Devotion 21 - Fear of God Leads to True Worship

If there is one thing that is most precious to God and brings great delight to His heart, it is Worship!

Jn 4:23 – “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”

Isn’t that amazing? The God who made everything seen and unseen has absolutely no lack or need of anything. Yet, although being complete in Himself, the Bible says that God is constantly looking for true worshippers.

Man had been designed to worship God, yet, because of sin, our relationship with the Lord was broken. The moment that harmony with God was lost, the devil set up his baits and men began to fall prey to them. Soon, God, who is the original and rightful recipient of our worship, was replaced by false gods of materialism, man-made idols, success, etc.

Satan today hides behind every kind of idolatry to receive worship. The devil did that because receiving worship was exactly what he’d always coveted. He wants to be like God and tries to rob God of His worship. Satan’s purpose is not only to make men sin but also to make them worship him.

2 Thess.2:3-4 – “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

Today he is still diverting people from God towards the worship of every imaginable thing on earth. He is the face behind the mask of every false religious worship today. If he fails, he will make us draw worship to ourselves in the things we do for God – and that will corrupt our worship.

In our hearts, we have something which God and Satan wants - worship, which is also the root of all spiritual battles.

We are deceived if all along we think that the devil’s sole duty is to get man to sin against God. That certainly is not his only intention; for if it were, then all forms of spiritual attacks would have stopped after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit! Our first parents sinned and brought the nature of sin into all mankind in one single act of transgression. However, the devil is not satisfied even though the whole creation of mankind is drawn into the mire of sin. He has a deeper desire beyond that - to get us to turn away from God and to worship him instead.

Being a Christian does not automatically guarantee that God becomes our focus of worship. Is it not true that having been saved, many Christians continue to cling on to idols in their hearts, be it pleasure, status, material wealth, or the need for the approval of man, etc.? What we dearly adore and desire has the potential to become an idol of worship in our lives. The rich young ruler in the gospels loved God but also held on to the idol of material wealth in his heart. Let us be careful, therefore, for whatever becomes an idol in our hearts will naturally and steadily grow into a stronghold in our lives, preventing us from giving our hearts wholly to the Lord and from fulfilling our call in Him.

Rom.12:1-2 - “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.

First and foremost, worship is the giving of our own lives as “living sacrifices” to the Lord. This does not mean the surrender of our physical bodies on the altar of God! But it does mean that we commit all of our life, the things that make up our life, to the power of God. Worship is not just a part of our Christian life, it is the Christian life.

The fear of the Lord helps us focus on Him, realizing His awesome holiness and our unworthiness. True worship of God is not an act but rather our complete devotion and surrender to Him. d!