Spontaneous Worship

The most authentic worship that I have ever experienced has come outside the walls of the church building. It's never been the same more than once; it's nearly always sprung out of a period of service, of poverty, of giving myself to the Lord when I have been nearly expended.

The majority of these authentic, spontaneous worship sessions have come on the mission field.

Standing in the apex of a tower in Split, Croatia, looking down on the walls of an ancient building, one that started as a palace for one of the most ruthless, anti-Christ emperors of the Romans, before being converted into a Christian cathedral and eventually into a museum, I wept for the blood of my fellow brothers and sisters who had been slain there. I worshipped and experienced God with an expended, exhausted heart.

In the middle of a field that was once the floor of a mini-Coliseum in Salona, outside of Split, Croatia, where Paul and Silas once preached the gospel, we stood together as a small band of Christians and worshipped solemnly. It wasn't flashy, but it was real and it taught me about worshipping God outside of the traditional worship service.

In a small room in Mexico, I learned how God can stir the fire of worship when no one is expecting it. As we stood in a circle to pray for a young girl in our group, the Spirit of the living God fell and we crashed to our knees. Some continued to pray, some read the Scriptures aloud and some began to worship in song to the God who had come to commune with us. And it continued, for hours and hours. Ignoring everything else, we poured ourselves out into worship.

Why is it that the church service struggles so much to foster spontaneous, authentic worship? Routine? Schedule? People looking at their watches, ready to get home?

I don't mean that one can't ever be drawn into the heart of God and pour oneself out in worship during a church service, but it's hard for me. It's hard to ignite the fires of true worship within my heart when I only have three or four praise songs and a thirty minute message with which to do it.

I'm ready for revival in America, where people show up to church ready to pour themselves out before the living God, saying "So what if it is two o'clock in the afternoon and this session has been going on for four hours? I'm going to worship God!"