8 Practical Steps to Worship God in Spirit and in Truth

Jesus said, “The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth.” This can be found in the book of John, chapter 4, verses 23 – 24. Just before these sentences, He said, “You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.” What if we do not know what we’re worshiping? What if we don’t know how to worship? If we don’t know these things, how can we be certain we worship God in spirit and in truth? Do we place so much faith in Gods’ grace that we don’t worry about offending Him? Or do we ignorantly assume Gods’ grace that offending Him is of no concern?

The Definition of Worship for Unified Understanding

Words change meaning over time. Cultures change, people often associate words with slogans. Reading English from the King James Translation is even difficult for the modern reader. To begin, it is good to clarify a definition for the word worship. In scriptures of the Old Testament written in ancient Hebrew, worship is a verb, an action word. It meant to bow down and was done in reverence. It displayed a humble worshiper before the object to which they bowed before. Often, a worshiper would prostrate themselves before an object, person, or to worship God or gods. The New Testament scriptures written in ancient Greek, continue to use the word as a verb. Worship was an act of going down on the knees in reverence. It also meant to kiss the ground while prostrating before a superior. Worship was a physical, submissive, show of respect to a superior.

Act and Know Worship

Unifying the meaning in Scripture is not difficult. It is clear that worship is a physical action word. Worship is a bowing down, or prostrating oneself, even kissing the ground. It is a demonstration of relationship. One is humble and submissive, the other is superior and in authority over the worshiper. It is a show of reverence. In modern English, worship has remained in reverence in definition. Worship has also become a noun, defining a position in title. As a verb, it is more loosely defined as an expression of reverence often spiritual in nature. Worship is ritual with creeds, it includes ceremony. Love, adoration, and honor are associated with worship. It has become less specific in the physical expression and more emotionally specific. One must contemplate the effect Christian doctrine has had on reshaping the word over time. To worship God now includes adoration.

Putting it Together with Another Question

The scriptures are clear that to worship God is action. It is humble, reverent, and relational. One of the ten commandments’ states, “You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them”. If one becomes relational with an object, they are delusional. Artistic eyes and ears on human made objects cannot hear or see. Demonstrating inferiority before them is forsaking the truth for a lie. It is also spiritual. Usually, it is believed in faith that these objects are a type of gateway to something superior. So, people worship that which they do not know, and in fact, is a lie. Their spirit may be engaged, but the truth is not in them.

Faith

Faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which are visible. Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Paraphrased from Hebrews 11. Many people are passionate about the truth of things. They understand that relationship with made things is not truth. Unfortunately, their passion still revolves around made things. They believe truth only exists in the visible and seen things. They spend their energies on discounting the spirit, and at first glance, it would seem they are more in line with worship defined in scripture. But to worship God, one must worship in spirit.

The Rules

Surrounding the ten commandments are rules and ways of relationship with the Lord. Building a spreadsheet of dos and don’ts would seem the logical thing to do. Indeed, it was done and expanded upon. Growing acts of reverence and humility were performed and a lot of it pleased God. Except, God is a personal being, God is relational. Going to a temple made by people cannot be worship itself. Sprinkling blood from a lamb on an alter made by people is an obedient act of worship and one might think all is well and good. God spoke through the prophets and made it clear that their worship displeased Him. They went to worship God but did not do it in spirit.

Acts of Reverence

The Lord said, “This people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught”. (Isaiah 29) “People speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’ They come and they sit, and they hear words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. It is to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; they hear words, but they don’t do them.” (Paraphrase of a passage in Ezekiel 33).

Salvation was coming through the Jews, but they worshiped that which they did not know. To worship God is to know Him relationally. That is going to engage the spirit, as God is spirit and invisible. Visible acts of obedience are not the same as the invisible acts of reverence. Consider the difference of responsive acts between a police officer and a loving parent. One is likely to be calculated and limited. Another is likely to be free in spirit and creative. So, worship is acts of reverence. What is meant by spirit and how is it engaged with acts of reverence?

What is ‘in spirit’?

