TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. John 4:23-24
Read: John 4:23-24
Listen: John 4
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Christians practice spiritual disciplines in concert with the Holy Spirit to train ourselves to be godly and to mold us into the character of Jesus. This month’s spiritual discipline is Worship. Worship is the practice of focusing on and responding to God. In worship we respond to the awesomeness of God –his power, beauty, glory and holiness.
Jesus models that worship is both public and private. He spends time at local synagogues for teaching. He also regularly withdraws alone to spend time with the Father. But religious leaders of Jesus’s day insist true worship can only happen at the temple in Jerusalem. When Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well he declares true worship happens in Spirit and truth. He teaches worship is the response of a heart that has encountered the truth of the living God.
We too need times of public worship where we are strengthened by meeting together and proclaiming the greatness of God. We also need time to meet privately with God and deepen our personal worship of him. The two fuel each other. Through the Holy Spirit, we can worship God wherever and whenever, public and in private. And the more we worship God, the more we grow to become like him in our character.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Ask God how you can grow both a personal and public practice of worshiping God. Which one do you need to focus on more this month? Maybe it’s time to recommit to attending weekend services regularly and to preparing your heart beforehand. Maybe you need to develop a practice of personal worship and focusing on who God is each day.
2023 SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Join us all of 2023 developing a different spiritual practice each month. SPIRITUAL PRACTICES are intentional regular activities to deepen our relationship with God and mold us to be more like Jesus.
June is WORSHIP. Keep track of our spiritual practices at beyondtheweekend.org/spiritualpractices.
Download a printable PDF of the BTW week here.
