Corona Devo 104

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  ~John 4:23-24

What "time" are we waiting for?  Were we waiting for a time when life slowed down enough for us to have time to spend with Jesus?  I think Corona allowed that.  
Are we waiting for a time when we feel "ready", "prepared", or "good enough" to approach Jesus?
Do we just feel like "getting close to God" will happen sometime down the road?

Now. 
Jesus is stating plainly in these verses that our time is now.  “Yet a time is coming and has now come..." (John 4:23).  No more excuses, and we should have no reservations.  He welcomes us in relationship with Him, and He commands it here.

"when the true worshipers" ~John 4:23.  Lord, we want to be your true worshipers.  Nothing false or hypocritical or for-show.  Please show us how to truly worship You.

But how do we come to Jesus?  How do we approach the Lord and a deeper relationship with Him?  What kind of worshiper does the "the Father seek"?  
(By the way, when we are living our lives for Jesus, all that we do becomes an outpouring of our "worship" to Him.  It is not just how we sing hymns at church.  No way--the attitude with which I fold laundry and cook supper are ways that I worship the Lord.  How you perform your job, parenting and our roles as spouses are vehicles of worshiping the Lord.  When we realize this and allow it to shape our attitudes and actions--it is life changing.  We are always worshiping the Lord.)

He asks for us to come to Him in Spirit and truth.   But what the heck does that mean?  How do we "worship the Father in the Spirit..." (John 4:23)?  I believe a big piece of this is connecting with Christ.  Connecting our heart and mind to Him and dedicating our hearts and minds to Him--this connects us in Spirit.  Laying down our own desires and ways of doing life, and letting God lead.  When we submit ourselves to him fully, and remove the worldly barriers: Christ fills our spirit.  He frees our spirit and we are changed--the rest (of life and our own selfish desires) becomes less important, and Christ comes more into focus.  Our spirit must worship Christ and serve Him. For me, this most frequently occurs ("feeling in the Spirit") when I spend time in the Bible, communing with Him.  Not every verse is transforming, but if I read enough verses in silence (without distraction), usually something speaks to my spirit, and I can sense the Lord teaching me something within my spirit.  It almost always is directly related to something I am dealing with/going through.  He is just waiting for us to seek Him in the Spirit.

...will worship the Father...in truth... ~John 4:23.  Truth can be interpreted for us as believers on many levels, as we seek to worship the Lord:  
  • God knows our hearts, and He knows all that we do to appear as if we "have it all together".  That's not "truth" and God knows it.  He doesn't want the facade we put up for the world, He wants our true selves.   
  • God and His word are truth.  He wants us to worship Him by being grounded in His truth.  If we immerse ourselves in His word, we immerse ourselves in truth, and the natural byproduct would be for us to then worship the Father...in truth... ~John 4:23.  
  • Worshiping the Father in truth also means that we are truthful/honest with ourselves and with God.  We can be ourselves.  We must be truthful about who we are, where we are, where we have been, and prayerful about where we are going.  When we come in Truth to the Lord, He hears us.  
  • The truth in the Bible gives us our daily direction, our hope for today, sometimes God's truth gives us our next breath.  
We seek to truly worship You, Lord.  And we seek to worship You in truth.  Let there be no falsehoods in us, or in our approach to worship You.  We want to be honest with ourselves and honest in our worship of You.  Only then are we pleasing to you, and (miraculously) even then, you mercifully accept us and love us.  

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  ~John 4:23-24

The time is now.  The time is today.  The time has now come.
Let's make the effort to worship in the Spirit and in truth today.  

Blessings,
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Corona Devo 1156

Image
At work, we provide Trainings for customers, so that they can be updated and educated on all of the latest features (and how to use them) within our product.  Many companies do this--sharing "Best Practices" are a way to ensure positive outcomes on the customer and vendor sides of things. My kids often offer me "life hacks" that they have learned from watching an online video promising to "save time" and "make your life easier".  And just this week, my husband enlightened me about the "tear-away" feature built into most plastic rings holding cans/bottles of pop or Gatorade together.  When separated, the plastic rips open easily, releasing the bottle--saving wildlife that might be caught if it is discarded as trash, and saving me  frustration or angst because I no longer have to pull with all my might to get a bottle out of the plastic rings.  ( Who knew? )  Life hacks do save time and make your life easier! Who couldn't benefit from
Read more

Corona Devo 1217

Image
The unanswered “why’s” of life, the disorder of our days, and even the unfairness of our struggles can cause us to question ourselves and also to question our God. But the order-of-Creation and the systems that God has set in place are undeniable answers that swing back and forth like God’s pendulum-reminder that He set the world in motion, and He continues to keep order, even when it seems as if we and our world are in dis- order.   Job was a man going through some heavy and hard stuff.   Maybe we are too.   Job’s trials had caused him to question the order of life, and possibly God’s dominion over it.   We can relate.   The “Why’s?” and the “Why Me’s” can stack up in our minds and hearts, but like a parent exercising loving-authority over a child, God reminds Job and us--of His power, omniscience and of His ultimate authority over everything: Creation… and us today .   Then the  Lord  answered Job from the whirlwind: (2) “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ig
Read more

Corona Devo 991

Running low on " good things " today?  Doesn't it (sometimes) seem like/trend like/read like/tweet like/water-cooler-chat or backyard-fence-visit like/intimidate like/depress like... there are no  good things in the land? . I know. It's no secret that many have abandoned  the Law of the  Lord,  and at times, that's us .   It is evident all around us that people have  followed each other  in this sin.  When we look around...or when we live our days...we can wonder: Are there  any  good things  left in the land? There are still some good things in the land ...and no matter how bleak we feel the "forecast" for today is...there will always  be  some good things in the land, because God is in the land.   T he Bible reminds us of that today.   ~~~ The Israelites (and their king, Rehoboam ) were God's people, but like all of us at times/seasons of our lives...they wandered from Lord and His ways.  They relaxed in their allegiance to the Lord, and then the
Read more