While in the prayer room there was a wonderful Presence of the Lord as we
all prayed together. After more than an hour of prayer and intercession I
saw a vision:
I saw hot coals being scooped up in a funnel shaped scoop. Much like the
ones that they scoop popcorn with at the movies. The coals were being fed
into a large diameter hose that seemed to flow down from heaven to earth.
Written on the side of the hose was "WORSHIP." The bottom end of the hose
was positioned over the heads of people on earth who were in an attitude
of worship. A hot coal was placed via the hose on top of one person and then
another and then another and so on. As the hot coal touched the heads of
the worshippers their flesh began to melt off of them. What was left behind
was like a pillar of pure gold. When the flesh was completely gone, the gold
itself became molten and began to dance like a tongue of fire. As I watched
this scene, they became a large company of dancing golden fire - all the
people touched by the coals, now transformed.
I then saw angels flying over the company of worshippers made pure. The angels
had in their hands a small pan with a long handle. In the pans there was
incense. The angels were holding the pans over the tops of the flaming pillars
of gold. The incense then began to burn and a sweet smelling aroma rose up
into the heavens before the throne of God. I then saw two large hands with
a cylindrical container in them. The incense was being collected in the container
and as it came into the container it became a solid substance. I then saw
the two hands close over the opening in the container and then they shook
the container and after a time the substance was thrown back down to earth.
It rolled upon the face of the earth like dice. As the substance came to
a stop I heard a voice cry out "Yahtzee!" I saw one die with 7 dots on the
top surface. The dots were in the shape of the letter H.
Dale’s possible interpretation:
As we worship the Lord we release the purifying fire of God upon ourselves.
The fire purifies us and makes us worshippers in Spirit and in truth. As
we are purified to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, the angels
of the Lord come and empower our praise. Our praise then is lifted up into
heaven itself and becomes the substance for what the Lord is about to do.
Yahtzee is a Hebrew word. In Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the number
is 3329 yatsiy’ (yaw-tsee’). It means "coming forth" or "offspring."
I believe the Lord is saying that as we worship the Lord in the beauty of
holiness that He will gather the substance of our worship and cast it back
down to earth and bring forth a great harvest of souls. Yahtzee is accomplished
when 5 dice all have the same numeration on them. In my vision the numeration
was 7. Five speaks of grace and 7 is the number of comple-tion or perfection.
Dice are six sided objects and wonder-fully represent our humanity. The dice
were white which speaks of His work of holiness in us. The dots were black
and this probably speaks of our Adamic nature. Each dot represented a person.
As I meditated on this vision later I saw the dots themselves come alive
and begin to dance through the earth.
Vivid vision given to Sandy Warner [Taken from the book 101+ Ways God Speaks
(And How To Hear Him)]
This was an amazing supernatural vision where I actually experienced the
entire thing including the Lord’s Presence as it was happening. I was
in a large non-charismatic evangelical church worshipping with a full
congregation. I was in the balcony and could see everything. There was not
a person in the entire place that did not feel and respond to the Presence
of God. It was as though He was a giant magnet drawing out the wild and total
praises of His people in this building. There were waves and waves of the
Holy Spirit upon the people, and you could hear people’s emotional responses
and see their subsequent hands raising in unison. I felt His Presence so
strong, that He was literally evoking my strong responses.
Then I saw a candlestick standing on the podium’s left side, and a shadow
slowly passed across it. Suddenly you could hear a pin drop, the people were
so quiet in an absolute holy hush. I knew it was the glory of God just like
Moses’ story when he had asked to see His glory. (Exodus 33:18-23)
Later in the service I saw an old friend, who in real life saddened me by
breaking off our letter writing because of differences in church doctrine.
I leaned over to her and told her we were now talking the same language and
were in agreement. I was speaking not just of she and I, but of the whole
congregation. As I did this, there were women who had miniature little scissors
in their hands, who were busy snipping tiny fragments off the dead, split
ends of people’s hair. Their tiny scissors were snipping so fast they
were a blur. While in the dream I knew it was an allegory of the Lord cutting
away the denomination splits (splitting hairs) and dead works and that these
women were angels.
Still in the dream, as I was talking to someone about the awesome meeting,
I also mentioned that the Lord was doing the same thing with the Catholics.
