Worship God in Spirit — What Jesus Did When No One Was Around

For two years, I knew my job was going away at Dillard Paper Company. International Paper had purchased us and was eliminating delivery routes to small and medium-sized printers. Selling paper and writing was all I knew.

Desperate and wanting to get back to full-time writing — my college major — I submitted a résumé at a job fair. I was pretty sure no one would know what “HTML Editor” meant, but at the word “editor” someone might take a look at my work.

Weeks later, a headhunter called. During dinner. We never answered the phone at dinner, but that night, for reasons I still can’t explain, I did. Joe with Headway asked if I could be at IBM the next morning to interview for a job working on IBM’s website.

I thought it was a joke and hung up. Joe called back. In a thick New York accent that confirmed to me the deal was a scam, he assured me the interview was legit. This is exactly how scams work, I thought. They sound very convincing right up until the moment you hand over your bank account number.

At 10 am the next morning, I sat in the lobby of IBM’s main campus in Research Triangle Park, feeling only slightly less out of place than a golden retriever at a chess tournament.

The interviewer, Jeff Miller, handed me a sheet of HTML code. I recognized maybe five lines on the whole page. The rest was Greek — and not the fun, Mediterranean-vacation kind of Greek. The kind where you smile and nod and pray nobody asks you to explain anything. But at the start of the interview, Jeff got a phone call and spent the next twelve minutes on it. When he hung up, he looked at me and asked, “Any questions?”

Clueless as to what I was doing, I smiled. “No.”

That night Joe called. “They want to offer you the position. How much do you want per hour?”

I told Joe I’d work for free, that I loved building web pages. He said, “Don’t tell them that.” He suggested an hourly rate. I said sure, whatever. The scam grew. Inside I kept wondering how much this was going to cost me.

A couple of days later the offer from IBM arrived. When I told my manager at Dillard I was going to work at IBM to build websites, the shock on his face — and the relief of getting rid of me — released the kind of enthusiasm you often see in the faces of fathers holding their child for the first time.

Still in a mild panic about being hired for a job I was clearly unequipped to perform, I showed up at IBM. One other person and I were the first members of the PC Group’s web team. I got an office with no windows and was told I could order as many books as I needed to learn how to do my job. IBM, to its credit, had essentially hired me to read and think, which is the same business model used by philosophy professors, except IBM actually paid well.

For around six months I read and played with code. Slowly we built a team. To this day, that summer — from May to Christmas — was like a slice of heaven. A pay increase for learning to do something I loved. Well, that’s a testimony that sealed the deal for me: God loves me best.

Two Years of Seeing God’s Goodness

From 1994 to 1997, while slowly watching my job disappear, I cried out to God. Literally. Gripping the steering wheel, tears streaming down my face as I drove past the airport to our office, I begged God for help. I had just finished BSF — Bible Study Fellowship — where I had learned a great deal about the Bible, about God, about Jesus. But I had not yet fallen completely in love with the Word. The summer of 1997 changed that.

God placed me on the leading edge of the Internet’s explosion, and I didn’t know it until years later. I started at IBM in 1997, worked through the dot-com bust, left to run my own web business, watched blogs arrive — and change how website design and hosting became a commodity. By 2009, I had sold my web business to publish books for others and run Christian Devotions Ministry. The skills I picked up in that windowless office I still use today to keep our ministry’s sites running.

I thought I was playing. God was filing it away for later.

What Is Prayer?

Countless books have been written on prayer, but what is it really? Jesus gave us the model. Problem is, for most of the model, no one was there to write down the instructions.

Mark says Jesus got up before dawn to pray. Luke says He prayed often. Matthew puts Him on a mountainside alone after feeding five thousand people — which, if you’d just done that, you might think you’d earned the rest of the evening off.

But what did Jesus do? Say? Hear?

God is Spirit. I used to think maybe God showed up the way He did for Moses — a burning bush that keeps your attention. Now I’m not so sure. In fact, I’m pretty certain that my experience in my car while driving past the airport, and Jesus’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, is the normal and natural model for prayer.

