As a final installation to this discussion about worship and it’s spiritual significance, allow me to ask this question:
What does singing a bunch of songs have to do with winning a war?
If you ask a guy called Jehoshaphat, he would tell you that he came to learn that it had EVERYTHING to do with winning a war. A simple act of obedience and worship won a war for him that he and his people did not have the natural capacity to win.
2 Chronicles 20: 1 – 20
If you ask a guy called Joshua, he will tell you the most incredible story about how singing a bunch of songs and marching round a huge fortified city laid the foundation for a resounding victory.
Joshua 6
Throughout the past few blogs, I am sure that it is abundantly clear to you that my persuasion is that we live and move in a world in which there is no demilitarized zone. There is a real and present enemy out to destroy all of God’s creation and we that engage in the process of connecting people with God put ourselves on the frontline of this war, but also put ourselves in position to see the great victories that God does among his people.
Imagine the stories that the worship leaders told after the great victories mentioned above. Imagine how much more impassioned and meaningful their worship services became after being a witness to the power of God. Wow!
Singing in and of itself has no power to do anything except for evoke an emotional response. However if the singing becomes more than just execution of notes, but grows into an outpouring of worship to God, something more potent is unleashed. Why? The bible is clear that God inhabits – he sets up camp and dwells in the midst of – the praises of his people.
- Because our Lord is a mighty warrior, his arrival spells the exit of the enemy and his work to destroy us
- Because our Lord is a deliverer, his arrival spells the deliverance from bondage and spiritual oppression of his people
- Because our Lord is a strong tower, his arrival means that the righteous can run to him and they are safe
- Because the Lord is our defender, his arrival means that our defense against the physical and spiritual attack of the enemy is iron clad and impenetrable
- Because the Lord is our healer, his arrival means that freedom from mental and physical disease is ours for the taking
- Because the Lord is our banner, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Lord lifts up a standard against him
- Because the Lord is our protector, his arrival means that those that seek to attack us shall be confounded and dispersed.
- Because the Lord is a creator, his arrival means that life and breath can appear in situations that we thought were as impossible as the dirt from which we were all formed.
- Because the Lord is a way-maker, his arrival means that we can stand in the assurance that he will make a way where there seems to be no way.
- Because the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever, his arrival means that what we have heard and read about his work is ours to experience because he has no favorites and we all have access to him through the grace and power of the cross.
Last week’s message by Pastor Mark was an incredible confirmation to what I had said earlier in the week through this blog. We need to take up the charge to worship before the storm comes, during the storm, and even after the storm. Our victory is constantly, firmly seated in our praise – not in whining, complaining, or anything else, BUT in our praise.
I think that letting the understanding that your victory lies in your worship penetrate your understanding and become a part of your worldview is key to graduating to the next level of worship. Then worship does not become confined to the Sunday morning service, but it becomes a “lifestyle” because victory over the enemy and circumstances in our lives is not only needed on Sunday morning, but on every day of the week. Deliverance is not just to be had on Sunday morning, but on every day of the week. Breakthrough is not just for Sunday morning, but for every hour of our lives.
I believe that God is calling all of us into a season of fearless, heartfelt worship and praise. Understand that if we take up this charge, we are going to become a huge blip on the enemy’s radar, but thanks be to God that the battle is not ours but his and all we have to do is usher in his presence and watch the enemy scatter right before our eyes.
I hope that you are encouraged by this as I am!
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6 comments:
I also believe that God is calling all of us into a season of fearless, heartfelt worship and praise.
I believe this because I've felt it the last week through worship and have heard testimony from others through worship as well.
My question to you, Paulo, is this: When is it considered "appropriate" in the church for worship leaders to engage in fearless, heartfelt worship and praise? I ask this question because when I worship in the spirit (and anybody who does), God takes me to a level I cannot comprehend in the natural-like Jehoshaphat. Immediately I think of worship leaders when this happens who are, shall I say, skeptical of how they should let their worship come out. If we are coming to the Lord and asking Him to open the heavens to bring transformation, are we as worship leaders prepared to allow Him to transform us?----I'm thinking about how we are going to cross that line into that season of fearless worship---
I am glad that you sense a stirring in your spirit.
I am not sure I completely understand your question, but I shall weigh in anyway and let other people respond as well.
I think that it is always "appropriate" to engage in fearless worship. I think that it also speaks wisdom if you take the time to figure out where the people that you lead in worship are at so that you can lead them better. Some worship leaders may find themselves intimidated by their congregation... but other worship leaders (I like to think of myself as one of these) may take their time asserting themselves because of the need to lead the congregation from where they are at.
There are also some worship leaders that are completely oblivious to whether the congregation or group that they are leading in worship is connecting with God or not. In Uganda, we used to get many people come to our church and try to school us in worship but they always fell flat when it came to leading us in worship because they led as if they were back in their churches in britain, canada or the US. They never seemed to get the fact that we expressed ourselves differently and so we had to be led differently. I made the exact same mistake during my first few days at a conference in Singapore 2 years ago and had to realize that though the people were hungry for God, I was not leading them from where they were at... I had to make a major adjustment.
You know the old saying "you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink"?
I think that this saying applies in worship. We may be fearless worship leaders that boldly go where nobody before us has gone, but we need to make sure that we are not "forcing our horses to drink" because by forcing them we may end up drowning them instead.
