The Hebrew word most often used for worship in the Bible is šāḥâ, שָׁחָה, shaw-khaw’, Strong’s H7812. It means to bow down. This is particularly important.
The word worship, the heartbeat of the word worship has nothing to do with music. We want to as students of the word get to the heartbeat about what the Bible has to say about worship. If we are created for worship, we must understand what that means.
What is God after? What is he looking for in my life? What does worship mean? It does not mean what we think. It is not a midtempo song where we sit, soak, and cry. No, the word worship really, it is almost uneventful. It means to bow your head below your heart. That is the biblical definition.
Bow Your Heard Below Your Heart
That is what we do when we worship. Every time you worship the Lord, again, going back to the Hebrew word, you are taking logic, you are taking reason, you are taking everything you think, and you are submitting it to love.
This is an important principle. When you worship you do not necessarily have to comprehend it all. This is one of the dangers of being a people influenced by Greek thought. What I mean by Greek is we think like the Greeks, we think linear. We use Aristotelian syllogism for how we process reality.
Aristotelian Syllogism is deductive reasoning. Socrates is a man. Man is mortal. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. That is called Aristotelian Syllogism or deductive reasoning. That is how we have been trained to think about everything.
The way that we operate in our life is when it makes sense. I will obey when I have clarity or understanding. I will obey when fill in the blank. That is not the biblical way you worship or obey.
In fact, you see this precedent where the Lord would say obey first. Obey first and then understanding will come. What is the most basic form of worship? What does it look like? The most basic form of worship is trust.
If you have trust issues, you will have worship issues. You dance and praise Sunday at service, cool, hopefully you burn a few calories but that does not mean you worshiped. “Well, I worship.” No, you expressed, but do you trust God in your heart? Do you have more trust in your anxieties than you do in the Lord’s faithfulness?
Worship, bowing the head below the heart. You are going to find yourself many times in situations where God is saying do this and it does not make sense. It is not rational; it is not comfortable.
When you bow your head below your heart in love, you are driven by radical love. When you love that way. There is no price too great. Everything becomes worship because I am driven by that love for God that touches every aspect of my life. It is impossible to worship that way if you do not know God.
Control vs. Worship
The number one reason, we have an issue with the Lord is because we like to be in control. If you are going to be a worshipper, you must give up control. Every time you see these men in scripture, and they would see the Lord, they would throw themselves down. They are giving up; they are losing control of themselves.
That is what we do when we worship. What you agree with is what you worship. What you worship is what you enthrall. Worship is agreement with God.
First, we agree with what God says, that is the most important thing and that is where everything begins. Tozer, “the most important thing a man can think is what he thinks about God.” All of worship simply begins with do you have the right revelation of God or not? If you do not have the right revelation, if you do not agree with who he is, you will end up worshipping something else.
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician who authored a famous book called Pences, which means thoughts and he would write his poetic thoughts in mathematical rhythms, and he had a great statement. It is one of the greatest statements ever. ‘God created man in his own image and then man returned the favor’ and that is what we worship.
Most of the reason you are disillusioned with God is because you are not worshiping God. You are worshiping the God that you have made, that you have fashioned, that you have formed and not the Lord himself. We must have revelation and understanding of who God says he is about himself.
We agree with what God says about men. You can worship God the right way or the wrong way. Very simply put, you will either worship trying to get God’s attention and God’s approval, or you will worship in response to the attention that the Lord is giving you.
In other words, if our motivation for worship is to get God to look at us or to love us, that is idolatry, and it is a rebuke on the character and nature of God. Anything we do to try to get God to love us is an insult to what God has revealed about himself. I must have clarity about how God feels about me. It is important that you know “the why.”
It takes God to love God. How do you grow in love for God? You first grow in your revelation of God’s love for you. We do not want to worship as orphans. We want to worship as people that understand we have been accepted and loved by the Lord.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, “man distances himself from God and then blames God for the distance.” He goes on to say this, “the question of the ages has never been where is God? The question has always been, where are you, Adam?”
