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Life Around "The Fire"
Life Around "The Fire"
Worship: Beyond Songs
Have you ever stopped to consider what worship truly means beyond our religious traditions? Worship isn't simply singing songs or going through motions—it's giving everything you have (your body, mind, and spirit) to someone you consider greater than yourself. It's willingly surrendering your own rights to fulfill the desires of another.
When we examine the confrontation between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness, we discover something profound. Satan didn't merely want Jesus to perform religious activities; he wanted Jesus to give himself completely over in adoration. Jesus responded with clarity: worship belongs to God alone. Later, in his conversation with a Samaritan woman, Jesus revealed that true worshipers connect with God "in spirit and in truth"—not through empty ritual but through genuine devotion.
One of the most revolutionary insights about worship is that we honor God by enjoying what He's created. Whether that's delighting in relationships, appreciating nature, or receiving His gifts with gratitude, our enjoyment brings pleasure to God's heart. This perspective transforms worship from obligation into joyful connection. When we gather in authentic worship—whether four people or four thousand—the atmosphere changes as God's glory becomes manifest among us.
The culture of God's Kingdom is built on worship, and as believers, we're called to live as worshipers in every aspect of life. Our thoughts, words, and actions all express our devotion. Worship isn't something we do; it's who we are. Take time today to consider where your deepest devotion lies, and allow the Holy Spirit to realign your heart toward the only One truly worthy of worship.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
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Shalom to you and your home.
to worship someone or something. Really, when you stop and break it down, worship means ascribing worth Worth. Scribe is an old way of saying it actually. Worship is an old way of saying it actually. Worship, however, that has, yes, it's true, it's accurate, but it really it's kind of almost it lacks some color. And so I was thinking you know what is worship? I mean truly what really is worship? And I have come to understand that worship is really giving everything that you have your body, your mind, your spirit, your everything over to someone that you ascribe greater worth to than yourself, someone who's higher above, someone you consider to be higher above than you, greater than you, greater than you, and you are also willing, you willingly give over your own rights and you live to fulfill the desires and the words of the one that you worship, worship or that which you worship. And so that really fills in some of the blanks the fact that it's really an expression of deep devotion. And, yes, it involves singing. Yes, it involves dancing. Yes, it involves singing. Yes, it involves dancing. Yes, it involves prostrating ourselves face down. It involves us raising our arms, our hands, lifting our voices, shouting, being quiet, being in awe.
Speaker 1:All of the above involves worship, but really, really, really, really really. It involves you giving yourself over completely to devote. You're devoted, you're completely devoted to someone. You're devoted, you're completely devoted to someone or something else. That's a really important point, man, because that means that that other thing or person being has control over you. You've given them the right to have control, you've given over your control and have taken upon your role as one who fulfills the desires of the other. That's powerful Again, that's a man when it's devoted to the right source. But far too often we have found ourselves perhaps at various times I know I have where I have placed my devotion, my adoration, in the wrong area. Sometimes it has been toward, literally toward things that would produce a mind-altering way of life for me, whether that was alcohol, whether that was drugs, whether that would be whatever, whatever activity might be that would take place, sometimes music, sometimes sex, right, I mean just whatever it might be and it would often involve or it has involved I couldn't say often, but when it has involved that it's involved it with regards to also other people. I've given over, I've given too much control over to other people.
Speaker 1:I find it interesting that one of the places that we find in Scripture. Where worship comes up is when Jesus in the wilderness was having a confrontation with Satan. Satan and there were various things that took place as a testing, as a temptation, as a trying of who Jesus was by Satan and one of the key things that Satan wanted. I mean, he really played his hand when he said all the things that are in this world, all the nations, all the majesty, all the pompous circumstances, go along with every culture around the majesty, all the pompous circumstances go along with every culture around the world, because they're mine. They are mine, they're under my control and I can give that over to whomever I will, and I would give that to you if you would worship me. I give that to you if you would worship me. What in the world is worship? Man, ready Right Again.
Speaker 1:Worship, it's more than just a religious exercise of singing songs or lighting a candle or doing things that might be just rote. You just do them. Lighting a candle or doing things that might be just rote, you just do them. That's not what Satan wanted from Jesus for him to light a candle and say a prayer and go through something that was just him doing things by rote, by empty religious activity. He wanted Jesus to give himself to him, to adore him and to place him above him. You say that and that's the essence. That's the essence of worship. And Jesus said. Jesus said, get away, because we are to worship God and him only. And at that point Satan left to try him at another time. But he left.
