We are so quick to move on...We hit that spot in worship that is so beautifully intimate that it is agonizing. Everyone with eyes to see and ears to hear is weeping and wailing; some in repentance, some because they are overwhelmed with God's beauty, sovereignty, grace, and mercy that tears are the only adequate expression. We reach this point, and I believe we find it uncomfortable. So we strike up an upbeat praise song and move on to something more familiar.
I believe that agonizingly intimate place is supposed to be uncomfortable. It is not that there is necessarily anything so holy about discomfort; but we were made for Heaven, and here we are on earth. I think that when we press in until we reach such a point in our worship where we are tasting the wine of His love, we are also the most aware of the limits on our mortal bodies, and the great distance between our natural world and the courts of Heaven. We are satisfied in His presence, and yet, we can never be satisfied. Thus, we are uncomfortable.
I believe we rob ourselves of the most precious time in which we can hear from the Lord when we rush out of that moment. Our hearts are stripped bare in that moment, and we get a rare glimpse of the sweetness of His presence, side by side with our desperation. So often, we find ourselves there and we don't know what to do. We abruptly break off and take up an offering, have the announcements, or we jump into an upbeat song that we know how to handle.
What if we stayed there? What if -- for once -- we actually put the order of service aside? What if the musicians kept playing softly, and the prophetic worshippers kept singing whatever the Spirit laid on their hearts? What if we pressed IN to that discomfort, that desperation, and each of us cried out, "God, speak to us here...we are DESPERATE!" ?
What if -- in that beautiful place -- we open the door for trusted prophets in the body to share what God is saying to His church? Whatever the message was going to be, whomever was slated to speak, when we reach the point of such total abandon in worship...THAT is where the prophets can begin to cry out, where healing can be manifested, where deliverance can take place...