02/04/2018
Are you unsatisfied in your prayer life? Do you ask in prayer, and yet feel unfulfilled when you rise from your knees? Do you recite scripture in your prayers and cry out, yet leave your prayer closet feeling as though God might not have heard you? Well, perhaps you are missing a key lesson that was taught by Jesus. Maybe you need to listen as he teaches us to pray in spirit and truth.
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."”
John 4:22-24 ESV
This scripture comes from a wonderful and rich story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at the well. His exchange with Her speaks to us of a new type of worship that has come. Andrew Murray lays this out succinctly when he writes these words...
“Among Christians there are still three classes of worshippers: some, in their ignorance, hardly know what they are asking. They pray earnestly but receive little. Others, with more knowledge, try to pray with all their mind and heart, but do not attain the full blessing. We must ask our Lord Jesus to take us into the third class: we must be taught of Him how to worship in spirit and truth.” - Andrew Murray
So there is the prayer of the Samaritan’s, the prayer of the Jews, and now a new paradigm in the prayer being taught by Christ... in spirit and truth. Let’s break this instruction into its two parts. Let’s look first at truth, and then explore spirit.
In this encounter at the well, the woman is standing at the very door of truth. She knows the Messiah is coming. She says as much to Jesus, and then He swings the door wide open and gives her the truth of which He speaks...
“The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."”
John 4:25-26 ESV
Jesus tells her the truth, and yet, she fails to grasp it in perfect faith. She looks to others to validate Him. She asks “Can this be the Christ?”
“So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"”
John 4:28-29 ESV
Is this you? Are you in possession of the truth, but look to those who have not yet met Jesus to validate it? Or, perhaps you ask this question of yourself as you seek to believe. “Can this be the Christ?” Do you doubt? If so then your prayers will be based on your own intellect, conjecture, or supposition, but not on truth. The truth is that the Messiah has come, and He is Jesus Christ the Son of God, and He says to us...
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 ESV
So this is the truth. Coupled with the fullness of God’s Word we have the truth of which Jesus speaks; the acceptance of the gospel of Jesus is the heart of truth.
Now let’s look at the second half of what Jesus tells us... the spirit. We worship God, who is indeed a spirit. So in order to communicate with Him more perfectly, we must be able to bridge the gap between our physical selves and the spirit, which is God. Fortunately, we were created with that ability, we are made up of a body, a spirit, and a soul. Let’s concentrate on the spirit, which is our bridge to the divine... our telephone, our hotline to God, and something all of us are in possession of if we are alive.
The Spirit we are born with is much like our body, it is immature, and must grow, even as our body does. We need to be taught how to arouse it, increase it, and to perfect it. This is done by learning the Word of God, increasing in faith, and understanding through the very powerful influence of the Holy Spirit. Without use and maturation our spirit remains a germ within us that doesn’t sprout... that dimly shines its light towards Heaven, and barely keeps us alive.
“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”
James 2:26 ESV
So, to move into the full power of worship we must couple together spirit and truth. We must believe that the Messiah has come; that Jesus Christ the Son of God lived, died, was raised from the dead, and has defeated sin so that we might be forgiven... and then we must increase in spirit by its use, our faith, and the instruction of the Holy Spirit.
God is spirit, and He has provided us with a magnificent gleaming bridge over which we can travel to Him. When we worship and pray in spirit and truth this is exactly what we are doing... we are allowing our spirit to actively mingle with the Spirit of God. We are walking across the chasm between the carnal and the divine with Jesus Christ the Risen Son of God.
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”
Colossians 2:13 ESV
Once we understand and begin worshipping and praying in spirit and truth our prayer lives will blossom and become satisfying to us, and our worship will bring us into the presence of God. This is God’s desire, and it completes ours as well.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ who is the truth of which all scripture is evidence, and of whom the fullness of your Word speaks. I thank you for your Holy Spirit that dwells within me and increases my faith and the maturity of my spirit. Holy Father, in this way I am able to worship you in spirit and truth, in this I am in Christ, even as He is in you. In this my spirit finds itself surrounded by your presence, and my prayers are substance before you. Hear my praise Holy Father; listen as my spirit reaches out to you in worship through the truth which is Jesus; hear also my prayers and know that my faith, and trust, is in your provision and answer. Great are thou Lord God, and greatly to be praised. Hear my spirit crying out to you and my mouth profess the truth of your Son forever.
Rich Forbes