Worship in Truth and in Spirit

I truly love the infinite and multidimensional facet of our God, we can never come to a point where we say we know enough about His ways and His Kingdom. A songstress once sang “The more I know you, the more I want to know you”. This is another mystery about God and the things of the spirit, the moment you embark on a journey to learn about Him, a deeper hunger stirs up within you to know more and to reach the chasm of His majesty.

I honestly believe that when we get to heaven, we will still learn and grow in fullness of the knowledge of God. Worship forms part of the many cadres of knowledge that I believe we are yet to fully understand and to search out its depths. Worship extends far beyond mere singing or something we do to buy time before the sermon begins at church. It is more than a melody or rhythm; in reality, it is a powerful portal to various Kingdom commodities.

Let’s first look at the meaning of the word worship before we dig deeper – worship is simply: Lavishing extravagant reverence and honor to God: and an act of expressing such reverence. One of the commands God gave the children of Israel before entering the promised land was especially regarding worship.

Dimensions of worship

1. Worship as a command

We firstly worship God because of who He is, the one who in His word everything is held together. Reverence and honor are due to His name because in him are all things, John in his narration expresses it excellently saying “Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made.” - John 1:3 God indicated to the children of Israel time and time again that they should not have any other gods before Him. The reason for this was the socio-historical background of Egypt where they came from which was filled with the traditions of worshipping many gods thus God had to reintroduce himself to them as the only true God and as such, they were to worship Him for who He is.

Exodus 34:14 - Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. This also applies to us in our time that we should honor and give extravagant reverence to God as our creator as an act of worship.

1. Worship as communion

Man has an innate yearning to worship God, He fashioned us in that manner and the reason we have this desire is for communion. We were created as beings that constantly dwell in fellowship with God, this we see in Genesis before the fall of man. Genesis 3:8 says “they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” Man abided in a state of harmony between two dimensions - the spiritual realm and in the natural realm, there was no obstacle for him to move between the two and hearing God was not difficult. The distance that ensued between man and God was not in God's original plan.

God created Adam and clothed him in His own light and glory but after the fall Adam lost this light and he could no longer fellowship with God thus worship is a portal that enables us to fellowship and commune with God.

2. Worship as deliverance

When we enter into worship we place our sole focus on Jesus and we behold his majesty and coming into a place where we gaze upon his glory all imperfections must fall away. The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of God’s manifold perfections, therefore in his glory no imperfection can stand this is the reason Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthian 3:18 that “we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”. You cannot stand in the presence of the Lord and not be transformed, an exchange has to take place, an exchange of your weaknesses for His strength.

3. Worship as a weapon of warfare

We read of an incredible account of Paul and Silas where they were in prison and at the midnight hour praying and singing hymns to the Lord., a great earthquake shook the foundations of the prison cells and all prison doors opened. Family worship brings God to the scene, this is the reason we see worship used to bring down the walls of Jericho - the priests and the worshippers marched before the children of Israel around the walls of Jericho as a means of military strategy.

Acts 16:25-28 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

4. Worship as a lifestyle

Worship as aforementioned is not an act we do on Sunday when we go to church, as a born-again believer, worship is who we are and what we are created for. Worship is our lifestyle and we convey this by loving one another as commanded and by being an extension and manifestation of God here on earth to others. We are the embodiment of worship, a temple of the Holy Ghost, and in the Lord's temple worship does not stop. If you are a temple of the Holy Ghost and the temple is a replica of the temple of God in heaven with heavenly activities, we see that worship never stops but the angels and the 24 elders proclaim Holy Holy Holy day and night and this should reflect in our lives as well.