NOVEMBER 2021
The Heart of Worship
Worship is one of the important aspects of loving and honouring God, and inviting Him onto the Throne of our lives.
The inner essence of worship is to truly know God, and then respond from the heart to that knowledge, by valuing God, treasuring Him, and being satisfied with God above all earthly things.
Worship also means fully opening your heart to God and expressing your true love and feelings for Him. This could be by way of adoration, worship, praise, thanksgiving, confession of sin, petition and intercession. It involves us coming with our hearts to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
The human heart is the focus of physical and spiritual being. The Word of God advises us to watch over our heart, for out of it flows the spring of life (Proverbs 4 v 23).
The Lord looks at our hearts and sees the pain, the bruises, the heart ache, and so much more. God Almighty is aware of our greatest wounds, and need.
Papa desires our company. Is it not awesome to comprehend, that the Creator of the World desires our company. He desires to be in relationship with us.
He desires that we bring Him something that is of worth, that will bless His Heart. At this point, we may be wondering why would the King of kings want to make Himself vulnerable to receive from me, and what is really worthy in my life and yours that we can bring to Him? We may be imagining money, or talent or some other thing.
We aren't the only ones who have had this dilemma. Abel and Cain wondered about what sacrifice to give to the Lord (Genesis 4 v 3-4) Abel sacrificed the first born of his flock and we are told the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering. Cain, on the other hand brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Remember that the fruit of the ground was cursed, so Cain was approaching God on the ground of personal worthiness, rather than accepting God's way. He presented to God, the product of his own toil, the work of his own hands. This displeased God and He had no regard or respect for Cain's offering. This caused jealousy and Cain murdered his brother.
It's important that we bring to Papa (God), what He desires, because so often, we bring Him what we think should be alright, but He does not want that. No one wants anything forced on them. We want to bring Him stuff that He is pleased to receive.
When we worship, He is not impressed so much by the words of the songs we sing. Indeed, our words sometimes carry absolutely little or no truth in them. Father God told the Israelites (Isaiah 1 v 11-20) that He didn't need the multitude of their sacrifices except they were the offering of the heart.
Also in Proverbs 16 v 2; we read that all the ways of a man are pure in his own heart, but the Lord weighs the spirits (the thoughts and intents of the heart).
So He desires we bring Him more than our words. He desires to look deep into our hearts, where the words are generated, and assess the truth of what we are saying. In other words, He desires we bring our hearts.
You may think that your heart is not pure enough, or it's been hurt, oppressed, broken and we feel we can't bring that. We sometimes then decide to suppress what's in the heart, putting ourselves under some degree of bondage and oppression.
For me, the amazing thing is that Papa says, bring your heart exactly as it is, because Jesus said He came to heal the broken hearted, the blind, and the oppressed and the captives (Luke 4 v 18).
We don't t have to try self-help mechanisms, and strive to work on yourself. Jesus paid with His blood for us to gain back total access and reconciliation to Father God. We really ought to come to Father God as we are, confess our sins, and failures, and all we are struggling with. This is the contrite heart of worship that He desires we bring to Him, because it brings Him pleasure.
Let's repent for all the other things that we have offered in the past to Father God, when He says, it's just our hearts that He wants. We know that all we have, we received from Father God. It's only the content of our heart that we can voluntarily give to Him. Our Heart is the seat of love and that is where we receive His love and love Him in return.
He chooses to have us love Him voluntarily. Besides, who wants forced love? It's so much better when you voluntarily give love. This is a big deal to Him. When we bring our love heart ourselves to Him. It shows we trust Him with our most valued possession.
Jesus helped us understand what real true worship is. He explained that it first involves worshiping God in Spirit and Truth. In other words, you understand who God is, and all about the Godhead. It is also described as coming with your whole body as a living sacrifice (Romans 12 v 1 ).
When you worship God, miracles happen. By spending time in His Presence and showing Him your heart to worship, you will be transformed, and changed into His image.
Let us not allow anything hold us back, but let us come boldly to the throne of grace where we will receive grace and mercy from our Heavenly Father as we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
God bless you,
Mina Bajomo
