How To Become A True Worshipper

"The hour cometh," Jesus said, "when the true worshippers SHALL worship." All other things of importance will be set aside for worship. Mere rituals will give way to meaningful worship. This promise follows the earlier pledge that "... the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14 NIV- emphasis mine)

The well of water is the gift of the Holy Spirit who would flow out of a person like "rivers of living water" (John 7:38). Jesus promised an inflow into you that would become an outflow back to its source. When the Holy Spirit flows through you back to the Father, it is worship at a priceless level.

We are commanded to praise the Lord, but since worship is fundamentally love responding to love, it cannot function out of command; it must be a willing response to a spiritual stimulus. Jesus assures us that the love we feel and the flow of the Holy Spirit that we experience will not frustrate us, but we will find fulfillment when we release them back to God in worship. Jesus told the woman at the well about "true worshippers."

"Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:21-24 ESV)

Jesus expanded this promise by saying:

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you." (John 16:13-14 ESV)

Jesus affirmed that the Holy Spirit would glorify or worship Him through us, a divine promise with an accompanying provision. But it is not only a promise of the Son; it is also a provision of the Father, for everything that Jesus promised, the Father had to provide, even the Holy Spirit, who would become the key to becoming worshippers.

The word 'worship' is used as both a noun and a verb in the New Testament. The worship of God is not defined anywhere in Scripture.

As a Verb, it means to make sincere respect, homage, worship, adoration, reverence, awe, devotion, humbly serve, honor, and submission.

As a Noun, "it denotes an object of devotion worship" or "to will-worship" (Vine's)

In the Old Testament, when the word is used towards God, it means to worship by prostrating oneself, bowing down, and blowing kisses of thankfulness to Him.

The words "worship," "worshipped," and "worshippers" are recorded over 270 times and are the central theme of the Bible. All of God's creation has been called to worship Him. The Bible does not give a direct definition of worship because that would make it an empty ritual by any definition that could be given. The foundation of worship is love poured from God and is difficult to define. The closest definition of worship found in the Bible comes from the lips of Jesus;

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30-31 ESV)

Worship is God's provision to fulfill the deep-seated drive within us that can only be fully satisfied when we remain in the presence of God. God's love releases the heart's adoration and explains the mind's determination to utilize our emotional, physical, and spiritual strength.

At the moment of salvation, we receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to contact God, the Father. Not only have we received the new life of Jesus, but we have received His mind, which enables us to both know and worship Him. Our fleshly, natural minds don't know God or His ways, "but we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16 ESV).

Worship is our response to the living God who has made Himself known to us in His words and deeds. Worship is a work of God that comes from Him and flows through us back to Him. Most of our worship expressions are directed to Jesus or in His Name.

- Worship is the "key" to God's presence and the "secret" to true joy and happiness. (Luke 4:8; John 4:23)