ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP
More Than The Song On Your Lips.
Photocredit: Pinterest.
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Romans 12:1
Contrary to what a lot of people think, worship is more than a song. It’s any act that shows your deep respect for God, his laws and his ways.
So just because you have a beautiful voice does not mean God has ever listened to a word of the song on your lips.
Worship isn’t a song you love, it’s the current posture of God’s heart.
Worship is a heart thing. Remember Cain and Abel? Many seem to think that something was particularly wrong with Cain’s sacrifice. Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable and Cain’s was not.
Yes it was, but it wasn’t because of his sacrifice, it was because of his heart. As Paul rightly put it…
“By Faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice”
So Abel’s sacrifice was accepted because he knew who he was offering it to and believed even if he couldn’t see him. On the other hand, Cain must have been thinking; “I can’t even see the person we are making this sacrifice to”. He didn’t have faith.
Let me share a little story that might hold some meaning to you…
One night due to some factors coming together, I decided that I was going to stream service from my room the next morning. It was very unlike me, but it was what I firmly decided to do.
Woke up the next morning much later than I would on a Sunday morning, but something happened...
Just after I said Amen to my morning prayers, I was going to my friend’s place to get my power banks so I could come back and stream the service online. As I was on my way there, I heard the Holy Spirit say very clearly to me “Great, go to church“.
Ahh, I didn’t get it...the bus would be here in 30 mins, and the funny thing is I didn’t even indicate that I was going to church that day, so there was certainly not going to be space on that bus for me. But I know enough not to argue with the Holy Spirit.
So I walked briskly to my friend’s place and then he told me he made arrangements for two seats on that bus and the person he invited wasn’t coming anymore. Guys, I knew that was my cue to go to church; I ran back to my place, as fast as I could.
I took my bath and got dressed in record time, dashed out to the road and got there a few minutes before the bus arrived. As I was on that bus, I was still wondering why the Holy Spirit prompted me like that.
On my way to church, I plugged into a sermon where my pastor, Pastor Ayo Ajani was talking about worship and he spoke about how Abraham being willing to sacrifice his only son was an act of worship that opened his eyes to the lamb that was always there.
He said, it is in worship that we see. On getting to church, the moment the worship began; the Holy Spirit began to answer the questions I had in my heart for the past two months.
It didn’t stop there, it would also seem that every part of that sermon was for me. At some point, the pastor walked and pointed to where I was and dropped a prophetic word. Of course there were others sitting there, but I knew that particular one was directed at me.
I thought to myself after the service, “So one disobedience would have cost me this much“. Is streaming online bad? No it’s not. But, it is not as profitable. Because it is where two or three are gathered in his name that he comes.
Plus, iron cannot sharpen iron in your room, there’s just something about that cooperate anointing. So unless you absolutely can’t, go to church.
Learnt three things from this experience:
1. Worship is not a song, worship is an act of deep respect. Anything you do that puts God before anything else including yourself is worship.
2. There’s a place in the spirit where all your questions are answered, and all your needs are met; but your worship is the vehicle to getting there. Peter giving his boat to Jesus was an act of worship, and what followed? A river that had no fish produced fish enough to sink two boats.
3. Every time you choose to go to church on a Sunday morning, you are telling God…
“I know that I could be doing a million things this morning, and I could equally stream service online, but I respect you enough to sacrifice this time, energy and resource to go to your house”.
It’s an act of your worship to him, and that’s more powerful than any song you could ever sing to him.
So, the next time you want to offer acceptable worship to God; make sure that your heart is completely consecrated to God and to nothing else.
The posture of your heart shows in your devotion to him daily.
Can’t wait to pass you a glass on the table of greatness.🥂