Devotion #9
The Heart of worship
The heart of worship is our heart, delighting in Jesus and expressing praise to him for the true things the Scriptures teach us about who he is and what he has accomplished for us. It is, then, “all about” Jesus, not us. It involves us, but we’re at the periphery. He’s at the center.
Delighting- the word delight means “to gainngreat pleasure, satisfaction, and happiness.” additionally, another meaning of the Hebre word for delight is “to be soft, tender. “ i think lovers of God are those who are soft and tender toward him, always teachable, always pliable in his hands. Delighting in the Lord means looking for true happiness in God. i can pleasure as i grow to know and serve Him.
Periphery- the external boundary of any surfaceor area. The external surface of a body.
Psalms 27:14 KJV . 14. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. meaning: The scripture invites us to “take heart’’ while we wait, but we tend to ignore that and instead take fear, or worry , or stress, or anger, or some other feelings. We should put our trust in God and let him work out his plan, rather than being anxious and fearful about various things in life.
Psalms 31:24 KJV 24. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Meaning: those who love God should humbly rest in the Lord’s power, allowing that trust to bring courage. We will know that we can trust Him, rely on Him, despite our own failures. Even when we get mad at Him, He forgives us, because He Knows that we are weak.
Psalms 100:4 KJV 4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Meaning: we should acknowledge our good fortune, count our blessings, name them one by one, and give praise and recognition to the Lord for who He is and for various gifts.
John 4:22 KJV 22. Ye worship know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. Meaning: the nation of Israel is God’s chosen people. This was the line which God chose to produce Jesus Christ, the Messiah ( Romans 9:4-5). The truths of God’s prophets came through this nation. Other people, such as the Samaritans, were not given this full level of revelation.
Colossians 2:23 KJV 23. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Meaning: In this passage, Paul warns Christians not to be taken in by deceptive arguments. These claims are attractive, but are merely tricks: they sound true, but they are not. Arguing for self-denial, legalism, visions, and other practices only looks good to observers. None of these are the real source of spiritual growth.
When I think about the heart of worship what comes to my mind is that we are the heart of God so we were created to worship God and a true worshiper will allow themselves to connect to the Lord. It does get hard but I learned it doesn’t matter what others think because at the end of the day God sees everything therefore he will know if it's true or not.
What is a true worshiper? We can say with Paul that the essence of worship is an inner cherishing of Christ. This means that true worship is vauling Christ above all of life including: family, career, retirement, fame, food, health, and friends, the essence of worship is far and above form, it is prizing Christ above life.
Why is the heart important in worship? True worship starts in the heart and it moves outward into the rest of our everyday life. We cannot enter into the presence of the Holy spirit without first placing our eyes and hearts upward to Christ,
5 ways to develop a heart of worship: Jesus teaches that christians are to worship God “in spirit, and in truth”, this shows that worship is more than an outward act it is something that begins from the inside of our hearts.
1. Worship God with our hearts: worship must flow from the inside of our hearts, it is not just an outward casual act of singing, our hearts must engage with God, when we sing the words of the song, it must move us and stir our entire being to love God more. That is why we must not be distracted by our phones or allow our minds to wander off, preoccupied with concerns and things we want to do, worship cannot be mechanical or formalistic; it must be infused with a heartfelt hunger for God.
2. Encounter God’s presence: when we encounter God, we meet the presence of God and experience Jesus. Every encounter with God draws us closer to Him and causes us to grow in our hunger for his presence. encounters are a beautiful part of our journey in developing spiritual hunger for God; it fuels our desire and passion for His Presence.
3. Read God’s word: to cultivate lasting hunger: we discover God’s ways and his character by reading and studying His word, when we read the Bible and soak in His presence every day, we establish a lasting hunger for God.
4. Worship must be honest, sincere and real: “honest worship” is not based on how you feel but on who God is. Our God is great and greatly to be praised. Even if you are facing an enormous situation. God is always greater than that.
5. Learn an instrument to worship God: when christians get together to worship there is always music, so learning an instrument will help you to enhance your worship life. Poh shared that he started playing drums for the church in the early days. He decided he would plug that gap, so he picked up the guitar, not knowing that God was setting him up for his destiny. From that time Poh started to develop a heart of worship and today there is no way he can stop playing music and worshiping God. By the grace of God, Poh receives invitations to other countries to share about worship, leading an instrument to worship God that has totally transformed his life.
