FURTHER THOUGHTS ON WORSHIP (part 3)
What is God’s Nature? God’s nature is His character. It is all His attributes, expressions, feelings, and can be summed up in one word, LOVE. Galatians 5 sums it up, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love.” Notice it does NOT say the fruits (plural), but just the fruit (singular). All that follow in that (incomplete) list are examples of God’s nature: joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. But this is only a partial list of God’s nature. His nature also includes forgiveness, mercy, beauty, compassion, righteousness, holiness, justice, wisdom..the list goes on and on. It takes the whole Bible to illustrate God’s nature in His relationship with His creation, in which we are just a small part. God’s expression of Himself in relationships is His manifestation of His nature. Is it not the same with us? How we treat others reflects our nature. Sometimes that is not a pretty picture. God has a plan to infuse His nature into His children by providing “worship moments” through out our day in which He manifests Himself in His creation. As we bask in those “intimate worship moments,” we are in communion with God in oneness and partake of His nature. Through this spiritual connection God’s nature imparts wisdom, comfort, peace, and we begin to learn more about how God feels, loves, expresses Himself and this help us better communicate this to others. It becomes an even deeper Golden Rule, “do unto others…” as God has done/is doing unto you (according to His nature). If you take the fruit of the Spirit in Gal.5, mix it with the famous ”love” chapter in I Cor. 13 and add in the beatitudes in Matt 5, you can get a pretty good idea of what God’s nature is, OR just take a look at Jesus. That’s how He wants us to be toward others. That’s the beholding, reflecting, transforming life He wants us to live.
Soaking in God’s NatureAs was mentioned in Part 1, worship happens and worship is initiated by God. He is seeking true worshippers. God desires worshippers because they “see” Him. All creation manifests God, but when we “see” spiritually, God in His creation, it spontaneously brings out worship. Man, Earth and all that is within them is only a small part of God’s creation, but to us it is our most common connecting point to God. When we are worshipping, it means the spirit connection is made. That’s the time to take advantage of the opportunity and soak it all in. God and man in communion. All that God is and wants to reveal to us can happen when we are linked up in worship. That’s when God wants to show us Himself. God initiated these “worship moments” so He can infuse us with His nature. He wants us to know Him intimately. He wants us to take on His character, His divine nature (II Pet. 1:4). God has given us some precious promises and He wants us to act upon and live in them, “…all things pertaining to life and godliness.” As we take advantage of these “God moments” presented to us by the Creator Himself we are beholding His glory. Maybe a leaf just drifted down in your lap, but at that moment, God was there that very instant with you. Now’s your chance, linger, abide, draw closer. Soak it all in. As we behold, we also will reflect or shine out. We shine out what He shines in, His divine nature.
What is Meant by Being Infused or Soaking in God’s Nature? To me it has come to mean that as I spend more intimate moments and recognize opportunities more, those times in His presence allow that oneness to work into us His nature so that we: - begin to think like God (see situations and people from God’s perspective). Our mind dwells more on whatsoever is pure, just, lovely, etc.
- we begin to feel like God feels (compassion, joy, hurt).
- we speak like God (boldness, preciseness, gentleness)
- we act like God (reflect God’s nature in how we treat others).
Which is better, gut it out, try harder or watch for those God moments (which bring about worship) that He sets up for us and soak it up? God’s way is the way of life, the way of the Spirit.
Learning to Watch, Wait and Anticipate` I’m not talking about worshipping nature. I’m talking about seizing the moment when nature presents itself and look for God. He is seeking worshippers. He provides opportunities daily for us to see him in His creation, whether it be in a leaf, sunset, person, song, situation, etc. God is continually reaching out and seeking worshippers. The key is to watch and recognize those moments. Once you “see” it, worship happens and you are in spirit for that moment, so take full advantage of that moment and soak it all in. Mary sat at Jesus feet taking it all in. She recognized the moment and soaked it in. Martha missed that same moment, but it doesn’t mean she failed the test. I bet the part that was not recorded ended up with both Mary and Martha serving others. God’s nature is not given that we may hoard it, but reflect and share it with others in how we live and treat others. How many “God moments of worship” do you reckon we all miss everyday? God is seeking worshippers. You become a worshipper when you see God in spirit. That is true worship and God has set it up myriad’s of worship moments for us. He is longing to reveal something fresh of Himself to us. He wants to bring many sons to glory, like Father, like son. The prayer Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane was that the Father would give that same glory He gave the Son to others. That glory was the oneness (Jn. 17:22). God’s Spirit in us has provided the oneness in spirit. We need to be watching and expecting God to reveal Himself, then wait and linger, take it all in while you can. It’s a lot harder for us to initiate that intimacy with God, than it is to be watching, anticipating and longing for Him to show up in some unexpected way and time. When He does, dwell there and take it all in while you can. |
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