Get Truth Get Life

Worship the Lord God in Spirit and Truth,

In everything you do, be faithful like Enoch, David, Job, and Ruth,

Like Abel, always present the best to Him,

And like a shining light that shines more and more, your light will never grow dim.

Endeavor to please the Most High King,

By making Him your first, last, and everything,

If you seek Him diligently, He will reward you,

With gifts that are everlasting, noble, and true.

In quiet moments, let your heart commune,

With the One who created the sun, moon, and the monsoon,

With open hands, lift your praises high,

To the Lord God, who reigns beyond the sky.

Embrace the wisdom from the ancient pages, 

Scriptures that have withstood countless ages,

In every step, let love be your guide, 

A reflection of the One who’s always beside.

So, worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth, 

From the dawn of youth to the aging booth,

In every chapter, on every page, 

Feel His presence in your life at every stage.

Hebrews 11:4 (KJV) – “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.”

Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God. Offering sacrifice is a form of worship. God accepted Abel’s worship, while God rejected Cain’s worship. God Himself testified of Abel’s offering and considered him righteous. He did not testify of Cain’s offering. We can see here that not all worship directed to God is acceptable by God. 

Matthew 15:9 (KJV) – “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

The above verse addresses people who claim to believe in God because those are the ones who worship. The verse doesn’t say they don’t worship God. Instead, it says they worship God in vain because they keep their commandments instead of God’s commandments. Cain’s worship was in vain because He did not do as God had commanded. God had instituted a sacrificial system where the blood of an animal (a lamb) had to be shed after Adam and Eve sinned. The lamb’s blood was to symbolize the blood of Jesus.

In Genesis 3:7, when Adam and Eve sinned they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness. They were trying by their power to deal with the sin they had committed. They were attempting to save themselves. Adam and Eve acted like their firstborn, Cain, by bringing plants to God. As human beings, we cannot deal with sin by our own might. We need God’s help. Genesis 3:21 (KJV) – “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” 

Here we can see that genuine and acceptable worship is directed by God. Once you realize this, you will worship God as He directs and not as you direct. Adam and Eve directed themselves to sew fig leaves and wore the aprons made for them after they realized they were naked. God had to remove the fig leaves that Adam and Eve used to cover themselves, and He covered them with coats of skins. You cannot sanctify yourself; you need God to sanctify you. You cannot save yourself, you need God to save you. You cannot direct yourself, you need God to direct you. 

“The Lord mercifully provided them with a garment of skins as a protection from the extremes of heat and cold.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 61.5, Ellen G. White. 

The coats of skin God provided Adam and Eve were better than those they provided for themselves. When they sewed fig leaves, they only thought of covering their nakedness. They did not know the sin they did also affected the climate. The once-perfect weather would no longer continue in that state; it would be subject to heat and cold. God knew this, so He covered them with coats of skin. 

God’s choice is always better than our own choice because He was the one who created us, and He understands the end from the beginning. Secondly, we can’t know what the future holds. It is only God who knows the future. Therefore, from this example of Adam and Eve, we can see that when God gives us something, He is thinking about the present and the future. He gives us things with more value than our carnal heart’s desire. Therefore the worship that God instructs is highly beneficial. The worship that we instruct is not valuable. 

“The duty to worship God is based upon the fact that He is the Creator and that to Him all other beings owe their existence. And wherever, in the Bible, His claim to reverence and worship, above the gods of the heathen, is presented, there is cited evidence of His creative power. “All the gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (Psalm 96:5). “To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? Saith the Holy One. Lift your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things.” “Thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it: … I am the Lord; and there is none else” (Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18).” – Lift Him Up, Page 51, Ellen G. White. 

God is the Creator of everything. Ecclesiastes 12:13 (KJV) says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” The Bible tells us that the whole duty of man is to worship God. Whatever work, skill, or talent God has given you, He expects you to use it to worship Him because He is the Creator. Therefore your education will be highly blessed if you put God at the center. You need to pray before and after reading a book. Pray before you plan your timetable. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” Pray before you do anything. Your career will be blessed beyond measure if God is at the center of it. In short, God will bless everything you do because you acknowledge that He is the Creator and everything you do depends on Him. 

Therefore, it will be great when you want to start a business; you consult God about which business name you should use. It will be highly profitable if you pray before designing the logo. Pray before writing down the vision, mission, and core values. Pray before going to network with people. Pray before approaching customers. Pray at each step of your business. This is because running your business is an act of worship. 

