To Worship God in Spirit and Truth. The Complete Guide.

One of the most common and interesting scriptures in the Bible is John 4:23. This verse holds Jesus’ declaration of a new direction worship would take. At first, it sounded as though it was a prophecy, yet again pointing to current and future times. By the end of this article, you will have a clear understanding of what it means to worship God in spirit and truth.

For your information, this is one of the well-known direct principles Jesus stated (John 4:23-24). Despite that, most believers still don’t understand what Jesus meant. It is important to realize that this topic is not only for worship leaders. Rather, it is crucial for every believer who is a worshiper of the Lord.

What Does It Mean to Worship God in Spirit?

Altogether, our worship must be spirit-driven. As a matter of fact, we should remember we have both the spirit and the flesh. Of course, the flesh is carnal, and thus no genuine worship can originate from there. Also, when we become born again, we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17). But it is the spirit that gets regenerated and not the flesh. The body will remain dead because of sin; yet the spirit will be life due to Christ’s righteousness in us (Romans 8:10). Look at that! The flesh is dead! So, can we expect any true worship to originate from a place that has no life? Of course, not.

Reverence and adoration are key terms I want us to grasp. Yes, they can help us understand what it means to worship God in spirit and truth. In fact, these two terms make up worship. The combined meaning of these two words is having and expressing a deep love and respect for God.

This means that true worship should originate from a place of deep love and respect for God. But in the flesh, we cannot find such a deep love and respect for the Lord. I bet we all know how the flesh is contrary to the things of God. As if that is not enough, it is the reservoir of all kinds of sins (Galatians 5:19-21). That said, no love for God exists in such an environment. For this reason, the spirit is the only place where deep love and respect for God exists. And that is why we should worship God in the spirit.

Our true identity is in the spirit and not in the flesh.

Paul teaches us that when we receive Christ, we are no longer regarded in the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16). This means God also regards us from the spirit and not from the flesh. This is why our worship will be in vain if it comes from the flesh. Furthermore, it is in the place of the spirit that God sees us as His righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). That said, who then wouldn’t like worshiping God in spirit – the place where He sees us as His righteousness.

When we worship God in spirit, the flesh doesn’t influence our worship.

Most Christians know the story of Paul and Silas worshiping while in prison. Let us affirm how these people had mastered the art of worshiping in the spirit. Many Christians will find it hard and even frustrating to worship God in hard times. Why? Because they haven’t yet learned to worship God in spirit. Such Christians will worship provided everything is going on well in their lives. But the moment trials step in, everything changes.

That said, we need to be Christians whose worship is not affected by pain or any discomfort in the flesh. This requires an understanding of how to worship God in spirit. Else, if our worship is from the flesh, then anything that harms the flesh will too affect our worship.

This also explains why we shouldn’t base worship on feelings but rather on our love for God. Suppose you are feeling tired, angry, exhausted, or frustrated? Should your worship suffer in return? Or should it remain intact? Provided you still have the deep love for God in your spirit, then the worship should remain intact. This is exactly what Paul and Silas demonstrated to us when they were behind bars. Their love for God was not affected in anyway. Likewise, they worshiped the Lord exactly as they would have done it if they weren’t in prison.

What Does It Mean to Worship God in Truth?

Worship is hard if you don’t know or have little knowledge of what (whom) you are worshiping. In fact, no genuine worship can happen in such a scenario. What does this mean anyway? It means that we cannot worship God without knowledge and understanding of Him. Think of His divine nature and attributes, for example. This is the general picture of worshiping God in truth.

By the way, also note how Jesus brought up the same issue to the Samaritan woman. Jesus told her that she didn’t know what she worshiped (John 4:22). Unlike the Samaritan woman and others like her, Jesus stated how He knew what he worshiped. We are looking at two groups here. The first, representing people who worship what they know. Then the other group representing those people who don’t know what they worship.

How then do we get to know God? It is through His word. The word of God is the truth itself (John 17:17). God reveals His truth to us as we study His word. And now, this is the truth Jesus said we should worship in. The truth, in a similar way reveals to us whatever knowledge we need to know about God. It makes a whole new difference when we worship the God we know and understand. In fact, the more we have a deeper revelation of Him, the more genuine and intense our worship becomes.

The more knowledge we learn about God, the more we love Him.

Let’s look at it from another perspective. The more we know about God, the more we love Him. You cannot pretend to love someone you don’t know. And as we saw earlier, worship is having and expressing the great love and respect for God. So can you see how things connect? The truth we get from the word of God intensifies our love for Him and then also our worship of Him.

It is noteworthy that the truth we get from God’s word does not only give us knowledge and understanding of Him. There are so many other things we get to understand through the truth in God’s word. We need these too, if we we are to have effective worship.

Suppose two people are to worship either through songs or words. Or even through their lifestyles as worshipers. One person has knowledge and understanding that they are a child and chosen one of God (and that God loves them). And the other person has no such knowledge revealed to them. Of these two, who do you think will pour out intentional and effective worship to God? Of course, the first person. The one with the revelation from the truth of God’s word.

Final Remarks

Having understood what it means to worship God in spirit and truth, let us then align ourselves. Let us be the kind of worshipers Jesus said the Father is seeking.