Lesson 26: Now - How Am I To Worship God? (1)

Before we can study how to properly worship God, we need to know what it means to "worship." First, worship is adoration. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "… you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Second, worship is respect. A few verses after the above, we find, "you shall fear only the Lord your God and you shall worship him and swear by his name." Fear of God, as it is described in the Scriptures, is the respect that says, "if I were not God's child I would be terrified of Him." But worship is not complete until we add a third factor – service. In Romans 12:1 we read, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

From this threefold definition we get the right idea – worship is an intimate relationship with God. And this is what we find in John 4 where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well in Samaria. He has drawn this stranger into conversation and taken their conversation deeper and deeper until it is very personal. Then Jesus introduces worship as God desires it – in spirit and in truth (John 4: 24).

Worship is to be for God alone, and we find this throughout the Scriptures (read the Scriptures listed above and Exodus 20 for examples). God says He is a "jealous God" (Exodus 34:14). He wants what is His and worship belongs to Him alone. This jealousy is not the negative bitterness we humans feel when we cannot have our own way; it is love at its deepest wanting only what is best for the recipient of that love (see Acts 17:24-25).


So how do we worship "in spirit?" This is probably best defined in the negative before we can see it in the positive. Worshiping "in spirit" does not mean religious mantras or chants. In fact, God forbids such chanting – see Matthew 6:7 which states, "and when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words."

Do we ever use religious chants? You might be thinking about the nonsensical syllables that are often connected with meditation, and say no. But we have might also talk about prayer that is simply repeated without ever thinking about what we are saying. Is this not a religious mantra? Is not the quoting of the Lord's prayer, as many churches practice it today, a religious mantra? It is recited as a learned repetition without ever even crossing into the conscious of the person repeating it. That is a religious mantra. I'm not saying that we should quit quoting the Lord's prayer. I'm only saying that it needs to be in our conscious minds, not in subconscious repetition.

*When you pray, how much is from your heart, and how much is repeating what someone has taught you?