Speaking in Tongues...John 4:22-24
By Timothy W. Burnett
During one of Jesus' journeys, he left Galilee because it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. Upon his arrival to Samaria he stopped to rest near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. About six hours into the day he was weary and sat on Jacob's well. A woman from Samaria came to draw water out of the well and found Jesus sitting there. He asked her to give him some water. At the time he was alone because his disciples had left to the city for food. The woman rightly asked Jesus how it was that he, being a Jew, would ask her to give him water. This was because the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus began to lovingly open her heart up concerning the living water that would be available in the future. What wonderful scripture we find in John 4:1-42. Notice how he meekly served his Daddy by opening the the heart of the Samaritan woman. Remember that the Samaritans were outcasts in the eyes of the Jews. The same woman meekly went and shared the truth with the others in Samaira and according to vers 39, "many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him" because of what the woman told them. Let's look at what Jesus taught them in the context of God's word in the Epistles.

In verse 10 Jesus said to the woman, "if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water." What is the "goft of God" and "living water?" The gift is defined in Acts 2:38, "Then Peter said unto them, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.'" The words "the Holy Ghost" refer to holy spirit. The gift from God is holy spirit. Living water is also referred to in John 7:38, "He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'" Psalms 1:3 says about the blessed man, "and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season." In Matthew 3:11 the prophet John compared earthly water with spiritual water, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that comes after me...shall baptize you with [holy spirit], and with fire." The living water can only be holy spirit.

Skip to John 4:20-24 and see how the subject of "worship" is introduced. The woman rightly explained to Jesus that all were to worship God on a certain mountain. Jesus then revealed to her that the time would come when they would neither worship God in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem. In verses 23-24 he plainly stated, "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The words "in spirit and in truth" are a figure of speech which meant truly by the spirit, or truly spiritual. If we understand that to "worship" is the same as to "pray," we can see how God defines spiritual worship in 1Corinthians 14:14-15, "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays...What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also."

To woship with the spirit means to pray with the spirit. To pray with the spirit means to speak in tongues. This can only mean that to worship with the spirit means ot speak in tongues. This is the fantastic rivers of living waters referred to in John 7:38.
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