To worship God, there is going to be an action. It is crucial here to remember that God is omniscient. God knows the past, present, and future, including what people are thinking at any given moment. God knows thoughts and is there even in the secrets of every person’s being. It may be simple to behave reverently before a dignitary that is disliked. But if that dignitary were able to know a person’s every thought and feeling, the reverence would disappear. The acts of past disobedience behind their back would be known. The reverence performed before them would be a lie. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”. Because Jesus knew hearts, He even called His priests offspring of vipers. (Matthew 12:34) So, spirit is invisible and produces speech and action.

More of What Jesus Has to Say

Worship God in spirit is going to mean a new spiritual birth. Jesus explains it best. Here are key sentences from John 3. “Unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom. Unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Son of Man is lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Paul summarizes in Ephesians 2, “God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved”.

Correct Response

It is through faith in Jesus and by Gods’ grace, people respond to Him and become His people. Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Paraphrased from Hebrews 11. If a person has not been born again in spirit, there is no faith in God, and if there is no faith in God, one cannot worship God, to which every individual will give an accounting. So, does being born again automatically cause one to worship God in spirit? It would be appropriate to say that this enables one to worship God in spirit, but this does not equal acceptable worship. It is important to worship that which one knows and to also worship God in truth.

What is ‘in truth’?

Highlights from John 14 record Jesus’s view on truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you know me, you know my Father also. The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you. Because I live, you will live also. One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

Keep Truth in Relationship

Jesus is truth. If one is born again in Christ, the spirit of truth lives in them forever. This is essential, but state of being is not left alone as a box to check off for salvation. Jesus says, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.” Christians love Jesus, and they keep His commandments. To worship God in spirit and in truth is going to require action similar to the response of a servant to master, a child to parent, or guest to host type relationships examples.

Remember three big commandments; love God, love others, go and make disciples. These are summaries of the commands with many applications. The highlight of what the truth (Jesus) has spoken, I want to draw attention to who the commands belong to. The Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, are the originator of the commands. Christians follow God, they do not create their own commands. If one is to worship God in spirit and in truth, they are doing it in response to God. Truth is not human discovery; it is God revelation and people respond. Salvation itself is from the Lord. People may be born completely depraved; they may be able to make good choices to do good things. But God alone reaches out to repair relationship with Him, and all people need Gods’ help. What has God revealed about worshiping Him?

Liturgy and its’ Relevance

Liturgy is a ritual, or set rituals, typically performed in religious gatherings. Hebrews 3 records that Moses was a servant in the house of the Lord. God was the builder of the house. The Christ (Jesus) was the son of the builder. What Moses did was a testimony for what Christ would fulfill and make perfect. Rituals prescribed by God to Moses were required symbolic duties to be performed until the Christ would come and be the very thing the symbolic duties symbolized. This is why Christians do not perform Old Testament rituals. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of those rituals. The spirit involved with the performance of these rituals did not go away, it became focused in Jesus. The blood sprinkled on the alter that did not actually forgive sins became forgiveness with the blood of the Christ, Jesus. Liturgy is a tool to worship God, according to God.

The Builder, the House, the Servant and the Tools

So the builder, God the Father, builds the house and His son, Jesus the Christ, makes perfect completion of all the tasks of the servants of the house, Moses. However, every believer is being sanctified and matured into godliness until the day they will fully undergo glorification and become new, perfect people. (After this life). Until then, they learn, they transform, they endure with tools God gave to do this. This process takes place after repentance, the turning to God as God. It is God who calls, people respond to worship in spirit and in truth. The God who calls daily is the God who sanctifies daily. Jesus was perfection but Christians do not become perfection with Him until glorification. There is value in visiting elements God once prescribed to worship Him and applying them to post Jesus resurrection living.

Point of Note

Liturgy was prescribed by God to Moses. Liturgy was perfected in Jesus. It is greatly valuable. However, it should be noted that Jesus said, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men”. The grace of God and the forgiveness Jesus provide have no limits or final lines for the believer. A believer who does not practice liturgy is forgiven, is being sanctified, and is saved. Salvation is by grace alone, not of works. Liturgy is now descriptive and provides a works-based framework to help understand God and what pleases Him. It is not an earning of His grace, that is impossible. Liturgy to worship God is initiated by God, God designed, God focused, and God led. God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful and can do anything that pleases Him, but His actions will always be in alignment with His character.

