Worship

I have been thinking a lot about worship lately. Maybe not only lately, since I go to a worship practice every week and keep it very close to my every day life. However, I have been looking more closely at its meaning, it’s purpose, and how we exemplify it. While I fully recognize that worship is much more than music, but rather how we live our lives to glorify God through a beautiful variety of means, I am thinking specifically of worshipping through music, particularly as a body. Whether you’re at church, a worship event, or another outlet of corporate music, there are some things we all think about, and some things I’d like to put out there.

Depending on what type of church you attend or grew up in, you’ve seen different styles of expressing gratitude and glory to God while worship music is being played by a group of musicians. And if you’re at all like me, you have analyzed the heck out of it to make sure you do it right and react appropriately.

If you’re brave enough you raise a hand. If you’re extra spiritual, you can raise two hands, but probably only during the bridge of the song when it gets intense. The half raised hands with upward palms is for when you really want to receive, maybe during a slow song. You can sit or lie down if it’s time to reflect, and you can jump and dance when it’s exuberantly exciting. Sound about right?

I’m not trying to be cheeky, I have just genuinely felt this way most of my life of being a music worshipper. And I think most of it is ridiculous. The over analyzing, not the actions themselves.

The place that I think I personally learned the most about worship was at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California where my brother attended last year. Justin and I drove down there in May to visit for a week and bring him home. It was one of the most radical experiences of my life, which is where much of this blogging stems from. I’m not living off a high, I just received an incredible amount of revelation and real life experience. The way they do worship is absolutely phenomenal, contagious, and full of life and Spirit filled actions. The entire church, school, leaders, and people are filled with the love of Christ, the power of God, and the moving of the Holy Spirit. You can’t help but feel the Presence of God in that place as soon as someone strums on a guitar. It’s an entire culture that I won’t dive into now, except that the worship was incredible. They have Bethel albums and are the church that birthed Jesus Culture.

What amazed me the most about the way they did musical worship was the freedom. Though some of the spiritual reactions seemed a bit odd, it was so incredibly freeing to be a part of something like that. They had people painting beautiful prophetic art on the stage. Sometimes they would have people with ribbons, and other times the most gorgeous dancing I’ve ever seen. The people in the crowd moved in any way they felt led, sometimes in ways I didn’t know was ok. The worship leaders were full of joy and reverence and motion. I wanted it all. Well maybe not the yelling, but most everything else.

The revelation I received from this came down to the Holy Spirit. Being filled up with the Spirit and God’s Presence is such a phenomenal experience, that when you worship Him, all you want to do is outpour what He has filled you with. You can give back to Him in whatever way feels normal and freeing for you. If you’ve thought about doing something while in worship that you maybe didn’t think was regular or you didn’t know why you wanted to do it, there is a chance that it is the Holy Spirit encouraging you to be free in His Presence. And so I danced.

I’ve been dancing on teams for a few years, heard about, and sometimes seen prophetic dancing during praise and worship. But I never felt that it was something I should or even could do in a corporate setting. I had never done it privately either. But Bethel was full of people who danced for their King with such grace and purity of heart. Not everyone would be considered a dancer, but it was done with such honour that they all looked beautiful. One night, I decided to try it, and I think I ended up weeping with joy at the freedom I experienced. I often envisioned myself dancing in God’s throne room before Him, and now I could actually do it with people around. Passion Project is currently my only outlet to dance in a corporate worship setting, but I enjoy every moment of it.

It really has nothing to do with me and what I’m thinking other people are thinking about. That’s the other thing. Since WHEN did worship start being about other people?! It’s been said time and time again that we shouldn’t worry about the people around us and only focus on God. But we do it all the time! Am I singing too loudly? Will I hit someone with my arms if I raise them? Is anyone noticing how intense I’m getting? Do I look too bored? It’s absurd, and completely opposite to our point in being there. Worship isn’t even really about you and what you are comfortable with. Worship is a SACRIFICE. Jeremiah 33:11 says that we bring Him a sacrifice of praise. Sometimes while we’re singing we need to step out of our comfort zones and do something that glorifies God. We decrease ourselves as He increases.

