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baby, childhood, church, eyes of the heart, freedom, God's love, Jack Hayford, Jessica Leah Springer, Jesus Christ, John Wesley, Lamar Boschman, love, parents, psychology, quotes, sensual experience, spiritual experience, Tim Hughes, worship in spirit and truth
Woman at the Well
(Picture taken from http://catholicalcoholic.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/woman-at-the-well-5001.jpg)
As soon as a baby realizes that it was urged to leave the security and coziness of its mother’s womb, s/he tries to hold fast onto something that is tangible and offers security for the anxious heart. Similarly, if our eyes are not yet accustomed to the new light which spiritually shines on us, we urgently need something to cling to until we feel secure again and can let go of our pillars that are perceptible to the senses.
Today I was reminded of Jesus’ dialogue with the woman at the well. We read,
The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he. Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (Jn 4:19-29 ESV)
[Bold letter emphasis mine]
John Wesley in his Notes on the Bible wrote the following about those very verses above.
Verse 21 […] True worship shall be no longer confined to any one place or nation.
Verse 23 The true worshippers shall worship the Father – Not here or there only, but at all times and in all places.
Verse 24 God is a Spirit – Not only remote from the body, and all the properties of it, but likewise full of all spiritual perfections, power, wisdom, love, holiness. And our worship should be suitable to his nature. We should worship him with the truly spiritual worship of faith, love, and holiness, animating all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions.
Verse 26 Jesus saith – Hasting to satisfy her desire before his disciples came. l am He
Verse 27 His disciples marvelled that he talked with a woman – Which the Jewish rabbis reckoned scandalous for a man of distinction to do. They marvelled likewise at his talking with a woman of that nation, which was so peculiarly hateful to the Jews. Yet none said – To the woman, What seekest thou? – Or to Christ, Why talkest thou with her?
Verse 28 The woman left her water pot – Forgetting smaller things.
So, what could be the “smaller things” in our lives that make it – in the first instance – impossible for us to recognize the Savior and Messiah when He suddenly stands right in front of us? Speaking spiritually, what are the first things we cling to in order to approach a God whom we do not yet know?
The baby is first sensual. Likewise, the natural man and woman wants to see, feel, even smell or taste God and therefore our first experiences are made in the visible realm. Usually we first learn about God in our families or in churches. Depending on whether our experiences with family members (esp. parents) and churches were good or bad, we cannot help but project our experiences onto our own inner image of God.
There is nothing wrong about that as we can see in Jesus’ way of addressing the woman at the well. He saw her deepest needs. That Samaritan woman had been desperately looking for love. Obviously, her quest of true love had failed as Jesus prophesied, seeing her lonesome and longing heart wide open before His inner eyes. Actually, there had been some “hes” in her life before HE revealed Himself to her. Also, regarding her question about true worship, we might as well assume that she, having hopelessly hunted for a husband, had been trying to fill the empty space in her heart with religious activities instead.
Without exploring the subject of true worship deeper than I already did, I only want to give you a few quotes to think about and to hopefully raise some thoughts to “dig deeper” regarding worship in spirit and truth beyond any principles and rules that originally were/are our pillars to approach the realm of the unknown God.
“Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.”
Jack Hayford“Worship must be – Christ centered, Holy Spirit led, a Response to the Father, about Intimacy and Service and always lead to Transformation!”
Tim Hughes“As John 4:23 says, it’s time, as worshipers of God, to give him all we have. For when he is exalted, everything about me is decreased. So many times we stand in the way of really stepping into the secret place of worship with God. Just abandon tradition and the “expected” ways of Praise & Worship and get lost in the holy of holies with the sole intention of blessing the Father’s heart.”
Jessica Leah Springer“When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart.”
Lamar Boschman
Entering the Promised Land 
Susanne, thank you for this post. Lord, lead us to worship You continually.
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AMEN to that prayer!
You’re so welcome, dear Pat. ❤ Thanks so much for your comment! 🙂
Indeed, you were my first commenter today and that encourages me because I always feel a bit uneasy until I can see visible reactions to a blog post here or to a poem on my poetry blog.
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Susanne, I know what you mean about feeling uneasy when we post a blog article or poem. We write them prayerfully, but still are not sure if we might have missed the Lord and heard Him correctly.
This business of worshiping the Father in Spirit and in Truth is something we need to search our hearts about, for sure. Lots of people go through knee-jerk activities they call “worship,” singing hymns by rote but what is the attitude of the heart in such actions? The Greek word translated “worship” is:
proskuneō
Thayer Definition:
1) to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence.
Literally it is to blow kisses to the one you love. This is worship in spirit and in truth! Worship is an act of love with your whole spirit, heart and being. Anything less God can see through. Words can be empty unless the heart is in them.