Someone else mentioned Australia. When I awakened, I heard the Lord say,
"Ecumenical movement. The Spirit is moving. World wide. They’re done
being spectators." Then I saw a picture vision of my holding the steering
wheel in my car and the wheel had such a strong pull on it, that I just finally
let the wheel lead the way! [I literally felt the tug of the wheel, even
though this was a picture vision.] Then I heard the Lord say, "Divine direction."
By this picture, He is saying that we are coming to a time where His leading
will be so strong, that it will be difficult to "drive" ourselves away from
His Presence, as the tug or force in going our own way will be very tiring.
This dream and subsequent Word from Him was an awesome promise of His breaking
denominational barriers, where nothing else matters but worshipping Him and
responding to His wonderful Presence.
During prayer, after praise and worship we all felt a stronger Presence of
God than any of us had ever felt before. With about 20 teenagers in my living
room sprawled all over the carpet, there was a hush for a long time. It was
as though everyone was holding their breath, it was so quiet. I half opened
my eyes and the entire room was filled with golden light. I was in awe. Slowly
it left and we all began to move. I said, "Pastor Bob, what WAS THAT?" "We
went into high praise," he said simply. Then he explained that it was a very
rare occurrence where the Presence of God comes to bless because we have
so blessed Him with our praise and worship. He said that wonderful things
are accomplished in the heavenly realm when High Praise is entered.
Excerpt heard His still small voice via Shirley 1/17/93
"The Army of God— requires many skills. Musicians, singers, worshippers,
those trained in spiritual warfare to march in the front line. Others to
march in ranks. Watchmen, some behind to repair and mend the wounded. Those
to pray for victory in battle. All are needed in their place. United under
the commander and chief."
This morning in choir, as I worshipped the Lord, I trembled violently with
His power. I felt charges of electricity hit the top of my head. I actually
heard them.
While worshipping in the Sunday service I saw myself with my tambourine making
a circle around various people. Then I saw myself twirling down the aisles
of the church. I knew it was warfare to break bondage. I broke free from
my personal shyness and was obedient to what I saw. Afterwards a lady shared
that she was set free to wave the banners for the first time, going up one
aisle and down the other.
Scene 1: I was helping people express themselves when they were worshipping
the Lord. I was wanting them to become more free in their worship. It was
a small group of people, then soon it grew to a huge coliseum filled with
people expressing their worship in unusual ways. I saw two people do various
cartwheels and gymnastics!
Scene 2: As I saw people worshipping on the coliseum floor downstairs, I
noticed the coliseum had a mall-like area on the second floor. It was filled
with people walking along the walkways dressed in various "worship outfits."
They were shopping for just the right outfit. The atmosphere was energized
by people’s zeal for public appearances. As I witnessed this, I saw
an escalator going down to the main floor. I felt the lure of the 2nd floor
zeal and quickly excused myself saying I needed to stay down on the main
floor where people were actively worshipping the Lord.
Scene 3: As I was worshipping, I saw an angel floating above my head. She
looked down at me and I began to slightly bow before her as I danced. I also
displayed my hands as though introducing that she wanted to say something.
I said to myself, I am not worshipping her, but giving her honor. She said
to me still floating above my head so that I had to look up, "Express yourself
with your hands. That's what the Lord wants." As I was worshipping with my
hands I was also reminded that the Lord wanted us to use our hands to reach
out and touch the children as an expression of His love.
During worship one day, I had an interesting experience. During the song,
"Piercing the Darkness," I began to hear a loud, audible noise. It sounded
like the sound of a great crowd of people, cheering. I could hear many shouts
and some crying out, "Jesus, Jesus!" I looked around the room (three times
I did this) to see who might be shouting and making all the noise. I could
see no one doing this, in fact, there were not enough people in the room
to make the kind of noise that I was hearing. It sounded like we were in
a large football stadium on the playing field and a crowd was all around
us, cheering for us. I began to realize that what I was hearing was the "great
crowd of witnesses" spoken of in Hebrews 12. I was very blessed by this and
greatly encouraged by what I heard. I stood for a long time, just listening,
until I could no longer hear it.
Several songs went by and somehow I became distracted from worshipping. I
began to look around the room and watch others. I was particularly blessed
by the way the Lord was coming on one of the other worshippers. A friend
was standing near me and I was about to lean over and point this out to her
when the Holy Spirit came upon me very strongly and began to shake me. The
Lord then spoke to me very clearly, saying, "No spectators on the field!
