True Spirituality

By: Paul Beamon

Philippians 3:3

"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh"

Ask the average person in the street what it means to be spiritual and you will get people saying things like, " a spiritual person is someone who is in touch with the universe, his feelings, or knows how to appeal to his higher self.

But what does the bible have to say about the subject?

I believe the answer can be found in our text:

1) A truly spiritual person is one who worships God in the spirit.

Many Chistians have asked, including myself, how do you worship God in the spirit? The answer to this question can be found in Ecclesiastes 12:13, "Let us hear the conclusion of the matter, fear God, and keep His commandments, for this the whole duty of man." The essence of worship in the spirit is the reverential fear of God. Without the fear of God there can be no worship.

Reverential fear can be defined as a deep respect for God, both for who He is and what He has done. If I say that I fear God, I am saying that I have a healthy reverence for His standards, and His right to judge each of us in righteousness. I am saying that I admire all of His attributes, such as His awesome power, wisdom, unconditional love, and the way He respects our free will.

King Solomon, spent his years ( he did not start this way) chasing women, wine and wealth only to find emptiness at every turn. Finally Solomon comes to a conclusion that the most important thing in life is to fear God. The world is busy chasing wine, women/men, and wealth only to keep finding emptiness. What they have failed to realize is that no amount of worldly pursuits can ever take the place of God.

The fear of God is an attitude of the heart that says God is first, and what He says is what I do. To live your life in the fear of God is to live your life worshiping God. True worship in the spirit is not about do's and dont's and rule keeping but its about a relationship with God based on reverential fear.

Lets have look at some scriptures on the fear of God:

Deuteronomy 10:12-13, ", And now O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good."

Joshua 24:14, "Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods' your for fathers worshiped beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord."

Psalm 22:23, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him, all you descendants of Jacob, honor Him, revere Him, all you descendant of Israel."

Acts 9:31, "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers living in the fear of the Lord."

Revelation 15:4, " Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

These scriptures (and there are many more) show the close connection between the fear of the Lord and worship. So then, according to the bible true spirituality begins and ends with the fear of the Lord.

The second mark of true spirituality is:

2) To rejoice in Christ Jesus.

A common thing that happens to many new Christians is getting caught up in works. There is nothing wrong with righteous works that come from faith but the problem is that many try to "be" Jesus. They read scripture and see all that Jesus does and then go out strive and sweat and work to be as anointed and as used as He was.

God has a much better way for His people, and that is to rejoice in Jesus. Great is the day when, like John the baptist, a man says, "I am not the Christ, behold the Lamb, its Him not me." (John 1:20)

John said in (1 John 3:2) that when we see Jesus, we shall be like Him without even trying. When I stop trying to be like Him and simply like Him, and just enjoy spending time with Him, then I become like Him. Then I rejoice in Him all the more!

This then becomes an affirmation, in a believers life, of the grace of God and becomes a mark of true spirituality.

3) No confidence in the flesh.

"I can't believe I just did that, " says the one who just stumbled badly. To that I say, believe it, because you can stumble badly. Paul said in Romans 7:17 that no good thing dwells in our flesh. If we are blown away by some perceived great sin that we or someone else succumbed to, it only means that we did ,indeed, have confidence in the flesh. If we trust in our strength alone we will stumble and fall. Rejoice in Jesus, rest in Him alone, and witness the grace of God crush the power of sin.

When someone falls, a truly spiritual person can say, "if it wasn't for God's grace I would most likely do the same.

True spirituality consists not in do's and don'ts, pian, piety or self inflicted burdens. Paul says the spiritual person is one who worships God in the spirit, rejoices in Christ alone, and has no confidence in the flesh.

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com

Paul Beamon For articles to build and encourage your faith. www.life-is-for-living.com

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