A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.- John 4:23-24, NIV
That is, if you look in the right place.
When you pray - when you worship - do you look in the right place? Moreover, do you actually go to that place? Because I think this is what Jesus is driving at in these verses... that you actually have to transcend the limitations of your mind/soul if you want to really connect with God!
Let me explain it like this: Jesus, in talking with Nicodemus in John 3, made some bold statements about being born "from above", and born "of the Spirit". He then went on to talk about those that were born of the spirit being like the wind, in that people can see the effects of the wind around them but can't tell where it came from or where it's going. And He said that everyone born of the Spirit would be like that... like the wind. In other words, they're not going to be operating in a linear, logical, predictable way of life. They're going to be flowing in an unseen dimension!
And then here He is in the next chapter of John telling us that God is in fact, a Spirit (of course the Father of all spirits!), and that He is seeking out people that will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Add to this some significant scripture in 1 Corinthians where Paul tells us that the natural (the word is actually soulical) man - the man of the mind - cannot understand the things of God but that the spiritual man understands all things, and you have the picture I believe God wants us to see: that we're not going to have true interaction with God in the space between our ears, so to speak.
So, enough theology already. God is Spirit... not consisting of anything of the substance of this natural realm. He exists in a different realm, in a different place, in a different form. He insists we worship Him (and, by implication, know Him) in exactly that realm of the spirit, and that we do so in truth (which literally means uncovering and making manifest the reality of something). And we know we can do this because as believers, we are born of that exact same substance - of the spirit. And we are spiritual beings!!!
Now move this into your prayer experience, and I think that's exactly what we start to have - experiences! Not a list of stuff we have to get through. Not a carefully-worded petition that will all go for naught if we don't get the words right. Not even a beautifully constructed and poetic flow of words about just how wonderful the Lord is.
No... we're not connecting with God in a life-changing way, or in a Kingdom manifesting way until we are there, with God, in a place of raw truth, in the realm that He exists in, as spirit-beings connecting heart-to-heart with the Father of our true selves.
It isn't just that we get to the place of real worship and prayer and communion here. It's more that we discover the reality of our lives in Jesus here. This is home. This is real. This is who we are. This is the essence of our very beings and our very purpose. And this is the place where we ask. Where we humble our hearts before our God and Father and where He truly, really, actually, experientially meets with us. Where we become one with Him. Where whatever we ask, He does because we are now in the place where His will and His ways and His heart reign. Where, you might say, His story is being told and we find our places in it.
And you already know where that place is and how to get there if you've really begun to authentically live from your heart. Because this realm is found right there - in the deep place of your very own heart!
It is this very place we must become acquainted with. It is this very place we must learn to love. And it is this very place where we will find our lives and our true hearts. And find Jesus. Really. Face to face. Heart to heart. It's time to get used to it and allow the life of the spirit to become something not weird, not imaginary (although our imaginations are a key gateway to that place), and not just "conjured up". Because once you go there, you can be sure what you're seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, etc is very real. More real than the chair you're sitting in right now!
So, the next time you pray, expect to end up somewhere other than where you are when you begin. Look for God in the spirit by looking for Jesus there. And then intentionally, really, passionately go there. With all your heart. It is, according to Jesus, the only place you'll find Him.
Live Courageous!
1 comment:
yeah! wow. God is totaly amazing. its amazing what he's doing with his church. we're standing on the very edge, of true life, together. i can see all the paths we've been walking coming to one place. and we've finally come withing a few steps of becoming one accord. amazing. God had told me night before last "Know your place" and told be to walk it. it is this place of prayer you were talking about. in regards to prayer being comunication withGod. the God who bacame one with US. of course we can be in constant prayer, as paul said. we're not alone, ever. God created us like him, in his image. or rather as the Word says... "like us" part of God. HIS BODY. his HANDS ON EARTH.we ARE his HANDS on earth. his will on earth as it is in heaven. Who are we to decide what our future should be and plan it out. how dare us think we KNOW whats best, and what it SHOULD be.
no. God is definantly NOT found in our minds/souls. we should WANT to pray always,live, and walk life in this place of who we were ment to be. in His perfect flow. in the Spirit.
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