God never creates anything inside of us (be it a need, an urge, or a drive) where He does not, also at the same time, provide a channel that can fulfill that need, that drive, and that urge.
A very good example of this is hunger. We have something that’s called a “hunger drive”. This is the need to feel satisfied through one’s appetite. So when the drive for hunger hits, it is balanced by simply eating and enjoying the food that we want to eat. It works the same way in the area of marriage and sex. God also put a sex drive in us, allowing us to find the fulfillment of that drive within the context of marriage.
Here’s the principle that we need to understand: For every urge and for every drive that we have, God provides a way of fulfilling each one. And one of the urges that God wants to meet is our drive to worship a higher being. God has implanted within us, within our spirits, this need to worship Him.
Misinterpreting the Drive
Here’s the big problem: We can totally misinterpret this drive to worship God.
How?
Misinterpreting the drive to worship happens when we try to fulfill “the urge to worship” in the same ways that we fulfill our physical, emotional, and mental needs. We incorrectly discern the drive to worship when we attempt to satisfy that drive by doing physical or soulish things. Through our body (physical activities) or through our soul (thoughts, emotions, will).
But if the drive to worship comes from our spirits, then doing those things in the body and the soul will not scratch the itch, not even a bit. Our soulish efforts will never truly satisfy our urge to worship God. We have to remember that worship is our spiritual response to God’s love, which is a spiritual stimulus. Therefore, worship is a spiritual thing.
If this is true, then what does it mean to fulfill this drive to worship God in spirit? And how do we actually access the drive from the spirit?
The Source of Our Drive
In John 4, Jesus talks to the woman at the well and gives her a promise: “that the water I shall give you shall be a well of water, springing up to everlasting life.”
When we continue reading the Gospel of John, that well becomes a river, and that river becomes rivers of living water flowing up from within us.( John 7:37) From John 4 and forward, Jesus clearly identifies the well, the river, and the rivers, as being the Holy Spirit.
According to the Scriptures, this river also known as the Holy Spirit, is not flowing in us, it is flowing out of us. And if it’s flowing out of us, where is it flowing to? It is flowing back to its source. It is flowing back to God. So, when the Holy Spirit flows through us back to God, it is something very special – and that is what we call worship.
It simply means this: We cannot worship God without the Holy Spirit. It’s absolutely impossible. Moreover, we can’t have the drive to worship God without the Holy Spirit. Why? Because No one knows the Father and the Son more than the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-14). It is only the Holy Spirit who can perfectly and accurately reveal to us who God is as the object of our worship. Remember: Our worship must always flow back to God. And if we don’t know who God is, which we can’t do without the Holy Spirit’s help, then our worship is all in vain. It won’t be true worship at all.
As you reflect on these truths today, ask yourself these questions: Do I have that strong drive for worship? Do I have an intimate and personal relationship with the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit? Iis God the object of my worship?
