ARE YOU A TRUE WORSHIPPER?

If I ask all my readers  to define and describe WORSHIP to me, I would get dozens of different answers, and much of the content would be more about preference and style than the actual meaning of worship. If we were brought up for example in a church setting from childhood, our definition would be almost exclusively related to the type of churchmanship we were brought up in, from the more highly liturgical to very free singing and congregational participation.
Others may say and quote that Scottish saying “it is better felt than telt”. In other words it is something they feel but cannot really articulate it. I am not suggesting I have all the answers, my understanding is still growing in this important area. Like so many I previously would start to promote  my preferences and style.
I have been meditating on John 4:23-24 NKJV But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The NLT expresses it this way From here on, worshiping the Father will not be a matter of the right place but with the right heart. For God is a Spirit, and he longs to have sincere worshipers who worship and adore him in the realm of the Spirit and in truth.”
The MESSAGE Bible says But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.
“It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Let me say firstly the Father is SEEKING true worshippers,, He is not looking for Praisers or Thankers He is looking for true worshippers.
The main Hebrew word used for worship means to prostrate oneself, bow down or fall down flat. The main Greek word that is used in the N.T. is proskuneo  which has the meaning of “to kiss, to prostrate, to reverence to adore. So it is all about spotlighting something or someone and so as Christians it is all about bowing down and seeking to be lovingly intimate with our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus emphasises 2 words:
In spirit
In truth.
Man is a trinity made up of body, soul and spirit.
Sadly, there is such things and body worship,and soulish worship, but the Father wants worship that flows out of our spirit. The very centre or the  very core of us, where the Holy Spirit  comes to dwell  when we are born again. So true worship must come from the human spirit, and with the enabling of the Holy Spirit we can express or desire to enter into intimacy and love  with our God.
Not only must our worship flow from our spirit, it must be in truth and reality. we need to know and understand what the Word of God says about true worship, so we can express our love with understanding.
I want to suggest we must prepare our hearts to worship, David tells us “if we have sin in our heart God is not listening, so we need to be sure there is no unconfessed sin in our hearts, and  that we are “continually” presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to the Lord. Rom. 12:1.
I believe King David is suggesting   a progressive move towards worship in Psalm 100:4 NLT  Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.
Let us visualise the O.T. Tabernacle and Temple, we should begin with Thanksgiving, and then move on to Praise and now because of Christ’s death, we can enter the Holy of Holies and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.
I guess there is so much I haven’t said here in this blog, I trust  the above hasn’t confused you, let us ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into a deeper intimacy with our God, and so we can declare. I KEEP FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM OVER AND OVER AGAIN amen,