Jesus operated full of the Holy Spirit — Luke 4:1 says so plainly. But full doesn’t stay full. Ministry drains. People drain. Healing drains. Teaching drains. You can give out what you have. You cannot give out what you don’t. So He went off alone to be with His Father in prayer and got filled.

He went because praying in the Spirit to His Father who is Spirit is where the fruit of the Spirit falls into our heart.

I suspect Jesus did as I do. Outside, He looked up, spoke audibly to His Father, and said at least this much: Kingdom of God, come. Will of God, come.

God Is Not a Destination

The woman at the well wanted to settle the argument about where to worship. Jesus answered, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” — John 4:24

That quietly dismantles the rituals, the rote repetition, the proper posture, words, liturgy.

I take evening walks. I look up at the sky. The psalmist helps guide me. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from?” The disciples were still looking up when Jesus ascended. Up is a big space and God is big.

So I talk. What I say at first sounds a lot like the Lord’s Prayer, because it is. But anytime it even hints at becoming familiar, I stop talking. If I’m bored, my heart isn’t in it. I wait for Him to speak, to give me thoughts, to remind me of people. I make the prayer personal — for me, for those He brings to mind. And I keep asking. Jesus commanded us to ask. I’ve seen the results of asking. In asking, God is glorified.

You ask from those from whom you expect an answer, help, something good. Asking is worship.

Paul Said Drink

If I find myself walking around carrying guilt, shame, and a low hum of condemnation, I know I’m not walking in the Holy Spirit. That’s the accuser. For that, I confess, repent, and get refilled.

Paul says it best: drink in His Spirit. Get drunk on it.

“Be filled with the Spirit” — Ephesians 5:18 — is present continuous in the Greek. Not get filled once at an altar call and coast. Keep being filled. I’m certain this is how Jesus refreshed and refilled on those times when He went off alone.

The disciples at Pentecost were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. The same disciples were filled again in Acts 4. Nobody called a theological committee to discuss whether that was permitted. They just prayed, the building shook, and they went back out full.

I can tell when I’ve skipped a day of walking and praying. So can those around me. The flesh speaks from me more often than His Spirit.

I find this encouragement from Paul: pray in the Spirit often. Build yourself up by worshiping in your heavenly language. For me, both leave me with peace, often insight into issues, and a deep knowing that the issues I face are already decided in my favor.

Because of His word, I know God’s will for me: favor. From Him; from men.

Because of His Spirit, I know God.

Because of both, I know I’m known by God.

And that assurance settles my future for the remainder of today, tomorrow, and all eternity.

Scripture Reference

Jesus went alone to be with the Father.“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” — Mark 1:35 “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” — Luke 5:16 “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” — John 5:19

God is Spirit — not a form, not a location.“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” — John 4:24 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” — 2 Corinthians 3:17

Walk in the Spirit — and thus, not in sin. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” — Galatians 5:16 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” — Romans 8:1 “Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” — Romans 8:5

Pray in the Spirit — including your spiritual language.“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” — Ephesians 6:18 “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us.” — Romans 8:26 “Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God… they utter mysteries by the Spirit.” — 1 Corinthians 14:2

Be filled — often, repeatedly. Be filled with the Spirit.” — Ephesians 5:18 (present continuous — keep being filled)”After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 4:31 (the same disciples, filled again)”Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit.” — Luke 4:1

Look up when you worship.“I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” — Psalm 121:1–2 “Stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” — Luke 21:28 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” — Colossians 3:2

---

Eddie is an award-winning author known for crafting suspenseful mysteries and humorous adventures that captivate readers, young and old.  His books are read by countless inmates and used to introduce others to Christ.

Eddie is the author of The Caribbean Chronicles, a time-travel pirate fantasy adventure series, and The Caden Chronicles, a mystery series based on supernatural myths that he believes have their roots in the Bible. In each case, Nick Caden seeks to debunk the supernatural “myth” and uncover the truth.

Eddie helped launch Christian Devotions Ministries and is its president. He is the former CEO of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, a Christian book publishing company. He is Executive Editor of Inspireafire.com  and Devokids.com. (If you want to write for IAF, hail this pirate!) He’s also a Writers’ Coach.