When man fell, what did man do? Man did nothing. Man did not realize he had fallen. When did man realize he fell? When man heard God’s voice. Because compromise does not know how to receive love.
What happened when man sinned? He came out of agreement with God, and he came into agreement with the sin.
God gave dominion to man in the garden. When man fell, he gave up his dominion over the earth to Lucifer. That is the power of worship. That is the extent of the power of agreement so much so that man forfeit his dominion.
We must agree with what God says about the earth. God desires to restore the earth.
Acts 3:21 Whom heaven must receive until the [a]period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
He sits at the Father’s right hand until the restoration of all things. He is going to restore the earth. If we do not agree with that, then we will be bad stewards of the earth. Why is it important that we are stewards of the earth? Why? Because we are what? Priest.
Priests steward the earth. Why do we steward the earth? Because we worship God, and we believe what he says, and we believe he is going to restore all things. Why do things need to be restored? What happened when we fell? We gave up dominion of the earth.
The Serpent
Let us talk about the serpent the devil himself. This is a principle when you worship you come into an agreement with something. What you agree with, you will give authority and dominion to. Adam and Eve come out of agreement with God and into agreement with the serpent and therefore they gave up their dominion. They gave up their authority of the earth over to the serpent.
Genesis 3:1-5, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from [a]any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpent will twist, pervert, and manipulate. What is he doing? He is trying to get Eve out of agreement. Do not talk to the serpent. What did the Archangel Michael do when he fought with Satan over the body of Moses? He said, “the Lord rebuke you.” In other words, what did he say? You go deal with Jesus.
The sin did not begin in the eating of the fruit. The eating of the fruit was coming out of agreement with God. When you come out of an agreement, your worship stops. The servant said to the woman, you surely will not die, which is a lie she was going to die. For God knows in the day that you eat it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.
There is a problem. Man was made in his likeness. Do you see what he is doing here; destroying her identity and she is buying it. Notice what he is attacking. He is not attacking the Lord; he is attacking her identity. He is attacking the way she views herself before God. And the very thing she was created in the likeness of God, he said, oh, he does not want you to be like him.
Genesis 3:7-8 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves [b]loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the [c]cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
You start hiding from the presence of God when you do not know what God says about you, when the presence comes, you hide among the trees of the garden.
Because of the fall of man, Adam and Eve handed over their dominion over the earth to the serpent. We were created to be priest of stewardship over the earth. They gave that up, thus giving him authority over its inhabitants, creation, and leadership of the nations. This is especially important. Why is creation groaning with eager longing, with eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God? Because creation, according to Paul, the book of Romans chapter eight was submitted to a temporary deprivation. Why?
Ephesians 2:1-2, And you [a]were dead [b]in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the [c]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Paul alluded to Satan as the temporary ruler over this earth and over this age. Why? Because man gave up his authority. They came out of agreement with God and into agreement with the serpent. Paul says he is the prince of the power of the air.
Ephesians 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, [d]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the [e]mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
In other words, until Jesus returns to the earth, until the time of the restoration of all things, the dominion that Adam had was handed over to Satan and is still in effect.
John 12:31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
John 14:30 I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
How does Jesus depict Satan? The ruler of this world.
Luke 4:5-6 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of [b]the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and [c]its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
This is the temptation of Jesus. Satan is tempting Jesus. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time because of every kingdom that ever existed and every kingdom that would ever exist and the last kingdom.
The devil said to him, “I will give you all this domain or all this dominion and its glory for it has been handed over to me and I give it to whomever I wish.” Does Jesus correct that statement? No, because it was true. This is the power of worship. The destiny of the nations is dependent and connected to your worship.
What you agree with is what you worship. Worship is agreement with God. Number one, we agree with what God says about God. Number two, we agree with what God says about man. Number three, we agree with what God says about the earth.
How will you agree with God this week?
About the Author | Jose Diaz serves on the senior leadership team of Global Catalytic Ministries and is also the Director of Maranatha Collective. This article is a transcription of a lecture Jose Diaz gave at The Ramp University in Hamilton, Alabama.
Be the Underground Church