I like that quote from Lamar Boschman, “When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart.”
Yup, that about says it.
Bless you dear sister! May your heart be filled with worship for Him.
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I think all bloggers know that uneasiness we both wrote about, Michael. My problem is not so much that I wonder whether I heard Him or not since He always empties my mind of everything I could cling to. God literally erases every thought which I would have loved to add to a message that comes from an unknown realm to me. I never know what I will write about before I begin and as soon as I have finished writing, I FORGET IT – COMPLETELY!!! Whenever someone comments on a blog post or poem and refers to something I wrote there, I must read my “own” words again which, then, almost always bore me to death since they are no longer alive in my spirit. So, I could neither be proud of what I do here nor could I say that “I did it my way.” 😉
What makes me feel uneasy is the reaction of “likers” and commenters, the question of how they can take what I write on here. Is it perhaps “too much”, “too deep”, “too challenging” for them? Be that as it may, I want to see reactions, even negative comments because negative reactions are somehow better than no reactions, I guess, although they are not always easy to digest. 😉
Yes, of course, your explanation of worship is perfect, my brother!! Love it! ❤ But I gladly admit that there were times when I loved singing hymns as well. Yet how surprised I was when the Holy Spirit suddenly began to fill my heart and mouth with new songs in other languages which I had never heard before. THAT was really amazing…
Glad you liked that quote, Michael. Indeed, there is a kind of worship that needs no words. It happens when we enjoy being embraced by God in His great love.
Bless you too, brotha! 🙂
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Wow, Susanne! Your reply brings up some things that are so similar in our experiences. When I write a blog article, like you, I hit “post” and it is gone from my mind. So when people write and respond I, like you, have to read it again to figure out what they are talking about. It is almost like we are scribes or court recorders, writing down what we hear and then we go home. But also, we find that when we get “home” we have been dealing with or soon will be dealing with what we just wrote. How much of what we write if first and foremost for US to apply?!
When I write it is not quite as it is with you. God usually has been giving me lots of dismembered thoughts and images, but the problem is I don’t know how they all fit together. In my latest article about how the Bride makes herself ready, the keystone that the other pieces finally took shape from came from something that Becky Johnson wrote in her book, “A Grit and Grace Collection.” You yourself have often been the catalyst He has used to focus me in on what He is saying to me. God means none of us to be an island. We need one another for His wisdom is a collage with each of us receiving a part that the others need. Or as Paul put it, “For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them… in proportion to our faith” (Romans 12:4-6 RSVA).
Dear sister, what you wrote here is so precious and is worthy of repeating,
“Yet how surprised I was when the Holy Spirit suddenly began to fill my heart and mouth with new songs in other languages which I had never heard before. THAT was really amazing… there is a kind of worship that needs no words. It happens when we enjoy being embraced by God in His great love.” Yes, Father, make us true worshipers as we feel your loving embrace and blow you our kisses. Amen.
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Amen to your prayer, Michael. Thanks so much for your great comment! 🙂
Yes indeed, we all need one another to build up the Body of Christ of which we are joined but different and individual members. Only by working TOGETHER the big picture of the divine jigsaw puzzle can be recognized. What could a lonely puzzle piece do on its own? Not more than a branch that does not abide in the true vine and in His great love for all members of His Body (Jn 15:5).
Very well said, my brother, “God means none of us to be an island. We need one another for His wisdom is a collage with each of us receiving a part that the others need.”
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I am glad to hear that you love reading my blogs, dear Jacqui! 🙂
Indeed, I am always spiritually surprised, too, even while writing my stuff as I already explained in my reply to Michael above.
Yes, I think asking questions might run deeper than always handing a topic that has been fully explored (if such a thing were possible) on a plate, since I do not want my readers to fall asleep while reading (but afterwards it is okay 😉 ).
I know that the gravatar you had before showed a pic about the scene between Jesus and the woman at the well. Therefore you may know that I also thought of you while writing. But I really like the two white swans in your newer gravatar. Sooo sweet!!
Whether Jesus knew that it would happen? Interesting question…
At first I wanted to say, “Yes, of course, since He is God,” but then, reflecting a bit further on it, Jesus was man too and He did nothing He couldn’t see His Father doing. Might refer to his own blank mind as well, perhaps…
Be balanced in Him and His great love for you, my sweet sister. ❤
Love,
Susanne XX
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yes like Mike I like that quote too and I love that picture of the Samaritan female–she is beautiful! and so are you!
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Thanks so much, Kenneth! May I tell you that a part of your comment was a message from God for me? Indeed, your words made me weep with gratefulness, toward God and toward you who was obedient to write it down!