Identified Liturgical Elements

Liturgy is often comprised of specific elements that categorize a ritual or practice. These elements typically consist of call, praise, confession, declaration of absolution, hearing Gods’ word, responding to Gods’ word, and the benediction. These are categories of action in relationship. In liturgy, one will recognize position as well as acts that guide worship. To worship God, a person must be born again. To worship God in spirit and in truth, growth in understanding God takes place in the heart and in community. Within the freedom of Gods’ grace are numerous ways of application of liturgy. Take time to consider how these steps lead to you worship God in spirit and in truth personally and in community.

1. Call

God alone is worthy of worship, and He alone calls His people to worship Him. His people lovingly respond, coming together in community, humbly, reminded that without Gods’ grace, they are unworthy to worship God. All people are born in broken relationship with God, He alone reaches out to repair it. Each individual is called personally, but the calling is for the joining of a community. The community is referred to as children of God. They are brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes Christians are referred to as the bride of Christ. Other times Gods’ people are servants in a kingdom. The call is personal, universal and the response is individual and communal. Positionally, the caller demonstrates authority, and the responders are submissive to that authority.

Creative Calling

There are examples of a call to worship God, initiated by God, in the Bible. One that likely stands out for many Christians is in Romans 1. Paul explains that the invisible qualities of God are in all of creation for all to see. People may respond in glorifying Him, giving thanks, or not. In Psalm 105, there is response because of what God has done and what He has promised. Churches today still ring bells to call congregants to begin worship, prelude music is played, and opening prayers are made. There are no designated styles or ways of God calling people to worship in the Bible. He is incredibly artistic and creative. He might speak through a burning bush or He might use a prophet, like Isaiah. God often glorifies Himself through His peoples’ participation. He makes each person unique and special for His purposes.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do you approach corporate worship? Are you responding with your community, or are you engaging in tradition that does not mean much to you? Are you segmented off in the congregation? How do you approach God privately? Do you respond, or do you feel God responds to you? Do you wait for God to show up, or do you attend to His presence? Is your private response to God reverent to Him, or in the same way you see everyone else? If you are born again, Gods’ Holy Spirit is within you calling; Gods’ word is in the Bible, speaking. You are enabled to worship God in spirit and in truth, pray to Him your eyes and ears are opened that you may respond.

2. Praise

Praise is an expression of approval, gratitude, and respect. It is an expression of thankfulness for Gods’ grace. God owns everything and gives according to his infinite wisdom. He is omnisapient, perfect wisdom. God is also sovereign. As perfect sovereign over all creation, God holds the keys to the distribution of anything. Rain, sunshine, hail, food, floods, etc. Even the breath of life. God owes no one anything and He has authority to give and take away. Anything a person or community has is, in reality, given by God. Praise in spirit and in truth recognizes this sovereignty and omnisapience in every circumstance. Trust in Gods’ character even through troublesome times produces praise. The sovereign gives, the citizens and children of the sovereign are needy recipients.

Praise is a celebration that may be applied in many ways. Paul and Peter write that God gave gifts to His people for the building up of faith in unity. These gifts are unique and varied, but they are to be used in the body of believers to build it up. In the New Testament there are many examples of praise. Jesus gives thanks at the last supper. The Psalms are full of praise, often finding Gods’ grace in the midst of turmoil. Some churches will recite Psalms of praise, some sing praises, some praise through the telling of testimonies, and others through the various talents of the members. A person does not have to be worldly blessed with happy feelings to worship God. Praise is found in His grace; thanksgiving for the ways that God provides care in every circumstance.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do you express gratitude to God for what He has done? How has His wisdom helped you? Have circumstances occurred in your life that you disliked and later found that God allowed these in His wisdom? Have you expressed your gratitude to Him for them? How do you express your praise in the congregation? Do you share with your Christian friends? Is there an outlet in a worship service to express praise? Do you approve of what God has done or is doing? How are you working out your doubts? Does focus on this help or hinder in spirit and in truth to worship God?

