ushered in

I just finished reading Francis Chan’s Forgotten God. This book was challenging and timely. It is basically a call for yourself and your church to be filled with and living in the power of the Holy Spirit at all times. I have not blogged about it yet because I would have just typed everything he says – the best thing I can tell you is to read the book for yourself. Slowly. Prayerfully.

I will write one thought for you today. Hopefully it will make you think some about the Spirit and maybe encourage you to go through this book.

Francis mentions the story of Gideon’s army and how God started them with 32,000 men strong – in the end there were only 300. The only way they could win the battle was with God’s power. In the end, no one could say, “look what we did;” rather, they could only say “look what God did.”

Francis writes, “When I live by my own power and strength, relying solely on my natural talents to see me through, then people naturally praise me for how I am living. But when I am living in a way that requires me to depend on the Holy Spirit, people respond by praising my Father in heaven.”

I desire this in every area of my life. I want to depend on the Spirit when I’m planning songs for the worship gatherings, teaching kids bucket drumming in southeast Canton, hanging out with family and friends, leading worship, and talking to my neighbor.

I want to be led more by the Spirit than by Andrew.

I want God to be seen more in my life than myself.

Hearing God’s voice has been the topic of study for our worship team this week, and a timely one. It’s important for every believer to hear from God and obey His voice. As leaders of worship, we need to be in tune with His voice, as sometimes God has a different plan than we do in our worship services.

However, this is easier said than done. It can be easy to get so busy that we don’t even take the time to listen to God, and pretty soon we’re not sure what His voice sounds like anymore. I know I needed to be reminded of this danger this week.

This week we were reminded that listening takes practice and requires us to intentionally focus our thoughts. God’s words to us will often challenge our faith and require courage. They may even clash with our flesh or another’s human wisdom, but they will always be consistent with the Bible.

Over the past several months my wife and I have felt a call to really love the people of our city, and even move closer to the inner city. God’s voice in this matter has challenged our faith, required courage, and at times clashed with our flesh. We are just trying to be obedient to what He is saying. Dwayne’s thoughts on hearing the voice of God were confirming to me this week as our decision to move and be more involved in the city has not been the easiest.

In the specific area of worship leading, Dwayne writes that just before any time he leads worship, he goes into a room alone and kneels before God asking Him for help and proclaiming to God that He can’t do it alone. I’ve put this exercise into practice since this summer, and it has changed the way I lead worship – I have experienced God’s voice as I’m leading and His power moving through me like never before.

Whether on or off stage, hearing God’s voice is critical to our lives as believers. It’s not always easy and takes practice. I’m glad for Dwayne’s reminders this week – I needed to hear them for my own personal life, and my role as a worship leader.

This week the study our worship team is going through is looking at the attributes of God. Today we looked at his faithfulness, holiness, and mercy. In regards to faithfulness, Dwayne Moore writes, “It’s always a healthy practice to recall how God has come through for us in the past.”

This reminds me of the word Ebenezer that we find in the hymn Come Thou Fount. An Ebenezer basically means “a stone of help.” In 1 Samuel, Samuel sets up an Ebenezer where the Israelites finally defeated the Philistines and took back the Ark of the Covenant (the Israelites had been defeated by the Philistines twice before and the Ark was stolen).

This stone was a visual reminder to the people of Israel of God’s faithfulness.

As Christ-followers it’s important to remember those times when God was faithful to us. Living life requires us to make decisions based on faith, which can sometimes be unsettling. However, if we can look back into our mind’s eye and view those ebenezers – those moments when God was faithful – it makes stepping forward easier.

What are some of the ebenezers in your life?

Recently, God has been revealing to me that my view of worship is very narrow. In Pure Praise, Dwayne Moore points out that the living beings in Revelation 4 keep on saying “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty…” It’s present tense. There is worship going on in heaven 24/7.

The Bible also tells us that creation cries out to God.

Then, if you consider the idea that there’s 6 billion people on this planet, it’s very possible that ceaseless praise is occurring around the globe from some mixture of Christ-followers.

All this to say that worship does not just happen when I lead it! Sometimes I catch myself asking God to show up in our worship time – wait, He’s already here! We just join in with the ceaseless praise that’s already occurring in heaven and on earth! Now, I’m not saying it’s a negative to ask the Holy Spirit to anoint a worship service or a person to deliver a message, but it’s just interesting how feeble my idea of worship can be at times.

This week, our Pure Praise study is on the attributes of God. Again, it’s revealing to me that sometimes I think of God smaller than He really is. As a limited human, it is easy for this to happen – however, God is not limited, He is infinite. I hope and pray He will continue to widen my view of worship and Himself so that I might have a greater understanding of true biblical worship and of who God is.