Living Worship

Read Isaiah 29
 
Isaiah 29:13-15 And so the Lord says, “Since these people say they are mine, but they do not obey me, and since their worship amounts to mere words learned by rote; 14 therefore, I will take awesome vengeance on these hypocrites and make their wisest counselors as fools. 15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’”
 
“WORSHIP” has come to define a very narrow part of the church. Worship service, worship music, worship time, etc. point to an organized form of coming before God. This is good and right, but there is more to worshiping God. God’s Word here should cause us to pause and consider carefully “worship” from our Lord’s point-of-view.
    God takes worship very seriously. It is the essence of the first and second commandments. In Genesis 2, Adam was to obey the covenants of blessing and law. To obey – to do – God’s Word is worship.  
    Genesis 4 is God’s first specific requirement of our worship as he speaks to Cain. Cain’s dispute with God makes it clear that worship is for God’s pleasure, and we will have a full relationship with him in true worship.
    Throughout Scripture, God commands we approach him with a sense of awe, knowing he is truly our LORD unto our eternal lives. Our hearts must be committed to sacrifice, and our souls submissive to honor him. True worship toward the Holy God begins in the deep recesses of the heart, mind and soul to love the Lord our God. This love must lead to an expression of sorrow for our sins, joy for God’s forgiveness, praise to God’s majesty, gratitude for the LORD’s call to life and love for the God who first loved us.
    Worship is also the daily expression of trusting God in each aspect of your life. Worship is actively seeking God’s direction for our decisions. Ii is knowing, obeying and joining God in his will. Worship is entering into a time and place alone and with others to open your mind to receive God’s Word. Worshiping God means you listen to the spoken and written Word, so you can obey his precious teachings and correctly live into his vital commands.
    Yes, worship is your consistent relationship with God. Worship is an ongoing experience of loving God.
 
Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.