Here lately, there has been something that seems to be a recurring commission throughout much of the preaching and singing that I have heard recently. That is the directive to “worship your way through the struggle” … “praise your way to victory.” No, I’m not talking about some charismatic, “Name it, claim it. Blab it, grab it.” kind of thing. This goes so much deeper. This is the kind of worship that comes straight from the heart. Come what may, it doesn’t change WHO God is! We are commanded to praise HIM-- Worship Him despite our present circumstances.
Earlier this year, we had a revival with Bro. Ronnie Wheeler. One night, he preached on “Have You Tried Worship?” - Man, was that a tremendous message! He was talking about when we are in a spiritual battle and we feel like we have been beaten and battered by the enemy and we have done everything we know to do, sometimes, we just have to WORSHIP our way out of the battle. Worship is often the key to unlocking our victory!
He reminded us that —at the point, when we are seemingly crushed, our worship means the most to God. The worship that comes from being broken is sometimes the purest kind of worship… worship of God for WHO HE REALLY IS, instead of just what He is doing for us. Wow, what a thought…
Like Job in the Bible, when everything was stripped from him and he was at his most broken point, what did Job do? He worshipped!
What a testimony! What an honor to God! God already knew before the testing that Job could be trusted. He was genuine. He was a true worshipper. His circumstances were NOT going to dictate Job’s worship. Worship was just part of WHO Job was.
Job 1:20-21
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21-And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
He was convinced that God was still good despite his present situation! He knew God was still on the throne even when he himself felt broken and helpless. That conviction caused him to be able to say:
Job 13:15 —Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
Job 19:25-26
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26] And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: …
What a Christian! What a relationship Job had with God!! I want to strive to be more like that!
We have a young woman in our church that has recently been battling an affliction in her body. As a result, she has really taken this commission to heart. I have seen her come in afflicted, but she hasn't been allowing that to affect her praise. She heard the Word of the Lord to worship, despite the situation. She has been doing her best to apply it to her life. And I have seen God honor His Word and He has gradually begun to do a work in her physical body… I am convinced it is a direct result of her obedience to the call to worship, no matter what she is currently “seeing/feeling” as far as her sickness. But even more than the work He has done in the physical sense, He has been doing a mighty work in her spiritually. She has grown leaps and bounds as a Christian. She has really taken to “eating of the Word” — she can always be found listening to preaching continually on Mixlr, podcasts, and CDs. She has found her help and strength lies in God’s Word alone— His Word is life!!
What the enemy meant for evil, God is working for her good. He is revealing Himself to her and her family more day by day in a personal way! She has become an inspiration to all of the rest of us. Knowing the affliction she is fighting in her body, yet seeing her come in "night in and night out" and worship has been so encouraging to watch and has lit a fire among the rest of us. Her enthusiasm, her faith, her zeal, and her consistency is affecting others around her. She has found God to be faithful despite her affliction.
I am confident that God isn't done with her story yet. The next chapter is still being written! He has promised to "finish the work He has begun". I am so excited to see what God is going to do next!!
God delights in worship that requires sacrifice—worship that requires obedience— worship that isn’t just given from abundance, but rather worship that is given from all we possess.
The word worship comes from the Old English word “weorbscipe” or “worth-ship” which means “to give worth to.” (Or how much something is worth to you)
In normal context, the word can mean “to hold something in high esteem.” But from a Biblical standpoint, the Hebrew word for worship is shachah, which means to depress, to fall down, or to lay prostrate before a deity. It means to hold something up with such reverence, honor, and esteem that your only desire is to bow down before it. In His Word, God specifically commands that the focus of this type of worship be toward Him and Him alone.
True worship of God is when we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s when we value God above everything else and give Him first place in our hearts.
As it says in Deuteronomy 6:4-5:
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Then we can skip over to Matthew 15:8-9,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus' words here make it clear that worship is a matter of the heart. The religious leaders in the text did and said things that looked and sounded like worship, but they didn’t truly love God from their hearts. Their actions and words didn’t please God because they weren’t motivated by love FOR GOD. This is why, at one point, Jesus called them “whited sepulchres”. They looked good on the outside but were spiritually dead on the inside.
If we want to worship in a way that pleases the Lord, it must start with our hearts. If we don’t love God from the heart, then nothing else matters. We can go through the motions but there won't be any results. We must get our hearts right in order to truly worship God the way He desires to be worshipped.
John 4:23-24
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24] God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Even in its earliest form, worship involved a physical act of sacrifice – the slaughter of an animal and the shedding of its blood in order to bring atonement for sin. This ancient practice was a foreshadowing of Jesus later becoming the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Jesus displayed the most supreme form of worship --His obedience to God's Will even unto death.
In Romans 12:1, Paul reaffirms sacrifice as crucial part of worship, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
We are no longer under the burden of the Mosaic law; We don't have to bring animals for sacrifice so their blood can atone for our sins yearly. Jesus has already paid the price and made ultimate blood sacrifice for our sins. Our worship now is to present our lives/bodies as a living sacrifice to God EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
This is holy and pleasing to Him. We must die out to this old flesh and allow the Spirit to have control!
Romans 8:13 —For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
In his book, My Upmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers describes it like this: “Worship is giving God the best that He has given you.”
We possess nothing of worth to present to God in worship but our own ourselves. It is the ultimate sacrifice as mortal beings, giving back to God the very life that He gave to us. It is our purpose and the reason for which we were created.
I Peter 2:9 reminds us that we are a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should shew forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light:”
This, my friend, is the very reason that we exist. God longs for us to worship Him who created us. His Word tells us that He “inhabits” the praises of His people... The definition of “inhabits”: dwells in, abides in, occupies, settles, resides in, sets up residence, to make one's home there...
What an awesome thing!!! That the GOD of all glory would choose to make His abode with me! And with you!! He promises to settle in, He promises to occupy, He promises to dwell with us if we just do our part. A while back, the Holy Ghost spoke at our church through tongues and interpretation and He said this: "If you will do your part, I will do mine."
Wow! What a promise! What an assurance! '
Is it any wonder that the enemy fights worship so bad? He knows there is power in surrender! He is smart enough to realize that worship brings God's presence. Worship causes God to abide with us…Satan definitely doesn't want God dwelling dynamically in our lives, (that really messes up his plans!) so he is constantly badgering us and trying to steal our worship. But we have to be on guard and withstand those fiery darts of the Devil. WE MUST WORSHIP!! It is required of us by God.
Do you find yourself struggling beneath a heavy burden? Afflicted in your body? Battered in your soul? Weary in your mind? Dry in your spirit? Needing victory? Wanting a breakthrough?
May I ask you, as Bro Wheeler preached several months ago,
"Have you tried worship?"
Perhaps worship is the very solution to your battle as well.... It may very well be the “key” that unlocks your victory!
From my heart to yours,
~Tiphanie ♥️
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