As a child of God, everything you do, you should look at it as a form of worship, therefore do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). If you do this, your work will surpass the works of others in excellence and others will be drawn to God. 

When Cain saw that God had accepted Abel’s offering and not his, he was angry. Genesis 4:6-7 (KJV) – “6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” When God asked Cain this question, He gave him a second chance to reform and do what was right. He told Cain that if he wanted Him to accept his offering, He should do what was right by bringing God a lamb like Abel did. 

Having established this, the question is, what type of worship does God accept?

John 4:24 (KJV) – “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.” True worship must be in Spirit and Truth. Many Christian churches claim to worship God in Spirit but not in Truth through their many theatrics during church service, for example, shouting and people falling. Such that make those claims do not worship God in Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13). 

Worshipping God in truth means your worship should be according to God’s Word. Your worship needs to be in accordance with God’s commands. If God says, “The Sabbath is the Seventh Day of the week (Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Exodus 31:7; Exodus 23:12; Exodus 31:15; Exodus 35:2; Leviticus 23:3; Hebrews 4:4, etc.)” and you go ahead and observe another day, your worship will not be in Truth because it is not in line with God’s Word. 

Worshipping God in Spirit means more than speaking in tongues. It means having all spiritual fruits. Therefore, when worshipping God, we need to exercise all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And what are the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) – “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” 

Galatians 5:23 tells us that against these fruits, there is no law. This means there is no Truth/Word of God against all these mentioned fruits. We can conclude by saying Spirit and Truth are inseparable, and one who claims to worship God in one must also worship Him in the other. There is no way someone can worship God in Spirit and fail to worship Him in Truth, and there is no way someone can worship God in Truth and fail to worship Him in Spirit. 

The first mentioned fruit of the Holy Spirit is love which is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 as the greatest gift of all. John 14:15 (KJV) says, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” Love is obeying God. Obeying God is loving God and loving our neighbors. The Israelites requested Aaron to make for them a god because Moses had delayed coming down from the mount. Aaron made them a god; after he made them a god, he fashioned an altar for that god. After doing these things, Aaron said in Exodus 32:5 – “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” God detested that worship because it was not as per His law. It broke the first and second commandments (Exodus 20:3; Exodus 20:4-6). 

Leviticus 10:1-2 (NKJV) – “1 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” Nadab and Abihu were priests who showed irreverence to God by offering profane fire to Him. God got angry and killed them immediately. 

Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s sons, were corrupt in their service before God (1 Samuel 2:12-17). Unlike Nadab and Abihu, God did not kill them immediately. They were killed later in battle (1 Samuel 4:11). God hates irreverence and will punish irreverent ones if they don’t repent. When we go to the presence of God, we must be reverent because even the sinless angels in heaven veil their faces when they are in the presence of God (Isaiah 6:2). If Holy angels cover their faces, how much should we do as sinful human beings?

Even though Belshazzar was a Pagan King, God punished him because he played with the vessels of the house of God. Things that are considered holy should not be meddled with. Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king, but he never played with the vessels of God’s house. God trusted the vessels in Nebuchadnezzar’s hands more than in Jehoiakim’s hands (Daniel 1:1-2).

Some unbelievers or people we consider sinners have fear for God more than some Christians do. Therefore, as you worship, remember that you are in the presence of a Holy God. While in church, switch off your phone or put it in airplane mode. What you cannot do in front of your country’s president or the presence of an earthly judge, don’t do it before God. It doesn’t matter how small your church is or how unattractive the church building looks. Please treat it with reverence because it is holy ground. 

When Moses saw a burning bush, God commanded him to remove his shoes because it was holy ground. A bush is not an attractive site to admire. However, God decides what is holy, and the bush was holy then. Your church may be an unfinished building, a tent, or even an open space with no structure where you gather with friends to worship. 

Treat it reverently wherever it is, as long as two or more people are gathered, it is holy ground. During the sanctuary time, people had to wash their hands and feet before entering the sanctuary. In other words, they had to be physically clean. When going to church, you ought to be better groomed than when going to a meeting with a high-level executive. 

Exodus 28:2 (KJV) – “And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.” Aaron’s garments had the same color as the sanctuary’s colors. Therefore, if you met Aaron going to the sanctuary, you would know he is going to church. His clothes had to reflect glory first, then beauty. When dressing up for church, many dress for beauty first, and we give no thought to glory. 