3. Confession

Confession is a recognition that people fall short of the glory of God. Gods’ word states that no one is righteous. People broke the relationship with Him and continue to reject it. That is sad. More than that, because of the break, humans declare themselves sovereign over their lives while receiving Gods’ gifts. This is the opposite of truth. This causes an enemy type of relationship against God and people live in unrighteousness. Gods’ holiness is hostile to unrighteousness. Self-reflection and sorrow are appropriate responses as well as repentance. People make God grieve and make God angry. Turning towards Him, and not away, is what He wants so He can express His compassion and mercy. By nature, a lawbreaker and judge relationship exist with confession. Confession is deep in spirit and in truth.

Early in Biblical reading, God is grieved He made people. Lazarus died and Jesus wept. In Colossians Paul declares that before Christ, people are dwelling with evil in their minds and are enemies of God. There are many prophets that proclaim words against Gods’ enemies. Some churches offer silent times for inner confessions. Others promote public confession in the church. Some exercises include writing confession on paper anonymously and adding it to others in a bowl. Some confess to priests or deacons. Corporately churches often highlight confession during the Lords’ supper. There may be many ways of application, but confession is a critical component to worship God in spirit and in truth.

Consider with Your Spirit

The relationship with God is broken. How does this make you feel? Have you felt sorrow about the brokenness? Have you considered the ways in which you are or have been an enemy of God? Do you think the brokenness happened to you, or did you participate? Are you a victim of circumstance, or are you a participant? Do you think it’s fair God saw you in brokenness or that you were an enemy? Have you prayed with Him about this? Do you see daily broken and enemy signs? How does recognizing your depravity help you with depth of love for God? For others? How does this help you worship God?

4. Declaration of Absolution

This is a practice of the gospel with thanksgiving for forgiveness. Absolution breaks the reflection of unworthiness and falling short. It is good news that God is merciful, compassionate, and faithful. God has redeemed and saved the sinner, the needy, the enemy. God has a plan to magnify His glory throughout His good creation in and among His people. All that is necessary to accomplish this plan was finished in Jesus. Through faith in Jesus and by the grace of God, people can participate in that plan as they are brought to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. For those who do have faith in Jesus, this is the enablement to worship God in spirit and in truth. For those who do not have faith, it is not only impossible to worship God, but there is also no authentic desire to worship God.

Faith, Absolution, To God be the Glory

By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac. He concluded that God could raise up even from the dead. He believed in God, who credited it to him for righteousness. In faith, the criminal on a cross next to Jesus said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Many churches spend a great deal of their messaging on absolution. Easter Sunday is focused on this message. Songs are written, dramas enacted, and movies created. For the believer, absolution is the release from guilt and punishment. Recognizing absolution suggests the position of a guilty person before a person of power who may grant release, or enforce sentencing. This is great news for humans, properly viewed, it is God focused, set in His glorious plan. To worship God in absolution is to magnify His glory.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do you practice the gospel? How often do you consider the gospel? Do you know how to proclaim the gospel? Is the gospel about you, or about God in your testimony? How does absolution affect your gratefulness? How does absolution unify you with other Christians? Have you needed absolution after becoming a Christian? Have you prayed about this with God? How vulnerable are you in Christian community about the need for absolution?

5. Hearing Gods Word

As a community hears together, so the community is accountable together. Gods’ word is for His citizens, for His servants, for His children, for His bride. God employs hierarchy. He is sovereign, creation submits to Him. Though people may be equally fallen sinners before God, God does appoint authority for His purposes. He gives teachers, pastors, evangelists for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ. Each person is personally accountable to Gods’ word, but as stated earlier, each person has been called to community. This community is to be working to build up the body of Christ to attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. To worship God in truth is to learn truth and teach truth in community, rooted in the source–scripture.

Truth and Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16, “Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” All that the Scripture teaches or intends to present as truth, is true. The entirety of Scripture is true. The Messiah and Christ written of in the Old Testament are Jesus in the New Testament. If a Christian wanders from the truth and someone turns them back, the one who turns a sinner from the error of their way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. From James 5. Turning someone from sin requires discernment of truth. The community is accountable to each other and ultimately to God. Transforming in spirit and in truth is not a requirement for salvation, it is a requirement of community.

