All the messengers brought the same message—worship God alone. Each messenger would have taught his followers how to pray correctly so that they could fulfill that commandment. Their prayers would be devoted to only God. No messenger would have encouraged his people to mention his name in any way in the prayers. Do not worship Jesus ,Moses or Mohammad, as they are human who came to tell you about God and worshiping God alone.
[Quran 3:79] Never would a human being whom GOD blessed with the scripture and prophet-hood say to the people, “Idolize me beside GOD.” Instead, (he would say), “Devote yourselves absolutely to your Lord alone,” according to the scripture you preach and the teachings you learn.
Yet, most Christian prayers begin and/or end in Jesus’s name, something he would never have condoned. And we can see this clearly in the New Testament. In Matthew chapter 6, verses 5 through 13, Jesus tells his disciples how to pray and gives them the words to say.
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
10 Your kingdom come, Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
This “Lord’s Prayer” has sufficient similarities to the Fãtehah that we can reasonably assume it was a prayer Jesus asked his followers to recite. Over time the words were changed but the meaning was not lost. We can be thankful that we have the mathematical proof that the prayer we recite 17 times a day is the prayer given to us by God through His messengers. Praise God.
Design is important. In order to get the correct result from anything we must first ask the question, “What is it made for?” I wonder how many of us have ever asked the question, “What are we made for?” Or “What am I made for?” For what purpose has God made us?
“True worship is the highest and noblest activity of which man, by the grace of God, is capable.”
Worship is important because it is what we are made for. Cheetahs are made to run, stars made to shine, and people are made to worship. I’ve never seen my dog worship. God designed mankind to worship. We do it naturally, instinctively. In fact, our lives are characterized by what or who we worship. God mentioned in the holy book of Quran that he created human and Jinn for one thing and that is to worship him .So it the primary function to worship him alone and then they can go work, live and enjoy life.
Simply defined, worship is intentionally giving worth or value through our words or actions. It’s worth-ship.
The Bible clearly states that God is the most valuable being in existence and deserves the worship of every person because “the Lord our God is holy!” and “his righteous deeds have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:3,4).
Our greatest rebellion against God is that we have chosen to not worship him. Underneath all of the corruption and brokenness of this world, there is a misplacement of worship. Romans 1:23-25 describes man as “exchanging the glory of the immortal God” and “worshipping the creature rather than the Creator”.
Yet God, even before sin entered the scene, has been diligently working towards a world filled with worshipers of him. Worship from all peoples is God’s global pursuit. Worship must be at the center of all of our missional endeavors, otherwise we jeopardize the eternal impact of our service and charity.
So how does Jesus teach us to worship? As contradictory as it may seem, Jesus teaches that worship is narrow and broad at the same time. He narrows it to a single direction and yet he broadens it to a wide variety of practice.
“The true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth, for God is seeking such people to worship him.” — John 4:23
Jesus says “true worshippers will worship God ” narrowing our worship toward God only and addressing our premier problem of our misdirected worship. For we “shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). The profits only direct you to him, teach you how to pray to God and not to the profit .
Keeping our worship narrow is important because we must worship “in truth,” and the truth is narrow. If I compliment my friend’s red hair, but she actually has brown hair, then that’s not good. We must know what is true about God, studying his Word and who he has revealed himself to be so that we can worship him truthfully. Direct your worship towards the One and only one God almighty the creator only, and that what Jesus and others came to teach us. True worship is narrow in its direction.
Jesus says “worship…in spirit and truth,” tethering our worship to the core of our being, our souls. Worship doesn’t happen at a certain geographic location (John 4:21); worship happens from the spirit, the truest part of us. Worship in the new covenant is primarily an internal disposition of the heart rather than a physical position of the feet. Have a heart of worship, and you can worship from anywhere.
This very fact that God freed up our worship from one location makes missions possible. The span of the Old Testament instructs Israel to STAY in the Promise Land and invite the nations to the temple to worship. Yet, the new covenant, justified by Jesus’ liberating blood, completely flips this command. God now tells his people to GO to the nations and teach them about God and how to worship him and dont worship idols .
This greatly impacts our strategy when planting the faith and places of worship God. We must plant the words of God and holy books in such a way that people can truly understand it, and, because of the gospel, express worship to their deepest extent within their culture.
The faithful, strive to to fulfill God’s will on earth as it is in Heaven. The truest picture of worship is Heaven itself.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God. So they worship God and not Jesus or other human. — Revelation 7:9,11
Heaven is going to be one big multi-cultural family worshipping God! In Heaven, we find the broadness of worship as every cultural family is present, and we see the narrowness of worship, as all glory and praise ascends to God alone. Friends, seek true worship because it is what we find in Heaven—it is what God has designed us to do forever and ever!
Worship is your statement on the character of God. What does your worship communicate about who God is? Can people derive God’s love, justice, and grace from your worship of him? praise God for who he is. True worship comes from our spirit. What stirs your affections for God? What makes your spirit long to worship God? What can you do to cultivate your affections for God?
Just like any machine will break when it is not used according to its design, we will find ourselves short-changed through misdirected worship. You were designed for worship and Jesus deserves your worship. Give yourself to true worship.
God our creator the owner of our souls and the universe, in the midst of the world’s madness thank You for being ever-near to us! We know you are working on our behalf in all things, both good and bad, so we can CLAIM your promises, RECLAIM your power, and PROCLAIM your peace in our lives. May we be grounded in Your Word, strengthened by your truth, and directed by Your Spirit! Let us pray without ceasing, preach wholeheartedly, and love unconditionally. Your blessings are many. Your promises are comforting. Your love is undeserved. Thank You. Amen!”
Almighty God, you have given us an abundance of promises! It is time we take ownership of those promises by claiming their purpose and power let us seek to discover more about your promises and how to claim them, own them, and live them out! Let us reacquaint ourselves with the Word and claim the grace you want us to experience, claim the freedom you want us to know, and claim the life you want us to live in through you. We claim all you have sacrificed to give us. We claim all that you promise to provide for us. I claim your promises!”
By: Steve Ramsey, PhD