We all want to consider ourselves as perfect and meeting the ideal described in the Bible: being complete, sanctified, having the mind of Christ, with the resurrection power in us, having the authority given by God to overcome ourselves, overcome the world, and overcome the Devil, receiving healing for all diseases, being set free from all oppressions, making the right decision at the right time, being given and making use of all right opportunities, prospering in all aspects of life, bearing good fruits, and generally living a super-abundant victorious life!
Wow, what a positive list! Believe me - they are all in the Bible. Jesus has promised all who believe in Him eternal life (which include all these blessings), through knowing God and Jesus. Yet not many of us can honestly say that we are anyway near such goals. Knowing God and Jesus seems to be the most difficult thing to do. Yes, many of us attend church on Sunday, follow the worship service program and listen to sermons and not falling asleep, read 15 minutes Bible and pray 5 minutes everyday. Sometimes we even attend more than one service a week if there are special programs. Some of us join a weekly cell group meeting too. Is that not enough? What more can one do?
Sad to say, when we live such a regular religious life, we still find it lacking in fulfilling a lot of the above needs. Is God not willing to give us what He has promised? Does He have mood? Does He sometimes heal and sometimes not heal? Sometimes listen to our prayers and sometimes not? Sometimes save and sometimes not? Sometimes loves and sometimes seems indifferent? The list is endless. Lack of knowledge can only lead to destruction. How to know God and Jesus more?
The answer is in the Bible.
Let us find clues in the following verses:
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John 4 (New Living Translation)
About worship in spirit and in truth
21 Jesus replied, “Believe me, … 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
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Worship is an essential way to get to know God. The Bible tells us that God is looking for those who can worship Him in spirit and in truth to worship Him.
We may think that going to church, bow down or even kneel down towards the altar is good enough. We may think that thinking of God and Jesus is good enough. We may think that singing with all our strength and ability is good enough. We may think that giving a generous offering is good enough. We may think that telling God we love Him and we want to follow Jesus with all our heart is good enough. Yet, after doing all these chores we still know deep down that we do not really know God and Jesus much.
How shall we know God and Jesus to the point of really know them? Become worshippers in spirit and in truth.
We have all received the Holy Spirit when we believed and received Jesus as our Savior and Lord and were born again. The Spirit of Christ lives in us now. We all have easy access to God’s Words. Jesus Himself declared that He is the Truth, the Way and the Life and through Him we can get to the Father God. We have both the Spirit and the Truth. We can come to God and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Reading the Words of God is essential and the more the better to know God. Focusing more on the spirit means spending less time preoccupied with the world and worldly matters. The latter is hard to do. We are conditioned to spend our lifetime on worldly matters which seem to be part and parcel of lives. Change from such lifetime obsessions takes time and effort. However, as we spend time on God’s Words, appreciating His presence, other matters will become un-important.
Jesus told us: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6: 63) The Words of God will transform our mind and personality to align with the spirit, which God has given us at our re-birth. When this happens, we can see dramatic positive changes in our physical realm too. Imagine, when our mind agrees with our spirit, the reality in the spiritual realm comes alive! That truly is the Kingdom of God –eternal life on earth as it is in heaven.
