Worship

The other day I was in my car listening to my itouch and Israel’s version of “I exalt thee” comes on. I LOVE this song…simple, perfect, magnify God worship.
Before I knew it was caught up in reverent worship with tears streaming down my face and a freedom of expression I haven’t felt in a really long time.

After it was over I tried to remember when the last time I felt such a flood gate of sincere liberating worship and I am sad to say it was FOREVER ago. It was at a Mercy Me concert. What?! Why? When was the last time before that?
You gotta be kidding me….a Toby Mac concert last winter. Ugh, something is not right here! Before then…ah, having a hard time pinpointing it.

I remember that Toby Mac concert and the fervency in which I worshipped. I know what your thinking…worship to Boomin’ out your stereo system. Yep, maybe not that song in particular but “Made to love you”, “Jesus Freak”, or “Lose my Soul”. There was such a liberty in the Holy Ghost there…how? Maybe because the people there didn’t really care that the only expression of worship was a hand clap or foot stomp or jumping down in one little spot only. They were “worldly” and they danced before the Lord. Their dance probably looked more like the dance David danced before the Ark on its way back to temple then what we express every Sunday night.

Walking away from that experience I knew that my worship up to that point had been capped off and shallow compared to I had just had liberty to do. Think I am strange? I have one other example of a true liberated expression of worship. And up until that point I had NEVER felt such freedom.

I was at a prayer meeting at Landmark. There were about 20 of us there. We were in the sanctuary. Spent hours there…towards the end of evening someone put on “God is a Good God” it was dark with only the night light shining in through the windows above and from what I can remember and from what I could see Worship exploded in that place…there was such a liberty to dance before the Lord and to make a joyful sound. I had never felt so euphoric before in the presence of the Lord. I was giving him my all and everything that he had given me I gave back to him.

After that night I yearned for such liberty again in my worship. I began to have “private sessions” of worship before God in my basement with my kids. I longed for that rawness of emotion and expression before the Lord but I had no liberty to express it within the confines of a Pentecostal service.

There was a time during a community group; when I felt the power of the Lord but no one else seemed to and tears of worship poured out but I felt ashamed as everyone looked at me. I noticed after that instance I never again let on again to the anointing I would feel in worship and I stifled it. So the instances became fewer and further in between…a Toby Mac concert last winter and a Mercy Me concert a few short months after several months last Saturday driving to Park Meadows…So much time has elapsed.