Pastor Adeboye on Praise and Worship

Memorise: “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt 15:9)

Read: Matthew 15:7-9

Pastor Enoch Adeboye

Adeboye

Apart from restricting worship to a place or location, lack of revelational knowledge of who is being worshipped, and using phrases with little or no Word content, another reason for rejection of worship is when it is not spirit based. For you to offer acceptable worship to God, it must be from a recreated spirit. Some unbelievers think worship is merely having a good voice, combined with an understanding of music.

It is more than that. Salvation is fundamental to worship because it is the process by which your spirit man which was dead, can be recreated in Christ. As long as your spirit man is dead, you cannot worship God in spirit.

All head based worship can take you no where except you are born of the spirit, hence Jesus says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). No sinner can worship God in spirit. Even as a believer, the moment you harbour sin in your heart, your worship will be rejected.

Similarly, any worship that is not done in truth is unacceptable to God. Today, there is so much hypocrisy in worship. Matthew 15:8 says, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me”. Any worship that does not go beyond lips service is rejected by God. Whenever you worship God, He comes to find out if there is agreement between your heart and lips.

If your mouth is saying one thing but your heart is saying another, Heaven’s conclusion is that such a worship is vain. There is no reward for it. This goes to show that God expects us to mean what we say in worship. If you say, ‘God, you are so good’ but in your heart you are wondering if He is as good as is claimed, that worship will not be accepted. Anytime you query God’s Word, infinite mercy, and goodness, any worship you render at such times will be rejected.

Hebrews 10:22 says whenever you come before God, come with a true heart. In other words, be sincere in your approach and motive. Also, you should come in faith. If you do not believe your worship will achieve its purpose, it will be fruitless. No evil- bitterness, grudge, lie, unbelief, unforgiving spirit, etc. must be found in your heart. Your body- particularly your hands must be clean.

There should be no sinful record against you so that your worship can be acceptable. Today, many worship God with lust, lies, envy and grudges: no wonder their worship does not go beyond the roof. When you worship God, worship Him for who He is, and what He has done, and not necessarily for what you want from Him (Matt 4:9). If your worship is always tied to material things you expect from Him, it is selfish and vain. Worship Him out of love.

Spend at least two hours to worship the Almighty God today. The heart that habours sin cannot offer quality worship. Sanitize your heart before worship.