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So far we've talked about the importance of worship, and the object of worship. We saw that we are not permitted to worship any other person or thing than Godhead.

Here, we want to discuss the manner of worship. This invariable is what will make our worship to be acceptable to the Lord.

Can we get back to our main text in (John 4:22-24):

Before I go into the main ingredients that actually make worship to be acceptable to God, I have some important statements to make as preamble.

In worship, not only the one giving and the one receiving, but also the spirit in which it is offered must be acceptable to God. In other words, it is not just the person that is making the offering; performing the act of worship or the offering itself, but also the spirit behind the offering. I am talking about the motive, the attitude, the spiritual disposition of the giver must equally be acceptable to God before worship would be meaningful.

This is so because one may be talking of acting worship, while his heart remains far from God. This we have in Isaiah 29:13, "And so the Lord says,' these people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. And their worship of me amounts to nothing more than human laws learned by rote."

God wants the totality of the man or woman bringing the worship or offering. We men watch the outward performance, but God look at the heart. We may see somebody bringing a cow for thanksgiving offering, claiming it is for God, yet the heart is somewhere else.

I remember an incident some years ago. There was this man, who from time to time makes a feast. He will cook and throw a big party, and people were saying that the man was very generous. Incredibly, we later gathered that this man was actually making annual sacrifices to other gods through those feasts.

In the case of God, He judges the heart. As you already know, very soon politicians will become very active in the church, and they will be making fabulous donations. You might be tempted to think that they are really committed to the things of God, not knowing that they are targeting one political office or the other.

Now, to you who will receive those huge donations with thanks and gratitude, will think they're alright, but God who searches the heart will at the same time see the real motives. God knows the state of the heart and He judges it.

Look at when Samuel saw the first son of Jesse, he quickly concluded,," here comes the Lord's anointed!" But God said no. And he continued onto the man (David) that God saw that was prepared for the project arrived. God judges the heart.

What is highly esteemed among men, might be an abomination in the sight of God. All the above, coupled with the fact that the tendency to degenerate has not spoiled worship over the years, make it imperative that we take a look at certain qualities that worship must possess; in order for it to be acceptable to the Lord.

Now the tendency for degenerate is always present, and it has not spared the church, neither has it spared worship in particular. I will like us to read two passages of the scripture and make a comparison.

First, (Leviticus 23:33):

Then (John 7:2) says:

The same feast that was instituted as a feast unto the Lord, after so many years has degenerate to the feast of the Jews. It came to the point that it was no longer identified with the originator. And when we look at the church today, we can say emphatically that what we're seeing appears to be a degeneration of the feast of Jehovah to the feast of the people. And this is nowhere better experienced than we have it in worship.

Worship is meant to be unto the Lord. But what do we see in churches today? This essential part of our service to God has degenerated to mere entertainment. Most of the things we do in our churches today can best be described as entertainment.

Even the people participating in this so called act of worship sometimes have not God in their sub-consciousness. If you observe keenly, you'd find out that even some of the music and dances in the 'world' have been imported into the church in the name of worship. The only difference now is that some where in the music the name of Jesus comes in.

The question we should ask ourselves is how many of these people have God in their consciousness when they are through with dances? This is not to say that we cannot dance in the presence of the Lord. Yet my fear is that most of those who dance very well in the public might have never danced once in their private devotion. Definitely, they dance to the tune of the music and not responding to the move of the Holy Spirit.

I have danced privately. I have also danced openly, looking at God; the wonderful things God is doing, I mean in my private room, all alone. Occasionally, we find ourselves in this mood; when the Spirit of the Lord moves us. It is good to praise and dance before God, but let it be that God is there.

Whatever we do in the name of the Lord must have God at its centre. To go further, sometimes the comments we make in the church betray our spiritual disposition. To be continued next week.