WALK BY FAITH DEVOTIONAL
If you think you’re not worshiping other gods just because you “praise and worship” at church every Sunday, or sing along with your favorite Christian radio station, think again.
If you think you’re not worshiping other gods just because you “praise and worship” at church every Sunday, or sing along with your favorite Christian radio station, think again.
When God commands us to have no other gods before Him, He is not talking about singing songs. And when Jesus teaches us to “worship in spirit and in truth”, He isn’t talking about whether you sing along with the church choir.
In fact, biblical “worship” according to numerous scriptures has nothing to do with choir practice, hymn books, the latest contemporary praise song, etc., at all.
And, with the understanding of what biblical worship truly is, you might reconsider whether you might in fact be worshiping other gods whether you realize it or not.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word translated into “worship” actually means to bow, crouch, fall down, lie prostrate before, worship, reverence, and more. In the New Testament, “worship” means reverence, adore, prostrate oneself to, worship, and more.
Get the point? When God commands us to have no other gods before Him, He is commanding us to not bow down to anything other than Him. Yet if the truth be told, and we do a clean sweep of our hearts and lives, we humans have a tendency to do just that. We are prone to bowing down to everything from alcohol to sex, from drugs to eating disorders, to work and ourselves, to wrong relationships, and a whole host of other people, places, and things.
So why does Jesus call us to worship God “in spirit and in truth”? In the scripture in which He uses this term, He is talking to the woman at the well who talks about worshiping God in one specific place, Jerusalem. I believe Jesus is saying that true worship must transcend people, places, and things.
In other words, true worship is not about a church building, not about Jerusalem or Hawaii, not about denominations, not about the traditions of humans, not about one hymn versus another, or anything human at all. I believe Jesus is teaching us that true worship is living our lives sold out to God. We are called to bow down to God in our thoughts, emotions, actions, decisions, our very lifestyles.
He is to come first in all things in every way. We humans tend to like to put things in boxes, compartments, categories, and such, with big fat labels with permanent ink. But true worship isn’t about humans; it is about God.
WALK BY FAITH DEVOTIONAL
Isn’t it interesting how churches often call Sunday services “worship services”, as though worship is limited to an hour or two on Sundays in a building? What happens when churchgoers leave the building after “worship”, and what happens to those who don’t attend church at all but fellowship with followers of Christ from house to house or even outdoors in assemblies as described in the book of Acts?
What happens when we take “worship” out of our human, comfortable, familiar, just-like-everyone-else boxes and bow down to the Lord in the way we live our lives? And what happens when we get honest with ourselves and with the Lord and confess and seek forgiveness for lying prostrate before other gods instead of the Creator of the universe?
Have you ever gotten down on the ground lying prostrate before the Lord? It’s not too popular, nor common, these days, is it? But the Lord hasn’t called us to be popular. He is looking for TRUE worshipers. And I don’t believe He is looking for people just to get down on their hands, their knees, and their faces before Him in physical form. I believe He is looking for those who reverence Him in their everyday lives.
I don’t know about you, but for me this is convicting. How far I fall short daily in worshiping the Lord. But I am not under condemnation for this. I am under conviction – conviction that I have a long way to go, and I can begin this very minute by seeking the Lord’s forgiveness for falling so very far short of His glory. Then, I can ask Him to lead me in worshiping Him the way He desires. Not to satisfy my flesh, but to honor my Lord.
I strongly encourage you to do a word search – along with a study – of the word “worship” in the Bible. I use the E-Sword program from www.E-Sword.com to do an in-depth, EASY studies of God’s Word. You may also want to check out www.biblegateway.com, www.biblehub.com, and www.blueletterbible.com.
Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:1-6 KJV)
Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:1-6 KJV)
Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 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.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:19-24 KJV)
Please visit Walk by Faith Ministry at https://www.walkbyfaithministry.com.
47 Comments
I every time used to study paragraph in news papers but now
as I am a user of internet thus from now I am using net
for posts, thanks to web.
Fantastic web site. Plenty of useful info here. I am sending it to a few friends ans also sharing
in delicious. And naturally, thank you on your sweat!
My partner and I stumbled over here coming from a different website and thought
I might as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you.
Look forward to looking over your web page for a second time.
Its such as you learn my mind! You seem to know a lot approximately this, like you wrote the
book in it or something. I believe that you simply can do with some percent to
force the message home a bit, but other than that, that is excellent blog.
A fantastic read. I’ll definitely be back.
Amazing! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a totally different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!
If you want to increase your familiarity only keep visiting this website and
be updated with the most up-to-date information posted here.
Hello, Neat post. There’s an issue together with your web site in web
explorer, would test this? IE nonetheless is the
marketplace chief and a huge section of people will pass over your wonderful
writing because of this problem.
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is fantastic, as well as the content!
Hi, i think that i noticed you visited my site thus i
got here to go back the desire?.I’m trying to to find things to enhance
my web site!I assume its adequate to make use of some of your ideas!!
