Monday, May 08, 2006

The Throne Room: Place of Adoration (Part 1)

The Throne Room in the Mansion of Prayer is where we take time in our prayer life to praise God for who He is. This is adoration. This is worship. There are actually three words used in the New Testament that are translated worship. One means “to adore.” Another carries the idea of serving without compulsion. But the most common word for worship is transliterated “proskuneo.” It literally means “to kiss toward” and was the idea of throwing a kiss as a token of homage or respect. This was part of the ancient oriental mode of salutation.

When we enter the Throne Room of adoration, we take the time to show our respect and homage of God as we focus on who He is. Why is it that we have so much trouble with this concept today? The truth is that we have created many hang-ups to the idea of true, genuine worship. A few of these hang-ups include:

SELFISHNESS! The number one hang-up to true, genuine worship is realizing that it’s not about me. It’s all about Him. I will on occasion hear a person say, “Well, I can’t worship if there going to play that kind of music.” Really? Since when does my own personal preferences have anything to do with whether I can worship God or not? I personally do not like country music. But if I can’t worship God when a country style song is being used, the problem isn’t with the style of the song. The problem’s with me.

STYLES! There are many different styles of music that are used today in worship. There are praise choruses and there are the traditional hymns. There are fast songs and there are slow songs. There are songs that repeat a lot and songs that don’t. Now I am sure that all of us have difference preferences when it comes to styles. That’s okay. In fact, that’s good. But may I use this blog entry to remind all of us that one style is not more spiritual than another. It really isn’t. I hear some say that the hymns have deep theology in their lyrics and praise choruses are all fluff. Please! We cannot elevate one style above another. Don’t get me wrong. I love the hymns. I grew up on them. But I also love the praise and worship choruses as well. Both are equally effective.

STRUCTURES! Some get hung up not being able to worship because they are not in a church auditorium with pews and stained-glass windows. Again, there is nothing wrong with pews and stained-glass windows, but this is not a necessity to effective worship. Read Matthew 2:11. Worship is not enhanced by a building. In fact, according to Revelation 21:22, there will be no worship building in heaven. Our bodies are the temple in which God dwells (First Corinthians 6:19). This means that I should be able to worship God any place that I am.

SERVICES! Some believers only worship God when they are attending a church service. Worship isn’t as much an activity as it is a lifestyle. I need to make worship a part of each day and a part of my prayer life on a regular basis. When was the last time you entered the throne room of adoration as you hung out in the Mansion of Prayer?

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