True Worship of God – Part IV True worship is not merely being present before the lord. It goes much beyond simple presence. It involves total submission with full concentration, involving the inner being and spirit in the worship of the Lord. All wandering thoughts and wavering minds must be put to rest. The thrust should be complete surrender to the will of the Lord. The biblical concept of worship involves praising God and giving Him glory with our lips and our lives, with our words and our deeds, with our physical bodies and our spiritual hearts, with a contrite spirit. Worship that pleases God needs to be authentic, offered with clean hands and a pure heart. Psalm 24:3–4 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully In John 4:23–24, Jesus made it clear that the physical location of our worship is no longer relevant: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” True worship takes place on the inside, within our hearts or spirits, which is the dwelling place of God. True worship is described in Romans 12:1-2: “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, or well pleasing and perfect.” Here we observe the elements of true worship. First, there is the motivation to worship: “the mercies of God.” God’s mercies are everything He has given us that we don’t deserve. The knowledge and understanding of these incredible gifts motivate us to pour forth praise and thanksgiving. We also see the manner of our worship: “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” Presenting our bodies means giving to God all of ourselves. The reference to our bodies here means all our human faculties, a complete surrender of body, mind, and soul, to be humbly presented to God. Again, the passage is clear: “by the renewing of your mind.” We renew our minds daily by cleansing them of the world’s “wisdom” and replacing it with true wisdom that comes from God. We worship Him with our renewed and cleansed minds, not with our emotions. There is only one way to renew our minds, and that is by the Word of God. True worship is God-centric and should be reserved only for God since only He is worthy of worship. Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth. Empty words, wandering mind, forced worship, worship for the sake of worship, and treating worship as a burden are an abomination to the Lord. It is better to stay away from such fake worship than to seal our fate and destiny divorced from the will of our Creator. Let our worship be full of joy, happiness, love and reverence. Dr Ashwin Drummond laddertoheaven.co.in