The challenge of growing through worship

Worship changed my life, awakened in my heart a vital need that I have never abandoned again. Worshiping God changed the perspectives of my religious feelings, made me grow and experience His presence in an ostensible way. Years ago the worship minister of the church I attended asked me: - Would you like to be part of the praise and worship group? - I always thought that I could be useful and serve in any other ministry, but in worship, with barely 55 years in the ribs and so much young talent in the church? I felt that the invitation came from God and I joined the group for more than three years. From that platform, week after week, I learned that worship is only a matter of the heart. I also learned that worship is not just about music and singing beautiful songs to the Lord.

The worship of the living God is one of the Christian privileges that will last forever. It is putting our spirit in tune with the Spirit of God, it is responding fully to the manifestations of His grace and presence. We praise him for what he has done, does and will do; We worship Him for who He is: holy, wonderful, glorious, worthy of all honor and honor! There are no formulas or recipes to worship, but rather those that God's own Word dictates to us: in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), offering us as a living sacrifice in spiritual adoration (Ro 12: 1). So did Job, who in the midst of trial and suffering expressed: "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will triumph over death." (Job 19.25). An expression of authentic worship if we meditate on Job's tribulations; and a prophetic word that was fulfilled on the cross of Calvary.

But how to worship in spirit such an immensely great and majestic God? The apostle James "gives us a direction" to begin to understand: "Draw close to God and he will draw close to you." (Jas 4: 8). The first step in learning to worship God is to draw close to Him as we are, to establish a true friendship with Him.

According to Luther there are only two ways to approach God in our sinful condition: either through religion or through the gospel. Through the first we will find disappointment because we will focus on ourselves, on what we think we should do to try to please him (pure legalistic recipe); The second, that is, getting closer to Jesus through the gospel, leads to a recognition of what Christ already did on the cross for you and me and that it is the act and the supreme reason why He is the only one worthy of all worship.

Adoration is total surrender to the Christ who lives in us, it is prostrating the soul to the designs of his will, it is, as Brother J. Carroll said, “throwing our crown before Him” so that only He may be exalted. The crown is the symbol of our pride and deification, the deceptive ways in which we dare to occupy the throne that corresponds only to Him and that prevent authentic worship, is to seek the praise of others and try to usurp the glory from the only one worthy of glory. Do you have any of these crowns? Cast them at the feet of the Lord and give glory only to Him. It is His glory and not ours, it was His sacrifice and not what we try to do for Him that is worth, moves and motivates us to worship Him. "If anyone has to boast, let him boast of knowing me and understanding that I am the Lord, who act on earth with love, with right and justice, for it is what pleases me" —said the Lord— (Jeremiah 9:24)

We are never close enough to God as we would like. Adoration is deciding with all our soul that we will live only to give glory to the one who holds us by the palm of his hand and who will never let go of us. It is allowing Christ to occupy our minds and our humanity to be enhanced, healed, and restored by his radiance.

Worship transformed David. Man "after God's own heart" lived in a spiritual niche between the sublime glory of God and the fear caused by his enemies and the bitter consequences of his own sins. His recognition of God's holiness, confession and repentance of sins, and a spirit groaning at the presence of the Lord were the essences of David in a life desperately seeking God's blessings and mercies. He also understood that worship implied giving regardless of sacrifice: "I am not going to offer the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." (2 Sm 24.24).

"Why am I going to worry? Why am I going to be distressed? In God I will put my hope, and I will still praise him. He is my Savior and my God! " (Ps 43.5). David is an example of a servant of God transformed by worship.

A transformed life, praises the Lord inexorably. If worship does not change us, perhaps we have celebrated, but we have not worshiped the Lord who gave us salvation. To adore is to give ourselves, to offer ourselves in gratitude, in thanksgiving, it is to offer the sacrifice of praise, it is prayer. James exhorts us: “Is anyone among you afflicted? Pray. Is anyone in good spirits? Let him sing praises. " (Stg 5.13).

Worship must draw the heart and spirit to the majesty and greatness of the creator through his son Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Worship should move us to an action of devotion, therefore, when it is authentic, it transforms us, makes us grow and we will never be the same.

“You are worthy,“ Lord and our God, to receive the glory, the honor and the power, because you created all things; by your will they exist and were created. " (App. 4.10-11).

Editorial note by Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas: " The meditation 'The challenge of growing up defeating the spiritual enemy ' that was published on Tuesday, September 3, contained an error [already corrected] in the penultimate paragraph referring to the episode of Jesus when he was tempted in the desert. It should read as follows: Do you remember Jesus when he was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil? to the brothers Alberto Gustavo Carrión, Mayra (United States) and Manny Ayala for the kind and fraternal way in which they correct the error in their comments. Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you richly. "