God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth (John 4:24).
God is a spirit; therefore, we can only worship Him and relate to Him
from, and with, our spirits. This means not every living thing can worship Him.
Animals don’t have spirits; so, they can’t worship Him in Spirit; only humans
can.
Someone might argue with this and say, “But the Scripture says, ‘Let
everything that hath breath praise the LORD...”’ (Psalm 150:6). Yes, but
there’s a difference between praise and worship. Praise requires no
consciousness; but worship does.
When you praise, you extol His majesty. You may thank and eulogize.
However, in worship, much more than extolling Him, there’s a communion; there’s
a relationship. It’s a drinking together—a special kind of recognition between
the “blesser” and the blessed, the greater and the lesser. The greater one
receives the lesser one to His place. This is only possible with humans.
That’s why, for instance, we’re not permitted to worship angels. Though
they’re great and powerful, God, in Christ Jesus, has raised us to the place of
His Son, who’s higher than angels. We’re one with Christ, who’s greater than
angels, and we’re therefore higher than angels. This is what the Bible teaches.
As He (Jesus) is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17). We’re
joint-heirs with Him: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we
are children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ…” (Romans 8:16-17 NKJV).
This doesn’t make us co-equal with Him, but it describes our inseparable
union with Him: “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1
Corinthians 6:17). He’s the head, and we’re His body (Colossians 1:18). We’re
in union with the Father. Glory to God!
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank you for the awesome privilege of being called
into fellowship with you. My life is a manifestation of your wisdom, power, and
glory. I live from the mountaintop, because I’ve been brought into oneness with
Christ; seated together with Him in the realms of glory, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further Study: Ephesians 2:6-7 - And hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come
he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye
also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1-Year Bible Reading Plan: 1 John 4, Daniel 1-2
2-Year BibleReading
Plan: John 17:11-21, 2 Chronicles 7-8
2-Year Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment