In Prayer Closet images we have covered the first third of the foundation true righteousness, and now we are ready to contemplate True worship. True worship is put forth in four areas, giving, praying, fasting and the use of wealth.

Giving

Simply and clearly put giving is what we call offering. In reality an offering cannot be made until a tithe had been paid. The tithe is ten percent of our increase. The offering would have to be above what our personal tithe would be in order to count as an offering. A demonstration of the tithe is made in “the use of wealth”. So tithes and offering are the means of funding the Church which makes them an important part of worship.

An offering is a seed we sow, when we sow seeds we look forward to the time of reaping the increase from the seed that has been sowed. We generally want to nurture the seed until it sprouts and becomes a shoot with root. We then place the tender shoot and root in light moist soil, the soil should be moist but not wet. With proper sunlight and proper nutrients and gasses the plant matures. The shoot grows into a plant that grows into a mature plant ready to produce fruit.

When we think of an offering as a seed being sowed we expect to care for the project that our funding nurtured. We expect to be able to see some fruit from it somehow. For us to see the fruit from the seed that was sown makes us pleased indeed. Not only does it please us but the Lord God is pleased as well. We should give with a lavish hand.

Praying

Praying is the second part of worship. It can be said that without prayer there is no worship. Communication with God, and Him with us is essential. The more we pray the better things tend to be. We are led by the ways of the Lord God. Things will have to turn out in the end the way God has said that it will be. We pray continuously. The more the better. We pray to find out the Lords mind in all things. He wants us to take all things through Him. We should worry about nothing and instead pray about everything.

There is an order and outline that we use when praying. The disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach the to pray and Jesus instructed them that when you pray to the Father you say Our Father that art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespassed as we forgive those that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen. So we use the outline of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and fellowship to construct our prayers to the Lord God.

Fasting

Fasting is the act of giving up something material and having that thing that we gave up put toward a spiritual thing. For example, bypassing that treat that you would have had, and instead praying for a love one’s healing. The healing is done on a spiritual level and manifests on this physical level. The spiritual level is payed for by that which we give up on the physical level. Some would miss a meal or two and then some would by-pass treats and extra things that they would have done and enjoyed, but they paid the price for their request from God with withholding the things. Fasting doesn’t have to be food but can be things that are not food, but things that we wish to do.

The use of wealth

Tithes are ten percent of our increase and because we are partners with God we have access to the World by virtue of our tithe. For it is written “The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof the world and all they that dwell therein”. For that ten percent share we co-operate with God in His plan and by doing so we finance the work of God on this earth. Anything more than this ten percent becomes an offering. A seed sown as opposed to the tithe being a debt owed.

True Worship

Therefore when we Give, Pray, Fast, and use our wealth correctly, we worship the Lord God in the way that He would be worshiped. That is the thing that we are aiming for in our worship of God, a personal relationship with Him.