Worship and healthy relationship with God go hand-in-hand. You cannot have one and not the other because our worship of God flows from our fellowship with Him.
When some of God’s people in Old Testament times tried to separate their worship of God from their walk with Him (fellowship), this was the response they got from God: “A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, wherein have we despised thy name?” (Malachi 1:6, KJV)
Fast forward to New Testament times, we see Jesus praying for the Church to handle worship and fellowship with God as two inseparable things. In His priestly prayer to God that is recorded in John 17:3-5, Jesus summarises true worship as a living father-son relationship:
“Eternal life means to know and experience you as the only true God, and to know and experience Jesus Christ, as the Son whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth by faithfully doing everything you’ve told me to do. So my Father, restore me back to the glory that we shared together when we were face-to-face before the universe was created.” (The Passion Translation)
Do you catch that? Just take a moment and reflect on it
A keen study of the Gospel of John will reveal to you that a vital component of Jesus’ mission to the Jews was to reveal to them God as the Father. The Jews had known God before but not as a Father. They knew Him as God almighty, as a God of judgment, as a jealous God among other things but not as God the Father. We know that from the above prayer in John 17 that Jesus prayed to God about his disciples.
It now becomes clear to us that the will, plan and purpose of God in reconciling us to Himself, is that we may experience intimate knowledge of Him as our Father. This knowledge of God surpasses mere mental ascent of His existence. It is knowledge that consumes our attention and passion to the point of making willingly obedient to the word of God.
Do you recognise this level of knowledge of God in your life? If not, you are not alone, and the fact that you took off time to read this article makes you a good candidate for this knowledge. Such intimate knowledge of God is within your reach. All it takes is a commitment to obedience – one scripture at a time. Make that commitment in daily prayer and practice, and watch God reveal Himself to you time and again.
~Pastor Joseph Enyimu