Good churches read scripture and good discipleship teaches Christians to read scripture. Good Christian communities share scripture and study it. Gods’ word should be read and should be the source of the message from the priest or pastor. Most churches read and reference scripture. Gods’ word may even be sung. Though positions of authority are given to teach scripture, Gods’ word is never meant to remain static with those in authority. Gods’ word is for everyone to hear and understand and one day teach others. There are many ways Gods’ word may be heard or read, but faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith does not come through instrumental voice or dance. These may be great mediums for praise, but words from scripture need to be specifically voiced and heard to worship God in truth.

Consider with Your Spirit

How much weight do you put on scripture to dictate the truths of life to your life? Is scripture authority, or your understanding? Do you read scripture for understanding or for instruction? When was the last time you wrestled with scripture? Is there truth you don’t like? Is there truth you don’t know how to share? How is scripture shaping your Christian community? Are you growing in truth? In what ways are you transforming your mind? Are you conforming your mind? Who in the community is helping you? How are you growing in spirit and in truth?

6. Responding to Gods Word

Joyfully responding to Gods’ word in community is obedient and pleasing to God. Gods’ word is meant as communication for understanding, and it is a mistake to receive it as simple instruction. Though instruction may be included, Gods’ word reveals His character and His ways. To simply obey commands fights against the flesh and does not foster joy. Hearing Gods’ word may take some analyzing, meditation, and even prayer to ask God for help. God rewards those who seek Him and when understanding opens eyes and ears, joy is in the heart. Jesus is engaged in spirit and in truth. When this happens, response to His voice leads one directly to worship God and pleasing Him. Positionally, response of the hearers (Gods’ people) is an agreement (or ‘Amen’) to what was authoritatively spoken (by God). It is like employees to the boss or generals to the president.

Specific Response

Response is reflected in a multitude of ways that often displays the many gifts given to congregants. Some examples include baptism, blessing one another, testimonies, tithes and offerings, intercessory prayer, etc. All response is for Gods’ glory and honor and in accordance with what pleases Him. In comparison to the praise given Him earlier, this is focused on scripture that was just heard or read. God is truth and God transforms His people towards holiness in Him, in truth. It is specific though applied in countless ways according to His omnisapience. In spirit and in truth, the people agree to what was spoken or written and celebrate communally, and worship God in faith and by His grace.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do you feel after hearing or reading Gods’ word? Is it too difficult, outdated, easy, wonderful? How do you communicate with God about this? Do you feel accountable to what you have heard or read in scripture? How does scripture change your thoughts and actions? Is scripture a daily bread or a weekly worship bread? How do you share this with others? Do you feel accountable with the other Christians you worship God with? How do you use the gifts God gave you to respond to Gods’ word?

7. Benediction

This is the closing element that is in harmony with the opening. God calls and God dismisses with blessings for the ongoing mission each believer is tasked with and in the community in which they interact. Jesus gives believers mission in His statement to all believers, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you.” The call may be an example of authority to submissive servant, but benediction suggests a Father to children type of relationship. Children receive blessing, their mission is to help other children. They help their brothers and sisters and are reminded there is no special nationality, race, or works of righteousness. All people are unified in the living God, through Jesus, Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, In spirit and in truth.

Corporate Blessing

In a service, this is always a closing element. There are often specific passages of the Bible used to bless the congregation. In Numbers 6, God spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.’ You shall tell them, ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you and give you peace.” In 2 Peter 1, Peter begins his letter with a benediction. “To those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”. Blessing from God is always in spirit and in truth, as it is in Christ.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do Gods’ blessings affect you? Do you share them with others? What are some of Gods’ blessings in your life? Do you know how Gods’ mission is lived out in your life? Do you know your mission field? How are you being equipped for your mission work? Are you growing and helping others grow in the Christian community? Do you worship God alone, in community, or both? If alone only, consider how community is affected by your neglect to help them. Consider how you are limited in isolation to worship God. If it is not by choice, pray that God will help you connect with other Christians.

