True Worship

​What is the central issue of our warfare with the demonic realm? This question can be answered with another question: "Whom will you worship?" Will we be faithful to worship the one true God or will we allow Satan's distractions, diversions, and attacks to pull us toward him and his way of life? Let us be reminded that we were created to have fellowship with the Lord, so we were made in His image. (Genesis 1:27) All of us were designed to have intimacy with God and as His image bearers we were given specific characteristics. A footnote to Genesis 1:26 and 27 in The Passion Translation defines God's image in us like this: "It includes personality, the capacity for worship, the ability to make moral decisions, and the ability to reflect God.”
 
We are three weeks away from Passover. If we looked back in history, we would find Moses and Aaron trying to convince Pharaoh to release the children of Israel. God instructed Moses to say to Pharaoh, "The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: 'Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert...’" (Exodus 7:16) Why would God want to take His people into the wilderness for this purpose? Perhaps God's desire was to teach His children what true worship looks like. It is true worship that protects us from the enemy of our souls. The Israelites would have a long journey to the Promised Land, one fraught with difficulties and enemy attacks. The soul that is not protected by true worship of the Lord is prime territory for the enemy. True worship of God, not based on circumstances, sets up a barrier against the demonic and gives us victory in warfare.
 
As we draw closer to end times, we can count on increasing warfare. What or who will we worship during these times? Worship is a part of the culture of heaven, and it is God's desire, as expressed in the prayer taught to the disciples, that His "will would be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) Revelation 7:11,12 describes what takes place in heaven. "All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'" But there is a worship that blesses God more than what comes from thousands of angelic hosts. It comes from earth through those who are faithful to worship the Lord amid trials, tribulations, and suffering. When our spirits worship God during our battles, we give God pleasure, and He is drawn toward us.
 
The purity of our worship will dictate its fragrance. I have long desired to have a deeper understanding of the verse in John 4:23. "Yet a time is coming and has now come when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks." May I suggest that when we give God glory in the middle of pain and suffering, our love comes forth as true worship. We must look at every difficulty as an opportunity to become the kind of worshipers God desires.