clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
By James Quansah,
BY OUR recreated spirit, we Christians are to worship the Father. Jesus Christ taught that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth” (John 4: 24).
A believer worships God in Spirit when he is under the influence of the Spirit of God and not under the energy of the flesh. That is, the person is inspired, stirred up, stimulated and prompted by the Spirit of God to serve or sacrifice.
As a matter of fact, if our worship is not in Spirit, it is not in truth and therefore does not please God. Worshipping in Spirit simply means worshipping under the inspiration/motivation, influence of the Holy Spirit and not under the energy of the flesh.
Worshipping in truth, on the other hand, simply means worshipping in reality. We know that the Old Testament saints worshipped God, but their acts of worship were not the real but shadow. Thus, they did not offer Him the true worship because they were spiritually dead.
However, the New Testament believers who are in Christ Jesus are alive unto God and we can offer Him the real or true worship through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. This is a truth a faithful pastor must teach Christ’s disciples placed under his care.
The apostle Paul and his fellow preachers of the gospel and all children of God in his day worshipped God in Spirit. Those who strayed were rebuked and corrected to ensure sound training in righteousness.
He wrote: “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh…” (Philippians 3: 3).
The early church understood and diligently followed the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. They worshipped God in Spirit but not in the flesh. They had no confidence in man’s natural abilities. Instead, they got their human spirits developed and trained by the working of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
By this, they got grounded in the truth which enabled them to walk uprightly before the Lord. No wonder they were able to persevere and endure all the persecutions and afflictions that came their way and never cursed God.
No wonder God used them to preach, teach and sing with signs and wonders accompanying them and as a result won many souls for Christ. Their secret was that they worshipped God in Spirit!
James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
