This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

------

                           True Worship

Child of Mine, I love it when you worship Me, but only when that worship 
is heartfelt and sincere. 

Some of My own offer Me what they think is worship, but it doesn't feel 
that way to Me. For example, some come to a church service and sing 
songs along with their congregation, but their minds wander and their 
thoughts are far from Me. They tell themselves, "I am worshipping when 
I don't feel like it," and they walk away believing that they have 
offered a "sacrifice of praise." But all that they have done is to go 
through the motions, and that is not the type of worship I am looking 
for. In fact, it leaves a sour taste in My mouth and it brings Me no
pleasure at all. 

The type of worship that pleases Me is that which bursts forth from a
grateful heart. I enjoy the type of worship that takes place when the 
love that you have for Me overflows out of you in tangible ways. It 
brings Me pleasure when you remind yourself of all that I have done 
for you, until your faith and gratitude mix together to result in 
spontaneous expressions of praise. I love the excited shouts of joy 
that arise as you fill your mind with thoughts of Me. I also love it 
when you just draw close to Me in adoration and come sit quietly at 
My feet, waiting for Me to speak to you. I love it when you express 
your love to Me in songs, proclamations and dance. I love it when you
meditate on My word and remind yourself of My goodness.

When you come to Me in sincerity of heart, you express the type of 
worship that brings Me great pleasure, and that is true worship. Dear 
one, I get excited about you when you get excited about Me. I find 
Myself longing to reveal more of My tangible presence to you when you 
come to Me hungering and longing for more of Me.  

You will discover that when you worship Me in these ways, I am going 
to respond to you--for true worship was never intended to be one-sided
or one-dimensional; it is a two-way interaction between creation and 
Creator. The more you worship Me, the more I will meet you in that 
worship, and the more I will reveal Myself to you, which will result 
in you wanting to worship Me even more. Both of us will take great 
pleasure when true worship is offered and received.

Dear one, I long for your worship--for that type of worship where you 
hunger and yearn for Me, so that I might saturate you with an even more 
tangible sense of My presence. I want to breathe in the sweet fragrance 
of your sincere praise, then I want to breathe into you the breath of 
life that comes only from Me. I want to overwhelm your senses with My 
goodness and I want to manifest new depths of My great love for you. 

You will discover that the more you give yourself to Me in worship, the 
more I will give Myself to you. This type of exchange comes only in
deep and sincere worship; you will not experience it if you merely 
"go through the motions." You will not experience it until your heart 
longs for Me and you embrace My ways and learn to obey My commands out 
of a heart of love for Me. So come, little one. Come to Me and allow Me 
to reveal more of Myself to you. 

Learn to worship Me with all of your heart and all of your soul and 
all of your strength and all of your spirit. I will take you into even 
greater depths of experiencing Me as you learn to worship Me in this 
manner, for this type of worship gives Me great pleasure.