The Life Surrendered!

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
John 4:23‭-‬24 NLT

The word "worship" Jesus used in our anchor text originated from the Greek word proskuneo' while it's Hebrew equivalent is shachac which implies a posture submission, reverence and acknowledgement of God's sovereignty.

It would therefore interest you to know that Jesus was not talking about the songs we sing with lifted hands, actually, those songs were meant to be an outflow of a heart posture and a life totally surrendered/submitted under God, the lifted hands and bowing down also are simply a sign of that surrender.

To surrender/submit is to give something completely, to yield oneself to a superior force, to be obedient to a superior authority.

So what was Jesus actually saying in that scripture?

He was simply saying, the Father seeks those who will truly submit, yield their hearts, lives and the entirety of their beings to Him in reverence and acknowledgement of His sovereignty (your body and all there is to you inclusive).

God is really not interested in the many activities/things we do for Him as much as He is interested in a surrendered life and so He desires that our lives, hearts, bodies be submitted to Him so everything we do for Him and all the songs we sing can flow from that life (this is the true worship).

He desires to have first place in your life, He desires to walk life's journey with you, He desires to actually lead you and all these He desires so to help you fulfil His plan for your life as the greatest enemy of man is man i.e a man who has not yielded himself completely to the Lord is the greatest enemy of Himself which is why the Apostle Paul tells us to walk in the Spirit/be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:12-14 & Galatians 5:16-18).

There is a life the Father desires for the believer to have; the life laid down on the altar as worship, the life of total submission and actually what happens at new birth is that we lay down our lives (our sinful nature) in exchange for the life of Christ (His Holiness, righteousness and all there is to Him) and the journey of total reverence and  submission ought to begin from that point but many do not truly understand this exchange and so do not truly harness it.

This is why we also receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit after giving our lives to Christ as just as a mother does all the work in physical birth, so the Holy Spirit does all the work in the new birth and upon our faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit enters our spirits, regenerates us, and begins His work of transforming us into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and one of the key characters we see in the person/image of Christ is a life of worship/total submission and surrender to the Father (Luke 22:42, John 12:49-50).

A child born newly who doesn't begin his journey of growth will remain a child and same applies to the new birth, a journey of growth into becoming just like Christ ought to begin from that point which is why we have the structure of discipleship.

Dear believer, the life Jesus wants you to have is the life that has been totally yielded to the Father as that is the only life He can truly use and this yieldedness/submission/surrender is a daily thing I.e He wants to have first place in our lives everyday, He wants to lead us every day which involves death to self and total submission to the Lord as we can not truly submit to the Lord without death to self (the flesh and the Spirit are enemies) which is why the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31 that he dies daily.

Receive grace to let go completely of the flesh, submit yourself under the mighty hand of God and live that life of worship (reverence, submission and total surrender) to the Lord!

The peace and grace of our dear Lord be multiplied unto you!

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