Speaker 1:And then later we pick up this conversation that Jesus is having with a woman, a woman. In that culture, him talking to a woman was pretty out of order. But for him to talk with a woman that was culturally unclean, a Samaritan, a person from the other, the wrong side of the tracks, and for him to be talking with her alone, that was like unheard of. But they were having a conversation and it was a clean one, it was a good one, good one. And, funny thing, their conversation, it started out by him asking for her to, you know, get some, drop some water from the well she had come to fill up her jars. But it ended up them talking about worship.
Speaker 1:And I'm just going to read it to you In John, chapter 4, verse 24, this is from the Amplified Version. Actually, let me start at verse 23. Let me start at verse 23. It goes. A time will come, however indeed, it is already here where the true, genuine worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth or reality, for the Father is seeking just such people as these as his worshipers. God is a spirit, a spiritual being, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth or reality.
Speaker 1:Worship, the topic of worship Now granted in many of our cultures, the topic of worship isn't talked you talk about around the office or maybe even in your house, in your home. But I guarantee you, in life, when things come to a place where there is a major shift and you are facing things that are beyond you, something happens on the inside and there is this crying out, and that crying out is the place of reality that God said when you're there, when you're really there, now we can start. Now we can start. You're at the end of yourself. Now we get down to the spirit, and when that happens, worship worship is like breathing. It becomes part of your life. You become a worshipper.
Speaker 1:There's something about wanting to worship and wanting to worship God, literally finding out oh man, I've been giving myself to the wrong things. God, I repent, I'm sorry, please forgive me. I turn from that, from those things, those people, and I give that to you. That's what worship is. I worship I. I I've wasted my time on these things when, all the while, I could be worshiping you, because worship is powerful, it's a powerful aspect of relationship and it's meant to be the one and only thing that we share together with God Worship. We love one another, but we don't worship one another. We don't worship angels, we don't worship idols. We worship God. We give our everything to God. We give our willingness to do whatever he says.
Speaker 1:You know, when you do that to people, initially it could be like, ah, I found someone who's just so great. Finally, I can rest in the fact that, ah, I just hang on to every word Until until, ultimately, they fall, because it's a pedestal that's too high and it's only meant for God. And eventually, whomever it is is going to fall, or whatever it is, it's going to fall, it's going to disappoint, it's not going to come through. And then what do you have? Right? You have a life that's full of that difficulty and heaviness and sense of like. I don't know what, I don't know what to think, that, as opposed to having a clear mind, having the very mind of Christ, focused reality, really being able to think, and that is a byproduct of worshiping God Powerful.
Speaker 1:We are called to worship. That's our highest calling in life is to worship God. That's our highest calling in life is to worship God. That's our first calling in life is to worship God, and him only to worship. And one of the ways and we talked about some of the ways, right, lifting our hands, singing, dancing, being prostate, kneeling, right, all of those, man, those are powerful expressions of what's going on on the inside. When it's that way, right, when that's what's happening, and you're doing it because that and in response to God's presence, amen. But there's something else, and I heard this years ago and I really I embraced it, but it hadn't become a real reality within my life until about two years ago or so, and I'm 66, so go figure, and I've known the Lord since I've been 13,. So, man, right, I mean that's 50 years, give or take, you know, a couple years, you get what I'm saying. It's been a while and the statement was this One of the ways, one of the greatest ways we can worship God is for us to enjoy what he has created and what he's given to us, man, what Say that again?
Speaker 1:Say that again. One of the greatest ways that we can worship, worship, give our adoration to God, one of the greatest ways we can worship God is for us to enjoy what he's created and what he's given to us. Wow, to enjoy. And you know what that includes. Now, that includes one another.
Speaker 1:I can enjoy the people that I hang with. In fact, I can enjoy even difficult people. I don't necessarily like it all the time, but I can enjoy it because of what it's creating within me. But just the garden variety, things that we can let irritate us about one another. Man, I think it's better for us to really find ways in which we can enjoy one another. I can enjoy, enjoy, I enjoy the people in the fellowship that I'm a part of in Jacksonville, florida. Man, I love this fellowship.
