Hearts that Worship

We can have overflowing hearts that worship in spirit. First of all we must be yielded to the Holy Spirit. Before we can worship God in our spirit, the Holy Spirit has to be there to produce true worship. First Corinthians 2:11 says, "The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." If you don't have the Spirit of God prompting your heart, motivating your heart, cleansing your heart, instructing your heart, you cannot worship God, because you cannot even know Him.

"No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:3). In other words without the Holy Spirit, a person cannot truly affirm the Lordship of Christ. To worship Christ as sovereign requires prodding by the Holy Spirit. And we receive the Holy Spirit only upon the reception of Jesus as Savior and Lord. . .

David was a king. He had more than a few things to worry about. And yet he sought to worship God with an undivided heart. In Psalm 86:11 David prayed, "Unite my heart to fear Thy name.." (The expression "fear Thy name" is equivalent to the word worship.)

In Psalm 57:7, David wrote, "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises." In other words, the music of praise rises out of a steadfast heart. In Psalm 108 we find the same thought. Verse 1 says, "My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul." Worship comes from a steadfast heart, a resolute heart, a determined heart, a heart focused solely on God.

Finally, we must be repentant. All sin must be dealt with. When we talk about worship we must talk about cleansing, purging, purifying, confessing, repenting - because the only person who can enter into communion with an utterly holy God is one whose sin is dealt with. . .

Maybe the reason we have difficulty really abandoning ourselves in worship to God, the reason we do not experience the nearness of God, is that we have areas in our lives that are not pure in the sight of God. We all have our blind spots and deficiencies only God knows. We must be open, willing to ask God to turn on the searchlight and expose whatever is in the shadows. We must yield our spirits to the Holy Spirit who fills us with His presence and power. We ask Him to cleanse every corner of our lives - and then the flow of worship can occur.

-From The Ultimate Priority by John MacArthur, Jr.; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado

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