Worship in Spirit and Truth?!?



by Nathan Howard

It puzzled me for a long time what the heck that phrase meant; worship in spirit and in truth. Does worshipping in spirit, is that with the Spirit, and truth, is that being truthful in your worship... the answer eluded me for ages. God has brought across my path people, ministries and books to answer my question. If you have struggled with this too, hopefully this will help you.

John 4:23,24 - "The hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." - NKJV

There are at least two things that God the Father seeks. It is clear from many scriptures in the Bible that God seeks the lost. His desire is that all would be saved from the fires of hell. From the scripture above, we can see something else that the Father seeks - worshippers. Notice that He does not seek worship as such. God is not so insecure that he requires worship in itself, but He desires worshippers whose hearts are surrendered to Him. The reason that he desires this is so that He can have the relationship with us that He has always wanted; an intimate relationship.

Whether we realise it or not, we worship many things. Although there are many, many definitions of worship, in its simplest form, worship is telling someone (or something) their worth-ship. Telling them how much they are worth to you. Our God is a jealous God, and wants us for himself, just the same as a husband and wife want each other, and desire to be intimate with each other. In fact the scripture in Psalm 22:3 talks about this when it says "God inhabits the praises of His people". That word 'inhabits' in the original Hebrew language literally means to sit down, to dwell as if in a marriage. God desires to be intimate with us, and it is during worship that this intimate time occurs.

I would encourage you to put God in the very highest place in your life and tell Him just how much He means to you. Tell Him how much you love Him. Tell Him just how much He is WORTH to you. Is He more precious than silver? Is He more precious than Gold? Is your trust in cars, money, houses, doctors, employment, etc or is it in Him?

So the Father very much seeks worshippers, BUT He seeks a special kind of worshipper - TRUE WORSHIPPERS! The fact that the Father seeks true worshippers implies that there will also be false worshippers. The scripture here doesn't tell us much about the false ones, but it does describe how true worshippers will worship; in spirit and in truth. Assuming that you want to be true worshippers because you are still reading, lets take the two seperately for a moment.



What does it mean to worship God in spirit?



The next verse gives us a clue. "God is Spirit" If God is a Spirit, then we can conclude that our worship must be spiritual. Just think in earthly terms for a moment. Isn't it puzzling whyu people will stand or kneel in church for hours on end with their hands in the air singing the same songs over and over. Sometimes people will not sing or say anything, but just sit there. What is going on here. No wonder unbelievers find us strange! Looking in the natural realm, it IS strange! However, something that people in western cultures do not often automatically appreciate, is that what we are doing when we worship is some thing SPIRITUAL. It is something that has significance and impace in the spiritual realm, and not in the natural. God is Spirit, not anything natural. If He was natural, you would be able to see Him (and I know we see Him through the things that He does etc, but you know what I mean). We are a three part being - body, soul and spirit. It is our spirit that communicates with His Spirit. Our mind and will and emotions are also used to worship Him (our soul), and we can use our body too - raising arms, clapping hands, dancing. We can worship Him with our whole being, but it is our spirit that worships, led by His Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to worship God in truth?

What is truth? There is nothing more truthful than the Word of God. His Word is truth. When we worship God, it must be according to His truth, and based upon His word. God will inhabit your praises as much as you inhabit His Word.

Finally, I would like to make the point that we worship the Father. In the old testament, they worshipped GOD ALMIGHTY. Worship was an act removed from intimacy, and they worshipped Him as God. Today, we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and we can worship Him much more intimately as Father. The veil has been removed - Heb 6:19 "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Mechizideck." People of God, do not worship from afar. I would encourage you to draw nearer to Him today and everyday. Don't pull back. He loves you so much He wants to spend so much time with you and have such a wonderful friendship with you. Sing this song to Him today as a prayer:

Lord you are more precious than Silver,
Lord you are more costly than Gold,
Lord you are more beautiful than diamonds,
And nothing I desire compares with you.

(I would like to acknowledge Tom Inglis in the writing of this document. For without his revelation through the Psalmody course, I would still be largely be in the dark on this matter.)

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