Yet the time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Sprit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
This verse has always spoken to me in intimate ways. I’ve always held worship so very dear to my heart, and as a child I worshiped freely and with abandon. It was just so special, so real, to me.
Worship has always been at the core of my heart.
And even as a child I wanted to help people to know how to come to this place of worship, how to come to this place of Spirit and truth.
But what is worshiping in Spirit and in truth?
I was reading something the other day that struck me, the idea that expressing negative emotions can be a part of worship.
The writer was talking about being honest about your hard times, and pointing out that David, the worshiper that wrote so much of the Psalms, wrote a great deal about all he was suffering.
I paused and thought. Is this part of worshiping in truth?
Being genuine in our worship?
So often people hold back from coming close to God because they don’t “feel” very worshipful. Life isn’t pretty and they can’t pretend it is in order to get to that “holy place” where they think “worship” resides.
If we think we need to be a certain way to be able to worship, we have the wrong idea.
In a parable Christ talked about two men who came to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector, the Pharisee felt justified to come before God, but the tax collector beat his breast in grief, crying “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. Luke 18:14a
His grief was worship.
Oh I’m not saying that we should always be down on ourselves. But the Pharisee, he was proud, and in his pride, his worship wasn’t coming from an honest place in his heart.
The tax collector was honest before God.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
In the Old Testament, only the perfect lambs were acceptable to be presented as a sacrifice. My body is far from perfect. I am scarred by sin, but also I am simply marred by disease, I have often wept before God.
But, as I sit here, I wonder if those very tears weren’t also worship.
It is a strange and beautiful thing to understand that God wants all of us. Every part. Oh I’m not saying that He wishes us to remain just as we are, infected by so many things that fester, but He longs for us to come just as we are.
We don’t need to dress up our mess for Him. He doesn’t want us to try to hide our faults before Him. A relationship needs honesty and He wants a true relationship.
If life is to much for you today, it’s ok to come before God. If you don’t have everything together, it’s ok to come before God. If you are struggling with sin, it’s ok to come before God. In fact it is ok to come before Him boldly with our issues, wrestling with them before Him in all its ugliness.
He wants that!
He wants rawness from us, He wants rawness in this intimate place before Him.
He wants us to come before Him with our genuine selves, no matter what that looks like!
This is why Christ came! To be the perfect sacrifice, to tear the curtain separating God and man, so we can come before Him just as we are!
This is genuine praise.
keepin it real – i love it! 😀
Thanks! 😀
This is great. I never thought of our weak moments being praise thanks for expanding this girls mind.
I’d kind of thought of it like this before, but not quite. You tend to think of crying out to God in weak moments as prayer, maybe intercession, but in fact all of it is also worship! We present our whole selves! And I love that He wants all of us!
Oh it’s an awesome thing to enter the presence of God! Whether in grief or in joy! I’m a bit of a “charismatic” worshipper, so to speak; I dance and sing and “whoooo!” Or I bow, I cry. Worship moves me. God’s presence moves me.
Girl you’re talkin’ to the gal who has been dancing at His feet since childhood! 🙂 I long to always worship with my whole self!
Isn’t it great that we are all different, and God knows our hearts–He just wants us to worship Him in our own way and in truth and holiness!
Amen! And one of the great things is that it is in HIS holiness that we worship! As we have none of our own without Him!
God already knows our mess, we can’t hide anything from Him and trying to do so is usually an act of pride! This is great! So glad I found you on Equipping Godly Women’s Fellowship Friday!
Thanks! I’m glad you found me too! 😉
praise him all day every day! He gave us breathe praise h
🙂
So much truth here! God loves us just as we are, and I am so grateful. I love that I don’t have to pretend to be someone that I’m not…after all, He made each one of us and already knows everything about us.
Amen! We don’t have to be anything other than who we are before Him! No pretending! No trying to fit anybody else’s mold! Just be real and come to Him and pursue Him and make Him Lord of our lives!
This is an absolutely heart warming and beautiful devotional. I love how you pointed out that tears, openness, and honesty are parts of worship. I feel like it helps people understand that they do not need to have it all together before entering into the presence of God. Awesome post!
Thank you! That is exactly what I meant to say so I’m glad it showed through! We DON’T need to have it all together in order to enter the presence of God. If we did than honestly nobody ever would be able to! And sometimes not having it together comes with tears and frustrations, even with anger! But we can still, even with all of this, come before God, and that is still worship, and as we come before Him, than He can work on our lives, and on our hearts!
It’s kind of like we are taking all of our junk, and coming before Him is like putting it on the altar, all of it, and He takes it, because that is what He does!