"Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."

For years I had heard people pray ..."Lord may we worship you in spirit and in truth today." That sounded nice even though I felt they were talking just a little over my head. I knew how to worship, but this whole in spirit and in truth thing kept me confused. I was here in spirit and I hoped it was all true or we were all in a mess. I really began to seek the Lord and ask Him to teach me not with head knowledge, but with a transformed heart that truly understood what it meant to worship in spirit and in truth. The truth part came a little easier. God's word is truth. Truth is anything that is based on God's word. That's how we worship. We know His word and who His word says that He is. When our worship is based on what we know to be true through the scriptures, then we know we are worshipping in truth. I had a little more trouble with the spirit. It required a little more of me. It required that I was ALL in. To worship in spirit we have to be totally focused on Jesus, not lunch, not my neighbor's bad breath, not beating the methodist to lunch. We have to give all that is within us heart, soul and mind and submit it unto the presence of a righteous and holy God as we focus completely on Him. Imagine with me if you will if we as believers walked into our places of worship each Sunday with that attitude on our hearts. Imagine if we walked in with only one thing on our mind...Jesus and we worshipped him in Spirit (all that we are) and Truth (all that He is). If our churches worshipped like they were singing praises to a God who was all-knowing, all-loving, just, righteous and holy and we focused ALL of our EVERYTHING to Him and focused on the truth of who He is I believe it would change the kingdom of God forever. John 12:32 NIV But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Jesus says when He is lifted up, he will draw all men to himself. That is our job. We are to lift him up. How do we do this...in worship. As we take all that we are and focus it on all that he is we rejoice in him and we lift Him up, He says that He will draw ALL men to himself. How awesome? This revelation was the conviction of my heart earlier today as I experienced one of the most incredible services I have ever been a part of. Matt spoke on Worship and what it is, but then we were invited into a time of worship. Not open your hymnal....not look at the screen and listen to the band, but an invitation to worship the Lord any way you were comfortable. Sitting, standing, kneeling, prostrate, hands lifted high, hands folded in prayer, hands clapping, feet still or feet moving and dancing before the Lord as David did. (Oh my word, did she say they invited people to dance at their church. We are not comfortable with that at our church.) That's ok, but get to practicing cause there will be dancing in heaven. I think King Dave leads those classes. (Ha!) I can only speak for me, but that time, uninterrupted, in the presence of the Lord was incredible. The good news is, we can have that everyday. We just have to have the discipline to remove all distractions and all of the self-induced ADD contributors such as ipods, televisions, computers, radios, and cell phones and completely focus on HIM. Worship Him and He will draw all men unto himself.