Jesus told the woman at the well, “The hour is here when real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). There is so much power in this verse.   Personal power.  The power of peace, love and joy that is beyond circumstance – power that can fill us.  Let’s discover what “worship in spirit and truth” can really mean for us.

I think we would all agree that no one in our modern world likes to be fooled.  Yet when it comes to worship, Satan loves to lead us down the roads of empty, false, and ignorant worship where we never even get to touch the true power button that Jesus offers.

Let’s uncover Satan’s favorite ploys, the first of which is empty worship.  As an example, when I was a kid, my uncle would say grace before meals.  With all the speed and precision of an auctioneer he said, “Bless us oh Lord for these thy gifts which we are about to receive, from thy bounty” and he never even finished before his fork dug into his plate and swallowed a mouthful of food.  This beautiful and holy prayer of thankfulness had been reduced to a rote state – something empty, that meant nothing.  I can only imagine how unattractive and uninviting this would have been for a guest to watch, let alone for God to receive.

Yet this is often how we pray, how we go through the motions of church, how we recite the Lord’s prayer, and even how we receive communion without a thought.  Because we don’t think about our words, they become empty and the emptiness often leads us to quit church altogether.  Of course, Satan loves when this happens.

We’ll call Satan’s second plan false worship.  This is when we pray, not because we love and know God, but because we are superstitious about not praying.  We reason that we had better hedge our bets just in case there is a God, and we privately worry about how eternity is a long time to rot in hell.  Therefore, we better play it safe.  It’s like going to work and doing the bare minimum in order to not get fired.  We hate our jobs, watch the clock, watch our boss, and watch for Fridays.  It’s where you are always on the fence with God, without realizing that Satan owns the fence.

Satan’s third plan is to keep us ignorant about God, so our understanding of God rarely eclipses our knowledge of Santa Claus.  That way, when life throws us real problems – calculus sized problems like unforgiveness, suffering, injustice or death our faith is only equipped with addition sized answers.  I heard a story about an angry woman who screamed at her pastor, “Clearly you don’t know your Bible.  It says an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  Of course, her narrow theology and intellectual laziness suited her position of anger, and I’m sure Satan was pleased.

That is why Jesus wants to point us toward true worship which is inside our very spirit.  For it is our spirit that is the highest and best part of us.  Our spirit allows us to dream big, have visions of a better world, imagine goodness, see possibilities, forgive others and see the beauty of God.

It is when our spirit connects with God that true worship is possible.  This is when we – our deepest selves – are united with God.  To use human terms, it’s like a husband and wife being together – hanging out, holding hands, laughing, crying, talking, listening, perhaps singing a song together, at a deep and lasting peace because they are enjoying the time, just being together.

True worship is like that.

There is no formula, no rote prayer, no volume of music or emotion necessary.  It is simply resting in God’s presence.  It’s reading his book in order to learn more about him – all because we want to.  Because we cannot help but be thankful that God loved us first. That he chose us. That he wants to be with us.  Like a lover who calls us, we want to be intimate and love God back.

This kind of worship gives a depth of joy and peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4).

Let’s worship God right now in prayer:  Dear God, we praise you. Thank you for your mercy, your majesty and your might.  Thank you for being our rock, our fortress and strength as we move through our day.  Thank you for being with us to help us be our very best.  Thank you for loving us even when we feel unlovable.  Thank you for your presence and your peace in our lives.  We worship you.  We adore you.  We love you and thank you for who you are.  Almighty and all sufficient God, we praise your name right now and forever.