Speaker 1:Now, are there things that happen that we can bump up against each other and rub each other wrong at times? Sure, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the other person. That might mean we've got to work some stuff out, but let's work it out, because we're called to enjoy one another, but also the creation itself, to be able to go outside and enjoy. When's the last time you went outside and just enjoyed yourself and said God, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:Now, if you created something and nobody said anything about it, I mean you'd hope that someone would enjoy it and say something about it, because then it's like ah well, well, I love the fact that we can give God pleasure, we can bring delight to his heart, and we can bring delight to his heart by enjoying what he's created, because what he's created is good. He said so. He said after he created it's good. He gave us a commission as mankind to go from the Garden of Eden and multiply and subdue the earth, because the earth outside of Eden was in a rough condition, still is, but what God has created is good. I'm not saying what other people and other things have created is good. I'm not saying what other people and other things have created is good, but what God has created is good. And to enjoy what he's created and the fact that he's created me and he's created you, he created us, he created others For us to enjoy one another and get along with one another and be joined together as one with one another in love, is an act of worship to God. And I know for a fact that that is high on the priority list of Holy Spirit in these days, because it was a very powerful prayer that Jesus prayed and it's recorded in John, chapter 17. And his prayer was that we, as his people, would be one, even as he and the Father are one, and that we would love one another, and that we would love one another and that we would be one in that respect, together with God.
Speaker 1:Enjoying God, enjoying God I enjoy God. I enjoy my time with him. I enjoy what he has done. I enjoy my time with him. I enjoy what he has done. I enjoy what he's doing. I enjoy what he's about to do. I enjoy my Father. I enjoy the Lord Jesus. I enjoy Holy Spirit. I enjoy God. It's a mystery, it's a wonder, it's a divine thing, and we are part of it. We're called to it and we're called to worship, praise God.
Speaker 1:Worship is part of the culture of the kingdom of God and it's the culture that we're born again into when we place our faith in Jesus Christ and he gives us his spirit, cleanses us from our sins, so that we become a place that's habitable for Holy Spirit. He can dwell within a place that's been cleansed by blood, purified, made holy. Because he's holy, he's looking to do that To us and through us, more and more and more and more, until we radiate his glory Hallelujah, enjoying what God has created and what he's given to us. God's given us some really amazing things. Not just one another. That alone is amazing, but the fact that we have places to live, we have food to eat, we have clothes to wear, and then we have the opportunity to subdue this earth and we have tools provided for us to do that, good tools as well as sweet sleep, some good rest and being able to enjoy what God has given. What God has given. Sometimes we have things that are just in abundance and God wants us to enjoy what he's given.
Speaker 1:Worship, the giving of ourselves completely over, devoting ourselves and expressing our devotion in a loving way to God In our thought, in our thought life, in our word life, meaning the things that come out of our mouth and the things that we do with our hands and our feet, where we go, what we do, we worship. That's powerful. And when it's done in song, man, when you're in an environment where that's really happening, I don't care if it's four people or 400 people or 4,000 people, 400,000 people Praise God. When it's spirit of truth, man, the sky will crack. You know what I mean Manifest glory of God in our midst, just dwelling and absorbing everything that we're expressing. No wonder Satan wanted that. That's what he wanted. He wanted that. He's's what he wanted. He wanted that. He's the one who said I'm going to place myself above God, and so he wanted that worship, because that's what God was. Getting even close to the place in which Satan could dwell, his own personal pedestal came crashing down and soon it's going to be completely destroyed and the God of peace will crush Satan under our feet shortly. But worship belongs to God and it's powerful.
Speaker 1:Let's not forget that worship is a powerful thing. It's not just a religious activity that we do, because it's what we do on a Saturday or a Sunday or a Wednesday or a Thursday, whatever day it might be. We just go through the motions checklist, check that off and done. But it's alive, god's alive, hallelujah, let's pray, father, thank you, we worship you. You alone are worthy.
Speaker 1:Lord Jesus, we worship you, holy Spirit, we worship you, god. We honor you, we give ourselves to you. Speak the word, Lord. Your servant is listening. Speak the word, lord, your servants are listening. We want to live out what comes out of your mouth and what has already come out of your mouth and what has already come out of your mouth, hallelujah. So the Holy Spirit teaches, leads us, guides us to be like Jesus and to worship like him, as he worships the Father. As you, god, you have the unique ability of worshiping one another In spirit and in reality. Hallelujah. We honor you and we pray these things as Jesus, praying them in his name. Amen, amen, amen, amen. All right, folks, I love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire, at gmailcom, or type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime. God bless you. Adios amigos.