Hello friends,
For the first time I'm going to start my articles on reality series. Some of you may get offended or irritated if you don't like the light of reality shedding on you, so please kindly read no further if you are scared to see the reality. God bless.
Revival meetings, Holy spirit anointing, Fasting prayers, Worship concerts, Conventions and so much happening around, every single day many people are coming forward and giving their life's for God. Many are getting baptized and spirit baptized. Well we need all this, and I'm not against all this. But sadly the real state of Christianity cannot be judged just by looking at this crowds. Christian life is not over with a conference, Worship is not over with an exciting time of singing, shouting and dancing. holy spirit anointing is not over after falling down on floor, Spirit baptism is not over with speaking in tongues. We need a genuine anointing, genuine worship, genuine Christian revival.
THE WORSHIP DHAMAKA
A preacher friend of mine who do go around to share the word/ assist worship leaders in worship, 7 months back he was invited to share the word in this popular youth conference held up in a place close by. He went there and they gave him a seat in the special guests row and the worship started, smoke started ascending all the way down from the stage to heavens and there was beautiful music, people were rejoicing the presence of the Lord it went on and on and on. The meeting was scheduled for three hours and the worship became dancing and shouting and jumping around, the preacher waited for his turn to share the word but no one came forward to him finally the worship leader who is an exciting young man in the field of music and the organizer discussed things as the time was already running out, they called up this preacher friend and told him to shrink his sermon to 5-10 minutes moreover the worship leader gave this statement "here after there should be only dancing and shouting and music for Lord, no need for the word and sermons, boring man, come on we are called to have fun in the Lord". The preacher got up from his seat joined his hands and said Praise the Lord and Thank you and left without a word.
Do you think that is anointing?! Do you think that is the kind of worship God wants? There can be music, there can be dancing! but what all these things gonna do without the word of God? We are turning away from the basics, we are being hyped and in a very false emotional experience and claiming it to be a genuine presence of God. The presence of God is not something that comes down from heaven during the worship and goes away after that! Its something that should stay with us all the way. Many times our worship sessions are becoming nothing more than a music concert. There is nothing wrong with music or attending a music concert but don't confuse yourself with a music concert and a time of worship. Dear friends let us check ourselves in the light of the word, are our worships bringing glory to God? are feeling the same even after it gets over? or we are just having the excitement for the time being?! Worship leaders we all need to learn one hardcore truth, this goes to you and me and everyone else in the field of worship "DO NOT USE JESUS TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC OR TO PROMOTE YOUR TALENTS OR TO BECOME FAMOUS" give glory to God. Don't lead the people blindly to an emotional experience rather lead them to the Lord, Give glory to God and let them do the same, never ever try to use God to attain fame or glory.
With this I'm concluding my words and want to attach a note to worship leaders by Lee Grady. See you soon with more on this topic.
1. Give us something to shout about! In most countries I visit, worship is an exhilarating workout. In poor countries where people struggle from hand to mouth each week, praise is so energetic that the congregation quickly moves into the aisles to dance. Yet here in the United States our worship is often stiff and way too sophisticated. What we lack in genuine zeal we substitute with technology, orchestration and hype. It’s a pitiful tradeoff.
Worship leaders must stoke the fires of spiritual passion. Don’t let the people’s hearts remain cold or stale. Exhort them to go higher. Say like the psalmist, “Praise the Lord! …Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise His name with dancing. …Let the godly ones exult in glory. …Let the high praises of God be in their mouth” (Ps. 149:1-3,5,6) NASB.
2. Please give us content. Most of us packed away our hymnals 30 years ago and discovered the liberty of free-style choruses. Yet I get tired of singing the same phrase over and over—especially if that phrase has questionable theology. And we are cheating people if half of a song consists of lines like “Ooh, Ooh, Ooh!” or “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
There’s a reason “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” is a classic. Its words inspire deep worship in a way that simpler songs can’t. The best solution is to mix up the playlist with both new and old songs—as well as old songs with new arrangements. If we only sing today’s trendy Top 40 we will forget where we came from.
3. Spare us the concert. True worship leaders lead rather than perform. We want you to play skillfully, but we don’t want the focus to be on you. Point us to Jesus!
Some worship leaders shift into extended periods of spontaneous worship. That’s great until you look around and realize that the congregation is sitting down while the worship leader has his eyes closed—oblivious to the fact that most people got lost 10 minutes ago. That’s not corporate worship. That’s a stage show.
4. Don’t run a song into the ground. Maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine: When a worship leader announces, “Let’s sing it one more time!” and then proceeds to sing a chorus again and again and again and again (and again and again), this is a form of lying. This happens especially with certain choruses that are like broken records—they never resolve.
If a song is so repetitive that it’s annoying, or if you can’t figure out when to stop it, just retire it. No one will ask why you don’t sing it anymore.
5. Please don’t burst my eardrums. I have a high tolerance for noise and I love rhythm. But I have been in churches where the music was so loud that my head rattled for the rest of the day. God can open deaf ears, but I don’t think we should manufacture the deafness. Have mercy on us. God doesn’t want us to drown out the sound of the people’s voices with bass guitars and subwoofers.
6. Show us the lyrics. Memo to the technical crew: We don’t have hymnals, and we don’t know the words by heart. Please don’t wait until we have sung the second verse of the song to put those words on the screen. (It would also be a good idea to have someone proofread the song lyrics. I was in a church where we were supposed to sing “Praise Him for His mighty acts,” but the Power Point slide said, “Praise Him for His mighty axe.”)
7. Honor the Word. There is nothing ruder than a worship leader who walks off the stage after the last chorus and then disappears to a side room to eat donuts. When the praise team vanishes from the church and never comes back, it sends a message to the congregation that these people don’t need to listen to the sermon. Not! Worship does not end with the last song; the last song sets the stage for the next act of worship.
-Lee Grady
(Editor, Charisma Magazine)
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