Worship That Pleases God ~ Day 13 ~ Part 1

Love the Lord your God with all your heart 

and with all your soul and with all your mind 

and with all your strength 

                                                                                                                     (Mark 12:30)

As we can see in Mark, God does not want just a part of our life He wants all of our life. We need to commit all of our time to God.  We need to obey Him at all times. Our hearts must always be in a state of worship. There is a right way and a wrong way to worship. The Bible says, "Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please Him" (Hebrews 12:28). There are four characteristics of worship that please God:

God is pleased when our worship is accurate. 

Worship must be based on the truth of Scripture. We do not only worship the part of God with which we are comfortable; the part of God that we feel is "politically correct". As Jesus told Samaritan woman, "True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks" (John 4:23). We need to worship in truth; to worship God as he is revealed in the Bible.

God is pleased when our worship is authentic.

God wants our worship to be authentic and heartfelt (Mark 12:30). We can't just say the words, we must feel the words. If our heart isn't in it, it is not praise; it is not worship; and it is an insult to God. God not only hears our words, but He looks at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7b). God gave us emotions so that we would feel our worship; so that our hearts would be moved when we worshiped Him.

We not only use our hearts when we worship, we use our heads. We use our heads in that our worship must be authentic; it must show what we know about God. We must connect with God with, not only our hearts, but with our minds, as well. Then we can say that worship touches every part of our lives: praying, singing, dancing, reading, etc., in solitude or in fellowship. One thing is for sure, God wants us to be ourselves in our worship (John 4:23).

The last two characteristics of worship that please God will be covered tomorrow.