Have a habit of praying before choosing the clothes to wear to church. Don’t enter the church with shoes full of mud. We should ensure that the church is cleaner than our houses. If we do that we will show that we truly put God first. 

Exodus 20:9-10 (KJV) – “9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” In these two verses, God is telling us that He has given us enough time (6 days which translates to most of the time) to do all we have to do, and He is just asking for a single day. We have all the time to do our activities, and the time God asks for compared to what He has given us is minimal. 

Of the total 168 hours of the week, 144 are ours, and 24 are His. Do not talk about ungodly topics or have ungodly thoughts during Sabbath. You ought to be holy throughout the week because the whole armor of God should be worn full-time, not just on the Sabbath. However, God allows you to do your money-generating activities and school-related duties during the week, but He does not allow you to do the same on Sabbath. Therefore, focus fully on God on the Sabbath.

Another fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. When in the presence of God, no matter what we are going through, we should always be happy. Philippians 4:4 (KJV) – “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” 

Psalms 37:4 (KJV) – “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” When going to church, do not be sad and gloomy. You need to look forward to going to church more than you look forward to going swimming or a concert or any other fun activity. 

The same way you go to school early is how you should arrive early in church. If you arrive precisely on time when you go to school, arrive thirty minutes earlier when you go to church. When the preacher is preaching, enjoy hearing the Word of God. Take part in the singing with joy. Greet people with genuine happiness. 

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV) – “13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

“All heaven was represented to me as beholding and watching upon the Sabbath those who acknowledge the claims of the fourth commandment and are observing the Sabbath. Angels were marking their interest in, and high regard for, this divine institution. Those who sanctified the Lord God in their hearts by a strictly devotional frame of mind, and who sought to improve the sacred hours in keeping the Sabbath to the best of their ability, and to honor God by calling the Sabbath a delight—these the angels were specially blessing with light and health, and special strength was given them.” – Counsels for the Church, Page 271.1, Ellen G. White. 

Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Ensure that you are peaceful during worship. Do not quarrel or fight anyone. Matthew 5:9 (KJV) – “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Do not worship God before you solve a misunderstanding with someone. Matthew 5:23-24 (KJV) – “23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” 

When your heart is at peace, you will concentrate when worshipping. You need to exercise patience when worshipping, don’t rush to complete a prayer but pray earnestly from your heart. Do not move in and out of the church during church service, especially when the pastor is preaching. 

When you pray, and God has not granted your request yet, continue praying, don’t stop. Be patient. You ought to be kind and good to everyone. Offer a helping hand where need be when you are worshipping. After the preacher has preached, complement them. Give a word of encouragement to whoever is conducting God’s service or whoever seems afflicted. They may seem like simple words, but they can go a long way.

Exercise faithfulness, return the requested ten percent as tithe and an additional as an offering. God killed Ananias and Sapphira because of unfaithfulness (Acts 5:1-11). Be gentle when worshipping. Treat the holy things of God like the Bible gently. Don’t run or shout in church.

The last mentioned fruit is temperance, also called self-control. Exercise temperance. Eat less when you are going to worship, lest you sleep in church or you fail to comprehend the message entirely. Pastor Elizabeth Mokoro says, “No spiritual battle is won on a full stomach.” It can be great if you fast when worshipping but eat less if you can’t fast. 

When you love God and worship Him as He says, He will be pleased with you. 

Psalms 37:4 (KJV) – “Delight thyself also in the Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

Prayer

Dear God,

As we explore the essence of worship in Spirit and Truth, we come before You with hearts of gratitude. Teach us to worship You Faithfully.

You are the Most High King, and we commit to making You our first, last, and everything. Let our hearts commune with You, and in every action, may our lives reflect true worship. Guide us to sanctify ourselves, seeking Your wisdom in all we do. May our daily activities be avenues of worship, bringing glory to Your name.

Cultivate in us the fruits of the Holy Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. As we worship, may these fruits manifest in our lives, impacting those around us. We ask for Your guidance and blessings as we strive to make our lives a continual offering, a testimony of Your love and grace.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Activity

1. Reflect on your worship. Is it in Spirit and Truth? 
2. Reflect on your life. Are you living in Spirit and Truth?
3. In your journal or notebook, write down the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control.
4. At the end of each day, evaluate how you have used each of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. 

GOD BLESS YOU!

Author: Mark Alex   

Email: gettruthgetlife@gmail.com 

Phone Number: +254710633247   

My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-alex-0b87a9109/

PayPal: gettruthgetlife@gmail.com  

Revolut: revolut.me/markalex92