We understand now that the importance of worship and praise is that it gets our eyes off of ourselves, the problem, and on to Jesus, the solution to our problems. We also now understand that this is important in relation to man’s psychology because only Jesus knows man’s thoughts and heart and the root cause of his problems. We also now understand that Jesus ministers to us what the root of the problem is through our spirit in union with the Holy Spirit, for Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who creates-life; the flesh profits nothing." (John 6:63).

It is still not clear to us yet, though, what it means to worship in the Spirit so that we can worship in truth. To understand what it means to worship in truth, we must first understand what it means to worship in the Spirit. This can be understood by taking other passages of Scripture into consideration which deal with the same subject.

The first passage I want to consider is from the book of Ephesians. Here Paul admonishes, "With all prayer and petition praying at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints." (Eph 6:18). A second passage is found in the book of Jude. Jude states, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit." (Jude 20).

When Paul and Jude admonish us to pray in the Spirit, to whom is the admonition directed? The answer to this question can be found in the first verse in both the book of Ephesians and Jude. In Ephesians 1:1 Paul states, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus." In Jude 1, Jude states, "Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ." The command to pray in the Spirit then is to:

1. The Saints
2. The Faithful in Christ Jesus
3. The Called
4. The Beloved in God the Father
5. And the Kept for Christ Jesus

Who are the saints? The saints are those who have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Who are the Faithful in Christ Jesus? Those who do not shrink back to destruction, "But of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." (Heb 10:36-39). Who are the called? Jesus said, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." (John 15:16). The Apostle Paul wrote, "And Isaiah is very bold and says, ‘I was found by those who sought Me not, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.’" (Rom 10:20). Who are the beloved in God the Father? They are the saints, the faithful in Christ Jesus, the called, the beloved in God the Father, and the kept for Christ Jesus. Who are the kept for Christ Jesus? His church the bride whom the Father will some day present to Jesus without spot or wrinkle.³⁰

Getting back to the question, when Paul and Jude admonish to pray in the Spirit continually, who is the admonishment toward? To put it simply, to anyone who has accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives. So whatever praying in the spirit is, it is clearly meant for all believers without exception.

The next place that Paul talks about praying in the Spirit is in 1 Corinthians. Paul states, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful." (1 Cor 14:14). Paul states here plainly that praying in the Spirit is praying in tongues. He also makes it plain that the mind is unfruitful in this exercise. This makes sense since it originates from the spirit and not the mind which is part of the soul. Does this mean that the mind cannot eventually be involved? No!

"And 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; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom 8:26-27).

We go to Jesus through worship and praise because only Jesus knows the root of the problem and the answer to our need. Jesus gives the answer to the Holy Spirit, which the Holy Spirit then asks the Father to give to us or the person we are praying for as we pray in our spiritual language, because praying in tongues about a need is the Holy Spirit praying through our spirit. The Holy Spirit is God and knows exactly what we need. His prayer through our spirit is a perfect prayer and exactly according to God’s will because the Holy Spirit only acts out of the initiative of Jesus who only acts out of the initiative of the Father.

The problem is, though, what we are praying in the Spirit may be what we need in order to know what to say or do in a given situation, but if I do not know what I am praying in my tongue, of what benefit is it to me? This is why Paul says if you pray in the Spirit, pray for an interpretation. What will be the outcome then? Paul gives us the answer to this question in the first book of Corinthians. He states, "What is the outcome then? I shall pray with the Spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the Spirit and I shall sing with the mind also" (1 Cor 14:15).

When we receive the interpretation of our prayer in the Spirit, we then know what to pray in our native language. The end result is our mind, our soul, is then able to cooperate with God’s will in the matter. Also, because it is according to the will of God we are assured of having what we prayed for and thus become at peace in our hearts and minds because we know we have what we have asked for. The Apostle John states in the first Epistle of John,

"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." (1 John 5:14-15)

Paul then states in the book of Philippians,

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7)

How many times have we prayed about something but had no assurance of the outcome because we did not know Jesus’ will in the matter. Jesus does not want us shooting arrows into the dark. He wants us to pray or minister according to His will and be at peace and assured in our hearts and minds of the outcome. (Eph 5:15-17). This is accomplished through worship and praise, praying in our spiritual language, and then believing Jesus for the interpretation so that we can then pray in truth according to His will in our native tongue.

