The Lord Jesus said: “ When the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth ” (John 4:23-24). The Lord requires that we worship God in spirit and truth, for only in this way can we gain His approval. But what exactly does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth? Some brothers and sisters believe that praying earnestly and reading the Bible every day is worship of God, others believe that attending meetings on time and going to church every week is worship of God. Still others believe that work, work, sacrifice and dedication to the Lord is worship of God and so on. There are many ways to practice worshiping God, but are we worshiping Him in spirit and in truth? Does God approve of this practice? Let's talk about this.
Do we practice the truth or adhere to rules and rituals?
Although we may pray, read the Bible, and sing hymns every day, go to church, praise the Lord, and listen to sermons every week from the moment we begin to believe in the Lord, are such outward practices included in worshiping God in spirit and truth? We can remember that when the Samaritan woman asked the Lord Jesus where she should worship God, the Lord Jesus answered her: “ The time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such worshipers for Himself. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth ” (John 4:21, 23-24). The Lord Jesus made God's will and requirements clear to the people: no matter where a person worships God, a person does not have to follow any rule or ceremony, he must worship God in spirit and truth. This is also our principle of practice for worshiping God. But most often we direct our efforts to external practices. We try to pray a little longer, talk a little more. We read Bible verses over and over again, trying to remember them. We attend church in all weathers, wind and rain, heat and cold, we organize various events, put on various performances to praise the Lord, we always participate with a positive attitude and so on. On the outside it seems that we spend so much effort and pay a high price to praise the Lord that we suffer a lot, but how many times do we talk about what is in our hearts when we pray to God? How many times, while reading the Bible, singing hymns, or going to church and listening to sermons, do we make an effort to be closer to God and meditate on the words of the Lord? How often when we worship the Lord do we seek the Lord's will and understanding of His words? Some brothers and sisters have practiced this way for many years, but they still do not understand the truth, do not have the knowledge of the Lord, and when something happens to them, they still often sin and live in bondage and bondage to sin. Here we face a serious problem, which is that most of the time we spend in prayer, reading the Bible, going to church and listening to sermons, we are just doing empty activities. We do not truly worship God in spirit and truth, we do not practice the truth to please God. No matter how well we observe these outer practices, God does not approve of it.
So how can we worship God in spirit and truth when we pray or read the Bible? Let's read a passage of God's words together. God's words say: “ The meaning of true spiritual life is to spend your life before God. When you pray, you can quiet your heart before God, and through prayer, seek the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, know God's words, and understand God's will. When a person eats and drinks the words of God, everything that God wants to do in the present moment becomes more clear and transparent to him, he can find a new way of practice and not stick to the old one, so that everything that a person practices serves the purpose of achieving progress in life. Just as the meaning of prayer is not to say a few nice words or cry before God, creating the appearance of gratitude, but rather to exercise your spirit, to humble your heart before God, to seek guidance in everything so that your heart become such a heart that daily attracts new light, and so that you are not passive or lazy, and can take the right path of putting God’s words into practice ” (“On Normal Spiritual Life”).
God's words show us the way to practice. When we pray, we must be careful to address God from the heart, speak sincerely, and trust God with our practical difficulties and real conditions. And when we read the Bible, sing hymns, go to church and listen to sermons, our hearts should always be set on seeking the truth, seeking enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, meditating on God's words so that we can understand God's will through His words, know God , have a path of practice and entry. This alone means worshiping God in spirit and truth. If we practice this often, we will experience constant growth in life.
In the Spirit
The expression “spirit” here denotes the opposite of the flesh and everything that has a carnal character that limits the freedom of the spirit. The Jews and Samaritans had the idea that the success of prayer depended on external conditions, mainly on the place where the service was performed.
The word spirit is capitalized here. Jesus is not talking about the Holy Spirit here, but about the spirit that is within us.
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved completely without blemish at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thess. 5:23)
Most likely, we intuitively understand what spirit means. Sometimes we use the expression “we lack the spirit.” Meaning courage, some kind of inner strength, motive, motivation.
The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you. (John 14:26)
παράκλητος
Parakletos - comforter, intercessor, protector. But this word also has another meaning. Stimulant, summoner, encourager. That which gives us an internal stimulus, desire, disposition of the heart, a dream.
Speaking about true worship in the spirit, Jesus does not deny worship, its external manifestations, as some may mistakenly believe. He only speaks of a narrow view of the worship of God, that it must be performed in a specific place, involving a specific ritual, and so on. Jesus is talking about our inner state, the disposition of our hearts, our inner urge to serve God.
For example, Jesus condemns verbosity in prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount, He says: do not pray like the pagans, who repeat the same thing and think that the more words they say, the more effective the prayer.
On the other hand, Jesus himself outwardly demonstrates his worship and reverence for God. He lifts his eyes to heaven during prayer, He kneels during prayer in Gethsemane.
If we look at Jesus' calls, they were not all about destroying people's outward worship, but about putting spirit into the things they did. Not just not to kill, but not even to allow a bad word or thought about another person. Not just don’t cheat on your friend, but don’t even allow yourself such thoughts inside.
Praise from the heart. Serving with a Dream. Zeal for the kingdom. This is an emotional experience. Our senses connect. Our spirit responds to the image and voice of God.
It turns out that something can distract us from worship.
I beg you, sing - it pleases God!
I beg you, don't be late!
I beg you, don't drink coffee while singing!
Thoughtfulness - praying with the Spirit, praying with the mind. Matthew 6:7 pagan verbosity. There are songs that we stopped singing, because if you say the words 50 times, then you no longer think about the meaning, but automatically sing.
