MY HEART OF WORSHIPER

"19 speaking among yourselves with psalms, with hymns and spiritual songs, singing and praising the Lord in your hearts;"
Ephesians 5:19

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Paul tells us about four things that can be part of your moment of worship. A spiritual song is given when you flow in the Spirit; It is the spontaneity of the heart to express what it feels for God in the form of a song that was not known. Hymns are lyrics in which you worship the greatness of God; You leave the center, and you focus on Him. The psalms were songs already authorized in the Scriptures, which the people sang from generation to generation; Expressions of joy for the victories that God had given them. And when he says singing and praising, he means blessings. It is when we celebrate God for liberation; Unlike hymns, they have another sublime concept, another experience; The focus is the greatness of God.

Source

The people of Israel knew how to worship God with all their being. And, in the Old Testament, there are two concepts that show us the heart with which we should worship. The first, the Shema, which is passed down from generation to generation, and refers to the essential statement of faith.

"4 Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 And these words that I command you today will be on your heart; 7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes; 9 And you shall write them on the posts of your house, and on your gates. "Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

The instruction here, the Shema is to say "Jehovah our God, Jehovah one is," repeatedly, and "I have to love you with all my heart"; It was to say it every day, wherever you go, to tell God "You are my God; One is my God "; That was the essential statement of the Jewish faith. The Jew ties a box in his hand and puts it on his forehead; In that box he has the biblical verses. It will seem crazy, but they do it because the Bible says, literally, that you have to tie the Word in your hand and put it on your forehead; And they tie themselves to the Wailing Wall, declaring the blessings and moving because God said that when you do, you have to be fully involved. Your mind has to be in this; Your hands, your body have to be active. Some fall asleep when they pray because they pray at 11:00 pm in bed, with the air conditioning on; In these conditions, no one can pray more than ten minutes. You have to focus on who you're talking to; That is the Shema, your declaration of faith, to tell your mind and the whole world, in whom you believe.

"28 One of the scribes approaching, having heard them arguing, and knew that he had answered them well, asked him: What is the first commandment of all? 29 Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is: Hear, Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the main commandment. "Mark 12: 28-31

Jesus could not declare that he was a Jew, if this was not known. But he added something else to the Shema, and said to the scribe: You who want to know so much the first, I'll give you the second:

"31 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. "Mark 12:31

In other words: In the first, there is no discussion; But there is a bigger level: You will love your neighbor as yourself; There is no commandment greater than these. The Jewish-Christian faith is summarized in these two. You have to learn to love God, to know the God that you serve him, declare him and profess him; And, when you go to prayer, it starts that way. You can not go to pray or adore, if you do not know to whom you are going; He is your God, and He is one; This is essential. The scribes tried to make the Lord wrong and put another Shema, another essence to the faith; And Jesus says: No; It remains: Jehovah, my God, is one.

The second concept of what is the moment of worship is the Amidah, 18 blessings that the people had to know and be aware of, whenever they presented themselves before God; They were 18 words of wisdom and knowledge. Everyone who goes to worship has to know that God delivered him from something, that he freed his family, that He is the one who provides it. The Our Father, fulfills all these. "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come Thy will be done ... "It was a short version of the Jewish Amidah; When you were going to worship God, you had to remember all the things He had done for you as a provider, deliverer. In an Amidah, they declared: Blessed are you Lord, our God - which is another version of the Shema, an expression that first says: You are my God. Christ.

God strong and powerful, fearsome, God Most High, dispenser of good mercy, creator of everything and remember the mercies of our fathers and bring redeemer for the children of their children for the praise of His name in love, King you help, King you save and defend, blessed you, Lord, shield of Abraham, provide the living with love, give life to the dead with abundant mercy, You are strong, You give life to the dead, You are Lord, great in salvation, support the fallen , heal the sick and free the captives. "Powerful statement. When you go to pray, to worship God, you have to be clear that you are praying with the only God, the one who saves, the one who has had mercy through the generations, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The idea of ​​these two things was to keep the people in the right heart in their relationship with God.

When you understand these two concepts, you understand the concept of worship, and your heart and your life change.

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