the power of God on Friday night

Haha. I stole the title from Pastor. It's funny to me. Shush.

Last night was swell. I love it when Holy Spirit makes His presence known. I love it, and I want it to happen every week. What was different about this week? Hmm.

1. We were unexpectedly short one band member, and had to change the set at the last minute because we realized we really can't play one of the songs we wanted to play. When we are weak, He is strong.

2. Our team on stage was in one accord. That's huge. It's easier to do with fewer people too. Haha. One of the guys, especially, just got back from the OneThing conference and is back to being on fire for Jesus again. That helped. He was sharing notes from teachings about worship, and reading us scripture on worship before we went on stage. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. When even one person on stage has other things to do and is only there because he's "on" that week ... it hinders things. We all need to be submitted.

3. There were probably 30 teenagers there and most of them were genuinely worshipping. That's the best. Even some kids we haven't seen in a while just let go of themselves and gave all they had to God.

As one member of a congregation, never underestimate your influence during a worship set. When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost (Acts 2), the Bible says that 120 people were all in one accord. I don't know how long they waited in that upper room, but I'm sure of this: It wasn't them waiting on God to send the Holy Spirit, as much as it was God waiting on them. When every last person's heart was aligned, focused on Christ, then the power of God could move.

You don't have to feel anything, you just have to worship. If you don't feel tingly all over, get over it and sing the song. If you can't get your mind off something else, sit down for a second, give that thing to God, get over it and sing the song. If you're tired because you were up late last night, take a deep breath, remind yourself you'll probably only be standing for 20 minutes, get over it and sing the song. I knew the moment last night that one of the guys on stage with me let go (toward the end of the second song) and freedom erupted on stage. It was glorious.

As I explicate ... I think we over-complicate worship. I prayed out this little revelation at 6:55pm last night. We think we have to raise our hands during the chorus of the song, and harmonize with the vocalists during the verses. The band has to play every chord just right, and the lead singer's vibrato has to be steady. Of course no one would admit that if asked - and that's okay - but I wonder how many of us listen to the intonation of our own voices during worship more than we listen for the voice of the Lord. Worship is really a very simple phenomena: you tell God how awesome He is, He tells you how much He loves you, and everyone's heart is overcome in the process (Song of Solomon 4).