“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. John 4 v 24 (NKJV)
God is looking for true worshippers, those that worship Him in spirit and in truth. But how? What does He require of us?
The simple answer is He requires your heart.
In Matthew 15 v 7-9 Jesus criticised the worship of the religious leaders:
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
True worship originates from within. It must engage the heart and your affection. As we sing praises from our lips let it not be lip service. He wants to draw near to you as you declare the truth. Jesus says we MUST worship in both spirit and truth. You cannot worship Him truly without the other.
We hear many say that worship is a lifestyle and not just the songs we sing corporately. This is absolutely true! When we gather together to worship it should be an overflow of our relationship with our Father, an expression of love, an act of sacrifice and thankfulness. When we sing in praise it is Spirit to Spirit, a divine moment of intimacy with our heavenly Father. It is something our flesh cannot understand or even comprehend. We have to worship in the Spirit.
It is easy to ‘look’ holy, to raise our hands and sing with enthusiasm in church. But what does your day-to-day look like? Are you spending time with God in the secret place? Are you making time for prayer and reading the word?
Does Jesus have your heart today?