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!"

Do We Still Praise When the Blessings Stop?

"All of my life, in every season, You are still God. I have a reason to sing; I have a reason to worship. I Will bring praise."

Each of us has been through the highs and lows of life. We experience the mountaintop with God, we feel his blessings and Spirit flowing through our lives and then we go through periods of time where it feels like God is ignoring us or has forgotten us: the desert experience.

How easy is it to worship and praise God on the mountaintop? How many of us remember to committing our spirits to praising and worshiping when we arrive in the desert?

One of my favorite Biblical accounts of God's power is the wandering story of Elijah. In 1 Kings 17-19, God leads Elijah on a wandering journey, both a physical and faith journey.

God speaks through Elijah, whom the Bible calls a man "just like us," and says that will not be rain for three years. Imagine receiving such a powerful word of God that you can tangibly see coming to fruition right in front of you! I can only imagine the mountaintop experience that Elijah was having as God led him into a ravine to be served by ravens who brought him meat and bread morning and night.

But then, everything changed. The ravens stopped coming and the brook of water that he'd been drinking from dried up! I imagine there was some confusion on Elijah's part as he wondered what God was doing, why He had led him into the wilderness just to have the food and water stop coming.

The the wandering begins. God leads him to the house of a widow and her son who have no food and who about to die. Elijah blesses their food and the three live that way for a while, with their food being supplied by God's providence. But then the boy gets sick and dies and the woman turns on Elijah! Elijah cries out to God and heals the boy, but it is once again a confusing situation, a far cry from the mountaintop experience.

From there, God leads Elijah to another mountaintop experience: the conflict with the prophets of Baal, where Elijah calls down the fire of God to prove God's might and power. An amazing experience, where God's spirit again flows directly through Elijah in an obvious and tangible way! But Elijah is immediately led back into the desert, where he is downtrodden. He thinks he is the last servant of God in the land.God has to remind him that He has bigger plans than what Elijah can see.

All that to say this: we will go from highs to lows, from seeing God move powerfully in our lives to not seeing God's action in our lives at all. But we still must praise God.

We must set our hearts and minds to say "In every season, He is still God, so I will praise Him." Even in the desert, we must still praise God.

Embarking on God's calling.

Frederick Buechner once said that God's calling for our lives is found at the place where the deep longing and desire He has placed in our hearts meets up with the deep need and hunger that the world is experiencing.

Essentially, that where doing what we desire most to do, realized in the purest, most honest period of self-reflection, most meets the needs of the world around us, there we will find the calling that God has for us.

So why is so hard to make to that X in the road, to find ourselves living within the rich blessing and opportunity of existing in God's calling?

Why is it so easy to get distracted? Why do I feel stories burning holes in my brain that I need to get out on paper (part of the soul-stirring identification of the deep longing that God has placed within me) and yet I struggle to accomplish finishing any of them except in little bursts, keeping me from yet reaching the place where the deep longing within me will serve the deep need of the world around me.

Is it selfishness on my part? That I don't really want to share my deep longing with the world, maybe for fear that it will be laughed at and thrown back in my face? I don't think this is the case; I just feel like my ability to meet the world's needs with my deep longing would be much better accomplished if God would work it that I could be locked away in a mountain cabin for several months... (Said tongue-in-cheek).

I hope that we as Christian can get better at recognizing what the deep longing within us is and how God is directing us to meet the needs of the world around us.

Poem: A Simple Shepherd

Only a simple shepherd, leading my flock
Through the barren hills toward town.
How could I know that my life would be forever changed
By the star above me shining down?

Only a simple shepherd, I peered into the stable;
Led to see a little baby, lain between the horse and sheep.
How could I know know that the world would be changed
By this little babe before me asleep?

-Just a little Christmas story poem that I started writing the other day.

Poem: Forgotten by the Sunshine

Shadowed, entangled paths lie before me,

Chaining me down in my uncertainty.

How long can I stay alive when

Each day brings me closer to the edge of doubt?

Have I been forgotten by the sunshine?

I need a new light to guide me.

How can I make it through this dark night

When I’ve lost sight of the way before me?

If I push and fight with every ounce of my being,

Will I make it through this web of disbelief that has ensnared me?

Have I been forgotten by the sunshine?

I need a new light to guide me.

Where is it from which the light will come?

Which mountain must I best,

Which road must I conquer,

To find the dawn of revelation ready to light the steps before me?

Have I been forgotten by the sunshine?

I need this light to guide me.

Has this been a hopeless task?

Have I squandered my life in search of purpose and direction?

Can I raise my head to feel the rush of enlightenment overtake me?

Which day will bring with it my salvation?

Will we ever be forgotten by the sunshine?

Have I found the light to guide me?

Hope and direction come in the simplest ways,

Brushing away the shadows of doubt that entangle.

The wounds of the past will heal each new day;

Hope is enough to pull me away from the edge of doubt.

Never forgotten by the sunshine;

I’ve got a new light to guide me.

Cherish each other?

Why is it so hard for Christians to cherish each other?

Let the question sink in for a bit, and see if that rings true in your experience.

One of the definitions of the act of loving is to cherish, which can also be worded: to highly value, and to keep highly in one's thoughts.

Jesus commands us in John 13:34 that we "love one another" as He loves us, or to value and often consider each other in the same way that Christ does of each of us.

I find myself to be lacking in this area. It's so easy for my mind to shift away from thinking about and considering those in need, even if my heart still longs to help them. It's easy for me to neglect those with whom I should long to fellowship. 

But then, I think the church is the same way: only give thought to those who are actively seeking your help, or you are actively seeking to minister to. 

Do we cherish and treasure each other? Do we cherish and treasure fellowship with other believers? Do we cherish using our church services to build up and equip each other?

How many Christians do not cherish their children? How many do not give much thought to where their children are, what they are watching on t.v. or who they are spending time with?  How many do not give thought to whether or not their children are spending time in God's Word and whether or not they are developing a healthy relationship with God?

Do we cherish one another? Do we give up our thoughts to consider each other and how we can be a blessing to others?

I asked my Sunday School class this question this past weekend: are you keeping your thoughts bent toward how God is trying to use you in every situation? 

So, do I do that? Do you? Do you keep in mind that God wants to use you in effective ways every day? Do you look for the ways that God is trying to use you to bless your neighbors and your relatives and even strangers? 

I think that if Christians were more apt to cherish those around us, we would be much more effective in our faith and in our evangelism. 

Peace and grace, brothers and sisters. 

Characteristic of a Christian: Love

I had a discussion with my Sunday School class this past week about our responsibilities as Christians, which is something I have been considering of late.

Obviously, the biggest call on the life of a Christian is to show the world God and God's love. As First John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love."

Ephesians 5:1-2 expounds a bit on that: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Now while we are supposed to show God's love, there is something more to this: If we are to be imitators of the God who is love, then we should be doing everything we to actually be love for others.

We turn to 1 Corinthians 13 to find out the characteristics of what love, and therefore what we as Christians, should be:

Love: is patient, is kind, is not envious, is not boastful, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, does not keep records of the wrongs against it, does not delight in evil things, rejoices in the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and never fails.

By the same token: love is not passive, and love is not "tolerant" of evil.

When we stop and take measure of our lives as Christians, do we measure up to God's standard of love? I hope so, I hope we are trying to.

Peace and grace, brothers and sisters.