Intimacy with God: Be Intentional Part 3

Our working definition of intimacy is a warm, personal, private friendship developed through a long association.   

The question we are working to answer in this blog series is this: What does intimacy with God look like?   

As I state each week, while this is not an exhaustive list, I believe intimacy comes through our times in prayer, worship, reading the Word, meditating on God, and soaking in the Lord’s presence. 

Over the next couple of weeks, I want to unpack the topic of worship.  Websters online dictionary defines worship as: 1. to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power. 2. to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.i 

The Bible describes worship with a different tone than it does praise. While praise is often described as joyful and energetic, worship is an expression of adoration and reverence.ii 

To worship something is to prize it above everything else. To honor it as the thing of highest importance and to act accordingly.iii 

As we begin it is important to identify who we are worshipping.  Throughout the Bible we encounter idol worship, similarly in today’s culture idolatry runs rampant.  As I wrote in a previous blog, an idol is anything that you hold in higher regard than God.  "You don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol." - Dwight L. Moody 

In Matthew 4:10 we read Jesus’ words during his temptation in the wilderness. “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (NLT) 

In Exodus 20:3 we read the words of God the Father, You shall have no other gods before or besides Me. (AMPC) 

Who do we, as Christians (followers of Christ) worship?   

First, we worship the God of creation. Genesis 1:1-2, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (NLT) 

Our God is the only God who can create!  All other gods (demonic forces) are subject to using the things God created and twisting/perverting them to fit their cause of evil. We know that the pinnacle of God’s creation was man.   

Psalm 66:4 says, Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in glorious songs.” (NLT) Here we see that all of creation worships God, however only man was created with the free will to choose the object of our worship.   

Throughout Scripture we are called to worship the creator God.  In Psalm 95:6-7 the psalmist compels us to worship, “Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.” (NLT) 

Second, we worship the God of covenant relationships. A covenant is a relationship between two partners who make binding promises to each other and work together to reach a common goal.iv 

  

There are five covenants found in the Scriptures: the Noahic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant.  

The Noahic Covenant is found in Genesis 9.  Here God makes a covenant with Noah. God confirms his covenant with a sign. Genesis 9:12-13, Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.” (NLT) 

The Abrahamic Covenant is found in Genesis 15. Genesis 15:18-21, So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River— the land now occupied by the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” 

The Mosaic Covenant is found in Genesis 24.  Genesis 24:7-8, Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again they all responded, “We will do everything the Lord has commanded. We will obey.” Then Moses took the blood from the basins and splattered it over the people, declaring, “Look, this blood confirms the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these instructions.” (NLT) 

The Davidic Covenant is found in 2 Samuel 7. 2 Samuel 7:11b-16, “‘Furthermore, the Lord declares that he will make a house for you—a dynasty of kings! For when you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do.  But my favor will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’” (NLT) 

The New Covenant was foretold in Jeremiah 31:31-34, “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” (NLT) 

It was confirmed by Jesus in Luke 22:20, After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” (NLT) 

Thirdly, we worship the God of redemption. The dictionary defines redemption as: 1. the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. 2. the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt. 

In the Old Testament, redemption involves deliverance from bondage based on the payment of a price by a redeemer. Fundamental to the message of the New Testament is the announcement that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of Israel's messianic hope and that, in him, the long-awaited redemption has arrived. Deliverance of humankind from its state of alienation from God has been accomplished through the death and resurrection of Christ.v 

Psalm 130:7, Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. (NIV) 

Psalm 111:9, He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever— holy and awesome is his name. (NIV) 

Isaiah 44:22, I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. 
Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (NIV) 

Ephesians 1:7, n Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor. (AMPC) 

Colossians 1:13-14, [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins. (AMPC) 

From the creation of the earth and mankind God has been demonstrating His faithfulness, love and worthiness to us.  We serve The Creator God, The God of Covenant Relationships, and The God of Redemption! No other is worthy of our worship!!! 

Works Cited:

ttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worship 

ii https://soveryblessed.com/bible-verses-on-worship/ 

iii https://www.lwf.org/gods-desires-for-you-a-biblical-guide/what-is-worship-according-to-the-bible 

iv https://bibleproject.com/blog/covenants-the-backbone-bible/

v https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-redemption/