Worshipping in spirit

“God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
The word ‘worship’ is one that has lost its meaning for most people in the modern-day church. It’s used synonymously with ‘slow’ when referring to ‘worship songs’, and when it comes to verses like this one we think it means some mystical thing to ‘worship God in spirit’.
What Jesus is really saying here is that worship is a spiritual act, not a physical one. You can close your eyes, lift your hands, kneel, or fall face down in a church service, but if your heart is not in a position of respect and awe of God, then you’re not worshipping Him in spirit. The word ‘truth’ here is aletheia, which means to have nothing hidden. To worship God in truth, is to worship Him in openness of heart, without pretense.
Now the verse starts to make sense. God is spirit, and He sees our hearts. The Pharisees lost the plot because they thought their worship of God was only about their outward actions – how fastidiously they washed their hands in the ceremonial manner, etc. What God really wants is for us to lay our hearts bare before Him, and acknowledge how great and awesome He is. That is the true meaning of worship.