The
enemy of worship is the world, the flesh, and the devil. Paul talks about each
of these in Ephesians 2:1 – 3 by describing the dead life of living in sins, following the
course of the world, and the devil. The devil is described as working in the
sons of disobedience through the passions (desires) of the flesh and of the
mind. This is the strategy of Satan. He works from the outside in with a lie through
the desires of the body and the mind with the heart as his target.
God
works from the inside out with the Truth, and with Himself and the world as His
target. He works by the Holy Spirit, through the Son, working in you, with you,
through you, as you, before the Father and the watching world around you, for
His glory and for your joy!
In Genesis
3:1 – 6, you find the strategy of Satan to work from the outside in with the
lie, first by casting doubt on the provision of God by questioning all that God
had provided, “Did God really say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.” He
did not even mention the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve did. The
first temptation was that God could not be trusted to satisfy their appetites,
according to His word. This was the first lie. The second lie was that they
needed to satisfy their own appetites, and they could, without any regard for
what God had said.
Under
their own authority rather than God’s, their own physical, mental, and
spiritual desires took over, “…the woman saw that the tree was good for
food…a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise…” But
notice the direction, from the outside in. The Tree appealed to their physical
appetite for food. It was beautiful and peaceful to look at. And there was a
hunger for what it appeared to give if it was embraced and communed with by
consuming it.
The
devil’s strategy has not changed and neither has God’s. Beware of being led by
your appetites rather than what God has said. Know what God has said. Trust
what God has said. He is good, all the time and all the time, God is good. And
He will fully satisfy and fulfill your deepest longings with Himself, according
to His word. This is what worshiping the Father in spirit and truth looks like!
Today,
worship the Father in spirit and truth by asking for new and deeper hunger for
what He has said. Then, eat and be satisfied!
Yes, a misdirected appetite can lead anyone to self adoration and perdition. Yet, an appetite for God can lead you to a place and time when you will Know and be Known. I submit that the wonderful stories you tell, which are word pictures that lead us to worship, came from a appetite for God. And that appetite was born out of time when you learned to SEE God in nature, the sky, the river, cattle, horses, wind, stars, ,i.e. His Creation. We worship what we develop an eye for and as David lay under the stars and could see the glory of God manifest in the heavens and the providence of God in his daily life, we can only worship with eyes that have seen these things and see God in them. I posit that you learned to worship as a cowboy taking care of a farm and a young family and your experience and appreciation for God presence with you then led you to leave with your family by a call that God gave you. When you hugged the barn roof pole and wept, it was not a selfish act but one of bereaving the separation from that which had made the relationship to God so deep, so real that you were afraid that the appetite you had for God could not be met in another place. So with eyes that were trained to see and then to worship, you now teach others to see and to worship. Thank you opening eyes to a richer and more fulfilling appetite.
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