Regarding "crossing the line into fearless worship" I think that you are speaking with direct reference to the outward expressiveness (or lack) of those that participate in leading worship - the choir, the band and the lead singers. Because I have led worship in many varying congregations and houses of worship, I can tell you that as a worship leader - though you may be fearless - you would be wise to not overwhelm your congregation.
Let me explain...
If you walk into a congregation that prefers to use meditation, taize music and incense, bringing a hard-rock band or a DJ and rap crew might be a bit much. Your lack of sensitivity to their current preference would do more harm than good.
If you are asked to lead worship - as I was prior to coming to woodvale - at a congregation that is prone to being subdued, running around on stage, whooping and asking them to shout out would be counter productive to the corporate worship experience.
I think that it is possible to "fearlessly" lead people into the presence of God and allow him to work on them regardless of the outward expression that the congregation or group might generally have.
Therefore, the delicate tension we have to deal with as worship leaders is the balance between ensuring that we are always engaging in worship as warfare, being an example of worship to the congregation we lead, but refraining from overwhelming them by our antics or frustrating them by our lack of enthusiasm.
I will actually talk a little bit about this at the worship leaders training weekend.
My answer to your question therefore, is as cue givers and facilitators of worship, we must always work to do exactly that - FACILITATE worship. We must always be fearless and recognize that there is power in what we do and even operate in that power and authority... but the responsibility God has given us is not to shock and awe or dismay the congregation we lead, but rather bring them to the river, as it were, and allow them to drink.
Does that make sense Darlene?
Anybody else care to weigh in on the issue... or talk about something completely different?
In the Old Testament, God's presence came and left. But since Jesus died, Christians are able to have God's presence continually reside in us. We no longer have to wait for God to show up - if we're there, he's there.
I have a question:
How can there be more than one level of worship? Aren't we either worshiping God, or not worshiping God?
Renee asks a question that I used to ask a lot.
I think it is similar to making a friend. You can be friends with a person, but as you get to know them better, you are able to appreciate them more deeply because we are all very multi-layered people. It does not mean that you were not friends in the first place, it just means that your friendship grows in meaning and experience the more you spend time getting to know each other.
The same goes for God. I do not think that the situation is as simple as a black and white answer - either we are or we are not worshipping him.
Worshipping God as a barebones definition is "bringing worth to his Lordship" - bringing glory to him. This means that something as simple as God being glorified through your kindness (in my opinion) is worship because you are his creation and if you bring glory to his name, you are in line with the countless scriptures about God's creation "worshipping" him.
Also, the more you come to understand about God and how he works, the deeper your relationship and experience with him grows. This is what I talk about when I refer to "levels of worship". If you do not know about the countless ways in which God is capable of touching his people, it is easy to look at your current experience of God and think that that is all. The more you search through scripture and hear testimonies from people, the more your faith should grow... and the more your expectation at what he can do increases.
I think it it not dissimilar to the need for growth in the area of understanding about the work of the Holy Spirit. As a denomination, we have a collective understanding that there is no way you can come to Christ outside of the work of the Holy Spirit, but we do make a distinction between conversion and baptism in the holy spirit.
In the same way, when we first come to christ, and even after we have been in the body of Christ for a while, there are things - misconceptions, misinformation, lack of information - that have the power to rob us of a more-full experience of God's presence through worship.
Some people see worship as singing a bunch of songs before the message. I believe that they are correct, but they have a limited understanding of what worship is and so it is possible for such people to never experience more of what God has in store for them because they just never expect it. Their knowledge, or lack of knowledge, has the power to influence their depth of worship.
Our church treasurer encouraged us to "worship" through our giving... I think that that is another area for growth in our understanding of how we can bring glory to God.
Some fall into the trap of restricting worship to a sunday morning event and miss out on the experience of God that can happen even outside the sunday morning event. It may not be that we resist it as much as we do not understand that worship is a journey (or an act of living) that takes place both inside and outside our houses of worship.
I am sure that some of us have grown or at least are wrestling with the spiritual implications of the physical act of worship and I believe that this knowledge is going to increase our fervor and depth of worship. The "levels" come from a better understanding of what can happen through worship.
The more we learn, the more we free ourselves from previous stagnation and let God out of the boxes that we have put him in, the greater the experience of his work and power... I believe.
Does that make sense?
I just want to say thanks for this series on worship as spiritual warfare. This is very valuable stuff to meditate on, to learn and be reminded of. Thanks for this blog!
This weekend, I had the opportunity to travel with a fellow Christian and dear friend - my first road trip in Ontario lasting more than 6 hours due to some delays and bad weather, and another 5-6 hours home 2 days later. Due to travel, we were unable to make service, but this did not stop the worship. Wherever two or more are gathered in his name, etc... - we had the longest Sunday service we've had ever! Just the 2 of us, kickin' it to favorite tunes that sing praises to our Lord and Saviour, enjoying the beauty of God's magnificent creation all around us. We sang to CD's and to memories - songs from all times and denominations, and even some that are being birthed in us. We had a blast and learned a lot about ourselves as we shared our hearts with each other. We truly were ministered to and our freindship has deepened. What is amazing is that, in worship, even the most ordinary experiences can be so spectacular that the enemy's warfare schemes are nowhere to be seen - as though they disappear!
Thanks for listening!
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