Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. MARK 12:30 (NIV)
God wants all of us.
God doesn’t want a part of our life. He asks for all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of our time and money. He desires our full devotion, not little bits of our life.
Where we worship is not as important as why we worship and how much of ourself we offer to God when we worship.
Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture, not our opinions about God. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”To “worship in truth” means to worship God as he is.
When we worship, God looks past our words to see the attitude of our hearts. The Bible says, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Since worship involves delighting in God, it engages our emotions. God gave us emotions so we could worship him with deep feeling — but those emotions must be genuine, not faked. God hates hypocrisy. He doesn’t want showmanship or pretense or phoniness in worship. He wants our honest, real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely. Of course, sincerity alone is not enough; we can be sincerely wrong. Worship must be both accurate and authentic. God is pleased when our worship is authentic.
Real worship happens when our spirit responds to God, not to some musical tone. In fact, some sentimental, introspective songs hinder worship because they take the spotlight off God and focus on our feelings. Our biggest distraction in worship is ourself — our interests and our worries over what others think about us.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to worship and friendship with God. One thing is certain: We don’t bring glory to God by trying to be someone he never intended us to be. God wants us to be ourself. “That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship.” God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful. If worship is mindless, it is meaningless. We must engage our mind.
Try praising God without using the words praise, hallelujah, thanks, or amen. Instead of saying, “We just want to praise you,” make a list of synonyms and use fresh words like admire, respect, value, revere, honor, and appreciate. Also, be specific. If someone approached us and repeated, “I praise you!” ten times, we would probably think, For what? We would rather receive two specific compliments than twenty vague generalities. So would God.
God is pleased when our worship is practical. The Bible says, “Offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is our spiritual act of worship.”Why does God want our body? Why doesn’t he say, “Offer your spirit”? Because without our body we can’t do anything on this planet. In eternity we will receive a new, improved, upgraded body, but while we’re here on earth, God says, “Give me what we’ve got!” He’s just being practical about worship.
Real worship costs. David knew this and said: “I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing. One thing worship costs us is our self-centeredness. We cannot exalt God and ourself at the same time. We don’t worship to be seen by others or to please ourself. We deliberately shift the focus from ourself.
When we praise God even when we don’t feel like it, when we get out of bed to worship when we’re tired, or when we help others when we are worn out, we are offering a sacrifice of worship to God. That pleases God. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart.
As we begin to praise and worship God, it brings perspective to our problems. Sometimes, I find it helpful to look back on my life and thank the Lord for bringing me through so many of my own personal struggles, disappointments, and bereavements, and to remember how through it all ‘he has been good to me’.Delay does not negate the promises of God.
God does not always change our situations immediately. The goodness of God is revealed supremely in Jesus.Through all the unexpected twists and turns of our story God is at work, bringing about his purpose. He is always working on our character and enabling us one day to look back and say, ‘the Lord… has been good to me’ (Psalm 13:6)
While God values skill, he doesn't accept our worship on the basis of it. Even we can play the most complex chord progressions, write better songs than Matt Redman or play a song flawlessly, we still need the atoning work of the Savior to perfect our offering of worship
(1 Pet. 2:5).
God isn't listening to the sound of our music or the quality of our performance. He's hearing the sound of our hearts. God isn't looking for something brilliant; He's looking for something BROKEN. We'll never impress God with our musical expertise or sophistication. What impresses God is a "BROKEN and CONTRITE HEART" (Psalm 51:17) that recognizes our weakness and puts our faith in the finished work of Christ.
Worship saves us from being self-centred and makes us God-centered. We were created to live in a relationship with God. That should be our number one priority. If we put God first in our life all kinds of blessings follow.
