The Lord said that true worshippers worship God in spirit and in truth:
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4)
To worship God in spirit is to sincerely comply to the light God has revealed to you with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. It requires reconciling yourself to God, to truth, as best you know it right now.
How do you reconcile your whole life to your best understanding of God?
First, realize that you must establish a daily habit of getting to know him better. If you don’t pray and study every day, how can you expect to get to know him?
Second, periodically conduct an honest self-assessment. This state is perishable. It must be renewed daily. Fully submitting yourself to God is what the Lord was referring to when he said: “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Here is how you do it. Take some time. Find a quiet place where you can guarantee you won’t be interrupted. Make sure you have a notepad and a pen. Pray, and pour your heart out to God. Sincerely thank him for everything in your life. Be specific, and take your time. Once you have emptied your heart of all the gratitude you can muster, ask him to show you anything in your life that is out of accord with what he has taught you. Mentally explore every piece of your life, from your relationships with others to your work to your desires and feelings. Write down any changes that you need to make to bring your life into total alignment with your understanding of God’s character.
Commit to immediately making those changes that are needed to be reconciled to the light God has given you.
You may be tempted to wait to respond to the light at a more convenient time. Don’t. When a disciple responded to Jesus’ commandment with his intent to obey just as soon as he could go and bury his dead father, Jesus said: “Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” (Matthew 8:22)
You may be tempted to rope off some areas as off limits. Don’t. Truth is universal. To acquire as much truth as quickly as possible, you must reconcile yourself to all truth as you know it.
Truth spans all domains. It isn’t just about strictly gospel commandments. If we know how to be more productive than we are at work, we must reconcile to that knowledge. If we know how to manage our weight, we must reconcile to that knowledge. If we know that certain entertainment is not uplifting, we must reconcile to that knowledge.
God is the source of all truth. If we want to access what he has in all areas of our lives, we must heed his light in all areas of our lives. The ways of the world are not truth. They are illusory, counterfeit, vain, and false. God has commanded us to forsake the world. We ought to forsake anything that is not by him or by his word, whatever domain it is in. “And I give unto you a commandment, that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave unto all good, that ye shall live by every word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God.” (D&C 98:11)
Some of the changes that will be suggested to you will seem impossible. Remember that God will never reveal to you a truth that lies outside your capacity to incorporate: “...the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Nephi 3:7)
Any perceived limits in your ability to change are not real limits, but merely limits in your trust in God:
8 And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them. (Mosiah 4)
It doesn’t matter how much you perceive the necessary change to be contrary to your disposition. The Lord said:
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5)
No part of you is so inherent that you can’t pluck it out or cut it off. If you can cut off a hand or pluck out an eye, surely you can change some aspect of your behavior or character. If you lack sufficient trust in God to make changes that seem as hard as plucking out your eye or chopping off your hand, what makes you think you trust God enough for him to work miracles that are as hard as restoring sight to your eyes or regrowing a hand?
The Lord said:
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10)
God is purely good and loving, and he knows much better than you what will lead to your happiness. Clearly, the Lord’s intent is to have you prefer what he is offering you to what you already have. If you trust him— and you have no reason not to—you should embrace any opportunity to reconcile yourself and your life to him. When you truly believe God, you let go of all the false supports in your life. You embrace your own limitations by letting go of all pretense. You find immeasurable strength in first recognizing and then facing the darkness within yourself.
When you reconcile yourself fully to God, there is nothing left to sacrifice. It is all on the table.
When you trust God, you pay attention to all those little holes and ask “what is the problem here, what am I missing?” You maintain the idea that everything you see as solid and permanent is temporary and subject to change. You accept that nothing in this world is worth the price. You adopt the uncommon position of being in the dual state of complete brokenness and unshakable firmness—a state that can only come from complete dependence on God, what the scriptures call a broken heart and a contrite spirit. In becoming nothing, you discover everything.
The scriptures call the state of reconciliation with the light that you have being perfect in Christ.
32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10)
Being perfect in Christ happens when you “deny yourself of all ungodliness”—when you live in perfect accordance with the light that you have. This is the whole point of the gospel, and doing anything less than this will result in less of what he intends you to obtain.
Being perfected in Christ is like fossilization. Everything weak and perishable within you is replaced with something strong and permanent, line upon line. It is done by God’s grace, through the blood of Christ, through his truth, not yours. All you have to do is admit his influence into you, something so simple in concept, but hard in practice. It requires all your might, mind and strength. All of everything you are has to be focused on obtaining and obeying the will of God, which is manifested in you as the light that he gives you. That consummate desire and effort is what it requires to open the gate for his light to come into you. Level by level, your character is replaced with his. When this happens, you truly do have the kingdom of God within you. You will not overcome the entropy in this world by converting it to you, but by converting yourself to him. No matter where you are and what you are going through, your inward strength will be unconquerable, because what is inside you is he who has overcome all things. You will be one with him and he will be in you.