Heart Affairs IV

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” John 4:23 [emphasis added]

Worship actually starts with what you cannot bring to God. Our hearts are ushered into true worship with the honest confession that we are empty. We cannot begin to enter and access true worship if we do not get to that honest confession that we are actually empty and there is nothing we can really bring to God. Worship does not start with what you can bring, it actually starts with what you cannot even bring. Totally empty; total humility, empty of anything that can coax God’s favor. Some people [wolves in sheep clothing] have preyed on the materialistic aspect of man and they cajole people telling them that when you come to worship you can coax God with your gifts. That is not true! Worship starts with the emptiness of knowing that there is nothing that I have that can coax God’s favor. Worship comes with the emptiness; a realization that we are empty of anything that could contribute to God’s greatness. With the three wise men, it was not about helping Jesus pay His bills. They did not give to improve the condition of God. But think about it, can they? They cannot! He is God all by Himself.

Our hearts our ushered into true worship by the honest confession that in ourselves we are empty of every scheme, knowing that God has no lack for which we must fulfill. The cattle upon a thousand hills belong to God. So we come hungry, we come to get and not to give. We come to get, we come to get God! The wise men did not give to improve God’s life; they gave in recognition of who God is. When we give it is in recognition that He is God. When there is a call to give to the house of God and people sacrifice their much-needed comfort for the house of God, is it because they are trying to help God pay His bills? Not at all! They are giving because they recognize that God is in this place and they are sacrificing for Him. Sacrificial giving for God’s house only comes by an understanding that you are giving to God. Not to improve His condition but to pay homage to Him as God. When you worship Him, He owns you, and He owns all that you are. So we come for more of Him, that we might see His glory, that we might celebrate His person, proclaim His victory, and above all that we might be healed in His love. We come to worship Jesus. We come hungry, therefore we come to get, not to give. We come to get God.

Prayer [song]: All heaven declares,
The glory of the risen Lord.
Who can compare with
The beauty of the Lord. 
Forever He will be,
The Lamb upon the throne.
I gladly bow my knees
to worship Him alone. Amen!