This past weekend I spent a few days in Pigeon Forge Tennessee at Shabbach Conference, it was incredible, the preaching was amazing, worship was great, Holy Spirit was clearly there as people were being healed and set free from all types of things. At one point we started singing “Worship is my warfare” and everyone is going after it, jumping, dancing, singing as loud as they could in worship, but you know what I did? I stood there, singing the words but that was it. Lets be honest, three or four years ago, that would’ve been me too, but its not anymore. So the whole weekend I heard the Lord saying I need to teach you how to worship again.
He spent the weekend reminding me of where I had been and what I had come from and how that used to be my reason for worship, but I had lost focus on it. I lost focus because as life has gotten busier, my time with Him has decreased. I lost sight of my “why” and as this happened things have reappeared. Struggles from years ago have shown back up, loneliness, depression, isolation, all things that He had set me free from, came back. Isn’t just like the devil to try to discourage you and tell you that you were never free to begin with?! As one of the pastors at my church always says “With freedom comes responsibility” one of those responsibilities is worship. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that he dies daily to the flesh, freedom is a constant act, its deliberate. Look at our military, the U.S. stays free because our military stays active, they’re in warfare mode at all times, if they weren’t we wouldn’t be free. The same thing goes with our own struggles and being free from them, if we’re not intentional and deliberate with them and the responsibilities of being free, then how do we expect to stay free? Please don’t take this as a downplay on the power of God, its not, He does His part (setting us free), but the responsibility also lies with us to walk that freedom out.
Pastor Glenn said at the conference that “The same energy that David used to kill the lion and to kill Goliath, is the same energy that David used in Worship.” Think about that, the amount of effort it took to kill those things is the amount of effort that David put into worship. He knew what it took to walk his walk, but He also kept sight of just how good the Lord has been to him. So that’s where I find myself, in that place of remembering everything the Lord has done for me and brought me out of, but also trying to get myself into a “worship is my warfare” mindset. Being truthful I don’t want to be the weird one in worship that’s sweating and crying and jumping, but if that’s the cost of freedom, then that’s what it takes. We say it all the time in church “If you only knew where He brought me from…” but sometimes we forget where that “from” is. I’d like to challenge not only myself but you as well, Is He worth it? Is He worth the crazy praise? Is He worth the people looking at you weird? I believe He is! Let me pose this question, What if your worship was what was holding you back from your breakthrough?! (Preaching to myself here!!)
Quick fundraising update! My blog doesn’t reflect it yet, but with the money that I have saved up of my own and from other donations that have come in that haven’t been posted yet, I am now at $5500!!!! So thank you so much to everyone who has supported me thus far, and if you haven’t yet, then I pray that you would prayerfully consider it! Also if you want to keep up with me, hit the subscribe button and you’ll get emails when I post a new blog!!
