship is mindless, it is meaningless.
Rick Warren - The Purpose Driven Life

That's why, we can praise God without using the same names over and over again. Learn to be creative, and one of the ways is to be specific. Be specific in what you want to say particularly to God that time.

Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.
1. Corinthians 14:40

It is also the same way when conducting a worship service. Be in mind that church service is not always the Christians come. There might be also some other nonbelievers. Thus, learn to be sensitive to unbelievers who visit your worship sessions is a biblical command. To ignore this command is to be both disobedient and unloving.

4. God is pleased when our worship is practical.

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.
Romans 12:1

It makes sense, as in, without your body, we cannot do anything, no? Indeed in eternity we'll be given a better body, but on earth, God wants us to give what we have. He wants us to live for him! God is pleased with different sacrifices of worship, including thanksgiving, praise, humility, repentance, financial offering, prayers, serving others, sharing what you know with others... There are a lot of ways of worshiping God.

God says we cannot serve two masters at the same time. And yes, we cannot exalt both God and ourselves at the same time. We do not worship to be seen by others, or to please ourselves. As I've said before, it's not about other people - it's about loving God completely.

And Jesus also commanded us to love God with all your strength. Yes, it is indeed worshiping God takes effort and energy. But, when you praise God even when you don't feel like it, when you get out of bed to worship when you are tired, or when you help others while you are worn out, you are offering a sacrifice of worship to God. That pleases God.

In this book it quoted the song that we all know - The Heart of Worship from Matt Redman. It reminded me how much I love this song.



Enjoy!


Joyfully serving Him,
Vincent