Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Daily Devotional - August 10th, 2016

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
 (John 4:23-24 - NIV)


In this passage, Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well.  He tells her of a water that will never have you thirsty again, one that will give you everlasting life.  He then compares how the Samaritans worships and how the Jews worshipped.  The Samaritans worshipped what they do not know, whereas the Jews worshipped what they do know.  The Samaritans worshipped on the mountains of the forefathers, whereas the Jews worshipped in Jerusalem.  The Samaritans searched for salvation, whereas the Jews believed it is theirs.  However Christ came to tell us about the kind of worshipers The Father truly seeks, those who worship in spirit and truth.


What Christ is teaching us is simple, where you worship is no longer important, that traditions used for worship is no longer important, who you worship with is no longer important.  The most important way to worship is with sincerity, spiritually, and love. 
We must be sincere in what we say.  No longer is it suffice to just recite a prayer, but we must pray and confess from our hearts.  We must say what we mean and mean what we say.  He knows the hearts of men, He knows what troubles us, He knows what drives us because He placed them all there.  To not acknowledge that is to ignore The Hand of God moving in your life. 


Also, we must worship in spirit, acknowledging that there is a spiritual warfare against us, and that we are unequipped to win that battle.  We must call on the Spirit that rose the dead, healed the sick and feed the hungry to intercede on our behalf.  When Jesus died He destroyed the "temple" and it was restored in three days.  Whereas He was referring to His body, the shroud that separated the Holy of Holies was torn.  This symbolized that the presence of God no longer only resided in Jerusalem with the ark of the covenant, but with all of us.  That is why we each must take up this spiritual journey to find the purpose God has placed in all of us, harness it and display it for the world to see.


Lastly, worship must be done out of love.  Far to often we worship out if obligation or tradition. But, if we look at the sacrifice Christ made, it was out of love of us, not obligation to us.  He owed us nothing, yet He gave us everything.  All He wants in return is love.  For God is love and if we were made in the image of God that means were are love ourselves.  Manifest your true self and put that on display everyday.  Release fear, jealous and doubt as they are spirits of the world.  Harness the love that is within you.  Let you light shine, so that others will see and let their own lights shine.


Once we remember the true purpose of worship, to give honor and glory to God through love and spirituality, as well as remember God is a part of every person we see, we will understand how to truly worship.  Worship is not limited to a few hours on a specific day, at a specific place.  Worship is loving your neighbors, loving your enemies, helping those who cannot help themselves, guiding , mentoring teaching and most importantly loving.  For God is love and we were made in His image, therefore let us greatest form of worship be the level of love we show ourselves, our fellow neighbor and ultimately our God.


RDB

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