What Is True Worship?
The
Manifestation Of Speaking In
Tongues
If we love God with all
our heart, soul, mind, and strength [see Matthew 6: 33],
we desire to worship Him in the most effective manner possible. So many
different kinds of churches worship God in so many different ways -- incense,
candles, holy water, alters, etc. This diversity of religious ritual among
Christian believers cannot all be in alignment and harmony with the Word of
God. To fully understand what is true worship, we must examine, understand, and
apply some very important verses that discuss and clearly define TRUE WORSHIP.
John 4: 22,
23, 24 -- Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation
is of the Jews. But the hour cometh [is coming], and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In order to rightly
divide God's Word, it is essential that you have at least a basic understanding
of figures of speech used in the Bible. I have taken 18 months to study Figures
Of Speech Used In The Bible by Bullinger marking almost every scripture
where figures of speech are used. A great deal of the Word has opened up to me
as a result. In these last two verses, 23 and 24, God marked a tremendously
important point in His Word with the figure of speech"in spirit and
in truth".
This figure of speech
is call hendiadys and
means "two nouns used but one thing meant." "Spirit" is a
noun and "truth" is a noun, the double noun being used to doubly
emphasize what is spiritually true, or truly spiritual. God seeks a true
worshipper to worship him in spirit and in truth. How do we worship God by the
spirit? We should know by now that it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, it
matters what the Word says. So many different ideas have been brought to
Christianity that it is often difficult to distinguish between what is genuine
and what is counterfeit. Don't get confused between what is religion and what
is Christianity. Christianity is what God wrought in Christ. Christianity is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Religion often results when man puts his
opinion above God's Word.
Philippians
3: 3 -- For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
True worship is
therefore worshipping God in the spirit, and rejoicing in Christ Jesus.
Have you ever wondered why the Bible oftentimes says "Christ Jesus"
and other times says "Jesus Christ?" There is a great difference.
When the Word says Christ Jesus, it is referring to the resurrected and
glorified Christ and not to the humiliated one who was persecuted and crucified.
Rejoice about Christ Jesus who has been resurrected and has ascended into
glory.
God's Word warns us not
to have confidence in the flesh. Part of John 6: 63 says, ".....the flesh profiteth nothing:" We rejoice in what Christ Jesus did
for us, not what we do because the flesh is weak. If we have confidence in the
flesh, we may decide that one man is better than another on the basis of
appearance or financial prosperity. Yet, if a person is born again of God's
Spirit, whose children are they? They are God's children and in God's sight,
they are equally precious.
There is a lot of
counterfeit worship going on under the guise of Christianity. This is nothing
more than having confidence in the flesh. But we are to truly have our
confidence in what God wrought in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus made us
presentable to worship God.
Colossians 1:
12 -- Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet [adequate] to be
partakers [to share fully] of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Let's look at an
example that IS NOT true worship in the gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 15:
6b, 7, 8, 9 -- .....Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by
your tradition. Ye hypocrites,
well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with
their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship
me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men.
Everything looked
genuine and they went through all the religious rituals but the Lord said they
worshiped him in vain. WHY? Because they were teaching the commandments and
doctrines of men. Some other examples of vain worship are recorded in Mark 7: 5
- 9, Acts 7: 40 - 47 and Revelation 9: 20. [You should study these records]. Worshipping the
devil and devil spirits and everything related to them is worshipping in vain.
Satan tried to trick Jesus Christ himself into worshipping him in the record
that is familiar to many of us.
Matthew 4: 8,
9 – Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth
him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him,
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
And what did Jesus
Christ do? He
quoted the devil Scripture. That’s why I worked to learn about 100 or more scriptures
by memory – to do the same thing Jesus Christ did. Satan can’t stand the Word
of God rightly divided spoken on the lips of a believer. Darkness CANNOT STAND
LIGHT. Also, people do not believe that the devil is the present god of this world.
Then how could he offer all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus Christ if he is
not presently in control of the world?
Although the world and
society gets worse and worse, we are not to get excited, but to stand on the
promises of God and worship God in spirit and in truth. No profit or
good can come to those who worship anything but the true God. Even in the Book
of Revelation, which is still in the future, we are exhorted to "worship
God."
Revelation
22: 9 -- Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the
prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
How can we worship God
if we are not born again of God's spirit? We cannot. It is impossible. We must
be born again of God's Spirit, filled with the power of the Holy spirit, to be
able to worship the true God by the spirit. To worship God by the spirit, we
must operate, by our free will believing, a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
This manifestation of the spirit WHICH PRODUCES TRUE WORSHIP IS SPEAKING IN
TONGUES.
Speaking in tongues
is worshipping "in [by] Spirit and in truth." It is true worship whereby
God who is Spirit is communicating to his gift of holy spirit which is His new
creation in you. God's
Spirit speaking to your spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues is true
worship.
When we work the Word,
we can clearly see how beautiful but yet how misunderstood true worship can
become. Always focus on what the Word of God says and not on the religious
rituals of the commandments and doctrines of men. One is the way of life and
the other is the way of death. Remember who is the god of this world for the
present time.
II
Corinthians 4: 4 – In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them.
Some people just 'go
with the flow' and never get set free because they've conformed to the world.
The adversary is the master of deception -- YOU MUST KNOW WHAT THE WORD OF GOD
SAYS or you will be tricked. Keep God first, renew your mind and walk in love.
Don't you believe that God, your Heavenly Father, will help you? Surely, you
should know that these teachings, which are based on the rightly divided Word
of God, will help you to renew your mind IF you sincerely desire to know and
apply God's Word. However, if after all of this teaching from the Word of God,
a person chooses to remain ignorant, then do you know what God says to do?
I Corinthians
14: 38 -- But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
When you speak in
tongues, you're like a house on fire rolling down the street. The adversary
can't touch you. Nothing can bother you. If we only knew the great power in
speaking in tongues, we would do it every chance we had. Paul spoke in tongues
more than anyone at that time and he received the greatest revelation from God
about the mystery -- Christ in us -- the hope of glory, and other great
spiritual truths.
Colossians 1:
27 – To whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory:
The more you speak in
tongues in your private prayer life, the more dynamic your life on earth will
be. Speaking in tongues is true worship of the true God and Father of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH.
John 4: 24 -- God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in
truth.
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*Be sure to follow up this teaching with "The Benefits And Purpose Of
True Worship".