Worshipping God “in spirit” means with reverence, attentiveness, and having the right purpose of honoring God, while understanding what we are doing.  Hebrews 12:28-29 says, “Let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.  For our God is a consuming fire.”  Our worship must glorify God.  1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

In order to worship God in the right spirit, we must take time before worship to make ready our hearts and emotions so we will be in the proper frame of mind.  We read in Psalms 89:7, “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him.”  Our worship must show great reverence toward God.  He is our creator and He holds our eternal destiny in His hands.  We must strive to please Him.  We should not have to rush or hurry to worship, arriving late but should always plan to be there early enough so we can be in a worshipful attitude and spirit.  Our mind must be ready, attentive, and alert.

Concerning the Lord’s Supper, we are warned in 1 Corinthians 11:27, “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”  Our worship to God must be done in a worthy manner.  It must be done in a manner that brings glory and honor to God and Christ.  Continuing to read in verse 29, “For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy mannereats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”  We must control our thoughts during periods of worship and not let them wander to other things.  We should never be wishing the worship service would hurry up and be over so we can get to the restaurant early and not have to stand in line.  In fact we should be of the frame of mind that we are disappointed to see the worship service end.

In showing reverence and respect to God, we will not be indifferent, inattentive, and taking lightly that which should be considered serious.  Worship to God is holy.  Our character in worship must also be holy.  In 1 Peter 1:15-16 we read, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, because it is written, Be holy for I am holy.”  Slouching over, sleeping, playing with babies, squirming, unnecessary talking, and passing notes all show disrespect in worshipping God.  Worship which is insincere, that is not from the heart, is vain, useless, and unacceptable to God.  Jesus says, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Mark 7:6).  Active participation will tend to get rid of our lack of interest and inattentiveness.

Reverence is not having a long face, folded hands, or a put on look of piety.  Worship is a time of joy for us.  It is a time of offering thanks, adoration, love, praying, singing praises to God, feeding on His word, and proclaiming Christ to the world in partaking of the Lord’s Supper.