We need to desire to grow spiritual habits to strengthen spiritual worship. This devotional reading looks at what these desires are made of and what their focus should be.
Nuggets
- Desire should be fueled by spiritual motivation, resulting in spiritual worship.
- Desire leading to spiritual worship should be intense.
- Desire leading to spiritual worship should focus on seeking God.
We’ve been talking about spiritual worship. The foundation of the series has been Charnock’s portion of the sermon Spiritual Worship.
Resource
Charnock had been discussing what is needed to develop spiritual habits.. I put his words as the title of this devotion. He talked about spiritual desires.
Let’s take a look at the verses Charnock referenced to support his point.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the Finding Jesus through Spiritual Worship study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this series is Menander and Charnock’s Spiritual Worship.
Resource
I used Charnock’s wording as the section headings.
Desire in Terms of Motivation
“I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory” (Ps. 63: 2 NLT)
Desire should be fueled by spiritual motivation, resulting in spiritual worship.
Some may think the word desire mainly has a sexual connotation. It doesn’t.
Desire is synonymous with want. Pastor Steve said something about going to Dairy Queen the other night. We didn’t get there, but I have been desiring it ever since.
I wasn’t really sure what the verse Charnock referenced had to do with desire.
But the very first line from the very first sermon I read is a great one. Jay wrote, “Desires are, in some respects, better evidences of real religion than actions themselves.”
Resource
Oh, yeah. Just stepping foot into the sanctuary isn’t enough. Acknowledging God’s power is great, but is that even enough?
The last thing we want to do is be insincere when we go into God’s house.
In other words, our desires must be the product of spiritual motivation. The object of our actions must be God. Therefore, God must be in our motivations.
Our desires must be more than “Hey, a dilly bar sounds pretty good right now.” There has to be a longing associated with them. “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God” (Ps. 42: 1 NLT).
The intent of our spiritual worship should be to see God in all His power and glory.
Where did David say he was going to see God? In His sanctuary. In His house.
Yes, God is with us 24/7/365. That doesn’t mean we never have to set foot into a church building.
As disciples, we should want to attend church regularly. We should desire the closeness with God that we can only get by meeting Him at His place. There is no substitute for corporate worship.
We need to want to meet with like-minded believers. We learn so much from them. When our worship is combined with theirs, God is praised even more.
This is all part of seeking God. We must hear His Word.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17)
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3)
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16)
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11)
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2)
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11)
What? Are you questioning whether we really can see God’s power and glory? Power is God’s energy. Glory expresses the essence of God — His majesty, splendor, and beauty — representing the attributes of God resulting from the authority and holiness of God.
We can see God’s glory. We see it every day in the world He has created.
But more importantly, we see God’s glory in our soul.
We also see God’s power in the world He created. His energy is needed to sustain all that He has created.
James argued that we can only see that with committed attendance at worship in God’s sanctuary. This isn’t a once a year — not even once a month — attendance. This is regular attendance.
Resource
We come to the house of the Lord to learn of Him. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that His promises are true.
By growing closer to Him, we turn away from the power of this world. We gain in strength.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Desire in Terms of Intensity
“I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely” (Ps. 63: 8 NLT)
Desire leading to spiritual worship should be intense.
David told us the intensity we are to exhibit when we desire something. Since we desire God, we are to cling to Him.
Think about a toddler clinging to the parent. The more scared the little one is, the tighter the grasp.
For disciples, this clinging is to bring spiritual obedience.
Is it just me, or does it seem like we are adding the word spiritual to new things? Spiritual worship. Spiritual motivation. Spiritual obedience.
It is logical. Our worship, motivation, and obedience must get to the heart level. It is based on faith.
Tonse told us of the support God gives us when we do get our spiritual worship to the heart level. We are rescued from falling by His right hand, which sustains us. We are kept from fainting.
Resource
The King James Version translates clings as follows after. I can see that.
We are to follow Jesus. “Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me’ (Lk. 9: 23 NLT).
If we use our terminology, we say we have to seek Jesus. We have to seek Him in faith and love, as we talked about in the last devotion.
Listen to how Shanks said this ties into desire. He wrote, “Desire is the stepping of the soul in the way toward God, the fountain of our blessedness and glory; and the stronger and more lively desire is, our motion in following after Him will be quicker and faster.”
Resource
We are to want to follow God through the good times and the bad.
What David is saying is we have to adhere to God. New Testament terminology calls is abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ means to permanently be in God in mind, spirit, and heart; resting in Him; and completing His purpose for our lives.
We have to grab onto God, latch on, and keep on so we can follow Him and be sustained by Him.
Desire in Terms of Thirsting
“I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?” (Ps. 42: 2 NLT)
Desire leading to spiritual worship should focus on seeking God.
We talked about the verse before this one in the first section. It is about the deer panting for water.
Liddon interpreted this psalm for us. He said the psalmist was probably in exile, cut off from temple worship.
Resource
But the psalmist isn’t missing the worship. He is missing God.
Tuck agreed. He put it this way: “This Levite thought that he wanted Jerusalem, and the Temple, and the sacrifices, and the feasts, and the music. But a self-revealing time came, and he found that his soul was really craving for God. His love was athirst for God.”
Resource
It isn’t about the spectacle of the service. It isn’t about good music, good sermon, and good friends.
It is about spending time with our Heavenly Father. It’s about building our relationship with Him.
Maurice had a really interesting sermon. Let me try to summarize it.
We are to thirst after God, but there are some in our worship services that aren’t really doing that.
Our first thought may be to jump up and down and call them Matthew 7: 21 disciples.
Maurice cautioned us to remember we were once there and we may get there again. Thirsting for God us what we are striving for because it is His way, but His ways are so far above ours (Isa. 55: 8-9).
Resource
I think Maurice’s bottom line is people who are not thirsting after God have to examine the motivation behind why they are not thirsting. If they are sincerely trying and not succeeding, that is one thing. But if their goal is not to thirst after God, something is wrong.
I also see that our church must be made up of believers and non-believers. If there are no non-believers in our midst, we are not fulfilling the Great Commission to make new disciples.
Everyone is seeking some form of god, whether they acknowledge it or not. It can’t be some worldly draw. This isn’t an intellectual pursuit.
We have to make sure we are seeking the One true God to put our faith and trust in Him. We have to seek the living God.
We can’t gloss over the intensity part. We have to be wholeheartedly seeking God. It has to be continual.
But Tuck made a really good point. The psalmist realized he needed God when he was not engaged at all in spiritual worship. Basically, Tuck said things had calmed down enough for him to see what he was missing.
That was so much better than the rich man in Jesus’ parable. He was thirsty, but what he was wanting was relief from hell fires.
We don’t want to wait that long to be thirsty.
Making the Connections
Why is our desire to follow God busted? We would jump up and say that it is the pull of the world.
Shanks begged to differ. Yes, he did say that we allow worldly things too much importance. He also said there are some character flaws, such as unbelief, pride, and sinfulness, that have too great of a hold on us.
But Shanks gave two other good reasons.
- We don’t keep track of the state of our hearts. We don’t evaluate where we are at on the Sanctification Road.
- We don’t follow what God says to keep on track. We don’t seek Him.
Resource
To me, that smacks of not being genuine disciples. We want the blessings, but we don’t want to put in the work to be exactly who God calls us to be.
We have to make sure our hearts are right.
How Do We Apply This?
- Renounce and turn away from the world.
- Choose God.
- Align our motivations with His.
Resource
Father God. It is our desire to worship You to please You. We want our total focus to be on You. Help us as we seek You. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.