So God has had a hold of my heart since about 4 am. It's now 5:30 am, and my stubborn self finally decided to relent and let God work something in me. I've been mulling over some concepts in worship lately, and I wanted to share them with people who are also worship leaders and those who just love to worship.
The Bible talks about there being a time when the true worshipers will arise, and that they will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. I can't get this verse out of my head. I know when that happens, God is pleading with me to just listen to Him. I'm only 28 years old, but I've been in church practically my whole life. I've never observed a time in our history where there were more worship songs, worship bands, worship leaders, etc. God is raising up a generation of people who love Him and love to sing to Him. This thrills my heart! We have more creativity than ever before in the Church. We are able to create atmospheres of worship with our lights, our instrumentation, and our other media stuff, and it's awesome. We make it our job to make it easy for others to have worship experiences with God.
But what happens if we strip it all away? What if there are no lights and no cool graphics? What happens when we stand alone on a stage, stripped of all the stuff that helps us create this atmosphere of worship, and we just sing to Him? Are we creating a generation of people who will be unable to worship Him without all of the stuff? Maybe we make it too complex when it's really something very simple: showing our love to our God.
I have a crazy vision for worship in my church. It burns so intensely inside of me that sometimes I cannot even contain it. But I want to genuinely worship God, my Creator, my Friend, my EVERYTHING without needing all of the stuff. As long as He is there (and He is every time we enter His presence), I need nothing else.
On Sunday, when we enter the house of God to worship Him, let's turn our hearts and our minds towards Christ. Let all of the stuff fade into the background, and think about how awesome our God is. Worship, I believe, requires a sacrifice of our own pride. When we approach God, it's humbling, because He is so holy. We are not. My prayer is that God would be able to speak to us what He wants and that He will not have to take a backseat to our own agendas.
Beth
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Worship...
Posted by Beth Ehlert at Thursday, August 05, 2010
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2 comments:
I think Matt Redman summed it up best when it comes to 'stripping it all away.' That is when we truly can experience the Heart of Worship. No bells and whistles, no cheerleader on stage....just us and Him. That's when worship is at its best.
The challenge is this. We won't get there until we are willing to look at everything we do in life as being an act of worship.
I had to pause several times before typing so I hope this comes out correctly, haha. I'm not a worship leader nor does anyone want to hear me sing, haha, but many of my friends are and I have heard and seen their personal battles in leading worship and I think a lot of it is leading people beyond the beautiful voice, the lights, the music and into the presence of the Most High. It's a gift, a blessed talent and I pray for my friends as they lead each week so that if those things are stripped away, that people are still led into His presence because of who He is, not because of what worship leaders can do with what He has given them, if that makes sense.
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