John 4:23-24 

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

I can have a very great worship session in fellowship with others or on my own and yet the whole thing is a mere figment of my soul, a contraption of my own mind, and a feast in the flesh.

God is Spirit, and I can only worship Him in spirit and in truth. Outside of what comes from my spirit and the word of God, it is impossible to touch His heart with mine, or even to fall before His throne.

Now I know that my spirit is my inner man. I have an inner man and an outward man. My outward man is not my old man. My old man was crucified with Christ. My outward man is my skill, my voice, my knowledge, my ability, my dancing. I know my outward man cannot worship God without my spirit man.

I know it is the music, the songs, the cadence, the colors on Sunday, and the melodies, that touch the fountain of my tear glands and unhook the dance from my pelvic girdle, because on that sweaty, mosquito infested night, I also sang but there was no excitement, my prayers limped for five minutes before I fell asleep.

Ever wondered why Sunday can be so powerful and Monday so weak, why you are so heavenly during the praise session and just after the message, but unable to witness Christ, pray for the sick, or even pray fervently on Tuesday morning. It is not a lack of passion, it is the body of death. My outward man may constitute itself a body of death to the life in my spirit.

So I do not lie deliberately, but I do not pray fervently. I do not have a passion for clubbing but I also do not have a passion for souls, I would not watch certain things, but I still see a great deal of movies, I am not be able to encourage a brother or sister from the word of God for a half hour, but I can go on and on about politics, or soccer, or a product, or cosmetics.

With regard to Satan, and the world, sin and evil; I had a body of sin. It wants to do what is wrong in the sight of God. With regard to God, His kingdom, and His will, I have a body of death. It cannot do what God wants….

If you asked me if I was ashamed of Christ, I might wonder at the possibility of that. But if you asked if I would take my paper bible with me to the shopping mall on a weekday? Not even to preach or anything, just to walk around with it from stall to stall because I identify with Jesus. Well…… would you? Or will you brush it off with how this is the 21st century, and how that evangelism strategies are different?

This is not about evangelism per se, but about worship, and where it is coming from.

When last did I lift up my hands spontaneously in the office, or close shop for 15 minutes just to finish a divine conversation or to praise, not because of a salary bump or a huge profit break, but for no reason in particular, except to deal with that mighty flow within that cannot be postponed. No, it has to be devotion time or Sunday morning, then I turn up my spirituals to full blast.

Only that now I know that it is not my spirit on full blast or anything, it is the same outward man. My spirit is either alive or dead. He does not observe Mondays or weekends, evenings or mornings, weather or economic conditions, but is set to the clock of the third heavens. If I cannot worship for fear of what people would think or for some reason or the other, then kudos to our powerful worship team, but my Sunday morning experience is called to question.

The inner man needs the outward man to function properly, but the inner man is not to be subject to the conditions of the outward. I know it is coming from my spirit, when it bears the same tone, the same vigor, the same clarity, the same strength, the same sharpness; whether in heat or in cold, in daylight or in peach night, under air conditioning or flea bites, in solitude or in the market.

I know it comes from my inner man when the outer man is broken, when the mark of the Cross of Christ rests on my abilities, when I am finished before God, with nothing to offer, but what He has given me, where there is no pride, no ambition, no need for recognition, no boasting, no showmanship, no fear of man.

Just deep calling unto deep, satisfied with yearning, embracing with reverence, fallen down, yet in the most high place.

That always touches heaven, and its King.

That is worship.

Written by Ebele UzoPeters