Worshipping God in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24)
I. TWO PRIMARY COMPONENTS IN WORSHIP: IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
23 True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)
14 The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart… (1 Samuel 13:14)
9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of
those whose heart is loyal to Him. (2 Chronicles 16:9)
A. Jesus highlights the two primary requirements in worshipping, seeking or encountering God as approaching Him in
spirit and truth. He revealed that God seeks for such who worship this way. We must worship and seek God on His terms,
not according our traditions (wrong paradigms).
B. God’s desire for us to worship Him is His invitation to encounter Him.
II. WORSHIPPING IN SPIRIT
A. By the aid of the Holy Spirit – we must cooperate with the Spirit and cultivate a friendship with Him being careful not to
quench or resist Him. The Spirit is our only escort into God’s presence.
11 No one knows the things of God except the Spirit…12 We have received…the Spirit…that we might know
(experience) the things…freely given to us by God. (1 Corinthians 2:11-12)
1. There is a supernatural element to worship that we cannot produce. We cannot go forward when the Spirit is
quenched in our life. We are helpless to encounter God without His help. We prize, watch and guard the prompting of
the Spirit on our heart.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God… (Ephesians 4:30)
2. We cannot feel God’s presence or the power of the Word without a healthy relationship with the Spirit. We
must not strive with Him by resisting to obey Him (Genesis 6:3). We must renounce all that causes the Holy Spirit’s
work in our heart to be minimized.
B. With our spirit (from our heart) – we do this by engaging our inner man with a genuine heart response to God. It is not
enough to just go through the outward motions and mechanics of seeking God.
9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel… (Romans 1:9)
C. We must have sincere intentions to obey God without hypocrisy. There is no substitute for a spirit of obedience.
Seeking 100-fold obedience is different from attaining to mature obedience. If we sincerely seek it, then we are living right
with the Holy Spirit.
III. WORSHIPPING IN TRUTH
A. According to the truth of who God is – He is Father, Bridegroom, King and Judge. We come to God based on the
revelation of His personality, holiness, majesty, and power. The way we understand God’s personality greatly affects the
way that we approach Him. We approach a tender father differently than a harsh task master. The most neglected reality
in the Kingdom of God is God Himself. We must take time to learn of His beauty and emotions. Many today focus most on
increasing their ministry, comfort, friends, and possessions.
B. According to the truth of who we are in God – we are sons of God and the bride of Christ who are clothed with the
righteousness of Christ. Understanding this gives us confidence before God.
17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new. 19 …God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing (counting) their trespasses to
them…21 For He made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
13 Present yourselves to God (worship) as being alive from the dead… (Romans 6:13)
1. Our standing before God’s favor with acceptance is based on what Jesus did for us. We are justified, accepted
or made right with God by what He did not what we do (Romans 3:21-31). God’s righteousness cannot be improved
upon. Our standing before God in heaven will not be more secure than it is now. Our acceptance by God is not based
on our diligence, spiritual maturity, or track record. We have no need to bargain with God as we approach Him after
acting out our sin then repenting and claiming Jesus’ righteousness.
2. Our diligence and spiritual maturity definitely impact our quality of life and ministry, as well as our reward and
function in the age to come.
3. We cannot work through the unsettled issues in our life without confidence that God is smiling on us. Guilt says
that our actions are wrong. Shame says our whole personhood is wrong. Shame hinders our ability to settle the issues
in our life.
C. In our standing before God we “push delete” after we have sincerely repented. Jesus paid the price that we might
stand before God with confidence of having His favor. This is very different from “pushing delete” on our need to understand
why and how we sinned. It is necessary for us to understand the process and mindset that contributed to a stronghold of
sin in our life.
D. God can smile over our life in a general sense, while He contends with us in a particular issue. That issue does not
define our entire relationship with God. However, if we do not obey in that area, then sin will grow and affect other areas.
We view conviction of our sin (judgments of His Word) differently when we feel loved and favored by God because it does
not feel like condemnation or accusation from God. The psalmist longed for God’s corrective word knowing that it would
bring life to him. (Psalm 119: 20, 75, 160)
IV. OUR INHERITANCE IS A FULLY ALIVE HEART AND MIND IN GOD
16 "This is the covenant (promise) that I will make with them… “I will put My laws (Word) into their hearts
(emotions) and in their minds (understanding) I will write them…" (Hebrews 10:16)
A. Heart – God promises to empower our emotions until we feel the power of His Word with desire for righteousness.
Mind – God promises to release the spirit of revelation to our mind.
