A Cheerleader for God!

 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 (KJV)

by Alexandra Copeland

Someone called me a cheerleader for God recently and at first it seemed to me a rather odd comment to make. I’ve studied the Word quite a bit over the years and it’s been my great privilege to teach it to anyone who will listen. I’ve never claimed to be the best at it, but thank God that He’s the judge and not man. I asked myself if this gentleman’s comment was spun from age old chauvinistic beliefs about a woman’s place, or maybe my sometimes plain but enthusiastic phraseology painted a picture of someone less knowledgeable about the bible. I then pondered if my frequent, yet respectful, use of urban vernacular had given way to a less impactful teaching. These questions got the better of me for a little while, but then I remembered the teachings of Jesus Christ about humility, and this settled my heart completely.

People are full of self-importance and there’s more than a fine line between the pride of egotism and being confident in one’s Christ ability. Pride causes a person to close themselves off from God. He cannot move as easily and masterfully in someone who is prideful, and this is why Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride goes before destruction and a puffed-up spirit goes before a fall. Pride dulls a person’s spiritual senses to such a point that they really can’t hear or sense God’s revelation and correction.

Some Christians are very prideful, and sometimes about things that have nothing to do with true worship of Heavenly Father. Some of us are prideful about certain types of Christian music; we believe some to be more religious or sophisticated than others. We are the same way about worship experiences, calling some in the faith ‘fanatics’ and others ‘spiritually refined and orderly’. We’ve taken the many ways in which God has given us to express our deep and abiding love for Him and turned them into devices to set ourselves apart and make ourselves feel that we are above others.

Humility is never more important than in our worship of Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ told us in John 4:24 (KJV) “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Heavenly Father did not leave the meaning of this powerful verse, or any other verse in the bible for that matter, up for our own personal interpretation. Our precious Lord was so meek that his rebuke was often tender, yet poignantly sharp.  In his discourse with the Samaritan woman in John 4, even after he had called her out and put her on blast regarding her various shenanigans with married men, she did not rally in offense against the truth he had spoken. For sure he had touched a sore spot when speaking of her sin, because our sinful ways are spun from soreness, but his heart was not to offend but to convict her heart to repentance.

The contention between the Samaritans and the Jews was heated, and the Samaritan woman brought up the subject about where to worship; whether in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim. Some say that she asked the question to divert his attention away from her sin, but she believed Jesus to be a prophet and it is very plausible that she was interested to hear from him on the subject, as she trusted that he could hear from God.

The things that we count so important today, will have little or no importance in the future; and so it was with the Samaritan woman. Her curiosity, like so many of her day, was chiefly concerned with one group of people being made to look more right than the other. The Jews felt Jerusalem was the place to be, and the Samaritans felt it should be Mount Gerizim; as that is where their forefathers had worshipped. She couldn’t have imagined the reality that our bodies would be the temple of God, housing the gift of His spirit within us. She couldn’t have imagined that God’s Word would be written on the lining of our hearts through the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. She couldn’t have imagined that the indwelling Holy Spirit would be our guide in life as well as in God’s Word, and that he will lead us into all truth. No, she couldn’t envision that God had such astounding plans for the spiritual transformation of humanity that an external building or place would pale in comparison.

IN SPIRIT
When Jesus Christ spoke to this woman, he provided a glimpse that is still illuminating the way for us today. He declared that a better way had come, one where we worship God in spirit and in truth! Philippians 3:3-4 (NLT) tells us “3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort.” Our Heavenly Father wants us to get to a place in our walk with Him that we lean on Him totally and completely. It’s not about what we can do in and of ourselves. We must depend on God’s Spirit for power, strength, and ability. We need to lean on Him and learn to recognize His voice and to feel His impetus through the spirit that indwells us.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 12:28 (NLT), “28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” To worship God in spirit, we’ve got to have an understanding of the gift of spirit that He has given us. When it comes to receiving a gift of any kind, you can’t be truly thankful for it if you don’t really understand what the gift is and how the gift operates. Through the spirit God has given us power—wonder working power! It’s inexhaustible, beyond anything we could ever ask or think. The indwelling Holy Spirit is our friend. He’s our guide, and he is helping us develop intimacy with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is helping us become deeply rooted in God’s love. When you recognize all the incredibly supernatural ways that the spirit guides and helps us, that’s when your worship kicks in high gear, because you are then able to worship God with an understanding and appreciation for what He’s done in you through Christ!

IN TRUTH
Psalm 51:6 teaches us that God desires honesty. Hebrews 10:22 (NLT) tells us, “22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Our hearts must have a sincere and earnest desire to trust God, not because of anything that we’ve done and not because of any claim to fame we think we have. Our hearts must prove true of a desire to honor and reverence the glory, sovereignty, and magnificence of who God is.

There can be no doubt that God looks at our hearts, and our hearts must be humble in the sight of God if our intent is true worship. There’s no way that we can move God’s agenda forward without His supernatural ability, and so often our pride will cut us off from witnessing His power at work in our lives. I am not sure if pride is the lens from which the gentleman that called me a cheerleader for God saw me, or if he was simply moved by my enthusiasm for God’s Word. Whatever the case, I thank God for his comment, for it reminded me to continue to seek humility in everything that I do. So I determined that I don’t care what others call me, as long as they recognize that God is on my side, and that I am most certainly on His. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.