This is what it means to pray in Spirit and truth. To requote the Apostle Paul, "For we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." (Phil 3:3). No confidence in the flesh to minister or act outside of the directive of Jesus through the Holy Spirit as a result of worship and praise and worshiping in Spirit and truth.

What do I mean by Conservative Evangelical Charismatic concepts of Evangelism? We mean Evangelical in the sense that Jesus’ will for the church is to seek and to save the lost, and to seek and to save the lost by drawing men to Himself.

We mean Charismatic in the sense that in order for our evangelism to be effective and ministered in love it must be Jesus centered and be motivated out of love-relationship with Jesus.

We mean Conservative in that our evangelism, Evangelistically-Charismatically oriented, must be motivated within the guidelines of Scripture and be brought into submission to the Bible in its total context to be certain that our evangelism and ministering is truly Jesus centered and truly motivated out of love-relationship with Jesus.

I believe that the BIBLE is the absolute inspired inerrant Word of God (1 tim 3:16, Heb 4:12) down to the letter in the original Greek and Hebrew (Matt 5:17-19) and that it is absolutely true truth and inerrant in all that it affirms in the history of man and the cosmos (Gen 1), in all that it teaches theologically concerning man and God (Matt 1, Luke 1-2, Heb 4:12), in all that it teaches and affirms historically, and in all that it teaches scientifically. I do not believe that what the Bible teaches is exhaustive truth, but that what it does teach is absolutely true truth without error. I believe this because Jesus claimed it was so (Matt 5:17-19, John 5:46-47) and because He came back from the dead to give us absolute proof that it is so (John 2:18-22).

Someone at this point may come along and say, "I have the Word of God, I have all I need." Jesus gave a response to this in the Gospel of John,

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life." (John 5:39-40)

Jesus is the answer to man’s needs, not the Bible. Jesus died on the cross to save man spiritually, soulishly and physically, not the Bible. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, And this is eternal life, that they may know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 15:3). We are saved by putting our trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross and that alone to save us from our sins and by literally entering into relationship with Him.³² We are sanctified and healed spiritually, soulishly and physically by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting Him to sanctify and heal us through His Spirit in His time and in His way. The writer of Hebrews states,

"Fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2)

And Paul states in Romans,

"For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:6-8)

To have your mind set on the flesh is to look to yourself not only for salvation but in sanctification and in how to share the Gospel with others and minister healing to yourself as well as to others. To have your mind on the Spirit simply means to fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, to save, sanctify, and heal yourself and others through you as He leads you through worship and praise and in Spirit and truth.

The Bible is Jesus’ sword by which He guides us. The Apostle Paul said, And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Eph 6:17). The Bible is the sword of Jesus through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, not the sword of man.

We do not know man’s soul, mind and heart and as a result are not qualified in ourselves to judge men by what they say or how they appear. Because we do not know what is going on inside of man truly, we cannot possibly know what Scriptures apply to a given situation. Jesus does know what is going on inside of man as well as outside of man truly, therefore only Jesus can know what Scriptures truly apply to a given situation.

If, in going to Jesus with our need, quoting a passage of Scripture is the immediate answer, Jesus will then lead us to the appropriate passages that will give a solution to the heart of the problem. It is at that point that the Bible becomes living and active and brings about the change in the person’s life it is supposed to.³³

When we try to apply the Word of God to ourselves or others without the initiative of Jesus first, we only end up putting ourselves and others under condemnation and strife and push ourselves and others further away from the solution to the need since we do not know for certain apart from Jesus’ enlightenment what the root of the problem truly is. Only Jesus knows a man’s heart and thoughts and psychology truly, therefore only Jesus can know what appropriate Scriptures apply to any one given situation.