Love ❤
Susanne
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” As John 4:23 says, it’s time, as worshipers of God, to give him all we have. For when he is exalted, everything about me is decreased. So many times we stand in the way of really stepping into the secret place of worship with God. Just abandon tradition and the “expected” ways of Praise & Worship and get lost in the holy of holies with the sole intention of blessing the Father’s heart.”
Jessica Leah Springer” like the woman at the well had some new things to learn about worship , from an outward thing and place , not outward manifestations to cause the heart to worship but manifestations coming from a worshiping heart, to an inward one,. there has been a lot of talk about rebuilding the tabernacle of David in reference to restoring worship, as worship was Davids heart cry . there was another thing other than worship that David loved and that was Gods word, truth,” the Lord is looking for those to worship Him in Spirit and Truth” there has been a famine of hearing the word , truth , in the land . amos 8:”Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD.This is a season the Lord is exposing error and revealing and restoring truth, one of which is worship as a heart attitude, not just the outward manifestations ,isa.29:The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught..When i was in the institutional church i lead what was called praise and worship,for 6yrs.during that time the Lord taught me about true worship. when i stepped down ,thats a long story :-), the scripture the Lord gave me was the same one you quoted “i am looking for those true worshipers who worship the Father in Spirit and Truth . you can not worship God outside of Christ, the Truth, the love and honor toward the Father comes from the life of Jesus in us and is expressed through us, we get caught in that love and adoration that is flowing between Father and Son, outside of Him the only thing we worship is our selves, we may worship some one else or thing but it’s only because we are getting something out of it , we can even end up worshiping worship , a man made doctrine.“‘In him we live and move and have our being ! ~ wayne
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Thanks a bunch for your great comment, Wayne. 🙂 BTW, I hope to hear that long story about you stepping down from worship sometime or other.
So true what you wrote here, “You can not worship God outside of Christ, the Truth, the love and honor toward the Father comes from the life of Jesus in us and is expressed through us, we get caught in that love and adoration that is flowing between Father and Son, outside of Him the only thing we worship is our selves, we may worship some one else or thing but it’s only because we are getting something out of it , we can even end up worshiping worship.”
Very well said, my brother. It seems we made similar experiences in the past as to what true worship means. Your words also reminded me of a quote which I shared earlier on this blog and elsewhere. It reads as follows,
“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowsip. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.” [A.W. Tozer]
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excellent Tozer quote. also your story ” Yet how surprised I was when the Holy Spirit suddenly began to fill my heart and mouth with new songs in other languages which I had never heard before. THAT was really amazing… there is a kind of worship that needs no words. It happens when we enjoy being embraced by God in His great love ” reminded me of a time when a couple of brothers and myself were getting together to pray ,it was an important time for me i had just left the system and was in fear and trembling and need these guys to pray for me and cover my back,after a few times of getting together when we prayed the presence of the Lord would get real strong and sweet ,it was like when Adam would walk with God in the cool of the evening. as i would start to pray there would be no known words to express what was in my heart and utterances would come from me that were releasing what was in my heart ,not speaking in tongues something much deeper and beautiful. maybe Rom.8:In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; in Him ~ wayne
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Thank you, Wayne. 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your testimony here. Oh, I know how difficult, or rather impossible, it is to describe what we, truly, experience with God for which NO words in our human languages exist because it is exclusively spiritual! But Scripture, at least, gives us a hint to the deeper meaning of it all. Thanks again for sharing your story on here, my brother.
In Christ’s LOVE,
Susanne
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Hi Susanne,
I’ve just found your blog and was encouraged to see this post. John 4 is a passage I often bring up when well meaning Christians ask me, “Where do you GO to church?”
I tell them that you cannot GO TO church but you can meet WITH the church. When I mention that true worship is spiritual in nature and not confined to a building or service I get looked at like I’m an alien.
Worship to me is to give to God what he is due. It is those moments when in the garden admiring His creation and muttering, “God you are so good”. That to me is true worship. Paying homage to the One who deserves it all.
It’s nice to know there are believers such as you in Germany. My family is relocating there from the land down under next year. I am encouraged. 🙂
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Hello, my friend from down under,
I was glad to see this morning that you have been encouraged. Thanks so much for leaving your comment on here. You may know that your words encouraged me!! 🙂
Yes, you’re not the only “alien” on earth who believes that going to church, in the first instance, has nothing to do with worshiping God who is Spirit and thus invisible to the natural eye. As I see it today, the visible church can serve as a “guide marker” into the right direction, however, the church may never take the place of God in the heart of the believer which only belongs to Him.
I loved your description of what true worship means for you. Indeed, it’s all about our heart that admires God for what He truly is.
To be honest, what you said about Germany and about your family relocating from down under made me curious. Would like to hear more…
Every blessing,
Susanne from Bavaria
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