Books

The place God holds in our lives is revealed in our worship. When the heart strays from God, worship is neglected. The sign that there is no relationship with God becomes evident at the altar, because it is the altar that reveals the condition of the heart. As the altar is, so is the heart. When the outward altar is in ruins, it is because the altar of the heart is destroyed. The history of God’s dealings with the Hebrew nation and with the church has taught us that worship has always been the fall or the rising of the people of God; yet, although this revelation is so clear and evident in the Scriptures, our attitude has always been to ignore it. Worship represents intimacy with God as our Husband. The intimate or sexual act between spouses as a couple is equivalent to what worship represents in marriage to God. Worship is the way to be intimate with God, to know Him, and to become one with Him. Worship is the bed of God and the worshiper. As our life is in intimacy with the divine Husband, so is our daily relationship with Him. Idolatry is unfaithfulness toward God; it is bringing into the bed of our intimacy a lover who is not the Lord. Worship reveals whether the church is a pure virgin for Christ or a harlot like Babylon. The restoration of the relationship with God becomes evident when intimacy with Him is restored through worship that is worthy and according to His heart. God cares so much about our worship that He was not content to make us His chosen generation, a holy nation, His own special people, but made us a royal priesthood so that we might worship Him at the level of His royalty. So we are not only priests worshiping God, but kings worshiping the King of kings. To reveal the measure and dimension of that worship is God’s purpose with this book. Pastor Juan R. Fernández shows us that divine future, providing us in this work with the revelation of the priestly office, with the fresh, contemporary, and practical meaning of worship that is according to the heart of God. This work takes us out of liturgical ritual and the ways in which God is worshiped in today’s cultural context, to bring us to the very essence of intimacy with God, but above all to what is His will and delight in worship. If you read this book with a pure, needy, and humble heart, your soul freed from all prejudice, and your spirit made ready to be taught, your life will enter into a glorious and full spiritual dimension; your eyes will be opened to see the King in His beauty, your ears will be made ready to obey the voice of the Spirit, and your heart will be enlarged so that you may understand the fullness of the ways of God’s will in the matter of worship.

God’s purpose, from the ages of the ages, has been for Him to be all in all. Yet it is not unusual that, for one who views the spiritual world from the outside, it is somewhat puzzling to find the deep motivation a person can find in making God his or her All. For a believer, however, it is clear that a work on this subject must prove strongly life-giving, and that, precisely, is what this book is about.

His holy counsel shows the urgent need for the church of Christ to walk in the Spirit, and only God, being “the all” in us, will be able to keep us on that “path” without wavering until the day He returns.

Every attempt to walk in the Spirit could be neutralized if God is not the all in our lives. Understanding that in a spiritual world where humanistic philosophies have tried to redeem the image of man from his position as a “forgiven sinner” to that of a “transformed demigod,” we take the risk that many principles of the Kingdom of God expressed here may prove somewhat jarring to those who conceive of the Christian life only through the “gospel of earthly promises.” But zeal for the Word of God allowed Pastor Fernández to express himself in an open, clear, and direct way, showing in some of his chapters somewhat unexpected traits of confrontation, on topics that preachers have become accustomed to treating in a vague, impassive, and impersonal manner.

Only by recognizing the transcendent importance of what God as the All means for the life of a believer can the effort the author puts forth in this work be interpreted in its true magnitude. Those who love the will of God and pursue the heart of the Father will read these pages with deep delight and joyful satisfaction.

There is no greater honor on earth than to be a minister of God. The honor of the ministry exceeds every other, because the One who called us to serve Him surpasses in honor, prestige, and distinction everything that has been created. No one can esteem the ministry without esteeming God. Whoever does not value the ministry has never valued God. Whoever undervalues the calling does so because he or she despises or does not know the One who calls. The honor of the ministry bears the distinctive insignia of divine election. Everyone who recognizes God as the most important person in the universe will consider his or her calling the most honorable thing they have ever received.

This book is an excellent tool for coming to know more deeply the marvelous work that God has done in the lives of believers. Understanding the things of God without the Spirit of God is impossible, which is why many have limited the new birth to a simple transformation, being unable to explain rationally what it is to be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Through its pages, you will come to understand that God has given us a new nature, so that we may fully live the spiritual life and have a more intimate relationship with the Lord. Each of its chapters will lead you to understand a little more what it means to “walk in the Spirit,” which will result in a noticeable growth in your spiritual life.