How do you sacrifice yourself when you worship Him?

Radical in Real Life

Now that I've given some context for my faith journey, I'd like to explain what I really mean by "radical living". It's a vast concept that has many different explanations and titles, but this is just what I have decided to call it as it applies personally. You may call it something else and say, "Gosh, that's a weird thing to call it. I just call it '.....' or I don't have a name for it." Sorry, I'm being ambiguous and weird.

Basically, I'm striving for a life style that exemplifies James 2:17, "Faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is dead (without power, inoperative)."

I strongly believe that I, along with others, have spent my Christian life striving to gain all the fruits of the spirit, and forgetting about pursuing what the Spirit Himself is calling us to: works along with our faith. Works including powerful prayer, miracles, worship, boldness, evangelism, prophetic words, and communicating our Father's heart to the world around us. I am personally completely fed up with being a follower of Christ without actually "following" by example what He did while He was on earth. Yep. That about sums it up.

Please never take what I say as preaching or directly forced into your life just because you happen to be reading my quirky thoughts. While I do believe that everyone who has committed their lives to Christ has this calling on their life, timing and exact examples are not up to me to create or decide. I feel that God has called me to inspire people and give practical methods of living out His plan for His followers. I am incredibly excited about this recent revelation and change in my heart, and I feel that writing about it not only helps me share it with my world, but keeps me accountable and focused on closely pursuing what He's called me to. Someone challenged me when I first mentioned this to ensure that I was still pursuing God, not the radical living. Very good point. That would potentially be easy to be caught up in and completely deterring from the purpose. It is BECAUSE of Him that we passionately out pour our lives for His sake and therefore become radical.

A good practical example of what I'm talking about happened in our Passion Project worship night this past Sunday. If you're reading this, you were probably there, but if not, I can explain what happened and how God moved through me in a powerful way. Passion Project is a monthly worship night that we host in St. Pierre Bible Fellowship Church. Our goal is to glorify and honour God by bringing people deeper into His Presence through worship. We worship through prayer, painting, dancing, fellowship, and of course music.  This ministry has grown like crazy and we have seen God work in dynamic ways through our service to Him. What He did on Sunday was a great example of this.

Caleb (my brother and co Passion Project leader) and I decided that our prayer time this month would be a corporate prayer, with God calling forth different things that needed to be healed. I lead the prayer time, and knew that I would need to have a lot of faith for this. Being a planner by career and nature, I was quite nervous to go up on stage with no plan or direction beforehand. Totally goes against every fiber of my being and I was having a mini panic attack. So I had a serious talk with God. I said, "God, if I am nervous, it means I am making it about myself. This has nothing to do with me, I am just being used by You and obeying Your command to put works with my faith. I trust in You that I will hear Your voice at the right time when I need to speak. I am just stewarding what You give me." Still freaked out, but here we go into worship.

The time came for me to hop on stage, explain what we were doing, and communicate what I felt God was speaking to me. Oh boy.

I looked into the crowd and saw some of the most beautiful, hungry faces I've ever seen. People were so eager to be in God's Presence and to let Him speak to them. I didn't even know half of them, but I was completely taken aback by their intensity and sincerity. I started praying. First, we prayed for minds. For depression, anxiety, worry, low self-esteem, and other attacks that do not belong in our God-given mind. If people were comfortable enough, they got a group to surround them and pray with them. I felt His Presence so strongly. Then we prayed for physical bodies; specifically bones, limbs, joints, and muscles. People laid hands on each other and fervent prayers were lifted up. I'm not even completely sure of what I prayed as I just let the Holy Spirit speak through me. Then we thanked Him for what He has done and was about to do. It was powerful and full of joy. We continued on to singing and declared that our God was everything we need.

Shekinah Glory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2eLHe7VqVQ is a powerful song about His Presence that gets everybody full of joy and on their feet. During this song (that our band did an EXCELLENT job of) we had a time of testimony where people could share any immediate breakthrough they experienced. Again, a big testing of my faith with the possibility of no one sharing and me being spontaneous. But hooooo boy did my Jesus show up! There were miraculous healings in backs, hips, arms, thumbs, and migraines! I also asked if there were any breakthroughs with minds, even though that can be a bit harder to tell right away. But there were many people who raised their hands and had just felt a huge sense of peace and wellness. Praise Jesus!!!!!!!!! I was overwhelmingly encouraged and so full of joy. We danced the rest of the songs and thanked Him for everything, including the healings that had not yet taken place that evening. God is so good, plain and simple.

