Worship

“Jesus told her, ‘Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. … God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (John 4:21, 24)

The woman at the well wanted to argue with Jesus about worship. She was a Samaritan, who believed God was to be worshiped on the mountain of Samaria. She recognized that the Jews believed God was to be worshiped on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Jesus avoided the argument and went straight to the truth: the place of worship is not as relevant as the fact that worship takes place. The manner of worship – in spirit and truth – trumps the matter of where God is worshiped. That means worship can take place anywhere, anytime.

Worshiping the God who created us is the single most fulfilling experience any human being can have. It is an event that makes us feel complete. When real worship takes place, when we genuinely connect with the God who loves us and created us, something wonderful happens within us that defies description. We can only describe it as feeling full. Worship is the most fundamental human experience of all.

Sometimes folks come to a “worship service” and just go through the motions, hoping something significant will happen. Just going through the motions of worship, however, is nowhere near what we need. We need to enter fully into worship. So, how do we do that?

We prepare through the week, of course, just as the Israelites prepared to worship God at Mount Sinai. As we come to worship, though, we begin by first giving our hearts and our minds totally to God. This is an act of worship. Then, we humble ourselves before God and submit our hearts to Him and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into this “spirit” of worship. This is a spiritual event, accomplished by the Holy Spirit. We then keep our hearts and minds focused on listening for what God wants to say to us.

Lord, Help us today and each day to experience this kind of genuine worship, for that is the greatest need of our hearts. May You be glorified in that. Amen.