Psalms:100
Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;[a]
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;[a]
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Normally I don't start a post with a scripture; but, today I felt that it was important to start out by setting a firm scriptural foundation for what I am about to talk about. Recently I was talking to another believer, and they were telling me about how they were thinking of going to school to get a degree in worship ministry. Well, not to make light of this persons genuine desire to serve the Lord through music ministry, but what exactly is a degree in Worship Ministry? I personally attended bible school, was raised in a pastors home and have been involved in ministry in some capacity for most my life, and I had never heard of there being such a thing as a degree in worship. I actually went online to some very well respected bible colleges to verify that they were telling me the truth; and, Lo and behold, to my great surprise, there actually were many such degrees being offered. Personally I feel that a degree in worship is a waste of time and money; but, who am I to judge; but if you want, I can teach you all you need to know about worship and save you about ten thousand dollars. My problem with this all is not the fact that people are going to school for worship; but rather, what everyone seems to have quietly left out of our views and definitions of music ministry. For me personally, when I finally start a church or step into a pastoral role I will not be looking for just a WORSHIPER. Yes brother, you are looking for a lead worshiper who is anointed and set apart by God with the skills and tools necessary to take your worship team to another level. Well, actually I am not. In fact, anyone who comes at me with that kind of view on worship will most likely not even sing backup for me. Lets just set the record strait right from the get go; there is no next level of worship. What??? (Spoken in a minion voice.) I will repeat this statement again since I feel it is very important. THERE IS NO NEXT LEVEL IN OUR WORSHIP. Surely you must be joking MR. Kiefer? I m not; and, don't call me surely.
You see this is just one of the problems we have with our view of worship. We can go deeper into the presence of God; but, how deep we do or do not go is not determined by the worship leader. It is also not determined by the skill of the worship team, nor by the caliber of our sound system, nor by the song selection. None of these things mater when it comes to how deep we will personally go into the presence of God. Now don't get me wrong, if the worship leader or his team is in sin, then it will hinder what God wants to do; but, it does not have to hinder you from entering in. Likewise, if you allow the failures of the sound system or the song section to be stumbling blocks for you, then they will be. You see entering in is something that you as a child of God have control over. For us to say that how far we go in worship is determined by all of these variables is like saying that my healing is determined not by my faith; but rather, by the environment around me. The only thing that can limit what God wants to do in me and through me, is ME; and, this is also true when it comes to worship. Of course, we don't want this to be truth because, then it puts the ball back in our court and it takes away all of our pet excuses for not entering in on Sunday mornings. The truth is, if you don't enter in then it is no ones fault but your own. You see the next level we are seeking does exist; but it is in our own personal relationship with God that will then be displayed in our corporate worship and praise. Depth in the presence of God is not inherently found in worship; but rather, it is a result of our personal desire and relationship outside of the corporate setting. The scripture I started out with shows us Gods exact plan when it comes to entering into the Holy of Holies. If we follow this plan, then most likely we will always get to that place of relationship called the Holy of Holies. This is, after all, where we all want to go in the end.
Psalms 100 states: Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. In this scripture the Psalmist is referring to the tabernacle, which was the for runner to the Temple of Solomon. In fact, the temple of Solomon was designed as a permanent version of the tabernacle and was set up with the exact same dimensions. Both the tabernacle and the temple were designed as a physical representation of the spiritual reality of how we as Gods children can come into His presence. These two buildings were set up into three distinct sections: the outer Courts, the inner courts and the Holy of Holies or the Holy Place. Each section had a distinct purpose and was filled with items that were required to move farther in and closer to the Holy of Holies. Both the rooms and the objects in them where physical representations of spiritual truths. The Holy of Holies was the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested, which was the physical container of the manifest presence of God. Now, the Holy of Holies, the place where the presence of God dwelt, was separated from the other rooms by the famous veil. Only one person once a year was allowed past that veil and into the holy Place where the presence of God dwelt; and he, had to do everything perfect and follow every rule to the letter or he would drop dead. This thick veil was placed there to protect us from the presence of God; because if we were to enter the presence of God in our unclean state, we could not survive the purity and holiness of God. His presence would literally kill us. After Jesus died, this veil was torn from the top to the bottom signifying that the way to the presence of God was open to us. I find it significant, however, that the rest of the temple was not destroyed like the veil. What does this mean? Well, I feel that it shows us that the spiritual process of how we enter in has not changed. Jesus did not do away with what Psalms 100 states, and the steps it sets out before us still apply today. In fact, I feel that most churches today are simply wandering around the outer courts and calling it true worship. This is why we are always searching for that deeper place of the presence of God, because we are never really entering in.