I had a lot of feedback and people thanking me for being obedient to what He was saying. That's all I did. Though terrifying and full of trust, it was as simple as listening to God, and communicating it. There was nothing I did except pursue His heart. "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." -Galatians 6:14

As simple as the concept is, the execution is the part we all struggle with. "Yeah, ok Melanie I listen to God and follow His plan for my life, but what else am I supposed to do? Pray for miracles and be a crazy Christian weirdo?" Well, maybe. This is where loads of scripture, theology, and teaching come into play, which I will save for your pastors, Bible studies, and friends for the most part. But I am full on choosing to be constantly listening to His voice and acting out on what He tells me to do. Gulp. Hold me to that, will you? I don't know if I'm brave enough.

Love you all.

Foundations

Living out God's adventurous plan for me didn't exactly start recently. I thought I should give a bit of background of what probably looks familiar to other people who have grown up in the church, gone to Sunday school, and had a Christian home. I did the whole ask Jesus into my heart multiple times thing, starting at age five under a blanket. When I was six, I thought I'd be more grown up about it, and asked while on the toilet. By age seven, I realized that was far too embarrassing a story to tell, so I tried once more in Sunday school. Bam, done, official Christian. Let's start doing this for real.

I also had the privilege of attending a Christian school my entire elementary and high school years (three schools in total) which taught me a great deal about the Bible, how to treat people around me, God's love for me, and other wonderful goodies. My parents were very involved in my spiritual growth, were my Sunday school teachers for the most part, and always challenged me. Most of my friends went to church and school with me, and I was rarely without an abundance of good ones. I was probably sheltered, but I did learn many things about the "real world" through various experiences and people.

In high school, I was very involved in leadership roles, including student council where I became the vice president, as well as president. I went to youth regularly, was part of the dance team, loved to worship through music, and had a solid relationship with God. Going to a Christian high school made it easier to talk about Him and what He was doing in my life. I saw even more of the real world, went through struggles, had breakthroughs, developed bad habits, tried to apply God in a practical way, attended a few churches, met my future husband, and continued to pursue Christ in the best ways I knew how. And it was all good.

Being an emotionally driven person, I was often looking for that "moment". That time during a sermon or a song where you finally feel like you finally got it, and you truly understand God's Presence and how to truly live for Him. I waited for and pursued a feeling of overwhelming goodness that I could never look back on. And I did get them. But I later felt they weren't "enough" to change me forever, or to turn me into a real radical. I still loved God, did things He called me to do, lived out His will, and learned how to share Him with others. But still I waited.

Although I did have one experience that I strongly consider my "life changing moment", this whole thing was much more of a process than one intense hour long session with God. The most prominent example is how God has often placed me in leadership roles, and I have risen to the challenge, and grown closer to Him than I could have ever imagined. The summer after said life changing moment, I was asked to fill some leadership positions at camp that I did not feel qualified for. But my mind was blown as He worked through me in ways I was never capable of. I believe one of the biggest factors in that experience was my strong foundation in Him that I have been growing and developing since I was five years old under a blanket.

None of my God pursuing experiences and learning was a waste, even though I never felt I was "there". All of it was a building of my faith, my understanding of His word and will, and my absolute and undeniable love for Jesus and His Presence. This scenario may be typical among Christians who grow up with faith, and one day feel they have reached the mature age to really get their life together and follow Him with more passion, more holiness, and more radical living than ever. And although age and maturity are factors, I don't believe they are the goal we aim for before we finally stop being luke warm and start being red hot for our Saviour. I'll share more about my recent experiences that led me to the place where I feel I "finally got it" (Sorry, I am using an excessive amount of "quotations").

But my challenge to you is to use your foundation, however strong or long it may be, and use it as a jumping block, a stepping stone, a gateway; but never a plateau.