Worship is Pneuma

By STACEY HILLIAR

I had an encounter with the Lord during my January holiday this year. We head to the Sunshine Coast in sunny Queensland every year and I always start the day having quiet time with God on our rooftop, where there is nothing between the ocean and me.

This particular morning, as I asked God to show me what this year would hold, I lay back with my eyes closed. With the sound of the ocean in the background, the sun warming my face and body, I immediately entered a closed vision.

In this vision, there was a leaf lying on a path. And there I was, in the middle of the path behind the leaf. Then, a light wind picked up and began to spin, lift and pinwheel the leaf down the path into the distance, and I began to chase after it. I was laughing and I was having an absolute ball chasing this leaf. Just as I would get close and reach out to catch it, the wind would pick up again, and off it would go… and the process repeated. The vision finished as quickly as it started and I knew what my assignment was for the year—follow the wind and take the time to enjoy the chase!

I’ve heard so many people express their fear that following the Holy Spirit can lead to weird places that don’t reflect much biblical truth and even that being prophetic or Spirit-led is the market share of the spiritual lightweights or weirdos. This makes me so sad because these fears keep people resisting the wind rather than having it at their back. When Jesus talked about the kind of worship His Father was looking for, in His encounter with the woman at the well, He said this:

‘But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [pneuma] and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit [pneuma], and those who worship him must worship in spirit [pneuma] and truth.’ (John 4:23–24)

There is so much rich, amazing contextual truth and application in this encounter Jesus had with this woman at the well, but let’s land on these two words— Spirit and truth. These are the two things the Father is seeking and actively looking for from His worshipers—a combination of pneuma and aletheia, which is the opposite of fictitious, feigned or false. In other words, not weird! Instead, it’s Holy Spirit and it’s real, sincere, accurate, truthful and dependable.12

One commentator explained that to worship in truth is worship that is doctrinally informed and directed towards Jesus; worship that affirms the realities of truth.13 I understand that I am not adequately covering so much of the rich context and theology of this encounter here, but this is because I want you to hear this: prophetic worship that is Holy Spirit led does not have to be kooky! It can and should be completely grounded in Scripture, and therefore transformational.

I often tell our worship leaders that it is one thing to express your emotions to God in prayer or song, and this is a great and important thing to do, but if you want to do war with your worship—sing or pray Scripture. Emotions are like feather dusters that tickle other people’s ears when we sing them. But singing Scripture is a sword that is an offensive weapon for God’s Kingdom.

Worship is pneuma. Let’s chase the wind.