You can burn me at the steak later; but for now, just hear me out. I have been in many church services over the past few months as I search for a new home church. In almost every church I attended the worship leader tried to take us right into worship. There was no praise and no preparing ones heart through thankfulness before he or she attempted to thrust us all into this place called the Holy of Holies. Now, I do not look at this as a failure on the part of the worship leader; but rather, it is a fundamental flaw in our understanding of the biblical and spiritual process of praise and worship. We have developed a culture of WORSHIP in the church of today. This in itself may sound like exactly where we were always meant to go; but, it is not. In fact, how can we have a culture of worship with out praise? In the past worship was always unbreakably linked to praise. They were like Siamese twins and you could not have the one without the other; but in todays church, we have removed praise from the equation. We no longer have Praise and Worship leaders, instead we have worship leaders. We no longer hold Praise and Worship services, but rather we have worship services. You see the bible says in Psalms 100 that we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Yes, the Holy of Holies, or true worship, is the end destination of our corporate and personal journey; but, we can not get there in either our personal walk or our corporate walk outside of the process God established. This is why even though we have more quality and professionalism in our music teams today, we just simply do not have the same presence of God as we did in the past. This is not just the ramblings of an old warrior who longs for the past; but rather, a man of God who desires that place of true worship where the manifest presence of God dwells. I for one am tired of simply wandering around the outer courts when I know there is so much more of God then I am experiencing. We have to ask ourselves this one important question, 'Why are we not entering in?" Unless this fundamental and essential question is addressed in every church we will never be able to progress forward into the manifest presence of God, and we will continue to settle for just a shadow of what we can truly have. In the next few posts I will be addressing a few issues that I feel have been holding us back in this area; so stay tuned, because CULTIVATING THANKFULNESS is on deck, with PRASIE waiting in the wings.
You can burn me at the steak later; but for now, just hear me out. I have been in many church services over the past few months as I search for a new home church. In almost every church I attended the worship leader tried to take us right into worship. There was no praise and no preparing ones heart through thankfulness before he or she attempted to thrust us all into this place called the Holy of Holies. Now, I do not look at this as a failure on the part of the worship leader; but rather, it is a fundamental flaw in our understanding of the biblical and spiritual process of praise and worship. We have developed a culture of WORSHIP in the church of today. This in itself may sound like exactly where we were always meant to go; but, it is not. In fact, how can we have a culture of worship with out praise? In the past worship was always unbreakably linked to praise. They were like Siamese twins and you could not have the one without the other; but in todays church, we have removed praise from the equation. We no longer have Praise and Worship leaders, instead we have worship leaders. We no longer hold Praise and Worship services, but rather we have worship services. You see the bible says in Psalms 100 that we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Yes, the Holy of Holies, or true worship, is the end destination of our corporate and personal journey; but, we can not get there in either our personal walk or our corporate walk outside of the process God established. This is why even though we have more quality and professionalism in our music teams today, we just simply do not have the same presence of God as we did in the past. This is not just the ramblings of an old warrior who longs for the past; but rather, a man of God who desires that place of true worship where the manifest presence of God dwells. I for one am tired of simply wandering around the outer courts when I know there is so much more of God then I am experiencing. We have to ask ourselves this one important question, 'Why are we not entering in?" Unless this fundamental and essential question is addressed in every church we will never be able to progress forward into the manifest presence of God, and we will continue to settle for just a shadow of what we can truly have. In the next few posts I will be addressing a few issues that I feel have been holding us back in this area; so stay tuned, because CULTIVATING THANKFULNESS is on deck, with PRASIE waiting in the wings.
