3 Ingredients for True Worship

Worship Articles by Russell Henderson Contributing Writer March 25, 2011

Gen. 22:5 (NKJV) 5And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."

This passage reveals our first two ingredients of worship. The first ingredient, humility, is seen in the fact that Abraham equated his sacrifice of Isaac to worship. In Abraham's view of things he was simply going to worship. The second ingredient, faith, is seen in the last thing that Abraham tells his servants, ".....we will come back to you."

How could Abraham make such a statement? Because He had a deep faith in God. He believed with all his heart that God would either spare Isaac's life, or He would raise Him from the dead. Why? Because God had given him a promise about his seed many years prior to this turning point event. Abraham knew that God existed. There was no doubt in his mind. He had experienced the hand of God many times in his life. He also knew that God was going to reward him for His act of worship. Remember what Paul said in Romans 4, "Abraham believed (had faith), and it was accounted to him for righteousness." In other words—heaven took note of him because of his faith.

While the act and attitude of worship is 100% selfless, God has promised that He will reward us for our diligence. When we worship it is just fine to expect a blessing, because God promised that He would bless us. God may ask us to do things in worship that stretch our comfort level. He may even ask us to do something that challenges our theology. That's where faith kicks in. When God asks those things of us and we trust Him to work everything out for good, we will be led to the third ingredient of true worship—obedience.

The key here is that we must believe that God is a keeper of His promises. When we hear the voice of God leading and prompting, we cannot disregard what He is saying. We must turn our ear to listen.

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