Surrender In Worship Series

SURRENDER IN WORSHIP

Key scripture for series: Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Everyone of us was created to worship and we are worshipping something or someone all the time. God, as our heavenly Father is seeking worship and our ultimate goal in life is to bring Him glory.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when we speak about worship or when we think about worship? Normally, people think about worship in terms of songs that we sing like Hillsong: Hosanna, Eagle’s wings, Unfailing Love or most recently The Passion. There is nothing wrong with these answers as these are songs that draw us into the presence of God and sing about His love for us. However when we examine it from a Biblical perspective, it is so much more than just the songs that we sing on Sunday and if your home cell does it, whenever you have meeting. So what does it mean to say that we are to surrender to God in worship? As a matter of fact, your life is to be a lifestyle of worship and that is why God created you. He wanted someone to talk to. Dogs bark, cats purr, and people worship. We are the only creatures that God has created with the ability to worship. Worship is a combination of two words: worth and ship. It means basically that you are esteeming worth on something or someone greater than you and the proof of your love for something is the price you are willing to pay for it.

1. Worship is an act of surrender

There are reasons that people are resilient to surrender. For example you never know where God is going to ask you to go. He might ask you to become a missionary to a foreign country such as Zimbabwe or another country that is not one of our neighbouring countries. However, God is not asking you for much, but He is in fact asking you for everything

Genesis 22:5, 11-12 (NLT)

5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the young men. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”

11 At that moment the angel of the Lord shouted to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” he answered. “I’m listening.”

12 “Lay down the knife,” the angel said. “Do not hurt the boy in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld even your beloved son from me.”

After Isaac was born, God told Abraham to sacrifice him so that God could deepen his capacity to obey Him and to develop his character. Fire is used to refine or extract precious metal and so God refines us through difficult circumstances. When we see God is testing us, we can either complain or we can try and see how God stretches us so that our character can be developed. God never wanted Isaac to die, but Abraham was to sacrifice and surrender the one thing he loved so that God could see that he loved Him more than his son and so that his character could be strengthened and he could learn about God’s ability to provide. Moriah means the land that God chose and this mountain is where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.

When Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, Satan tried to tempt Him in various areas and one of the areas he tried to tempt Jesus in was the area of worship, He said if Jesus would worship him, he would give Him the kingdoms of the world. Every time He answered him with Scripture and when it came to worship, He said: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” (Deuteronomy 6:13,Matthew 4:10)

Joshua 5:13-14 (NKJV)

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”

14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”

Notice that the stranger did not respond either with an affirmation or negative answer when Joshua asked him to identify himself. There may be times in our lives where God does not answer us either, but He wants our lives to be surrendered to Him in worship regardless of what storms or circumstances you may be facing. Every setback is an opportunity for a comeback and your comeback will be greater, because in the midst of the storm, you are worshipping God.