This is an Article I wrote for my High School’s newspaper in a response to an ongoing debate between 2 people about worship.

Dear Editor,

I am writing this as a response to the ongoing discussion between Lindsey Parker and Mrs. Salsberry. I am not writing to debate the issue, but just to give my input. What the two have been somewhat debating is the issue of whether worship should be Hymns or songs with “snazzy” beats like that of the popular secular music. I somewhat disagree with Lindsey when she states that if an unbeliever came they would probably connect more with Inside Out than Come Long Expected Jesus. I do think there is some truth to that statement, but I dare say that they will connect more with the song that the Spirit of God brings conviction threw. An example I would like to look at is John the Baptist. He lived most of his life in the desert and is known as a voice who was crying out in the wilderness. I must say that I doubt John had “snazzy” beats or even music. God does not need music playing to move in hearts. To this one might say, ‘That was a long time ago during bible times, things have changed since then and are different today.’ Yes, this is true, but God has not changed. God has been the same through all eternity past. The same God that poured out His Spirit in the Bible is the one we worship today. This is the same God that sends conviction to the unbeliever’s heart, who makes the wrong things write.

 

When it comes to believers worshiping I would say that the issue at hand is that of sin. We are sinful people and this sin brings a hindrance to our worship. The definition of worship in Webster’s dictionary is, “a reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.” The worship is not about us. Sure, worshiping God with a song that has a cool beat or a nice tune is awesome, but it is the same as when we worship Him with a Hymn, or much less no music at all. Worship is about the Man who we are worshiping and the reasons we worship Him, it is not about us. When we look at the revivals of history, I bet we can safely say that they were not singing Inside Out during worship. They were more than likely singing Hymns with a keyboard, or no music at all. Guess what, during these times of worship God moved His Spirit and thousands were saved. The fact is, our God moves, it does not matter where or how, He is alive and moving as long as the heart is willing. Let me throw this out there. In the book of Revelation, mainly chapters 4 and 5, the Throne Room in Heaven is described. In this description, the four living Creatures and the 24 elders are mentioned giving praise, glory, and honor to Him who sits on the Throne and lives forever and ever. “Day and night they never stop saying:

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty,
Who was, and is, and is to come.”

Whenever the 4 living creatures did this we see that the 24 elder would fall down and say,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things, a
and by tour will they were created and have their being.”

Beloved, we are bored, that is all there is to is. The four living creature just mentioned said the same thing day and night. Whenever they said it, the 24 elder fell down and said their words. They have been in heaven all eternity saying this same thing everyday and every night and falling down before the Lord. They do not have any other songs this is the only one. My friend, we get tired of singing a song after five times. We must begin to understand this truth. We are a boring people who need God.

Kurt Miller

I have just recently been reading books on prayer and intercession, and this is something that the Lord had broken me over. This is the greatest call of the hour in the church today. The 2 that I am working on right now are E.M Bound’s The Weapon of Prayer and Leonard Ravenhill’s Why Revival Tarries. I have come to a basic conclusion. Today Christians struggle with all types and kinds of sin, the one answer for this is prayer. No self help group, or home group is going to help us, we must begin to come before God’s throne of grace and pray.

E.M Bounds states:
No erudition, no purity of diction, no width of mental outlook, no flowers of eloquence, no grace of person can atone for lack of fire. Prayer ascends by fire. Flame gives prayer access as well as wings, acceptance as well as energy. There is no incense without fire; no prayer without flame.

The church today lacks power. This is the key reason. Preachers and teachers must begin to lock them self up in the closet and weep over the perverse world. Many of us do not recall the last time we have spent hours on end in the presence of the Almighty. George Whitefield said, “Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer.” We know Whitefield as one of the great evangelists during the Great Awakening and here we see his source of power and authority.

When was the last time we have weeped in a spirit of prayer for the 315 million Muslims in the world. Is that fact even phasing the reader? Where has our burden for the lost disappeared to. We must begin to confront these issues alone with God. We must replace our material things which we are so consumed in, with sending intercession up to Gods throne, and wrestling in the secret place.

Ravenhill states, “Someone now will warn us that we are to heavenly minded that we are of no earthly use. The brutal, soul-shaking truth is that we are so earthly minded that we are of no heavenly use.” This, beloved, is the truth. We must let the Holy Spirit change our western mindset and focus us in on eternity. This life is truly but a second in comparison to eternity.

Begin to ponder Genesis 1, “In the Beginning God…” God was in the beginning. This must fry our brains. Our maker is an uncreated God. He was always there. “Behold, you are good, and we do not know you!” We have no clue who we are dealing with when it comes to God. A.W Tozer states that if all the problems of heaven and earth were to confront us at once it would be nothing compared to our biggest problem of God. We need to come to a revelation of the knowledge of God. He is so far above is. It says in Revelation 4:10 that, “.. the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne…” When was the last time we fell down before God. They did not bow down, the script says that they fell down. Gods glory was so powerful that they were knocked over.

This my friend is the highest call of the hour, that we would begin to get revelation of God in the context of prayer and intercession.