If it’s one man I love and respect, it’s our former President Barack Obama. And I’ve come to discover, that when the President of the United States comes to speak, it’s a rare opportunity. So if you desire to be physically present when he shows up to speak, you better get there hours early because of the mass of people that will be there as well! Think about it, it’s hard to find a place to park, to stand, to sit or to see and hear. Yet, if you should happen to be able to squeeze in and find a spot, you still then have to wait until he arrives! Finally, you can hear a ripple go through the crowd as they hang the presidential seal on the podium. Then comes the announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.” Everybody gives him an ovation that lasts quite a while, and when the applause dies down, he begins to speak. While he speaks, nobody else speaks, nobody leaves, but everybody listens. In a nutshell, when you go to hear someone important, you don’t just applaud and leave. You stay after the applause to hear what they have to say.
You can find in Isaiah 6 perhaps the greatest worship scene in the Bible. The prophet Isaiah says the following in Isaiah 6:1-4 “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw [in a vision] the Lord sitting on a throne, high and exalted, with the train of His royal robe filling the [most holy part of the] temple. Above Him seraphim (heavenly beings) stood; each one had six wings: with two wings he covered his face, with two wings he covered his feet, and with two wings he flew. And one called out to another, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is filled with His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, and the temple was filling with smoke” (AMP)
This is what you would call true worship! It is getting lost in the worth of who He is, and being overwhelmed by His very presence. It is the place where no flesh glories in His sight. It is the place where the true-worshiper dwells.
John 4:23-24, “But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (AMP)
KEY: “…the Father SEEKS such people to be His worshipers…”
Can you imagine something being so important and vital to God that He actually comes looking for it? He actually pursues it? He seeks after it? Well, that’s the power and attraction of true-worshipers. There is something so phenomenal about their worship, that God seeks for, looks for, goes after and relentlessly pursues them. Reminds me a lot of ‘new love’. We go so out of our way when it’s ‘new love’. The phone calls are never-ending, the flowers flow in constantly, the ‘I love you’s’ are dear, genuine, passionate and daily, the time together is precious and you never want it to come to an end. You rearrange your entire schedule (and life) just to spend a moment with the one you love. You gaze deeply into their eyes, and smile for no apparent reason at all. You can think of them and butterflies flutter on the inside. You give your everything to them, because you love them. It’s new, exciting, fun, and life-giving. It brings you joy, happiness, contentment, and you can’t stop telling everybody about the somebody that has stolen your precious heart and refuses to give it back. You want to hold hands all the time, your intimacy knows no limits or boundaries. You’re sharing sips of juice and bites of one another’s food in public. You want to eat with them, go out with them, stay in with them. You want to call and leave them a voicemail while they’re sitting right next to you. You text them that you miss them, when all they did was go down the hall to the restroom. All because you love them. And often their response matches yours, because when someone knows just how special, valued, cherished, treasured, important and loved they are, they tend to give even more of themselves in return out of gratitude.
I wonder what would happen if we would dare to love God like that?!
What would it be like for our worship to resemble that kind of ‘new love’ in word, thought, and action? Instead of that old stale familiar ‘I still care about you, God’, kinda ‘love’. Which sounds a lot like Revelation 2:4-5, “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall! “Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.” (MSG) I don’t know about you, but that encouraged me to love on God afresh, with a NEW love! I want to be one of those true worshipers who God pursues!
Could you imagine how relentless God would pursue us for rendering such worship on Him? If only we would give God even a tenth of what we give to people…Selah…
The God’s Word Translation says, “…The Father is looking for people like that to worship Him…” (GWT). Then the Good News Translation finishes like this, “…God is Spirit, and only by the power of His Spirit can people worship Him as He really is.” (GNT). Which makes me wonder, if we spend no time with God, no time talking to Him and hearing from Him; if we spend no time in prayer, no time in His Word, no time in His Presence, how will we ever be able to worship Him in spirit and in truth? You can’t worship Him when you spend no worthwhile time with Him. How can we worship Him, by His Spirit, when our Spirit takes no time to learn who He really is? Which is hard to do in an era of the church that is “Praise” focused…ONLY. Now, is there anything wrong with praise? Absolutely not! From cover-to-cover of the Bible will you hear about the praises rendered to our God, and His favorable responses to them.
HOWEVER, I’m afraid that we’ve become so Praise-Centered, that we no longer know how to get to the Core of Worship anymore.
