This blog is taken from my book 'God's Heart Cry for Revival.
Created to Worship
We were created to worship the Lord in Spirit (in the Holy Spirit) and in Truth (the Word of God, the Bible). Worshipping Him from the heart gives Him pleasure. This is not just at Church, we worship God in our daily lives, in our actions, our words and our witness to fellow men. Worship is expressed in many different ways. In some countries around the world, saints are laying their lives down as martyrs for Jesus. This is the ultimate act of true worship and devotion. God sees a martyr as an offering of pure love and passion for Christ.
Living Sacrifices
Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Paul clearly declares that when we offer our bodies as living sacrifices of holiness, meaning turning from sin and walking in righteousness that this is an act of worship. Walking in holiness is worshipping the Father in Spirit and Truth and is what our Lord looks for in His people.
Sing Praises
Even though there are many ways to worship the Trinity, hearts crying out and singing with their voices still remains the most practiced and most written about in the Bible. “Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what He has done.” (Psalm 9:11) “I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:6) “Therefore I will praise You among the nations, O LORD; I will sing praises to Your name.” (Psalm 18:49) “Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength; we will sing and praise Your might.” (Psalm 21:13) “Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.” (Psalm 27:6) David knew how to worship. His worship honoured God and even today his Psalms stand as the pinnacle of holy worship.
Destined for the Throne - Paul Billheimer
The Bible tells us that myriads of angels stand around the throne of God and worship Him. Paul Billheimer said in his excellent book titled Destined for the throne:
For some reason the Church at large has underestimated the importance of praise. Many have had the idea that praise is a beautiful aesthetic exercise but has little practical value. But if praise is the highest occupation of angels there must be some valid reason for it. If Heaven considers it important to maintain a chorus of praise unceasingly day and night around the throne (Revelation 4:8), it must be supremely efficacious. Would God tolerate an activity and exercise in Heaven that is futile and irrational?
If the highest function of angelic hosts is praise, it follows logically that the highest function of the human spirit must also be praise. Ever-increasing approximation to the infinitely lovely character of God is the most sublime goal of all creation.
Just as antagonism, hostility, and cursing against God exercises and strengthens all that is most abominable, diabolical, and base in the human spirit, so worship and praise of the infinitely lovely God exercises, reinforces, and strengthens all that is most sublime, transcendent, and divine in the inner being. Thus as one worships and praises, he is continually transformed step by step, from glory to glory, into the image of the infinitely happy God. Therefore, praise is the most useful occupation and activity in enabling God to realise the supreme goal of the universe, that of ‘bringing many sons unto glory.’
Here is one of the greatest values of praise: it decentralises self. The worship and praise of God demands a shift of centre from self to God. One cannot praise without relinquishing occupation with self. When praise becomes a way of life, the infinitely lovely God, rather than the bankrupt self, becomes the center of worship. Thus the personality becomes properly integrated and destructive stresses and strains disappear. This results in mental wholeness. Praise produces forgetfulness of self and forgetfulness of self is health.
In Christ
Robert Cartledge
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