Dictations From The Spirit

Revelation 5:8: Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

There are some things in life that are natural responses to an event. If you put your hand too close to a fire, your natural reaction will be to pull back because of the increasing heat. If your home sports team scores a touchdown or hits a homerun, the natural response is to be happy and cheer the success. The mere presence of the situation should draw out a natural reaction. In today’s verse, the scene is the throne room of God in heaven. A scroll with seven seals is being held by God the Father. The question is asked who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals. Initially, no one was able to either open it or even look at it. Eventually, the risen Jesus – the “Lamb as though it had been slain” took the scroll.

This is an awesome scene, and the stunning presence and realization of who Jesus is causes the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders to fall down before the Lamb and begin to worship Him. When these people were confronted with the totality of who Jesus is (the Son of God) and what He has done (paid the ultimate sacrifice to save believing humanity from its sins), their natural response was to fall down and worship Him. This should be the objective of every person who calls on the name of Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Savior. As you get to know Him through His Word and more deeply discover His character and further your understanding of the extent He went to for you to understand the depth of the love He has for you, you will find worshipping Him more and more natural.

For many believers, worship means singing and praising God, and that is a good, yet partial component of worship. Worshipping God also includes serving Him through doing your best to obey His commandments. Jesus, knowing the simplicity of our minds, narrowed the Ten Commandments down to two – to love God and love others. He said that by obeying these two commandments, they satisfied all the requirements of the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:40) From 1 Peter 4:8, we hear that love covers a multitude of sins. Where we are going with this message is if you choose to pursue knowing the Lord who saved you, you should find your heart shifting from worshipping yourself or someone/ something else to worshipping Jesus. This change of heart is a beautiful thing because you will discover that worshipping Jesus is far more satisfying than worshipping anyone or anything else.

Why? Because you were designed by God to do this. A primary purpose of your existence is to serve and worship God. This may sound self-serving to the non-believer. Once you take the step of faith and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will discover that worshipping Him is no less natural than reacting to the heat of a flame or rooting on your home team for their success. The foundation of worship is love. Worship is a natural outpouring that comes from the acknowledgement of the love God has for you and the love you have for God. As you get to know Jesus, that love He has for you will build up a new love in you that will fuel you to obey His commandments to love Him and love those around you. This is a beautiful fruit of a relationship with God. Life becomes far more purposeful and rewarding when you are regularly worshipping the Lord.

If you’re not feeling the natural response to worship God, then you should go to prayer and ask Him to help you as to the reason(s) why. We can assure you He will let you know. He will because He loves you, and He knows that what is getting in the way of this natural response is a stumbling block to your relationship with Him and your relationships with others. There may be pain you experience in removing that stumbling block. However, the ensuing joy you will experience in the freedom and release to do what you were designed to do – to worship the Lord – will far outweigh the pain. Does worshipping your Lord and Savior seem a natural thing for you to do?