There’s a wonderful new emphasis in many places today on praise and worship. And I for one certainly recall it being called “devotion”. You see, it was the time in my former church where the Deacons and Deaconesses led in prayer, praise and worship and testimony service. It was a time when the people remembered to make the Lord the focus, and finally took time to forget themselves instead and experience just how big God is. People from all over the sanctuary would share what the Lord had done for them and their loved ones, their health, their employment and marriage etc. It was wonderful, encouraging, empowering, motivating, faith-building, inspiring. We would sing, and clap and dance, and holler. We would give God our best and noisiest praise! It was sort of our standing ovation for God! Much like the preparation for when the President is about to enter the room and speak.
UNFORTUNATELY, though, far too many of us leave after the standing ovation, not realizing that it’s only the beginning. Yes, Praise went forth and Worship went forth, but now God wants to SAY SOMETHING; He wants to speak to us. But how can we hear Him if we leave, or start to tune out after the praise break stops? How can we hear Him over all the clapping, hollering, high-fiving, and ‘tell your neighbor’? How can we hear Him while we’re so busy running, jumping, leaping, dancing, and shouting? Now, is anything wrong with any of that? No, not in and of itself. And if that was the conclusion, it would be fine. HOWEVER, it’s not, it’s only the beginning. Because after the ovation dies down, after the applause stops, His voice speaks, and that’s the most important part of it all. And when you realize that it is, you began to prepare yourself to hear the Lord speak.
Isaiah 6:5 says this, “Woe is me! For I am ruined, Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (AMP). Worship is supposed to lead to REPENTANCE. When you are in the presence of the Lord, you should see His holiness and the sin that you have not dealt with. You need to make things right with this awesome God. Worship that doesn’t lead to cleaning up your sin is just dead-end applause, and we should not leave until God has spoken. Worship should remind us that we’ve sinned, it should convict us of our unrighteousness when we realize just how righteous He is. It should uncover our unholiness when we realize just how holy He is. Worship should challenge us to change for the better. Worship should remind us that although we serve an awesome, loving and kind, and generous God, He is also HOLY.
“because it is written, “You shall be holy (set apart), for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16 AMP);
“Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 AMPC)
This is how vital holiness is. We are to be holy, because He Is Holy and without Holiness, No One Will EVER See Him. So, when we worship God, it is a time of preparation to hear from God. We enter that place of holy worship where we acknowledge that we are unclean and need to be bathed in His presence. We need to be made right. We need to begin again. Start afresh, start anew. We need to reevaluate ourselves, our attitudes, our speech, our thoughts, our deeds, our motives and intentions, our desires, our longings, our heart. Because we need to hear Him, we have to come close to Him, and have Him cleanse us and position us. Praise is wonderful, it gets us to the door, thanksgiving opens it up, worship allows us to enter in, and holiness allows preparation to hear God speak.
Isaiah 6:6-7, “Then flew one of the seraphim [heavenly beings] to me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from off the altar; and with it he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.” (AMPC).
A lot happens after the initial cries of “Holy, Holy, Holy”. Just as a lot happens prior to the President speaking. There’s a process before the proclamation. Isaiah didn’t get happy just because of who he was around (the angels, or for us it’s other church folks). He didn’t even get happy because of the ovation and applause (“Holy, Holy, Holy”, or for us it’s our Praise Breaks). But Isaiah declared his sin, I’m unclean and unholy. And since I’m in your presence and have the opportunity to hear you speak, I’m not stopping here, I’m not staying here, I’m leaving here changed and better. And the very thing he declared was unclean (‘I’m a man of unclean lips’), the angels touched him and gave a new declaration, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.” And what happens after he confesses and gets cleaned up?
Verse 8 says, “THEN I HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD SAYING, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (AMP). When we see our sin and receive God’s forgiveness, then we should see the people who don’t have a Savior yet. Our heart should ache for those who haven’t seen the King. Worship is not just getting a good feeling because you got close to God. When you see the Lord, it will help you see the lost people who haven’t gotten close to Him yet. Worship that is really worship will lead to repentance and then to evangelism.
Unfortunately, we get so lost in what we desire the Lord to personally do for us, that we assume, when we’ve received what we asked for, then that’s it, I’m good, the day is done, we can go home now. Not so! We don’t get to God, get what we can get from God, then go home. We get in the presence of God, so we can repent, change and get something to give away to somebody else.
“Here am I, Lord. I will go for You into the lives of the people around me who have yet to see the King as I have.”
