In I Chronicles 15 we find David bringing the Ark of God to Jerusalem, rescuing it from the Philistines and giving it a home in Zion. Notice the exuberant expression of David and those with Him as they carry the Ark of the Covenant to Zion.
1 Chronicles 15:25-28
“So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.”
How about you and your exuberance?
To what did you once imagine church to be like? Or what did you grow up thinking church to be? To what might we liken church, a congregational gathering?
For many, Church is not something you experience, it is something you observe.
You might say in many ways church is like a ballet, opera, theatrical presentation or a concert. You shower up and put on your best cloths. Come prim and proper and you sit to watch the professionals present church. Church has become something we go to, not something we are.
We attend church. We might come and find a seat and wait for the show. Generally, we are quiet and observe the service. Church is where the professional singers sing. They have perfect worship for you and you watch. Professional readers have readings. Professional prayers have prayers for you, and you listen and watch. They do all the speaking and you listen.
To stifle the church even more, this mindset is carried over into the personal lives of those who attend. This is what they understood church to be, what the called out of God, the Ecclesia to be.
This was not God’s intent at all.
Under this afore described model, we are not really walking out our Christian walk with the faith, boldness and fervency.
This description is the kind of throw back to times when God’s people relied more upon ceremony than Spirit.
This piety and quietness has carried itself out of the church gathering into the personal life and personal expression as well. Liturgy than relationship.
Due to the powerlessness of this kind of Christianity, other influences would gain and control us, rob us of our destiny, and God’s best.
Church, it is time to take another step forward!
It’s time to rid ourselves of:
- Fear: afraid of what people might think.
- Doubt: afraid it might not work out and others have heard us.
- Timidity: Afraid of being to bold about spiritual things.
- Religious traditions: Doctrines and philosophies that contradict the Word of God.
Can you imagine how loud and noisy and power the worship of David was in the congregation? This was the model of David’s tabernacle, the one we see often described in the Psalms.
Psalm 35:27-28
“Let them shout for joy and rejoice, who favor my vindication; And let them say continually, “The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.” And my tongue shall declare Thy righteousness And Thy praise all day long.”
Psalm 132: 13
“For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.”
Psalm 47:1
“(For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.) O Clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended with a shout, The LORD, with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham; For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.”
These vocal expressions are so important to the King and His Kingdom. If we are convicted at all to yield to Jesus, we must bring our mouth and tongue to be loosed and cooperate with the truth. Words are one of the few things that make us like God, or God like, but so many believers have fallen prey to a quiet religious experience.
Why and what are words?
- Words are spiritual seeds. A seed contains the DNA to reproduce in maturity what it carries in microcosm form.
- Words produce in like kind this is why speaking out loud, praying out loud, declaring the word, is so important.
- Words are Spirit. They transcend the natural realm and interact fully with the Spirit realm.
- Words are the containers of the future. They are the rudder to life, direct the ship. They are what everything is made of. Words are the atom/ molecular structure of all things.