The Subject of Worship

The subject of worship has been on my mind.
That word means different things to different people.

Some might picture a Sunday morning church service.  They would include the whole service as worship.

Others' thoughts may go to being subservient or paying homage.

I checked with Webster to see what he had to say on the subject....

"Reverence or devotion for a deity; religious homage or veneration; a church service or other rite showing this.
Extreme devotion or intense love or admiration of any kind.
To show religious devotion or reverence for; adore or venerate as a deity.
To have intense love or admiration for; adore or idolize."

My bible contains a cyclopedia index, which gives a brief definition of key words.
They simple state that...

"Worship is an act or reverence."

In the Bible itself we find Jesus' definition of worship recorded by John in the fourth chapter of his gospel account....

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus' words sum up the entire Bible's position on worship.
In the Twenty-ninth Psalm we are told to...

"Worship the LORD in holy array."

It is to be with our whole heart, yet there is more to it.

In spirit. 
There is only one Spirit that can worship properly.
His Holy Spirit, who is our Helper, Teacher, and Companion unites with our spirit to truly worship our LORD.

In Truth.
Now Who is the Truth?  Jesus!
So to truly worship our God we need to be connected to Jesus.

The where of worship?
Everywhere!
In the church service, in our home, as we go about our every day.  all are opportunities to worship.

I bring candy to share when I visit with my friends at the local rehab.  All the individually wrapped candy is in a clothe bag from which each person can choose two pieces.
On occasion someone will try to take more than the allotted amount.
This week was one of those occasions.

When this happens I remind the individual that they are in an honest program.  That is a recovery phrase, which means that we need to get honest with ourselves and others.  For many honesty has not marked their lives for a long, long time.
It is the nature of the beast.
Denial.

During this most recent exchange these words from Jesus came to me.

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much..."

I shared them with my new friend and explained how they applied here.
If he couldn't be honest in such a little thing as how much candy he took, how would he ever be faithful in working out his recovery?
To truly learn how to be faithful, how to be honest, we need the Living God!
Our God knows our hearts and when He sees our desire to be honest and sincere, He will offer us His strength. 
Surrendering the small things to God is an act of worship!

Often I talk with Papa about my desire to truly worship Him.
No more do I want to simply go through the motions of worship in our church service than do I want any other part of any day to be anything less than worship to my Wonderful Savior!

To do so takes staying close to Him through prayer, His Word and fellowship with others who know and love Him.  This means that we are committing all of ourselves to this pursuit.

Quieting oneself before your LORD renews one's spirit.
His Word reminds me and teaches me His Truth.  This morning I was reminded that He has a special name, just for me, which I will learn when I see Him face-to-face!
Time with others who love Him ends up being a time to love one another too!

All are opportunities to worship!

You see, Paul says that when we determine to give all of ourselves for His glory, we are worshipping!  This is the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Romans from The Message:

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering."