Every year, as we approach Good Friday and Easter, we are reminded of how Jesus died for our sins, how he rose again on the third day and defeated death once and for all. We now no longer need to fear death and we know that he paid the price of our sins, so we are forgiven. All of these things are about us, what we are receiving as a result of Jesus death and resurrection. However, Jesus death also created for us the opportunity to finally give to God, something acceptable to Him. True Worship!
According to the word of God, all things including man, were created for God’s pleasure.
Rev. 4:11: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
And what gives God pleasure? If we look into the book of Haggai, to the chapter that mentions the rebuilding of the temple, we will see that God says in
Chapter 1: 8: Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD
What was the house for? The Temple was for worship. And God clearly says here that he will take pleasure in the Temple, that he will be glorified.
God takes pleasure in the worship offered by his people. And as we were created for God’s pleasure, one of the main purposes of our lives is to worship God.
But before Jesus died and rose again for us, we could not offer God true worship. God had to make do with what was offered to him as worship, because there was no alternative means by which man could give him true worship till Jesus came and did what he did.
You see, Jesus says in
John 4: 23-24: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
So what God considers true worship, and according to Jesus, the only way to offer this true worship, is in spirit and truth.
But when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, his spirit died…and he was considered dead by God because he could no longer fulfill the purpose for which he was made.
It’s like a car, the purpose of a car is to move from one place to another. If the battery is dead, the car cannot fulfill this purpose and we call the car itself dead. We can sleep in the car, eat in the car, live in the car, we can pour in as much fuel as we like into the car, but without a charged battery, that car is not going to fulfill its purpose of actually moving.
Adam was like this, he could eat, sleep and do everything that was normal by human standards. But for God, this creation was dead because it could not fulfill its purpose.
But when Jesus rose again from the dead, he changed this as we see in
Romans 8: 10-11: But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So when Jesus comes into our lives, the Holy Spirit now dwells in us and brings life to our spirit. We now have spirit.
We can now worship God in spirit and in truth, which according to Jesus is the way God must be worshipped.
We see that Jesus paid a heavy price to obtain this opportunity for us, the opportunity to worship God in spirit and in truth, for once, to give God something he wants. How often can we give anything back to God? But is that how we worship?
No one who has had an encounter with God walks away from it the same as before. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of his people, that means God dwells where the praises of his people are!
If you worship God sincerely, truthfully in your spirit, then you will bring with your praise the presence of God. You will experience the presence and the touch of God.
And what comes with God’s presence?
Psalm 16: 11: Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy;
And what does the joy of the Lord do? According to Nehemiah 8:10, the joy of the Lord is our strength!
So when we worship God in spirit and in truth, we bring down his presence, experience his joy and derive strength from it.
We all close our eyes automatically when it’s time to pray so that we can shut out all the other distractions around us. We do this willingly because in prayer we are asking God for things we need, worship on the other hand is giving something to him, so we don’t usually give it the same importance. When you offer worship to God, shut out all other distractions, close your eyes if you need to and let the words come from your heart. When you do this you are trying to reach God’s heart, drawing close to him and he will come to you. The Bible says in
James 4:8: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Are you worshiping God in spirit and in truth and experiencing his presence and his touch? If you want to experience the presence of God, and if you want to please God with your worship, then you have to make the conscious decision to change the way you worship! Jesus paid a heavy price to bring to life your spirit and allow you the chance to worship God in spirit and in truth, and in doing so experiencing his presence, joy and strength. Let us not make his sacrifice be in vain.
How about beef cutlet recipe today?
Beef Cutlets
Ingredients:
Mince beef - 500 gms
Diced onion - 1
Diced ginger-garlic - 4 Tablespons
Diced coriander leaves - 2 Tablespoons
Diced mint leaves - 2 Tablespoons
Diced curry leaves - 1 Tablespoon
Diced green chilly - 2 or 3
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon
Salt - as required
Pepper - as required
Boiled and mashed potato - 2 medium sized
Egg - 1
Bread crumbs - as required
Oil for frying - as required
Instructions:
1. In a frying pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil, fry curry leaves, ginger-garlic and green chilly. When the raw smell subsides, add onions and brown.
2. Then add the mince beef and cook till browned, add salt, pepper, garam masala,coriander leaves and mint leaves.
3. Let the mixture cool and add mashed potatoes to this. Check salt and add more if required.
4. Roll the mixture into small lime sized balls, then flatten in the palm of your hands, smooth the edges.
5. In a bowl, beat the egg well, dip each cutlet in the egg and coat well. Then dip in a plate of breadcrumbs till the cutlet is completely coated. Repeat with all the moulded cutlets.
6. Heat oil in a kadai or frying pan,enough to deep fry the cutlets, and drop cutlets in when oil is very hot. Drain them as soon as they brown. Serve hot.
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