I am the Goal. Keep your eyes on Me and press on!"
I then began to get some insights. I saw worship as being likened to a football
game. Jesus is the goal. I saw that the great crowd of witnesses were there
to cheer us on as we pressed into Jesus. I saw that there was an opposing
team (satan and his demons) who were trying to keep us from the goal. Focus
on the Lord and the involvement of all the members of the team are essential
to us reaching the Goal.
Excerpt heard His still small voice via Sandy Warner 3/16/95
"Bells. A place of worship. Music in the holy place. Ensemble. My quartet.
Harmonize. Make melody. A season of trust. Fruit to the surface. Gateway.
Open the doors. Harmonize."
"Wait on the Lord. All you need is found in Me. Physician heal thyself. The
enemy has power, but He who is in you is greater. Little foxes spoil the
vines. Remember get rid of. I am all you need. Everything for you is in Me.
Try joy. Praise and worship too. The enemy dwells not in joyous vessels.
Weak? Put on your strength. Marine school tough. Hares fast. Turtles win
the race. Voice of the turtle. This old house. Burden. Removal painful. I
lead. You follow. Dancing smoothly."
"Lead on Oh King eternal. This is the Lord’s day. Rejoice and be glad.
Celebrate, I will celebrate. Sing a new song unto the Lord. Arise Oh Israel
and worship your King."
"Corporate worship. Destiny follow Me. Union of the brothers. I will bless
the Lord. It’s astounding! A measurement of faith. Unified worship.
Angels singing. We worship the King. Hallelujah!"
Attending a women’s conference, I was given a Word from one of the prophetic
speakers. The Word penetrated my heart like an arrow. I knew it was the
Lord’s Word, although I did not have the understanding at that moment.
She heard the Lord say, "Effortlessly." Then she elaborated, "You have been
given authority over performance." Not knowing my background, she brought
to the surface one of my lifelong struggles.
Walking back to my seat, I contemplated, "Lord what did You mean by performance?
Why did she specifically use that word performance?" The only hint I had
was her saying, "Your book is the book of Galatians. You know what it means
to walk in grace. You know how to walk in the Spirit. Grace, grace, grace.
You know God’s grace. And you shall be used to bring others into the
same liberty and freedom."
I thought of the theme of Galatians where Paul speaks about the law verses
grace. He said the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. We were
trained under the law, but later the law is fulfilled through Jesus, whereby
we walk in the power of His grace. I could understand this, but what about
that word performance? How did that connect? The Holy Spirit quickened my
memories and a journey from performance via grace to liberty began to enfold.
I knew there were others on similar journeys.
The Schoolmaster
At the age of eight, I began piano lessons. It requires a lot of practice
to make the connections to learn the mathematical language of chords, patterns
and rhythms — then transfer it to body coordination and come up with
something that sounds good! Like Paul speaking about the Jewish laws, I was
under the music schoolmaster through years of daily practice and learning
skills. Unfortunately, after I began lessons I discovered that the purpose
of music was to perform. Whether this concept was right or wrong, this is
what I understood. My teacher had regular recitals and this was like a school
test to perform that which I had learned under the schoolmaster. The thought
of performing in recitals terrified me. I was a shy person, never raised
my hand in class and rarely spoke to people. In one way this worked to my
benefit, as an only and lonely child I found expression through music. It
was a wonderful outlet to express emotion. But to perform such things? Yike!
Finding Grace
Performing was my first experience with the word grace. Because of my weakness,
I watered every performance with desperate prayer. Depending upon God became
my mainstay as I trusted Him to help me through it in spite of overwhelming
fears. Throughout the first half of my life I performed many times. Somehow,
after so much practice and prayer, it was no longer a big deal to perform.
I had truly come into the knowledge of being able to perform by His grace.
But even with His grace it was still performing. I do not know what would
have happened if at the early age I had learned that the reason for music
was to enjoy it, express myself with it, and the greatest of all - to worship
with it. I had yet to know liberty from performing the schoolmaster’s
test.
Searching for Liberty
After thinking through my past with music, and seeing the connections
between the Words "authority over performance" - "grace" and "bringing others
into liberty" I could see how the words performance and grace tied together,
because I had experienced them. But I wondered about this liberty thing.
What was liberty? How did that apply to the schoolmaster?