B. God promises to write His Word on our heart and mind. Our heart is stony and spiritually cold, and dull by nature. It
is easy for God to awaken a spiritually cold and dull heart.
18 He gave Moses two tablets…of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)
3 You are an epistle of Christ…written…by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets
of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3)
32 Did not our heart burn (with desire) within us while He talked with us…and while He opened the Scriptures
to us?…45 He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. (Luke 24:32, 45)
C. We are to live by or be spiritually healthy in our heart by feeding on God’s Word. Our heart lives and becomes strong
by feeding on God’s Word in spirit and truth. Our heart dies and becomes weak and sick without feeding on God’s Word.
The most substantial way in which we feed our spirit and bolster our spiritual strength is by feeding on God’s Word in spirit
and truth. Many are spiritually in the ICU with a sick heart and a diminished spiritual appetite.
4 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from… God.(Matthew 4:4)
D. Prayer, fasting, meditation on the Word and obedience positions our heart before God to freely receive. These
activities do not earn us God’s favor or blessing in our lives. Analogy: we put our cold heart before the bonfire of God’s
presence by seeking Him in the Word in spirit and truth. Remember: God opens the Word to us progressively (little
portions), in accordance to the time we invest in feeding our spirit with His Word and according our spirit of 100-fold
obedience.
V. ENCOUNTERING GOD: PRAY-READING THE WORD (COMMUNING WITH THE WORD)
39 You search the Scriptures (Bible study), for in them you think you have…life; these are they which testify
of Me. 40 You are not willing to come to Me (dialogue) that you may have life. (John 5:39-40)
39 Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard (encountered) His word. (Luke 10:39)
A. How do we hear God’s word in spirit and truth as Mary of Bethany did? It is not enough to study the Word, we give our
heart to God and receive from Him as we read the Word. We allow the Word to create a dialogue in our heart with God as
it gives us the “conversational material.” We also must actually speak the Word back to God against Satan’s attack on our
lives. Many do not speak the Word back to God or against the devil but only momentarily to themselves and others.
B. Two ways to focus our mind in seeking God: God on His Throne (Revelation 4) and God in our spirit
14 …The love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14, NAS)
38 Out of his heart (belly, KJV) will flow rivers of living water… (John 7:38)
C. Linger in God’s presence: in dialoging with God in the Word. Take time to linger as you speak slowly to God (include
declaring your love and praise, praying with your spirit and being quiet). Journaling: take time to record thoughts and prayers
as you “pray-read” through Scripture. This helps us capture the truths that the Spirit gives us and to grow in our prayer
dialogue with God.
D. Two broad categories of truth related to pray-reading the Word (meditating on Scripture): First, Scriptures that focus
on exhorting us “to believe” God’s Word. For example, use Scriptures that declare that God loves, forgives, leads, protects, or
provides for us, etc. Second, Scriptures that focus on exhorting us “to obey” God’s Word. For example, use Scriptures that
command us to bridle our tongue, serve one another, humble ourselves, give time and money to Him, etc.
E. We dialogue with God by praying truths back to Him that exhort us “to believe” His Word. Spiritual warfare: we speak
these truths against Satan’s attack on our lives.
1. First, we thank God for a particular truth. We turn these truths into simple declarations of thanksgiving. For
example, we declare, “Thank you that You love me, have forgiven me, or that I ravish Your heart (Song 4:9) along
with I trust You and Your Word.”
2. Second, we ask God to reveal particular truths to us. We ask God to release a spirit of revelation to us
(Ephesians 1:17). For example, we say, “Father, reveal to me how much You love me, forgive me, how I have
ravished Your heart or the certainty for Your provision.
F. We dialogue with God by praying truths back to Him that exhort us “to obey” His Word. Spiritual warfare: we speak
these truths against Satan’s attack on our lives.
1. First, we commit ourselves to obey God in the specific way set forth in a biblical person or passage. We make
simple declarations of our resolve to obey Jesus. For example, we declare, “I set my heart to love You and obey You
with my speech, time and money, etc. or, I set my heart to love you like David, endure hardship like Paul, pray like
Daniel or do miracles like the apostles in the Book of Acts.”
2. Second, we ask God to empower us to obey a particular truth. We ask God for help to obey in specific areas.
For example, we say, “Father help me to love You, bridle my speech, or to use my time and money in full obedience.
” We may pray, “lead me away from temptation (Matthew 6:13) or deliver me from the works of the evil one”
(John 17:15), or, Father, I so desire to love and obey You more, give me power to love you like David, endure
hardship like Paul, pray like Daniel or do miracles like the first apostles.”