You don’t get clean just to brag about your cleanliness. You don’t get clean just to hang around other clean folks. You get clean so you can go to them that are still in the filth of their sin, and you tell them I know a Man that can clean your sin better than Tide can clean your laundry! John 4:39-42, “Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him BECAUSE OF THE WOMAN’S WITNESS: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A LOT MORE PEOPLE ENTRUSTED THEIR LIVES TO HIM WHEN THEY HEARD WHAT HE HAD TO SAY. They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!” (MSG) That’s what we’re supposed to do church. Leave worship with the witness that I know a man that can save you, help you, heal you, deliver you, redeem you, forgive you! And that passionate witness will lead them to listen to Him for themselves. See, the people entrusted their lives to Him when they heard what He had to say. We stick around when the President speaks because we want to hear what he has to say. Well, we need to learn to stick around Jesus to hear what He has to say! Why? Because there are far too many lives at stake without Him! And all they need is our witness after worship to lead them to the one who is still the truth, the way and the light! Church, There is So Much More to the Reason We Worship!
You don’t just go to God’s presence to applaud, to run, jump, leap, spin, dance, shout, and praise, though that’s a great place to start. But you go to worship and repent, to receive forgiveness, to be cleansed and changed and to hear Him speak and then to act on what He says! There is so much more to Worship than the watered-down version of it that we see in churches today.
Think about this: Can you imagine traveling hours to hear the President speak, stuck in traffic, struggling to find a place to park. Then getting on a long line, and more often than not, having to be security cleared. Then to hear all the chatter from everyone else speaking all at the same time. Then to find you a little spot to try and see and hear him. Then to hear that he’s about to enter in, he’s announced and introduced, you clap and scream and get so excited. And then he comes in, and all the cheering gets even louder. He’s at the podium, then the applause dies down, and you finally get to hear him speak, but he just walks away without a word spoken…how disappointed would you be?
Well, on the reverse side of that, that’s where a lot of us are. We go through all we go through to get to church. Find parking, find somewhere to sit, then there’s the music, the clapping, dancing, praising, and then the mouthpiece of God gets ready to speak and we’ve completely checked out of service. Imagine God’s heart break that you don’t mind applauding Him, you just don’t want to hear from Him. Well, that’s not the purpose. We have to find our way back to what’s important in our churches. And it’s not how awesome the choir is, how amazing the music is, how high the anointing is, how fancy the footwork. None of that has value. We need to enter in with thanksgiving and praise. But we also have to find our place of worship and repentance. So that we can be honest before God, confess and be cleansed and changed before God. Then we can clearly hear from God. And then we can take what we’ve heard from God and share it with others. Don’t lose the core importance of the Presence of God. It is not to tickle your ears or your fancy, it’s not hearing what you want to hear, it’s not about houses, cars, land, business opportunities, checks in the mail, job promotions, ministry elevations and new spouses. It’s about becoming better. It’s about spending so much time with God that you finally start to sound like Him, walk and talk like Him, think and act like Him, reflect Him.
Acts 4:13, “They couldn’t take their eyes off them—Peter and John standing there so confident, so sure of themselves! Their fascination deepened when they realized these two were laymen with no training in Scripture or formal education. THEY RECOGNIZED THEM AS COMPANIONS OF JESUS, but with the man right before them, seeing him standing there so upright—so healed!—what could they say against that?” (MSG)
Can you imagine spending so much time with Jesus that even when you’re not with Him, people can look at your life and lifestyle and see the evidence that you’re definitely one of His companions? Look at a few other versions of how this text reads:
“…they were astounded, and began to recognize that they had been with Jesus…” (AMP)
“…They also recognized that they had been followers of Jesus…” (CEB)
“…The officials were certain that these men had been with Jesus…” (CEV)
“…But they knew they had been with Jesus…” (NLV)
“…they were amazed and realized what being with Jesus had done for them!…” (TLB)
Now this is what you can call a great witnessing tool! When you’ve been around Jesus so much so, that even unsaved folks will have no other choice but to say even they can see what being with Jesus has done for you!
So, can people be able to look at you and see, recognize, be certain, know and realize that you’ve spent time with Jesus?! Can they look at you and your lifestyle and be amazed and realize what being with Jesus has done for you? Because that’s the profound product of worship. You walk away reflecting His image and likeness, representing well His characteristics and glory.
