"... the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father."
~ John 4:21 (NKJV)
... to kiss, adore. To worship, do obeisance, show respect, fall or prostrate before ...
The definition of worship includes all these things and more (see Friday's post, "A Kiss is NOT Just a Kiss"). So ... if we adore God in our hearts, then go to church on Sundays and offer corporate praise, and then maybe even go so far as to kneel with face to the ground in personal prayer, have we adequately worshiped?
Or might worship be incorporated into every waking moment? Might worship be an expression of the soul which is continually prostrated before God, acknowledging Him to be Lord and God in everything?
Whenever our thoughts and feelings, words and actions put God on the throne, we worship.
I think worship is as simple as an hour ago when I opened the cheese coffee cake in our kitchen, felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit to bypass it, tried to think of all the reasons that couldn't be the Holy Spirit speaking (so I could still have some dessert), and then by momentous effort closed the package again. With my actions I worshiped and said, "You, God, are Lord over even the coffee cake."
When I feel His prompting that I've spoken too harshly to a child and then take time amid a hectic schedule to apologize, I worship.
When I realize an unwelcome task is a divine appointment, and then make it welcome, I worship.
If I can say to the Lord, "Better is one day in Your courts, where You rebuke my pride and refine me with trials, than a thousand days of esteem and comfort elsewhere"—I have worshiped.
Might, perchance, the Lord receive such worship as kisses?
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I invite you to share other ways in which God is continually worshiped in the everyday.
Comments are welcome and will receive a reply.
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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Everyday worship is when we begin to forgot about ourselves...our plans and designs on what we are going to do. And instead, we begin to think about him all the time. Even over Coffee cake
ReplyDeleteForgetting about self. So much easier said than done, right David? Only by looking to Him could we even attempt it. And in finding Him we understand the immense, incredible reward of persevering to seek Him everywhere, in every moment.
ReplyDeleteGod enables me so much of the time. Every time I answer Mom with a gentle spirit instead of impatience or brush off offense delivered by Curt, and the list goes on and on, I know that it is the Spirit of God that gives me what I need to rise to the occasion.
ReplyDeleteI've seen you do these things, Mary. I know our Lord does indeed receive your gifts as kisses. ♥ I love you! Give Mom a kiss from me. A hug too. And then ask her for one from me to you.
ReplyDelete