Intimate.
When you say the word intimacy, what comes to mind? Are you
intimate with God in your worship?
Yesterday we saw that worship by Jesus’ own description,
requires the spirit, which is not necessarily intellectual, and truth, which is
at its core cerebral. I summarized such worship as being of a sincere heart. You must worship God
honestly.
We must declare His worthiness and physically and spiritually bow in submission to Him out of trust. It is reasonable, logical but also heart
felt with our mind and spirit.
But worship must get to the inner you, deep down in your
soul as well as your spirit and mind. That is why so many people feel so
protective of their style of worship and not just musical style, but the
worship that speaks to the deepest part of you.
Worship is to be vulnerable, emotional, personal, practical.
Intimacy is what God calls us to when we are to love God with our heart, soul,
mind and strength.
True worship is intimacy reaching the inner you and you
reaching the inner part of God. It is what led David to dance and Isaiah to
proclaim he was undone and ruined. It caused Adam to seek God unaware of his
nakedness before the fall and to shrink away in fear after the fall, knowing
that with intimacy with God would not only cause him to be exposed physically
but in shame for his sinful acts. Worship awakened Christ early in the morning
to meet His Father in personal prayer.
Worship leads God to be called Jealous but in a holy sense
of not wanting us to seek any other idols or gods or objects of worship.
It is on those inward parts that God wants to write His laws
and words upon us (Jer. 31:33). It is the hidden person of the heart that God
values (1 Peter 3:4). Intimate worship of God renews us day by day (2 Cor.4:16). That inner intimacy is what God seeks and what He praises (Rom. 2:29).
He will strengthen our inner person when we come to Him to worship Him (Eph.3:16).
Intimacy is explicitly shown by Jesus when He called on God
as Abba Father (Mark 14:36), and the Bible commands us to do likewise (Rom.8:15-16, Gal. 4:6). We are called to be the bride of Christ, recalling the
purest of first love, when intimacy was fresh and new.
Intimate worship does not have to be emotional every time
but it should contain some emotion, not only tears but joy, satisfaction, song,
in purity, in solemnity, in generosity, in giving, in prayer, eyes closed or
eyes lifted. When our hearts are exposed to God, true worship begins (1 Cor.14:25).
When we come to the Lord’s Table for Holy Communion, we
truly worship intimately before God, examining our hearts for purity and
impurities, to test whether we can partake worthily (1 Cor. 11:28-29).
"Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me." Psalm 139:23-24a
"Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me." Psalm 139:23-24a
