I felt The Holy Spirit tell me this morning to tell The bride of Christ to cry out for more of God until He can hide Himself no more.
God is asking us to press on in worship until we feel His tangible presence. The aspect of worship in question is worship in song and adulation.
Yes, God is always with us in the sense that He is everywhere and many of us reading this I believe are sealed with His Holy Spirit, not with standing there is a level of worship, a tempo of worship that attracts the manifest presence of GOD, where He chooses to reveal Himself more tangibly - in essence "spread His skirt over us".
In John 20: we see Mary, the Bible records that Mary rose up very early in the morning and went to the tomb where The Lord was buried, the Bible records that it was on a Sunday morning, the next day after Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath where nearly everything is restricted which I would imagine back in those days would include a much more restricted movement than nowadays in Jewish culture. She must have just been itching for the next day to come, immediately she got a chance - she was off to the tomb! She got there, saw that it was empty and ran to get Simon Peter & another disciple whom we believe is John, they came back with her to the tomb but left when they saw an empty tomb - the bible records in verse 8 "Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed - for until then they still hadn't understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead" Not sure if they remembered to explain this to Mary before they left.
Mary who didn't know theology, simple Mary - all she had was her worship, her heart, her love. A love which God honored. The Lord didn't show up before the apostles left but He showed up before Mary left. Mary knew how to love God and she triggered what made Him tick. When I read this scripture I had tears in my eyes - the bible describes how she wept, how she stooped low to check the tomb a second time - Oh what passion! All she wanted was to pay her respects...
Then she saw the angels, she told them someone had taken her Lord away and she did not know where they had put Him, Mary was a seeker... All through this exchange The Lord must have been observing keenly to the point which He could not take it anymore, He just had to make Himself visible for her to see, He didn't even do it when the apostles came but when He saw Mary's persistence, her passion, He was moved. He asked why are you crying, again hear her answer, Sir if you have carried Him away, just tell me where I will go and get Him. Mary - despite being a woman, was ready to use her might to lift His body! At this point He called her name - that way which only He can and her eyes and her mind opened and she knew it was Him!
He was quick to say don't reach for me yet because He knew the kind of worshiper Mary was - she was an all or nothing kinda gal just like Him her Papa...
For it is written that you shall love the Lord your God with all of your might, all of your heart and soul! And one of the ways we express this to him is in song worship, proclamation of who He is before Him. The Lord taught us to pray Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name - we must learn how to hallow His name.
God is not looking for a tokenistic kind of worship,
Songs of Solomon 3 vs 1-5
One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover. I yearned for him, but he did not come. So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love.” So I searched everywhere but did not find him. The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?” Then scarcely had I left them when I found my love! I caught and held him tightly, then I brought him to my mother’s house, into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived. Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.
He is looking for a lover who will search till they find Him, who will hold on to Him tightly and say do not disturb us until the time is right. The Holy Spirit has asked me today to ask His bride to learn to tarry in worship until He gives the signal the time is right you can break off now, till she experiences His tangible presence.
Songs of Solomon 5 vs 4 - 6
I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?”My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume.
My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply.
When we hesitate like she did above, He will withdraw and the consequences are not pleasant. She said she had taken off her robe, washed her feet... she felt it was not convenient and so He withdrew...
Songs of Solomon 5 vs 7
The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls.
When I talk about knowing how to steward the presence of The Lord - this is one of the things I mean. I Thessalonians 5:19 tells us not to quench The Spirit and one of the ways we can quench is not letting Him through in our worship sessions or yielding when He calls us to worship.
There are some practical steps I have come to learn about worship in song, they are in no way meant to be restrictive but I believe they are helpful.
Sometimes there are specific songs that The Lord wants to hear, sometimes He may choose to do something through that specific song or minister to you through that song. Therefore it is important to listen out for what He wants to hear and then sing it. It is important even when you practice ahead peradventure somebody reading this leads worship in a choir - that you ask for His guidance on your song selections and that you are open when you hear a song through the ears of your spirit that the Holy Spirit is bringing up to your consciousness. Don't restrict God into a time box - give Him quality worship - make time for worship, allow the Holy Spirit to take The Lead and allow Him the middle and the end... I see often when we end too quickly and God is not done yet - Songs of Solomon verse 5 in chapter 3 says don't awaken us till the time is right - don't interrupt our romance until we tell you we are ready. Often times The Lord wants to romance us - His Bride but we cut Him short because we have so many other things to do and get on with. We need to learn how to make time for God adequately.
John 4 vs 23 & 24
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Romance Him till He can hide no more - that's the message He asked me to take to His bride. Romance Him till you feel Him. A kind of romance that wants Him! Him! Him! A romance that will not settle just for a pat on the back or blessings only but one that says it is You I want! Just like Moses asked for God's presence - he resisted when The Lord proposed an angel only going up with them, the angel could still have gotten them to the land flowing with milk and honey but Moses said No, it's You that I want! How will anyone know that You are pleased with me? How will I know that You are pleased with me? If You don't kiss me, if You don't spread Your skirt over me, if You don't show me Your glory?
Worship Him till He is so attracted to you that He can Hide no more!
God is asking us to press on in worship until we feel His tangible presence. The aspect of worship in question is worship in song and adulation.
