Justin Tucker, LHC Worship Pastor
John 4:23-24
But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”
There comes a time in everyone’s life that they come to an inflection point. An inflection point is a moment of dramatic change. Andy Grove, the Founder of Intel said that an inflection point is an event that changes the way we think and act. As you travel down the road of life, many problems will rise up to meet you. Some may be small problems, others may be huge. But as you begin to define how you are going to think, relate and handle these problems you are going to have to determine how big God is to you. Many times in life you are going to face problems that are bigger than you are and in that moment you are going to have to determine if your God is bigger.
Developing an attitude of true worship, an attitude that is passionately devoted to God will change how we think and act in the face of problems. This is an attitude that says “I Must Worship”, because my God is bigger. It changes the way you look at things. There is always another perspective to what you are going through. The right perspective will be when you look at things through the lens of that “I must worship” attitude. This perspective magnifies God and as we begin to look at our situation, our problems begin to shrink away. True worship is when we focus our attention and respond with our actions in a manner that glorifies God.
If you wear glasses you can understand this. Without your glasses everything is kind of blurry and you can’t make things out. In fact depending on which way your sight goes things that are up close may be blurry or things that are far away may be blurry. But when you put those glasses on all of the sudden everything gets clear. Worshiping God in spirit does that for us. All of the sudden when things start to get blurry, if we stop and readjust our focus on who He is and what He has done and we start to worship God with our lives things, come into proper focus.
Worship in spirit corresponds to the “how” of worship. The word “spirit” here is translated from the Greek word, pneuma, which means “to breathe.” That’s how God intends for us to worship Him…with every breath we take. Everything in our lives should elevate Him to the highest priority level. Worship is more than a few minutes or songs on Sunday. It’s something that we should be doing always. It’s every day, it’s every hour, it’s every breath.
Worship in truth is responding to the reality of the truth of God’s Word. It corresponds to the Who of worship, and it must focus on objective, unchanging truths about God. Worshiping in truth is worship grounded in God’s Word. What do the scriptures tell us about God’s Word and the truth? In John 17:17, “Your word is truth.” In John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ And in John 8:31-32 …“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
True Worship then, is worship in spirit and truth… that means that worship that has deep, strong affections for God, in response to unchanging truth from His Word. A worship that is that deep, never dies. It engages your emotions and engages your thoughts. It is a response to God, a response that comes from focusing on God’s person, character, and attributes; who He is, and what He has done for us. This is the type of worship that attracts the attention of God. And as we attract Him…He comes on the scene in our lives. The reality of God’s Word says we have an enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy in our lives. And whomever we focus on the most is going to win.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord, help me to change my focus in the midst of battles from my problems to Your power and provision. Help me to lean into the promise that you will never leave me or forsake me. Use me in ways to be an encouragement to others who are facing trials. Help us to be strong and to be courageous because our hope is found in you and you alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Romans 5:1- Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.