Reading onward, a particular verse has powerfully stood out to me -
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
I started wondering what it means to worship the Father (God), "in the Spirit and truth" -- what I was most concerned with, was this whole idea of worshiping God "in the Spirit" --
I asked a few people what they thought by this verse and also looked it up in my study bible and what came back to me was the idea of worshiping God with your whole heart. Somehow, however, this was not completely satisfying to me and I knew (as usually is the case with the things of the Lord) that there was a much deeper and intricate meaning that I knew I could only scrape the surface of. Anyway, the day I read the passage I embarked on a long reflection/meditation on what that part of the verse could mean, making sure to look up articles online to see if I could gather more information. These are some of the discoveries I came across.
- Overlooking/Forgoing/Abandoning the flesh and Setting Our Minds on Things Above - Giving no concentration to the flesh/material/natural/earthly world with its complimentary passions and desires (which are devoid of God as King and are dictated by man)
- I wondered here if I could get a precise definition of what the flesh actually meant. For example, it's not realistic in a corporeal world to ignore material things, but I believe in this sense when flesh is referred to as the flesh in the Bible it has a very distinct meaning. I found a very comprehensive article on the subject and will capture some of its main points. http://blog.adw.org/2011/03/what-does-the-bible-mean-by-the-flesh/
- The Flesh
- the part of us that is distanced and is in rebellion towards God
- the part of us that clings to ourselves as centre of universe rather than God
- is in conflict with our human spirits which desire to know God
- Romans 8:5 "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on things of the spirit"
- Romans 8:6 "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace"
- Colossians 3:1-2 "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth
- Being in Tune with and Profoundly Acknowledging the Holy Spirit inside of us - In this sense we remember that we have the Holy Spirit inside of us because of the sacrifice Christ made and we do not stifle or inhibit God inside of us. We allow that spirit to be free and available to communicate with our Father without earthly hindrances and fleshly barriers. This would mean letting go of ANYTHING that proves to be a blockage in doing God's will in your life and the lives of others and denouncing thoughts, actions, etc that prove to be other "gods" (that prevent you from fully receiving and giving the truth of God's words in your actions), as we know that the Holy Spirit wishes to express himself in our actions, thoughts, and attitudes.
- 2 Corinthians 6:16 "What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, I will make my dwelling among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people..."
- 1 Corinthians 2:12 "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God."
- 1 Corinthians 2:14 "....the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them for they are spiritually discerned."
- Romans 8:15 "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption of Sons..."
- 2 Timothy 1:7 "...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."
- 1 Thessalonians 5:19 "Do not quench the Spirit..."
- Ephesians 4:30-32 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
- Filling yourself with the power and truth of God's Word (which is his essence)
- John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life"
- Remembering the Nature of God (Who He is) - We remember that God, while he has power and dominion over this earth, is not of this earth - his kingdom is not an earthly one and does not function the way things of the earth typically do. We remember that his nature is far different than ours. He is holy (unlike us), and he transcends the flesh/material/earthly realm and is not controlled by its sinful passions, desires, and other dictates of the physical. We must therefore worship him (acknowledge, give glory) by communicating with him on this higher plane. To come before him in worship, is to revoke the physical.
- John 4:24 "God is spirit"....this verse tells us that God is spirit, in other words he is not of the flesh, his ways are drastically separate and "other" from who we are. "For your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) We must transcend our material world and meet him there
- Remembering that God has satisfied us with everything we need spiritually already
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