What kind of worship does god desire

Randall Caselman. Bella Vista Church of Christ. John 4. Sociologists tell us that there has never been a people who did not worship. Man is a worshiping being. We tend to search And thus worthy of our praise And worship. A longing A Need To worship. On Mars Hill, Paul is found saying God has placed a mechanism in our hearts that causes us to seek And find Him. There are several words used in Scripture to describe worship It means to bow down To kneel To humble oneself.

This is where we get the idea of a bowed head Meaning to serve. To humble oneself before God And to submit in service to Him. In classical Greek, the word is used to speak of a dog that leans forward to kiss The idea here is to approach God in Pros-koo-neh-o is used in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word shaw-khaw.

This simply tells us that the translators of the Septuagint It is used some twenty times in the New Testament and means In religious service. Our King James translators render the word sometimes Latreuo has the same basic meaning as the Hebrew word abed T hat being to worship God by serving Him By obeying Him in every And attitude.

Jesus relied Get thee behind Me Satan For it is written You see then While making every effort to Can I say that again Genuine Biblical worship is our coming before God in And devotion I think Batsell Barrett Baxter summed up these definitions of worship perfectly when he wrote Worship is the outgoing of the human spirit toward God Recognizing Him as the source of all life Worship is a group of specialized activities in which we draw near to Worship is an act in which the redeemed person seeks to express his appreciation and gratitude for salvation Worship is the adorning reverence of the human spirit toward the Divine.

Perhaps a good practical illustration of worship would be to ask what do we instinctively do when we stand before the Lincoln or Washington monuments Do we look away Or gaze at the ground? What do we do?? We are inevitably drawn to look up. So it is with worship Genuine worship is our looking up to God In awe And in total submission to His will.

I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise—lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game—praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians and scholars.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of complement that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are, the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. In other words, genuine, heartfelt praise is not artificially added to joy.

It is the consummation of joy itself. The joy we have in something beautiful or precious is not complete until it is expressed in some kind of praise. Now he saw that this was not vanity or megalomania. This was love.

This was God seeking the consummation of our joy in what is supremely enjoyable—himself. If God demeaned his supreme worth in the name of humility, we would be the losers, not God.

God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the highest virtue. It translates as to shine, boast, rave about, celebrate or even to be clamorously foolish. Can you imagine a more wondrous noise raving about about all the Lord is and all He has done? Shabach means to shout loudly or command. Tehillah means to sing unrehearsed, unplanned praises to the Lord. It can include adding words to an existing song or even singing in the spirit to the Lord.

If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God. Towdah is a type of worship that includes extending your hands or raising them in thanksgiving for something that has been done or will be done. Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes!

Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord! Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you about the seven ways to worship in spirit and in truth. How can you incorporate them into your personal and corporate worship? Remember, praising God is to be on our lips, or spoken Isaiah , and we are to do it continually as a sacrifice Hebrews And I want to honor and glorify you even if the pain and crisis and struggle is not taken away from me.

This is very much in line with what Paul says Romans — what is our spiritual act of worship — to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. I offer myself to you. Here I am at work, I offer myself to serve you. Here I am at home, I give myself to you. Thankfully, life is not always hard! In fact, many times, praise God, he blesses us, and we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor, the joy of the Lord, the wonders of life on planet earth. We can and should worship God during those times of blessing as well.

It is the true story of Eric Liddell who was an Olympic miler. He was also a Christian. You can worship while you run, while you eat, while you enjoy vacation. You can worship during the mundane as well. Life is neither always awful, nor always joyful. Often life is filled with tasks that just have to get done. Some you might dislike. But you can also enjoy the mundane. Mowing the lawn. Raking leaves. Worship while you work through these tasks too, like changing diapers, cleaning the toilet.

All of this can be done in worship, Paul said, done to the glory of God. So work as unto to the Lord. Work hard. Work without complaining. Work with joy. With creativity. Practice the Presence of God. Be in a conversation with God all day long, as much as you can.

Invite God to be right there with you. Next to your desk. Watching what you watch on your computer. Third, learn the spiritual exercise of focused periods of worship as larger church family. Let me share a private thought I have, one that I wrestle with.