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My website has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself or
outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do
you know any techniques to help stop content from
being stolen? I’d certainly appreciate it. asmr https://app.gumroad.com/asmr2021/p/best-asmr-online asmr
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this website.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between superb
usability and visual appearance. I must say you’ve done a great job with this.
Also, the blog loads super quick for me on Internet explorer.
Exceptional Blog! quest bars http://bitly.com/3jZgEA2 quest bars
I must thank you for the efforts you have put in penning
this website. I am hoping to view the same
high-grade blog posts by you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to
get my own site now 😉 cheap flights http://1704milesapart.tumblr.com/ cheap
flights
With havin so much content and articles do
you ever run into any issues of plagorism or
copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it
is popping it up all over the web without my permission. Do you know any
ways to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.
scoliosis surgery https://0401mm.tumblr.com/ scoliosis surgery
My partner and I stumbled over here from a different web page and thought I might as well check things out.
I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to finding out about your
web page for a second time. scoliosis surgery https://coub.com/stories/962966-scoliosis-surgery scoliosis surgery
What i don’t realize is in truth how you’re no longer actually much
more smartly-appreciated than you may be right now.
You’re very intelligent. You realize thus considerably in the
case of this topic, produced me personally imagine it from numerous varied angles.
Its like women and men are not involved unless it is
something to do with Woman gaga! Your individual stuffs nice.
At all times handle it up! quest bars https://www.iherb.com/search?kw=quest%20bars quest bars
When some one searches for his required thing, therefore he/she
desires to be available that in detail, so that thing is
maintained over here. ps4 https://bit.ly/3z5HwTp ps4
Hey there superb website! Does running a blog such as this require a massive amount work?
I’ve absolutely no knowledge of computer programming but I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyhow, if you have any ideas or techniques for new blog owners
please share. I know this is off topic nevertheless I simply needed to ask.
Thanks!
Hello would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a hard time making
a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your design seems different
then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S Apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!
Hi there, the whole thing is going nicely here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts,
that’s truly fine, keep up writing.
Hey there superb website! Does running a blog similar to this take a lot of work?
I’ve no expertise in coding however I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, if you have any suggestions or techniques for new blog owners please share.
I know this is off topic however I simply had to ask.
Thanks!
F*ckin? amazing things here. I am very satisfied to peer your post. Thanks so much and i am looking ahead to contact you. Will you please drop me a mail?
Usually I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do it! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thank you, quite nice article.
Where do you go after getting a creative writing degree?
This site was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I have found
something which helped me. Many thanks!
I am genuinely thankful to the holder of this web site
who has shared this fantastic paragraph at at this place.
Generally I don’t read post on blogs, but I wish to say that this
write-up very pressured me to check out and do so!
Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite great post.
Hi there! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I
genuinely enjoy reading your posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same topics?
Many thanks!
This paragraph gives clear idea in favor of the new visitors of blogging,
that really how to do blogging.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added”
checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three e-mails
with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove people from that service?
Thanks a lot!
I’m very pleased to discover this website. I need to to thank
you for your time due to this fantastic read!! I definitely savored
every part of it and i also have you saved to fav to see new
things in your blog.
hello there and thank you for your information – I’ve certainly picked
up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points
using this site, since I experienced to reload the website many times previous to
I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering
if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances
times will very frequently affect your placement in google and can damage your
high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Well I am adding this RSS to my email and could look out for much more of your respective interesting content.
Make sure you update this again very soon.
I am continually browsing online for tips that can aid me. Thank you!
If you are going for most excellent contents like me, simply pay a visit this web site all the time as it presents feature contents, thanks
Hi there, this weekend is pleasant for me, as this occasion i am reading this impressive educational article here at my house.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the. Regards
Hello i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere, when i read this post i thought i could also make
comment due to this sensible paragraph.
whoah this weblog is wonderful i love reading your posts. Keep up the great work!
You know, lots of people are looking round for this info, you could help them greatly.
Wow! After all I got a web site from where I can in fact get useful facts concerning
my study and knowledge.
Hello to every body, it’s my first pay a visit of this weblog; this
web site contains amazing and really excellent information for readers.
Great blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A theme like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog jump
out. Please let me know where you got your design.
Thanks a lot
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Many thanks
Hello, Neat post. There is an issue with your site in web explorer,
could check this? IE still is the market leader and a good component to other people will
leave out your great writing due to this problem.
Also visit my homepage; special
Appreciate the recommendation. Let me try it out.
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and starting a new scheme
in our community. Your website offered us with useful information to work on. You have performed a
formidable activity and our entire group will likely be thankful to you.
What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious
experience on the topic of unexpected feelings.
What’s Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have discovered It positively useful and it
has helped me out loads. I’m hoping to contribute & aid other customers like its helped me.
Great job.
Here is my web blog; tracfone special coupon 2022
User Login/Signup – Buy/Sell Bitcoin, Ethereum | Cryptocurrency Exchange
gate io