MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2026
9:11 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Attitude
of Worship”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
1:46-48a
Message of the verses: “And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has
rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regard
for the humble state of His bondslave;” (NASB)
This morning we begin to look at this first section seen
in the verses above. Mary’s example of
the proper attitude of worship unfolds in four point writes John MacArthur, and
this morning I will begin looking at these points.
The first point is that worship is
internal. As we look at Mary’s worship
we can see that it was with her soul and spirit. MacArthur states that “The two terms are
interchangeable, and refer to the inner person.
True worship, worship in spirit (John 4:24), involves the whole inner
being—mind, emotion, and will. Like the
instruments in a great orchestra, all of Mary’s thoughts and emotions came
together in a crescendo of praise.
“On the other hand shallow,
superficial worship is intolerable to God.
In Isaiah 29:13, the Lord rebuked the people of Israel for their
external, ritualistic perversion of true worship, declaring that they ‘draw
near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove
their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition
learned by rote.’ Jesus applied this
passage to the hypocritical worshipers of His day (Matt. 15:7-9). In Isaiah 48:1, God declared, ‘Hear this, O
house of Jacob, who are named Israel and who came forth from the loins of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord and
invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth nor I n righteousness.” Jeremiah complained to God regarding his
fellow Israelites, ‘You are near to their lips but far from their mind’
(Jer. 12:2). ‘They come to you as people come,’
the Lord cautioned Ezekiel, ‘and sit before you as My people and
hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires
expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain’ (Ezekiel
33:31). Through the prophet Amos God
declared to Israel,
21 ¶ "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I
take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings
and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your
fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to
the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (ESV) (Amos 5:21-24)
Now we begin to look at the second point, which is
true worship is not only internal, but also intense. Exalts translates a form of the verb megaluno,
which literally means, “to make great’ ‘to magnify’ (hence Magnificat) or “to
esteem highly,” “to praise,” or “to glorify.’ Rejoiced, from the verb agalliao, is
another intense word. It is an
expression of supreme joy; in Luke 10:21 and Acts 16:34, it is translated “rejoiced
greatly’ (cf. 1 Peter 1:6, 8). True
worship is spontaneous, not staged; heartfelt, not artificial; God-centered,
not self-focused; mental, not just emotional; it seeks to honor God, not to
manipulate Him. Mary praised God not
only for what He was doing in her life, but also for all that He was going to
accomplish through the coming Messiah writes MacArthur.
“A third characteristic of genuine
worship is that it is habitual; it is a way of life. The present tense form of the verb megaluno
(exalts) suggests that worship happened naturally, continuously in
the flow of Mary’s life. Fluctuating
circumstances do not affect true worship, because God does not change (Mal.
3:6), neither does His word (Mark 13:31), His purposes (Isa. 43:13), His
promises (2 Cor. 1:20), or His salvation (Heb. 5:9; 7:25). Nor is believers’ responsibility to give
thanks in everything (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18) contingent on satisfaction with
life’s circumstances. No matter what was
happening in his life, David could say, ‘I set the Lord continually before
me’ (Ps. 16:8). No one exemplified
that attitude of continuous worship more than Paul, whose goal as he wrote to
the Philippians, was that ‘Christ [would always] be exalted in [his] body,
whether by life of by death’ (Phil. 1:20).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: This third point that MacArthur
speaks of here has caused me to desire to repent for the way that I am handling
what is going on with my wife’s illness.
I want to do something different in this section and that is to quote
the verses that MacArthur brings up in this section in the order that they are
found, as I think that this would not be complete if I did not do this.
“God does
not change (Mal. 3:6)
“6 "For I the LORD do not change; therefore
you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”
“Neither
does His word (Mark 13:31)”
“31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words
will not pass away.”
“His
purposes (Isa. 48:13)”
“13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and
my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth
together.”
“His
promises (2 Cor. 1:20)”
“20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in
him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”
“Or His
Salvation (Heb. 5:9;
7:25)”
“9 And being made perfect, he became the source
of eternal salvation to all who obey him,”
“25 Consequently, he is able to save to the
uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make
intercession for them.”
Nor is
believers’ responsibility to give thanks in everything (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18)
“20 giving thanks always and for everything to God
the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,”
“18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
My
Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire to put into
practice, with the help of the Holy Spirit these principles written above. I know that I cannot do this on my own, but
desire the filling of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this in my life.
3/13/2026
10:03 AM
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