A heart of worship is an altar of worship to the Lord our God.
Jesus did not say (Matthew 6:53) if you pray, but when you pray. Jesus did not say (Matthew 6:16-17) if you fast, but when you fast. Do not follow fasting with self-indulgence. The characteristics of discipleship are always self-discipline and self-denial. Jesus did not say (2 Timothy 2:15, Joshua 1:8) if you read the Bible, but study to show yourself an approved student of God’s Word and meditate on it day and night. We can choose hypocrisy or authentic discipleship, human compliments or a heart of worship. Those who worship God (John 4:23) must worship Him in reality, in spirit and in truth. Jesus prays (Hebrews 7:25) for us. What does He want and ask for us? When we pray, we ask the Lord (Philippians 4:6) to meet our needs, but what about His needs?
What do we desire and request for Him? If I truly worship God, my heart will be filled with the desire to meet and satisfy His needs. Worship means that every faculty of heart, mind and body is entirely devoted to pleasing and satisfying the One Who is the sole Object of my worship. Worship means that we will keep our relationship so right with God, that our life will be an unceasing prayer relationship of unbroken communion with Him. Our life will be a constant conversation with the Lord, listening to Him, talking to Him in heart-to-heart oneness and sharing. In a heart of worship there is uninhibited loving adoration, absolute trust – unwavering faith and instant joyous obedience with a deep sense of privilege.
Death is (Job 18:14) the King of Terrors for the unsaved but a quick exit from earth to heaven for Christians. However, for while we are still on earth, Jesus has given us (John 13:34) a new commandment to love one another. How is that new? We have heard from the beginning (Luke 10:27) that we are to love God with all our heart and our neighbour as ourself. That is not new. Jesus made it new when He said - - You love just as I have loved you! For us this is impossible BUT if Jesus is living His Life in us, His characteristics will be expressed through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then we will be enabled to love even those we don’t like. Love is the sovereign preference for others and their feelings rather than for ourselves. Such is the quality of a disciple.
A Christian disciple must be courageous. (Dr. Swindoll) “In many people of this present time, it seems as if character has gone on vacation.” If no one else, but you, is standing for right and truth, then you stand alone in spite of what it may cost you. It is always worth the risk to be right and never worth it to compromise. Will we ever be able to fully comprehend (Zechariah 917) the greatness of God’s goodness and greatness of His beauty? God is only good, always good, all the time. He makes the perfection of His unending love, limitless power and wisdom to be effective in my life through all His plans and purposes for me. I want everything about me to proclaim the Truth about Jesus and everything about Jesus to be increasingly revealed to me and expressed through me.
My wonderful God is the Sovereign God of the large, immense, huge and beyond comprehension things of my life. He is also the Sovereign God of the tiniest detail which occurs in my daily life. Nothing, not even a speck, is ever out of His control, not ever for a split second. I am safe in the security of the unchanging Sovereignty of my wonderful eternal God. I am so thankful for God’s will, God’s way and God’s timing. He selects and engineers every circumstance and detail of my life. Only Jesus can do only the things (John 8:29) that always please the Father and as Jesus lives His Life in me, He will continue to do through me only the things that are approved by our heavenly Father. The very things that (Hebrews 10:7) Jesus delights to do.
Because of the certain fact that God plans my days, it is not possible that there could ever be any interruptions. What might seem like an interruption is actually on God’s schedule for me. So, I take everything that comes as coming directly from the hand of God knowing that it is God’s will and for my spiritual benefit. These unexpected events are superb fabricators of patience and other graces. If I desire and choose (Psalms 27:4) to behold the beauty of the Lord, I will continually be asking, seeking, learning in the temple of God, which is (1 Corinthians 3:16) my body. Then, in and from my body, there will be a reflecting of His beauty and (Psalms 10:17) His beauty will be upon me. A heart of worship is an altar of worship where sacrifices are offered to the Lord our God.