Adam and Eve's rebellion turned us into rebels.  Jesus' obedience turns us into worshippers.

Today, recovery meetings are everywhere.  They seem to be the new trend, the "next big wave."  Many people over the last twenty years have asked me, "Why are you involved in recovery meetings? You're not in recovery.  Don't you get bored going to those meetings?  Don't you already know the things that are taught there?  They teach the same things over and over and over again.  Couldn't you make better use of your time?"

Recovery is no new trend.  It is not the next big wave.  It is and always has been God's beautiful, mysterious mission.  Everything since Adam's fall has been about God recovering what He lost - US.  The very heart of Jesus' mission was to find - US, to make a way to bring us back to God.

God created us in His image because only a creature like Himself could appreciate and celebrate the excellencies of God.  We were made to worship, to be worshippers.   However, we lost that ability because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  Jesus ultimately came to restore us to the place of worship we knew when we were first created.  He came to make worshippers out of rebels.

What is at the heart of true worship?  What are the essentials that need to be present in our songs, praise, and prayers?

• boundless confidence - We cannot worship someone we cannot trust.  We cannot trust someone we do not know.  Before we can worship, we must have relationship with God.  We have to spend time with Him.  We have to get to know Him.  When we get to know Him, we will respect Him and see Him for what He is.  He is both the Lion and the Lamb, the beginning and end of all things, our Maker and our Redeemer.  He is no little "g" god.  He is really, really big and powerful and can do ANYTHING.  We can trust Him with - EVERYTHING.

• reverence - When we realize how big, how great He really is, we will fear Him.  Unfortunately, we seem to have lost a little of that holy fear of the Lord, that awe that makes one shut up and lie face down before His holiness.  He is not just a Pez god that we pop the head and out comes a treat.  He is the God who created the entire universe and keeps it functioning.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all things.  He deserves our respect and our reverence.  This  also applies to Jesus and Holy Spirit.  They are one in the same, the holy Trinity.  They are our King, our Lord, our Guide.

• admiration - Tozer defines admiration as appreciation of the excellency of God which grows and grows until it fills our heart with wonder and delight.  As we get to know Him more and more each day, we will discover His excellencies - grace, mercy, love, compassion, justice, holiness, beauty, power, omniscience, kindness, etc.  These components of His nature are like a great river that never runs dry.  They are forever.

• fascination - As we get to know Him, we will be captivated by who He is and by all that He does.  We'll feel excitement and wonder as we ponder His greatness.  We will be entranced and astonished at the inconceivable elevation, magnitude, and splendor of Almighty God.

• adoration - As we love Him and honor Him with all the power within us, our souls will be quickened with fear, wonder, and awe.  You may at times experience the holy, heavy silence of God.  The more we experience Him, the more our hearts will yearn to be with Him.  You may at times experience homesickness or even a holy loneliness that thirsts to be with Him.

• repentence -  As we grow to see Him more clearly, we see ourselves more clearly.    What we see stirs within us our great need for Him and for forgiveness and cleansing and healing.  We see our brokenness and grow even more astonished that He would desire us.  During worship, we can lay out our needs before Him in honesty and confidence knowing that He truly cares and desires our wholeness. 

When I began this series, I mentioned that worship is divided into two actions.  First, we feel something in our hearts, and then we express in some appropriate manner what we are feeling.  Confidence, reverence, admiration, fascination, adoration, repentance - These are some of the things we feel along with great love.  The more we love Him and think upon Him, the more we will desire to love Him.  That love can be expressed in any number of ways - bowing, kneeling, weeping, being silent, raising hands, dancing, shouting, being generous, observing communion, laughing, etc.  I encourage you to follow your heart.  Listen to Holy Spirit, and do what you feel is appropriate.  Be bold.  This is the reason we were created.

I have really enjoyed writing this series.  Everything in bold print I owe to A. W. Tozer.  Much of the rest is my ramblings or seeds planted in me by somebody somewhere in the past.