When you pray for many years, there are constant phrases. Try to look for new words in prayer, this will revive your relationship with God.
Let us worship God in spirit. This is what our Lord did and what pleases God!
Prayer
One of the most common ways is prayer. Worship of the god is carried out in the form of repeated repetition of the same sacred text. Prayer is a very important part of the life of a believer. With its help, he can directly contact the Creator, Orthodox Christians believe.
Prayers are performed not only on holidays or when a person urgently needs help. There are also public prayers, which are regularly said at a general meeting of the congregation or on religious holidays.
Thus, in the Orthodox tradition, regular prayers are often performed without public worship. At the same time, they are recognized as collective prayers.
External behavior
It is worth noting that external behavior plays virtually no role in matters of worship. In Christianity, it does not matter what position a person is in when he prays or turns to the Almighty. He can sit, stand, lie down. There is no strict order.
There are certain rules when visiting the temple. But they are easy to do. So, when entering a Christian sanctuary, a girl must cover her head with a scarf or any other headdress. A man, on the contrary, is obliged to take off his hat before the threshold of the cathedral.
At the same time, there are no requirements for a person who decides to pray and turn to God at home.
The largest churches
To worship God, almost all religions at all times have strived to build the most beautiful tall and majestic religious buildings. Christianity in this sense was no exception.
Several buildings that appeared during the period of the existence of Orthodoxy and Catholicism claim to be the largest. But if we turn to the Guinness Book of Records, we will meet two of the most majestic ones. Moreover, it is interesting that both are in Africa, where missionaries actively spread Christianity not so long ago. Now the majority of the inhabitants of this continent are Christians.
One of them is this Catholic Church of Notre-Dame de la Paix. It is considered the largest in the world in terms of area. Its territory occupies 30 thousand square meters. The temple is located in Yamoussoukro. It is the capital of the state of Cote d'Ivoire.
The second is an evangelical Pentecostal church located in Lagos, Nigeria. It can accommodate 50,000 people at the same time. And this is a record. Moreover, another similar church is currently being built in a neighboring Nigerian city. It will probably become even larger and more spacious and will join the list of the most majestic buildings for the worship of God.
Temple
In ancient times, the place of worship of the gods was the temple. In the broad sense of the word, this is a pagan temple. This is a cult place for the pagans, in which idols were installed and worshiped.
Moreover, while there is information about Western pagan temples, there is no evidence that the Eastern Slavs had pagan temples. It may have been a sacred site rather than a specific structure.
Directly into the temple itself, only the priest and his entourage, associates who help carry out the sacred rite, were allowed to enter. The place of worship of pagan gods was often sacred.
In modern Russia, most Orthodox Christians go to church to perform the ritual of worshiping God. A temple is a religious building that is specifically designed to conduct religious rites and services.
As a rule, in the architectural symbolism of the temple, as well as in the interior decoration, one can trace the believers’ idea of how the world came into being. In earlier times, primarily in the Middle Ages, the temple was also an important public place. This was often the only non-open-air platform where a large number of people could gather to resolve their pressing issues.
At the same time, temples were of a memorial nature, and in some countries they were a refuge. Neither the police nor the military could enter the holy building without the special permission of the abbot. Therefore, political opponents of the government at that time or citizens unfairly accused of crimes often managed to hide for a long time within the walls of the temple.
In the Orthodox tradition, the main sanctuary is the church. It contains an altar, which can only be entered by a limited number of people. This status of the building is available to both Catholics and Christians. At the altar, such a sacred rite as the Eucharist is performed. This is the consecration of bread and wine in a special way. In the Catholic and Orthodox worldview, in this way believers partake of the body of Christ (bread) and his blood (wine).
But in Protestantism there is no such reverent attitude towards this ritual. Therefore, their temple often acts as a place for general meeting and prayer, but not for sacred rites. Some modern Protestants abandon churches altogether, preferring to rent small rooms for meetings and prayers, calling them houses of worship. According to their beliefs, this is exactly how the first Christians behaved, from whom modern generations of believers should take an example.
Repentance prayers
A classic example of a prayer of repentance is Psalm 50 from the New Testament. This type also includes the prayer of a publican (an ancient collector of taxes and taxes), prayers that are read after confession for the remission of sins, or the famous Great Penitential Canon of Andrew of Crete.
Petitionary and intercessory prayers are fundamentally different from one another. If in the first case the believer asks directly for himself, then in the second he asks for another person. Usually, your relative or friend.
Types of Prayer
Prayers can be divided into several varieties, which are clearly visible even to a person of little faith.
Some of the most common prayers are praise. There are also thanksgiving (when what a person asked for in church came true), repentance, when a believer needs to receive remission of sins or beg forgiveness for his action. And also petitioners and intercessors. When God is asked for health and longevity or a specific request is made.
Christian worship
It is worth noting that the worship of God is very common in our country, where the majority of believing residents profess Christianity. The word “worship” itself comes to us from the Greek language. It is actively used on the pages of the Old Testament. Especially in the meaning of “to fall or bow before someone or something.”
Worship of God, in the broad sense of this concept, is a person’s expression of his inner feelings and spiritual state. This is a purely individual action that a Christian can perform anywhere. He doesn’t even have to go to church for this.
But at the same time, there are forms of worshiping God that are obligatory for believers during church holidays. Then it is necessary for everyone to gather together in the temple, pray and ask the Almighty for help.
But even during church holidays, individual praise and worship of God is at the forefront. Ultimately, everyone prays and turns to God on their own.