8. Worship as a Physical Act

Worship services are typically some sort of liturgy, comprised of specific elements that categorize rituals or practices. But the word worship in the Bible is a word of action. It is to bow down, or prostrating oneself, even kissing the ground. It is a demonstration of relationship and a show of reverence. One is humble and submissive, the other superior and in authority over the worshiper. To worship God, one physically bows or prostrates themselves in His presence. Even in the presence of His angels, angels are quick to respond that only God is worthy of worship.

If one meets the Queen of England there is tradition that describes what one may say, as well as appropriate physical response. Men are to bow at the neck, women are to do a small curtsy. When entering some churches, it is appropriate to remove one’s hat. Reading of the scriptures often requires the congregation to stand in respect. Many still ask congregants to kneel or bow their heads during prayer. The community joins as one in the physical act of demonstrating humility and reverence during a service. In the Old Testament, Jews were to go to the temple to worship, according to all that was prescribed through Moses. Jesus told a woman at the well, “The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth.” Through Jesus the temple is no longer a place to visit, it dwells within the believer.

Consider with Your Spirit

How do you physically express submission and humility when attending corporate worship? Do you want to express more? What holds you back? How do you express submission and humility in private worship? Do you think worship is a location or things? Is worship a practice? How can you bow down in spirit and in truth to worship God? Do you believe God has made a home in your heart and it is now the temple? How might this change your thoughts? Are there daily practices or habits to reconsider? How might private worship be different than corporate worship in your life?

Jesus said, “You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth.” To worship God in spirit and in truth is first to be born again with a living spirit, Jesus. Then, it is to become aware that worship is Gods’ action and people’s response. He is the object of worship and is the igniting active authority of worship. God will exalt the humble and humble the proud. He has given liturgy as a guide not simply as instruction, but of ways. For pre-Jesus people, they needed to follow instruction with faith. For post-Jesus people, it is wise to gain wisdom from the instructions to increase faith.

Wrap Up

To worship that which one may know is response to truth, declared by God. It is to bow down or prostrate oneself in submission to the living God. It is not self-discovery. God calls to sinners for salvation, restoration, and worship. Sinners respond. They give praise for the things God has done and for who He is. Sinners confess their false presumptions and hatred of God and His ways. They confess sin and God interrupts with a declaration of absolution. Sinners respond. God speaks through His word and the listener and reader respond in agreement. God blesses His children. To worship God is to personally engage; to worship God in spirit and in truth is to engage in Christian community.

Like cultures, different churches represent different preferences or styles. Like different cultures, there is often a different way of thinking of things and doing things. It must never be that style is mistaken for truth. God created everyone unique and gave gifts to all His children. These are for the building up of the body, not for tearing it down. These are also expected to be used. Because Jesus is the perfect worship, there is no longer a requirement of duties and rituals. There is simply the requirement that to worship God, one must do so in spirit and in truth. Truly, this manifests as one is transformed through the very soil of the Nature of Joy.

Resources and Notes

All scripture in this article is from the WORLD ENGLISH BIBLE (WEB). The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.

This is a reliable translation, but it is always good to read other translations as well. Biblegatew a y.com has a multitude of translations to read from. It is a great resource.

Another great resource is Biblehub.c om. There are multiple translations, commentaries, and so much more. Great research can be done on this platform.

One more I use regularly is Gotquestions.org. This is a great site to answer questions and find threads of related questions.

There are many resources. The key is that God wants relationship directly with you, the individual. His primary source for revealing who He is and growing in intimacy is His word, the scriptures. Don’t just read for instruction. Analyze and read for understanding. Explore, ask questions, and be transformed in Jesus every moment you possibly can. There is no dispute this is a key desire of God. People are brough to the Father, in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This… This is the Nature of Joy.

Jeremy is an author, musician, and business intelligence manager. His mission is to equip and encourage those in Christ, to equip and encourage others in Christ. Jesus, Christ, is the Nature of Joy and melody of the heart. Jeremy unites business analytics (business intelligence), songs, and Scripture for Christian living in the power of the Holy Spirit.