In this message we shall consider a number of crucial verses pertaining to the Spirit and to our experience of the Spirit. All these verses are deeper and more profound than we have ever realized.
In John chapter four the Samaritan woman brought up the matter of the worship of God, saying, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship" (v. 20). In His reply to her, the Lord Jesus said, "God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality" (v. 24). If you are religious, in your worship of God you will bow down and say, "O God." But according to John 4:24, we must worship God in spirit and in reality. In our worship of God there is no visible object. Because God is Spirit, He is invisible. This Spirit is like the breath or the air. In fact, the Greek word for Spirit is the same word as the word for air or breath. When we worshipped God in the past, according to our concept, we worshipped One who was great and mighty or One who was in the heavens. We need to drop our religious concepts and worship in spirit. Actually, chapter four of John does not deal with the worship of God, but with the drinking of the living water. The Lord Jesus met the Samaritan woman for the purpose of giving her a drink. This is the subject of this portion of the Word. However, because of the religious question raised by the immoral, yet religious, Samaritan woman, the Lord Jesus spoke the word about worshipping in spirit. The Samaritan woman discovered that God was different from her concept of Him; for God is Spirit, and He is also a drink to satisfy our thirst.
According to John chapter four, the very God whom we worship is good for drinking. The proper worship of God is not to bow down before Him; it is to drink Him as the living water and to breathe Him as the living air. God is a living drink, the unique drink in the universe that can quench our thirst. If you would kneel down before this drink and say, "O God, I worship You and bow down before You," He would say, "Foolish child, I don't want you to bow down to Me, worshipping Me in your religious way. I am here for you to drink. You need to drink of Me. The more you drink of Me, the more you worship Me." Have you ever realized that the true worship of God is the drinking of God? The more you drink of God, the more you worship Him.
We need to put together verses 14 and 24 of John chapter four. Verse 14, which speaks of drinking the living water, is the interpretation of verse 24. To drink of the living water is to worship God the Spirit. However, thousands of Christians worship God without drinking Him. Although they have worshipped Him again and again, they have never drunk of Him. When we say that God is Spirit, we do not mean that He is merely the object of our worship. No, when the Lord Jesus said that God is Spirit, He was indicating that we must drink of Him. In other words, we must receive Him into us, not only drinking Him as the water, but also breathing Him in as the living air. God is our breath, and we must breathe Him in. Thus, drinking Him and breathing Him is true worship. Have you worshipped God today by drinking and breathing? In John 20:22 the very Spirit, who is God, is likened to the air, the breath, the pneuma, and in chapter four the Spirit is likened to living water. The air is the living water, and the living water is the air. Today we worship our God by breathing Him in and by drinking of Him. This is the proper way to worship God.
How much we need God as our air and as our water! Nothing is more necessary for our physical life than water and air. Although we may live for many days without eating, we can go only a few days without drinking and only several minutes without breathing. Air and water are most necessary for our living. As the Spirit, our God is both the air and the water. We need to breathe Him in as the air, and we need to drink of Him as the water. We need to have a deep breathing and a deep drinking. This breathing and drinking is our worship. God is Spirit, and we must worship Him by breathing and drinking. This is not a mere doctrine, for doctrine cannot quench our thirst or refresh us. But this Spirit refreshes us, quenches our thirst, and satisfies us. Hallelujah, God is Spirit for our enjoyment!