THE HUMILITY TO WORSHIP THE LORD
Sunday, May 02, 2010
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24 KJV
For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. Philippians 3:3 AMP
The name, Christian, means “Christ-like” or “little anointed one” — a worshipper, a follower and an imitator of God. You are not a Christian because you call yourself one; you are not a Christian because you are better than the next person; you are a true Christian because you know that you don’t deserve the free gift offered and given to you — the gift of God in Jesus — and you have humbled yourself to accept Him as YOUR Lord and Savior. You have put no confidence or dependence on what you are in the flesh or on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. You know that there is no advantage to you to be proud and boastful of your own accomplishments, for they mean nothing in the presence of God. You know that your only value is in how HE feels about you; what HE thinks about you. Because HE loves you and sees you as valuable and precious; because HE died and rose again for you; you have value and worth. Without Him, you are nothing. You can’t even worship Him without the Holy Spirit, but by and through the gracious work of the Spirit of God, you can worship Him. You must worship Him and exult and glory and pride yourself in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe]. 14 For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place shall know it no more. 17 But the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, and His righteousness is to children’s children — 18 To such as keep His covenant [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it] and to those who [earnestly] remember His commandments to do them [imprinting them on their hearts]. Psalms 103:13-18 AMP
Again — we must recognize our frailty and complete dependence on God and His grace and mercy. Thank God — He remembers how weak and frail we really are and He is gentle and merciful with us. We are the ones who need to remember that we are not “all that” and we desperately need Him every day that we live!
Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil. Proverbs 3:7 AMP
Someone who is arrogant and self-confident cannot or will not recognize and acknowledge how much they need God’s help and intervention — neither will they worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Don’t be a know-it-all, because you will prove yourself to be a fool. It takes humility to reverently fear God; it takes humility to worship Him and Him alone. The humble person understands that sin is not something to be trifled with. They recognize its power to separate them from God and so they are wise enough to keep their distance and humble enough to run to God for His strength to overcome sin. The fear of the Lord is a deep, reverential sense of our accountability to Him!*
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before and reverently fear Him, all the earth.
Psalms 96:9 AMP
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory. 5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds. Psalms 149:4-5 AMP
But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and mercy; I will worship toward and at Your holy temple in reverent fear and awe of You. Psalms 5:7 AMP
I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving, 31 And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs. 32 The humble shall see it and be glad; you who seek God, inquiring for and requiring Him [as your first need], let your hearts revive and live! Psalms 69:30-32 AMP
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. Psalms 34:1-3 AMP
The humble worship God, love to see and hear others worship God, and experience the presence of God in worship. Anyone who is proud and arrogant cannot stand to hear the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being worshipped, but the humble love to worship Him and also to hear others worship Him.
*Darlene Zschech – Extravagant Worship
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Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the