Yes, God is always with us in the sense that He is everywhere and many of us reading this I believe are sealed with His Holy Spirit, not with standing there is a level of worship, a tempo of worship that attracts the manifest presence of GOD, where He chooses to reveal Himself more tangibly - in essence "spread His skirt over us".
In John 20: we see Mary, the Bible records that Mary rose up very early in the morning and went to the tomb where The Lord was buried, the Bible records that it was on a Sunday morning, the next day after Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath where nearly everything is restricted which I would imagine back in those days would include a much more restricted movement than nowadays in Jewish culture. She must have just been itching for the next day to come, immediately she got a chance - she was off to the tomb! She got there, saw that it was empty and ran to get Simon Peter & another disciple whom we believe is John, they came back with her to the tomb but left when they saw an empty tomb - the bible records in verse 8 "Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed - for until then they still hadn't understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead" Not sure if they remembered to explain this to Mary before they left.
Mary who didn't know theology, simple Mary - all she had was her worship, her heart, her love. A love which God honored. The Lord didn't show up before the apostles left but He showed up before Mary left. Mary knew how to love God and she triggered what made Him tick. When I read this scripture I had tears in my eyes - the bible describes how she wept, how she stooped low to check the tomb a second time - Oh what passion! All she wanted was to pay her respects...
Then she saw the angels, she told them someone had taken her Lord away and she did not know where they had put Him, Mary was a seeker... All through this exchange The Lord must have been observing keenly to the point which He could not take it anymore, He just had to make Himself visible for her to see, He didn't even do it when the apostles came but when He saw Mary's persistence, her passion, He was moved. He asked why are you crying, again hear her answer, Sir if you have carried Him away, just tell me where I will go and get Him. Mary - despite being a woman, was ready to use her might to lift His body! At this point He called her name - that way which only He can and her eyes and her mind opened and she knew it was Him!
He was quick to say don't reach for me yet because He knew the kind of worshiper Mary was - she was an all or nothing kinda gal just like Him her Papa...
For it is written that you shall love the Lord your God with all of your might, all of your heart and soul! And one of the ways we express this to him is in song worship, proclamation of who He is before Him. The Lord taught us to pray Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name - we must learn how to hallow His name.
God is not looking for a tokenistic kind of worship,
Songs of Solomon 3 vs 1-5
One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover. I yearned for him, but he did not come. So I said to myself, “I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love.” So I searched everywhere but did not find him. The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?” Then scarcely had I left them when I found my love! I caught and held him tightly, then I brought him to my mother’s house, into my mother’s bed, where I had been conceived. Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and wild deer, not to awaken love until the time is right.
He is looking for a lover who will search till they find Him, who will hold on to Him tightly and say do not disturb us until the time is right. The Holy Spirit has asked me today to ask His bride to learn to tarry in worship until He gives the signal the time is right you can break off now, till she experiences His tangible presence.
Songs of Solomon 5 vs 4 - 6
I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: “Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.” But I responded, “I have taken off my robe. Should I get dressed again? I have washed my feet. Should I get them soiled?”My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled within me. I jumped up to open the door for my love, and my hands dripped with perfume.
My fingers dripped with lovely myrrh as I pulled back the bolt. I opened to my lover, but he was gone! My heart sank. I searched for him but could not find him anywhere. I called to him, but there was no reply.
When we hesitate like she did above, He will withdraw and the consequences are not pleasant. She said she had taken off her robe, washed her feet... she felt it was not convenient and so He withdrew...
Songs of Solomon 5 vs 7
The night watchmen found me as they made their rounds. They beat and bruised me and stripped off my veil, those watchmen on the walls.
When I talk about knowing how to steward the presence of The Lord - this is one of the things I mean. I Thessalonians 5:19 tells us not to quench The Spirit and one of the ways we can quench is not letting Him through in our worship sessions or yielding when He calls us to worship.
There are some practical steps I have come to learn about worship in song, they are in no way meant to be restrictive but I believe they are helpful.
Sometimes there are specific songs that The Lord wants to hear, sometimes He may choose to do something through that specific song or minister to you through that song. Therefore it is important to listen out for what He wants to hear and then sing it. It is important even when you practice ahead peradventure somebody reading this leads worship in a choir - that you ask for His guidance on your song selections and that you are open when you hear a song through the ears of your spirit that the Holy Spirit is bringing up to your consciousness. Don't restrict God into a time box - give Him quality worship - make time for worship, allow the Holy Spirit to take The Lead and allow Him the middle and the end... I see often when we end too quickly and God is not done yet - Songs of Solomon verse 5 in chapter 3 says don't awaken us till the time is right - don't interrupt our romance until we tell you we are ready. Often times The Lord wants to romance us - His Bride but we cut Him short because we have so many other things to do and get on with. We need to learn how to make time for God adequately.
John 4 vs 23 & 24
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Romance Him till He can hide no more - that's the message He asked me to take to His bride. Romance Him till you feel Him. A kind of romance that wants Him! Him! Him! A romance that will not settle just for a pat on the back or blessings only but one that says it is You I want! Just like Moses asked for God's presence - he resisted when The Lord proposed an angel only going up with them, the angel could still have gotten them to the land flowing with milk and honey but Moses said No, it's You that I want! How will anyone know that You are pleased with me? How will I know that You are pleased with me? If You don't kiss me, if You don't spread Your skirt over me, if You don't show me Your glory?
Worship Him till He is so attracted to you that He can Hide no more!
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