Prophetic Word 2024 - Day 45: Worship requires obedient surrender.

“Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And 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.””

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭22‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Yesterday we discussed the fact that worship is a dimension outside of our familiarity. Worship is the dimension where the limits of the space-time continuum are transcended. Worship is the place where we touch the Face of God.

In yesterday‘s discussion we looked to a couple of scriptures we will revisit today, focusing on an important aspect found in each.

When Jesus was telling the disciples that He would pray to the Father and they would receive the Helper, we see that there was an important precondition:

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.“

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Without adherence to the Lord’s commandments, we cannot be led by the Helper, the Holy Spirit. And without the help of the Holy Spirit, we cannot be a true worshipper of God.

As well, as Jesus was revealing to the disciples that He would now call them friends, this new relationship with the Lord was also contingent on obedience.

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

John‬ ‭15‬:‭10‬, ‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In more than one of John’s letters, he makes clear the connection the Lord made between being obedient to Him and belonging to Him.

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.“

‭‭I John‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.“

‭‭I John‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We can see through overwhelming evidence, that without obedience to the Lord, there is no relationship with Him. Therefore, we couldn’t possibly expect to have access to the worship dimension.

Yesterday I gave you a portion of the prophetic lesson the Lord gave me in October 2009 on the topic of “True Worship.” We will go a little further in that lesson today.

“All that you have ever known will evaporate in My Presence as you leave who you are and become who I AM. You fear being lost; and yet it is that fear that keeps you lost in the confusion of your own experience. All that comes against you from the enemy seeks to erase the divine image. His desire is to make you forget the moments of brief exhilaration you experience when you approach My Presence without the hindrances of your own agenda, your preconceived notions, your fear. Acknowledging Who I AM brings glory to My Name, transforming you from one who dwells in time, to one who has touched Eternity.”

Sadly, many people fall short of a true relationship with the Lord, fall short of true worship, because of their fear of loss, or of “who they are” being lost, if they surrender to the Lord.

Now, these same people probably do not consciously admit that they are withholding from the Lord because of their fear of loss, or of being lost. However, that dynamic is often behind reluctance concerning obedient surrender to the Lord.

In our opening scripture we see the Lord requiring Abraham to surrender Isaac, the son of promise, on the altar. Notice, Abraham tells those who had made the journey with him, that he and Isaac would BOTH return after they went to WORSHIP the Lord.

As the writer of Hebrews points out, Abraham knew that if God promised something, it would come to pass, even if it required Isaac being brought back from the dead.

“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.“

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Child of God, we cannot hope to have a real relationship with the Lord, we cannot hope to experience true worship where our spirit touches God’s Spirit, unless we are walking in obedience to Him, surrendering what we must to be able to follow Him to where He Is.

Yes, we must surrender how we thought things should be or look. We must surrender what would separate us from a perfect union with Him. And make no mistake, obedience is surrendering. Without obedient surrender, there is no true worship.

We will talk more about this tomorrow

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#resolveforhim