You Are Special
As a believer, whether you are a child, a parent, a student, a worker, a manager, or a business owner, you’ll want to know God personally and what He has specifically for you, besides all the promises in the Bible in general.
If you have a ministry calling, a 2-way communication with Him is the ‘pre-requisite’ because in this case, your Father God is also the ‘Big Boss’! Otherwise, how else would you be so sure that you are ‘called’, how else would you know your ‘job-description’, and how else would you know what ministry direction/decision you should take from time to time? You can’t always go around chasing after the prophets of God for prophecies, as they aren’t prophetic vending machines! Also, if you do not have a direct communication with God, it’ll eventually be very frustrating if you try to ‘copy’ other established ministers’ ways/methods of ministry.
You are especially made by God to be ‘you’! There is no other ‘you’ on this earth! And He has a special purpose, way, and plan just for ‘you’!
Relationship In Worship
When it comes to relationship with God, it has to do with one’s worship life. Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Most ministers of God would teach ‘to worship God’ is ‘to prostrate before God with reverence and adoration’. No doubt, you are to worship God with reverence and adoration in your heart. But the Lord wants me to write about ‘worship’ from its Greek’s root word, prǒskuněō. ‘Pros’ means ‘to go forward or to go near’, while ‘Kuněō’ comes from the root word ‘Kuōn’ which means ‘dog’! Interestingly, to worship or to ‘prǒskuněō’ means ‘to kiss, like a dog licking the master’s hand’.
Have you ever seen how a dog welcomes the master at the door? The dog won’t bow down like a knight and lick the master’s hand with dignity! The dog would wiggle its tail, bark happily, and then playfully jump on the master while licking the master’s hands and face without second thought! And the master who is so delighted would give an affirming and adoring pat on its head, or a warm hug and a friendly rub around its neck, or even a loving peck!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you are like dogs, but the above is to illustrate your worship life, i.e. your ‘responsiveness’ to God, and His ‘responsiveness’ to you, being ‘just as you are’ to Him, without hesitation and reservation. You see, God wants you to know that He always responds to you when you go near to Him, whether through your singing, praying, etc. When you worship without hesitation and reservation, a 2-way communication starts to happen. This is also written in James 4:8a, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Yes, as a believer, you can draw near to God without hesitation and reservation, worshiping Him in spirit and truth!
The veil in the temple those days separated the people from the Holy of Holies (where the presence of God is). Once every year, only the high priest would be able to enter the Holy of Holies, seeking God and making atonement on behalf of the people. But when the veil of the temple was torn the moment Jesus died on the cross, the way has been opened for you to have a direct communication with God. Jesus has therefore become the perfect mediator between God the Father and you.
Worship God In Truth
Whenever we preach or minister, my husband and I will always point the people to Jesus and His perfect work on the cross, because Jesus is ‘truth and grace of God personified’. Truth and grace comes through Jesus Christ alone (see John 1:14-17).
It is written in Matthew 27:50-51, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…”
The veil in the temple those days separated the people from the Holy of Holies (where the presence of God is). Once every year, only the high priest would be able to enter the Holy of Holies, seeking God and making atonement on behalf of the people. But when the veil of the temple was torn the moment Jesus died on the cross, the way has been opened for you to have a direct communication with God. Jesus has therefore become the perfect mediator between God the Father and you.
God knows you can’t reach Him by your own self-effort. Big sins or small sins, all are equally sinful to the Holy God. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). That’s why He sent His only begotten Son Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, i.e. the perfect sacrifice, to take your place on the cross!
The word ‘truth’ in John 1:14-17, “… truth and grace comes through Jesus Christ alone” and John 4:24, “… worship in spirit and truth” is from the same Greek word ‘aletheia’ which means ‘truly, truth, verity’. Therefore, by knowing Jesus’ perfect work on the cross for you, you know the ‘truth’! When you understand and embrace this truth, you know nothing can stop you from going near to God, and nothing will be able to stop Him from coming close to you, not even your sins and imperfection. When God the Father sees you, He sees Jesus (and His perfect sacrifice) in you. You can therefore come boldly before His ‘throne of grace’ to worship Him. This is the truth in Jesus Christ, a simple truth that expresses God’s total acceptance of you and God’s perfect love for you, no matter what you have done or gone through in life.
To worship God in truth is to worship God in Jesus!
Worship God In Spirit
Jesus has also promised the Holy Spirit for you in John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth dwells with you and is in you!
Jesus has also promised the Holy Spirit for you in John 14:16-17, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth dwells with you and is in you!
Jesus has made you righteous (i.e. in right standing) before God by taking your sins on Him (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). He has chosen to die on the cross for you. He has also conquered the consequence of sins which is death, for you. He has made you holy so that you can become ‘the temple of the Holy Spirit’ (see 1 Corinthians 6:19). For through Him (Jesus) we have access by one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). By knowing the truth in Christ, every time you worship God in your spirit, you’re connected to God’s Spirit, and you get into the ‘right frequency’ with God. A 2-way communication with God is therefore always open for you!
When you worship in spirit and in truth, you are walking in the Holy Spirit. As you walk in the Spirit, there will be evidences of ‘the fruit of the Spirit’ which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (see Galatians 5:16-25). Godliness cannot be achieved by imposing religious discipline on oneself, but it is by worshiping in spirit and in truth, hence walking in the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, know that Jesus has already carried away your sins and therefore you are made righteous through Him, while the Holy Spirit in you continues to help you overcome the temptation to sin in this world.
Therefore, in spite of all your imperfections, God will still respond to you when you worship Him in spirit and truth!
Interesting Life
Your life will be very interesting when you worship God in spirit and truth. Paul quoted the book of Joel in Acts 2:16-18, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
Your life will be very interesting when you worship God in spirit and truth. Paul quoted the book of Joel in Acts 2:16-18, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
Unlike the Old Covenant, every believer in the New Covenant can now ‘hear’ from God because you ‘house’ the Holy Spirit in you. He is ready to guide you, give you direction, warn you of danger/pitfalls, give confirmation, and provide solution in your daily life. Most of the time, you get His response when you worship Him in singing, in playing musical instruments, in conversational prayer, in praying in the spirit/tongue, in reading His Word, etc. God responds to you by bearing witness in your spirit (the ‘peace-go-ahead’ or ‘no-peace-stop-there’ signals in your heart), by dropping thoughts/words in your mind, and sometimes by speaking to you with audible voice, or through visions and dreams. Because the Holy Spirit is in you, He speaks your language and in the way you can understand Him. Even in dreams and visions, don’t be too quick to refer to other sources for interpretation as the Holy Spirit will reveal with symbols/objects or people that you can identify with according to your personal background. As different symbols carry different meaning to different people, the best interpreter you can have is the Holy Spirit Himself!
So, it’s not true that God only speaks to you once in a very long while, or when you are struggling in a ‘life and death situation’. He responds whenever you worship/go near to Him in spirit and truth, anytime and anywhere!