The Fire Of Worship

“I have been a worship leader for nearly 30 years. Lately, I have been rethinking what true worship really means and the effect it has on our churches and cities. For too long, in the church, people have come to worship hoping to get a `feel good’ song that blesses them and feeds them without a thought of `is this touching the heart of God?’ The Bible tells us in John 4: 23-24 “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is speaking to His people today telling us that He no longer wants us to be merely consumers, just coming to worship for what we can `get’ out of it.  He desperately wants to turn us from consumers into the consumed - those set on fire by the presence and power of His Holy Spirit.

God is calling the people in His kingdom to set themselves on fire in enthusiastic, Spirit-led worship. By doing so, the very atmosphere around us will be changed and people will be drawn to us and to the Lord. In the words of John Wesley, they will come to `watch us burn’. I want to share something I found on Wikipedia:

 "It has long been recognized that `fires create their own weather.’ That is, the heat and moisture created by the fire feed back into the atmosphere, creating intense winds that drive the fire behavior. The heat produced by the wildfire changes the temperature of the atmosphere and creates strong updrafts, which can change the direction of surface winds. The water vapor released by the fire changes the moisture balance of the atmosphere. The water vapor can be carried away, where the latent heat stored in the vapor is released through condensation."

 When forest fires burn, they can actually change the weather patterns around them. Looking at this from a spiritual perspective, when we determine that we are going to burn no matter what others think or how undignified it makes us appear the `strong updrafts’ that are produced will change the `surface winds’ in our cities. Things will begin to shift. Places that were once dry will become saturated in the outpouring of the presence of God condensing in the passionate heat of our worship. It's time to press in. It's time to be fire starters and atmosphere changers for the Kingdom. Amen? I hope this blesses and encourages you.”

~ Stan Carlock, Pastor - GLORY House