Fulfilling A Sense Of Worship

One day I was the privileged, uninvolved, observant guest in a meeting where the participants were discussing the meaning of worship, the time that should be allocated to it, effects they wanted to convey to the hearers, etc, when I became overwhelmed with indescribable emotions. I am writing about it because the feelings that arose within me caused me to analyze myself to find out why I felt the way I felt. My heart was overflowing with joy, peace and acceptance at what I heard at times, and my heart was hot and heavy with a burden within me at other time. I was full of words, but the spirit within me constrained me. By now I know you're asking yourself, OK, so what! What is your point? Why this surge of emotion? I am aware that we should beware of what we hear and how we hear it. But, still why did I feel this heavy burden of the Spirit within me?

I am sharing this story with you for one reason—so that you will realize that it is OK to have raw emotions. However, we know that raw emotions are spirit-led, when after self-examination, we found out that our motive is to glorify God and not ourselves, or others. One of the results of the meeting was that I found myself searching desperately for the meaning of worship. All prior beliefs set apart, I was on a quest. Strange coincidence is that, during the same week, I started reading the book of Job. A verse caught my attention that made me wanting to know more about worship and what God wants of us. Can you imagine what Job did after loosing his fortune, family and health? Job 1:20 says that “…Job fell upon the ground and worshipped.”

The bible writes about various types of worship. We are told that we should worship the Lord with our body. We are told that we should worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. We are told that we should praise the Lord at all times--which is a form of worship. We are told to sing to the Lord a new song, and sing in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs--all great forms of worship. What we need to remember is that worship is to the Lord, for His glory and praise.

I don't know much about music, don't know much about attitudes to have or not have, but I will share with you what happened to me a couple of times while in the spirit of worship with spiritual songs. I hope that someone can be liberated in their minds and soul after reading this article. I usually love singing to the Lord especially when the words of the song based on the love, truth and promises of God in my life uplift me by representing my heartfelt feelings in ways and expressions that I couldn't have known how to express if it weren't for the song. I felt the manifest presence of God strongly twice during worship. Both manifestations happened in a crowd and during times when most of the day was dedicated to extended worship, prayer and study of the Word of God.

The first one created in me a sense of head lightness, body weightless so great that it seems that I was floating in the air. I have been in the emergency room at least a couple of time in my life, where I've been heavily sedated for acute pain, that I know the feeling of being stoned. I can tell you that this former experience didn't have anything in comparison with experiencing the Lord's presence. There is no high like the Most High! One feels raptured, unaware of others and surroundings. The second one was so overpowering that I suddenly was overwhelmed with such uncontrollable sobs that lasted for a long, long time, it seemed to me. I didn't understand what was going on at that time. I usually avoid shedding tears, now I was acting like a fool in public. This is how I took it! But Oh my! How can I explain the ecstasy, the loving embrace felt when feelings of emptiness, sadness and heavy burden were removed from my mind, heart and soul. The Lord is Great! Loving! Compassionate! Gracious! Caring! Wonderful! Merciful! Hallelujah! I am not saying that everyone should have these types of experience. I am sure that everyone can share testimonies of the Lord's hand on them while worshipping. The Lord knows where you are and will always touch you in your most urgent need. How I long for another blessed experience!

Let me share with you four positive aspects of worship as seen and understood in my spirit. First, beware that listening, obeying the Word of God, and trumpets blasts, which are forms of worship, brought in great deliverance against the enemy in Joshua's and Gideon's time, as seen in Joshua 6 and Judges 7. Second, anger, strife, arguments, bondages, hostility, etc, are destroyed when praise worship that uplift and glorify the Almighty God are sung. It changes the atmosphere by bringing down the mighty power of God in tangible ways. I've used songs to stop the flow of arguments among my children so many times in our home and while on those USA highways. The power of worship has also been manifest in the lives of Paul, Silas, the Jailor and family as seen in Acts 16. Third, evil spirits flee in the presence of authentic worship such in the case of Saul (1 Samuel 16:14 – 23). At last, praise worship removes personal and emotional burdens as it allows the Lord to work in our lives in order to bring us closer to Him. Often, we find ourselves analyzing our lives and wanting more of His presence. We are given a mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness (Isaiah 61:3).

I believe that our walk with the Lord, our submission to Him, our dedication to serving Him with a pure heart in spirit and in truth, will bring us closer to Him and to the types of worship He delights in. Don't forget that He takes pleasure in the praise of His people. Don't forget that He knows our hearts and is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24). I am not trying to be “holy sanctimonious”. But, Woe to us if the Lord were to say that these people draw near with their mouth, worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me (Isaiah 29:13; Jeremiah 12:2; Matthew 15:7-9).

Since worship is to magnify the Lord, and for His glory and praise, and since He inhabits our praises, let's think about the Lord and what He would want from us when planning for praise worship. As we pray daily, let us ask the Lord to make our lives and congregational worship wholly and acceptable to Him. He promises to always hear the prayers of His sons and daughters (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it (Luke 11:28)!

Marie Monaus