I would always come earlier to church to enjoy the worship time when we sang and dance and jump. Sometimes people would cry as they were worshiping. There are so many expressions and impressions in worship that I've seen.
As I was growing as a new believer,
I've always wanted to have those kind of experiences and impressions in worship. So I strived that I might feel like what others feel and yes I got it. I grew up in worship just like anybody else, I even get myself involved in ministry as a church musician. Unfortunately, as I'm growing as christian God opened my eyes to see that this is not the worship that He expects.
Slowly I learned what is meant by worship and the more I learn the more I found how much we've lost the real essence of worship.
I still remember one day after sunday service somebody came to me and said "I felt nothing, I felt empty"
I thought for a moment, something must going wrong but what is it? Why does the man say he couldn't enjoy the worship. And honestly, as a musician sometimes I find it difficult to enjoy the worship when the music sounds 'bad' in my ear for example like too much distortion or the song is too slow or too oldies. I've always wanted to present the best that we can as musicians not realizing that not everyone has the same sense of music.
I also remember one day when Hillsong held a concert in my town. Someone came and asked me "did you feel it? I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was so strong"
I've seen many times people would always relate worship to music so that when the music is played in a genre that they don't like they would feel nothing, or when the music is too loud for them then they would complain.
Last week I attended a church meeting and just like any other churches, they started with worship. While we were singing a worship song the worship leader said, "keep worshiping until you feel His presence". The question is what if they strive so hard but they still can't feel God's presence? Would it mean God isn't there? In fact, God's presence does not depend on our feeling or emotion. The presence of God is not about emotional experience. Many people seek emotional experiences in worship not realizing God seeks their heart.
There's a lady at my church who always complained about the way I play my keyboard. She always complained also about the drum which she thought was too loud. She wanted the worship to flow the way she expected that when we play differently she would get mad. I found it more than once that she STARED at me everytime I played my keyboard. Looking at her staring at me really screwed up my focus in worship, but my pastor said "your responsibility is to lead the people into God's presence. You are not responsible to their response so just keep going!"
The lady kept complaining and it turned out that she left the church and moved to another church.
Sometimes I pray that I could feel the atmosphere of worship the way I used to feel. Many people that I met in church or bible studies would pray the same prayer. But one day God spoke to me "Worship is about ME, not you"
So true! Its all about Him, not us. I now see the mistake that I've / we've been doing so far, that is to base our worship on our feelings.
A couple days ago I had a talk with a friend about worship at church where the people are now losing the 'feel' in worship. Many would feel nothing in worship. Suddenly God spoke in my heart very clearly "If worship is about what you feel, then what do I feel???"
It was an eye opener.
"Worship is not about us, its about God. Worship is not about what we feel, its about what God feels"
Here are some questions,
How far have our worships touch the heart of the Father?
We've seen many would smile or even laugh when worshiping, but how far have our worships put a smile and laughter on God's face?
How many times have you heard the worship leader would ask at the end of worship "how many are you blessed and satisfied?" But how many of us ask God "God,are You satisfied with my worship?"
Worship is when we put God as the subject. He should be the one who enjoys worship. Letting God smile on us should be the purpose of our worship.
Let's take a few moment to ask God whether He smiles when we worship Him. Cause the bible says , many come to God with their lips only but their hearts are far from Him.
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. " (Matthew 15:8).
God wants to feel you.. He wants to enjoy your worship the way you enjoy His presence. Let Him feel you before you feel Him. Remember when we worship we are to give and not to ask. Worship is ALL ABOUT HIM, not about us. Until we really understand this truth, we will keep asking for feeling instead of letting Him to feel us.
I'm not saying that we may not feel anything in worship, just don't focus on it (emotional feeling) coz the time you focus on emotional feeling, you'll end up worshiping yourself.
I believe when God is our focus, we won't be bothered by annoying music or by song genre, or even by emotional feelings.
Just be sincere in worship.
There are only two possibilities in worship, you worship God OR you worship yourself.
To end this, I wanna say :
"DECIDE WHO DO YOU WANT TO WORSHIP!!!"
God bless you
Your brother in Christ,
-Jack Loloin-
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