John 4:23-24, “23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
To worship God in spirit means to, “love and adore God in one’s spirit through the Holy Spirit.” The Bible teaches that you are a spiritual being living in an earthly body (Genesis 2:7). You are more than just a body with five senses. You are a spiritual soul created in the image of God to be in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Your spirit and the Holy Spirit are similar in substance, though different in identity (one divine and the other human). Yet they can be in relationship with each other.
Ira David Sankey wrote in his classic hymn, The Old Man Has Been Crucified with Him, “In spirit mingled, we are one, O Lord, the human and divine in one accord; yet thou must have a proper faculty, that all thy glorious personality, may be expressed. So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today, that it may be thy home in every way, a place for thee to come and settle down, and all thy grand recovery work to crown, in one new man.”
Worshipping is the place where we can be the closest to God in our spirit. Just like with prayer, spiritual worship is based on communicating and sharing our heart with God.
When Jesus said in Matthew 22:37 that the greatest commandment is to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” this is the same kind of command to worship God with your spirit. You are to worship God with everything on the inside of your heart and what happens on the inside should be expressed on the outside with singing and thanksgiving. Though singing songs and raising your hands in worship is commanded, the most important thing is to totally love and adore God with everything in your heart. If you’re not right on the inside, what you do on the outside will never please God.
God gave the priests of the Old Testament a foretaste of spiritual worship when they went to the temple in Jerusalem and encountered the glory of God in the Most Holy Place. Once, in the time of King Solomon, the presence of God came so powerfully in the temple that the priests fell to their faces and couldn’t even go inside (2 Chronicles 7:1-2).
Paul also wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 that because God’s Spirit dwells within every disciple, we can experience the presence of God in freedom and go from “glory to glory.” Worshipping God in spirit may be expressed in many different ways (i.e., singing, kneeling, praying, thanksgiving, etc.), but the result will always be the same; God’s presence will come and fill your life. Make time each day to love and adore God with your spirit and get ready for Him to invade your atmosphere!
Reflection
Do you worship God in spirit?
Action
- Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in spiritual worship right now.
- As you worship in your spirit, be sensitive to the moving of God’s Spirit and do what pleases Him in the moment. By worshipping in this way, your love for the Lord will remain fresh instead of becoming stale and religious.
- Worship God with everything on the inside of you as He leads you throughout the day.
