Worship
John 4:23-24 New Living Translation (NLT)
23 But
the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship
him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him
must worship in spirit and in truth.”
When was the last time you got lost in worship? I know this
is out of bounds for some people. It may be viewed as too charismatic. Or too over the
top. But I ask you, why?
What is worship?
I found this definition on Bing:
NOUN: the feeling
or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.
VERB: show reverence and adoration for
(a deity); honor with religious rites.
"the Maya built jungle pyramids to worship their
gods"
synonyms:
[more] worships (third person
present) · worshipped (past tense) · worshipped (past participle)
· worshipping (present participle) · worshiped (past tense) · worshiped
(past participle) · worshiping (present participle)
Many of you already know this, but a few don’t. To
understand worship, not only are we as humans praising God, but I believe the
Holy Spirit within us also leads us in worship. He reminds us who God is. He
brings scripture to mind. He reminds us of past victories. He leads our hearts.
One of the Greek words referring to the Holy Spirit is pneuma which literally means:
Spirit, wind or breath (This word must have the attributive adjective - Hagios- referring to the ‘Holy’ in Holy Spirit as in Mathew 1:18.)
Think about it: Are there times you truly feel excited for
someone else who is celebrating something? Like when Joe and I found out we
were pregnant after years… I know people truly celebrated with us. What about
hearing something about someone else’s heartbreak and it troubles you deeply. I
believe as we walk with the Lord, we become more in tune with what brings joy
to his heart, or what saddens his heart.
Worship is attuning yourself to the divine creator and being
in awe of who he is. Whether it’s in music, or when a word from the pastor
grips your heart. Sometimes you may just be in awe of nature – like David in
Psalm 8. it’s a moment that the Holy Spirit moves, and you know it’s of the
Lord.
Tonight, I was learning a new worship song. I was watching
the song on YouTube – and I could see the singers praising God. They were lost
in song and praise. It came at a moment in between words. It was a celebration
of the fact that Christ had arisen from the dead and was victorious. The
singers were praising, the congregation was praising, and all focus was on
Christ and his victory over the grave. The very means that brings us to God is
the fact that his son died, and arose 3 days later, and is living. There,
praise is the hope. There, praise is the worship of a living savior who redeems.
He lives. He saves. He rescues. He loves. He restores. He rebuilds. He moves.
He is. The more we get to know him, the more we see these things. This is what
drops us to our knees in worship. There are hard times, but there is joy.
He brought Joe and I joy in the darkest of days as we waited
for a child. There were days of anger, bitterness and resentment. There was a
specific time he wanted me to praise without having an answer. The seeking and
pouring out of my soul over the infertility battle drew me to a deeper point
with Jesus. It’s a point I would not have come to had I not gone through the
struggle.
The seeking brought revelation. The revelation brought
understanding on how to pray. The revelation brought a victory over defeat. All
of this before I was ever pregnant. Worship came before. It came the moment I
sang words about my circumstance and fighting for what God had promised. That’s
when the worship came. The surrender came. The trust came. It was a moment of
abandon from the circumstances that were crashing in around me and to the fact
that God is God and I am not.
The turning point of my fertility journey was a release of
all of this. It was a moment during struggle and during hopelessness that even
though there were terrible, low days I chose to cling to scripture. I didn’t
understand. I didn’t have answers. I had little faith, but I held on. The
reward was a moment in worship – in abandon – that I chose to believe and see
what the truth was that was going on with me.
Our battles do not lie with flesh and blood. If we stay
discouraged and hopeless, then there is one less person on the battlefield. The
battle is Gods. The battle is on our knees and in the Word. The battle is
holding on to him in the rollercoasters of life.
The reward is our moments with a savior that we can get lost
in. Our reward is in the hope that we will live with him. Our reward is him. So
why aren’t we lost in worship? Why don’t we just let go and praise him with our
mind, body, spirit and heart?
Why did the moment turn to revelation for me? I was honest
in my worship. I was not even able to sing. I was so saddened by our battle
that I didn’t want to sing the words. And I told God. I told him I couldn’t
sing. That it was too hard. (Did I mention I was on praise team that day?) So,
the problem was that I had to keep singing. I had a few seconds of this
disheartening worship, I poured it all on him in that moment – and then I sang.
As the words continued through the song, I came to the realization of what had
been happening – a battle. I knew that it was time to pray differently and I
knew there was a turn in the struggle. I truly worshipped in spirit and in
truth. I was sad – but I worshipped. And God took over.
When people are worshipping in abandon, with arms raised,
looking upward, sometimes without a word forming on their lips, realize that
they have a walk we know nothing about. And maybe it’s time we start
worshipping in abandon ourselves. He is worthy. He is holy. He is conquering.
He is the healer. Go to him in spirit and in truth. Get lost in the one who
found you.
