i was talking with a good friend the other day...he was recounting a profound worship experience he had while visiting a third world country...he told of a small group of people who met together and shared what God was doing in their midst - stories, prayers, spontaneous singing, tongues, etc - no program, plan, service order...he said it was such a profound experience and he's never experienced God's presence before or since in that way...
his recollection reminded me of the transforming power of authentically "meeting with God"...now i don't discount that God moves in many ways in different places and congregations, but he asked me a question that still is ringing in my ears:
what would happen if God really showed up in our gatherings?
i followed up with a what if...
what if He isn't showing up now? what if something is keeping Him from our meetings? have we become so used to routine, song, song, talk, song, announcement, offering that we don't really expect Him to show? would we know if He did? how would it look different (from inside our own hearts to our external expressions) if He did show up?
just a thought on my heart today...you?
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3 comments:
my personal opinion is that God does show up "where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name I am there" now that being said i think that we as individuals can prevent God from interacting w/us in a positive way by not being obedient to Him and His word.
I remember one time teresa and i went to a newsboys concert and they ended with "it is you" and at the end of the song they left the stage and it was just 10k people singing "Holy,Holy is the Lord God almighty, Holy is His name alone" i was extremely moved by the Spirit as I thought about what the book of revelations says and thought this is what heaven is going to be like.
God always shows up!!!!
The real question is:
Do we really want Him to be there?
Or, are we just looking for a spiritual HIGH?
I'm beginning to see that God is truly honored by a roll up your sleeves & get your hands dirty
kind of worship than being "STONED"
on the emotional high of worship that I really enjoy.
God's always present. However, I think it takes a person expecting Him there for us to truly be aware of His presence. When I pray, I don't pray that Go dwill show up, b/c He's always there. I pray that He will make himself known, and that he would open our hearts and our minds to the idea of meeting with Him one on one in a real way. I think we get so caught up in a routine, and in the busy-ness of life that we forget to expect an experience with God at church. It's just another thing to check off. Church on Sunday, check.
I think the only problem is that we as individuals forget to be open and expecting of a life-changing experience every time we meet with God. We know that it's totally possible, but we forget to ask, or if we ask, we don't really expect our lives to be changed. Once we get in the right mindset of "I'm meeting with God. My life will never be the same as of this moment. God, what do you have for me today?" the worship will become so God/Spirit-filled, we won't know what to do with ourselves except to ask for even more.
Just something I've been thinking about.
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