Can you imagine spending so much time with Jesus that even your speech betrays you?! Matthew 26:73, “A short time later those standing there came and said to Peter, “You must be one of them. The way you talk gives you away.” (CEB) Listen to these translations:
“…“We know you are one of them. It’s clear from the way you talk.” (ERV)
“…“Of course you are one of them,” they said. “After all, the way you speak gives you away!” (GNT)
“…Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.” (NASB)
“…“Surely you are one of those who followed Jesus. The way you talk shows it.” (NCV)
Peter couldn’t hide his Galilean accent, it came out naturally because it was apart of who he was and where he came from and who he’d been around. Do you spend enough time in worship in God’s presence, that you sound like God? Do you sound like you’ve been among believers and worshipers, praiser’s and faith walkers? Can people see the evidence of your Sunday worship still on you when you’re stuck in Monday traffic; Tuesday conflict; Wednesday stress; Thursday health decline; Friday failures; and Saturday temptations? Can they still hear you speaking faith and not fear; can they still hear your worship and not your worry? Do you still sound like you’ve been with the Savior, even when you’re in the presence of sinners? Or do you lie like Peter and say you don’t even know the man? Or worse yet, are you living so beneath the code of conduct lifestyle of a believer that you don’t even have to open your mouth and say the words, but your lifestyle speaks on your behalf that clearly you don’t know the man? Don’t just talk about God, you ought to spend so much time with Him that you even talk LIKE God!
And then, what happens when your worship experience is written all over your face?! Exodus 34:29-35, “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT THE SKIN OF HIS FACE GLOWED BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN SPEAKING WITH GOD. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his RADIANT FACE, and held back, afraid to get close to him. Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, BUT WHEN HE WENT INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD TO SPEAK WITH HIM, HE REMOVED THE VEIL UNTIL HE CAME OUT. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, THEY WOULD SEE MOSES’ FACE, ITS SKIN GLOWING, AND THEN HE WOULD AGAIN PUT THE VEIL ON HIS FACE UNTIL HE WENT BACK IN TO SPEAK WITH GOD.” (MSG)
Is your time in God’s presence this evident on your life from day-to-day? Can people look in your face and see the Glow of God’s Glory? If not, get back to worship until it does!
Saints, enjoy service, enjoy the praises rendered to our God. Give Him the standing ovation and applause you freely give to the President. But remember, if people can stay after the applause to hear what a mere man has to say, surely we should stay after the applause (physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally) to hear what God has to say. Don’t become so entertained in church, that you leave unchanged. Don’t get so lost in the Noise of Praise that you can’t find the Quiet of Worship.
1 Kings 19:11-13, “So He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, [there was] an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, [there was] a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, [there was] the sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard the sound, he wrapped his face in his mantle (cloak) and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, A VOICE CAME TO HIM AND SAID, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (AMP)
The Contemporary English Bible says, “…Finally, there was a gentle breeze, and when Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his coat. He went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. THE LORD ASKED, “Elijah, why are you here?” (CEV)
There was a Powerful Wind that tore out the mountains and broke rocks in pieces; There was an Earthquake; There was a Fire… In short, there was a lot of Noise and a lot of Action to Be Seen…but the Lord’s voice wasn’t in the noise or the visible action! And truth is, our churches have become quite noisy and visibly active…Selah…
However, the Lord’s voice was in “the sound of a gentle blowing…” if you weren’t quiet and still, you would never hear it or feel it. Makes me ponder if the church needs to quiet down and learn to be still a bit? Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God…” (AMP) Then, maybe, just maybe, we could sense, hear, see and feel the actual presence of the Lord again.
Church, praise is not the only order on the menu of the day. Now, I know praise is more like the steak, potatoes, chicken and rice on the menu. However, worship is more like the vegetables, something that’s so much better, and healthier for you. Does it mean steak is bad? Nope, but it will be better with the balance of broccoli. And with such a simple analogy, our praise is more well-balanced with our worship. Applaud the Lord, but when the applause dies down, worship and listen to what thus saith the Lord, and then act on His Word.
“Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.” (Richard J. Foster)
“Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.” (Author Unknown)
“When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words, than my words be without heart.” (Lamar Boschman)
“Worship is so much more than the songs that we sing on Sunday morning. It is the life that we live the rest of the week.” (Daughter By Design)
“Worship: Where God isn’t moved by the quality of our voice but by the condition of our hearts.” (Chris Tomlin)
“We belittle God when we go through the outward motions of worship and take no pleasure in His person.” (John Piper)
“Worship is the Door to God’s Presence.” (Author Unknown)
“Any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship, is not ready for heaven.” (A.W. Tozer)
“It is the pleasing of God that is at the heart of worship.” (R.C. Sproul)
“Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.” (A.W. Tozer)
“Worship is the act of the abandoned heart adoring its God.” (John Eldredge)
“If God were small enough for us to understand, He wouldn’t be big enough for us to worship.” (Author Unknown)
“The purpose of this Christian society called the ‘Church’ is, first: to glorify God by our worship. We do not go to church just to hear a sermon. We go to church to worship God.” (Billy Graham)
Much Love, Dr. Shermaine #EnjoyTheRead #BeInspired #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeChallenged #ShareTheWord
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