You Were Created For: Worship and His Presence!

If you look at the history of the Body of Christ one of the greatest contentions has been worship.  Differing styles of worship have led to many church splits, strife and conflict, and even worse one group choosing to go to war with another.  After meditating on my devotional for the day, "I am First A Worshiper" and then after spending time ministering to the Lord, Father impressed on my heart the centrality of worship to all life. We see the theme of worship throughout the Bible, God even devotes a whole book Psalms which is David's worship to the Lord.  We know from the book of Revelation that worship is central in Heaven and there even angelic beings created for 24/7 worship to the Almighty.  The Holy Spirit then began to point me to the root of worship in the Bible beginning with our Original Design in Creation.  I knew that deep in my spirit that worship was central in the Genesis Creation, yet I didn't know the specifics.  In researching this I discovered that a better Hebrew translation for Genesis 2:15

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to worship and to obey.  We can also look at Genesis 3:8 to see the centrality of the Presence of God and man's fellowship with Him.  Since worship is part of our original design and mandate from the beginning, the there is a dimension of who we are that will never come alive until we are worshipers.  Jesus reveals this in John 4:23 & 24 in His discussion with the Samaritan woman, 

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  I love the phrase "...the Father seeks to be His worshipers." because I see the Father's heartbeat looking for people who are completely passionate about being worshipers, meaning that He is central in all of life.  When we relegate worship to singing, listening to music, or a certain style of praise then we miss the point, "Worshipers understand the importance of having a deep heart connection with God." (from Steve Backlund's book Victorious Mindsets).  It is said of David that he was "the man after God's heart" and what is central throughout David's life is worship, the throne that Jesus sits on is named "The Throne of David".  David won some of the most incredible victories in battle often with worshipers leading the charge.  The Expositor's Bible Commentary says that Adam was put in the Garden of Eden as a priest to worship his God not simply as a worker to work the field.  It is so foreign to our natural mind or our modern society that worship is central to our very life, if it has any importance in our modern life it is often compartmentalized into the Sunday morning hour.  Yet the Father is seeking His worshipers, will you say yes to this most elevated of all ministries.  In Ezekiel 45:4 we see this highlighted of the ministry directly to the Lord Himself by the Levites and priests.  In the New Testament we are called members of the "Royal Priesthood" so we are given the freedom to minister to Him directly.  We are the "Royal Priesthood" because through Jesus Christ we have been given access to the very Throne of God, Ephesians 2:18 says "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father".

A Worshiper,
Bret