Worship God (Rev. 22:8-9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR

12/07/2005

My Worship Time                  Focus:  Worship God

Bible Reading & Meditation             Reference:  Revelation 22:8-9

            Message of the verse:  “8  I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.  9  But he *said to me, ‘Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.’”

            It seems to me that this is the second time that John has been told by an angel not to worship him, but that he was a fellow servant of God, and then the angel tells John, “Worship God.”  I would suppose that because of the awesomeness of this angel that John got carried away, as I am sure that this was a very traumatic experience for John to go through, somewhat like what Daniel went through when he would receive messages and see visions that came from God to reveal to him the future.  John saw a lot of death and destruction in this vision from God, and it must have had a profound affect on him.  One of the things that I am sure that bothered John throughout all of this was the judgments on the lost.

            The angel tells John to worship God, and this is a short, but true statement that all believers need to follow, because like John, believers may tend to worship other things instead of God, and this is a good reminder for all believers in every age, from when this letter was written up until the time when Christ returns to set up His Kingdom, and throughout all of eternity.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is a difficult thing to worship only God, as there has been and still are things that I put before God and rob Him of the worship due to Him.  Anything that carries me away from the worship of God is an idol, and even though I do not bow down to wood or stone idols, there are times when I worship other kinds of idols, like the TV, or like the gifts that God has given me to enjoy.  Paul wrote about worshiping the creation instead of the Creator, and if I worship things that God has given to me this may fall into that category. 

The Word of God has brought conviction and a challenge to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

My Steps of Faith Today:  Worship God and Him alone.