One week later I attended a Christian dance troop concert. It was then that
I saw the example of my journey of schoolmaster law through grace to liberty
literally played out in front of me. The concert was held at a church known
for certain freedoms in worshipping the Lord through dance and the use of
instruments, various kinds of glory rings and banners.
Worshipping the Lord through dance was not foreign to me. My home church
was very free even to the point of being wildly liberated in worshipping
the Lord with their whole hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. They know how
to forget themselves, abandon their restraints and come into the Presence
of the Lord, and into loving the Lord through the expression of music and
dance. When you walk into the midst of such a place the power of the Lord’s
Presence is strong, and you feel it. I was really looking forward to experiencing
this in the concert.
The purpose of this dance concert was to bring dance back to the church as
a form of intercession and worship, and to bring people into liberty. The
dancers were lovely, dressed in beautiful costumes, using sparkling glory
rings, banners and tambourines. They had neat lights, a fog machine, cool
music and great drums. But in spite of the beauty and the "stuff", I
searched… ….for the Lord’s Presence. "Lord, where is Your
Presence? They are doing this unto You for a good purpose. Where is Your
Spirit?" This question was on the top of my heart, because I was so experienced
in dance being a form of worship and thus bringing His Presence into a meeting.
This was an enigma to me.
We sat in the front row and I could see the dancer’s facial expressions
and eyes. For the most part, it was obvious their minds were very engrossed
in remembering the hand motions and choreography, and staying in unison.
They appeared insecure when they stepped out of line or made a mistake. Whether
they felt self conscious about their beautiful costumes I did not know.
True Worship
After a long string of great songs, lovely costumes and choreography,
a dance soloist emerged. She didn’t have to match steps and motions
with anyone; she just had her own heart to express. Her African costume was
vivid and her head was covered in a turban. The African dance was well done
and the movements were cute like a jack in the box, instead of smooth and
graceful. She danced differently, but it wasn’t just her dance. She
was different.
Suddenly His Presence was there. I was immersed in the Lord’s Presence
as I watched her dance with all of her heart. She danced with all of her
strength, and her face radiated the love of God and the love for God. I was
so touched by this obvious difference I changed my question to, "Lord why
did Your Presence suddenly come?" I could see the contrast was the difference
between performance and worship. But I didn’t know how deep this went.
After she finished, she went to the microphone. "I can not just share this
dance with you without sharing my testimony." [her vocal emphasis] She said
when God gives us a testimony, we better be prepared for a test. She explained
how the Lord told her that if she danced this dance, He would provide her
the means to go to Africa with the dance troop. So she said yes, and He provided
in one week. Then she was diagnosed with 3rd stage ovarian cancer. She went
through the surgery and the chemotherapy and the doctors told her if she
went to Africa she would come down with some awful sickness being weakened
by the chemo. She knew God told her to go and had provided, so she went and
she danced with the turban on her head, having lost her hair. My heart was
so touched. It was obvious why His Presence had arrived. She was worshipping
the Lord through her dance, and she was joyously praising God for the strength
to dance. She had known His grace through the test, and she was experiencing
His grace to even be able to dance at all! The difference was the heart of
the dancer. I had witnessed true worship. I had also witnessed wonderful
liberty.
When she finished, more group songs followed, and again I could not discern
His tangible Presence. After a couple of more hours, one more time I felt
His Presence. It was an interesting contrast. This happened during a nonverbal
dance drama played to some warfare music. Although I do not know the name
of the song, it was a song about taking back the land through intercession
and taking authority over the spirits of greed, racism, abortion and
homosexuality. The song first called forth the intercessors. Two grandmothers
came forward, one on each side of the altar, raising their hands and interceding
with their lips moving. They were dressed in normal attire. There was a woman
between them dressed in a beautiful high priests’ attire. Beside the
intercessors, there were two angels dressed in long flowing white gowns and
glory ribbons. They danced, swirling and twirling around the intercessors.
Then out of the dark corners came two skulking, bent and crouching creatures
dressed in black shrouds, with their faces covered by a black veil. They
had chains in their hands and danced humped over. They circled around various
other dance team members that pantomimed greed, racism, abortion and
homosexuality. Suddenly, at the rise in music, the angels were sent from
the intercessors. They raced to the demonic creatures, pulling out their
glowing swords. Over and over again they pushed back the hideous creatures.
People in the audience shouted as the creatures fell back and were defeated.
Then the angels loosed the people pantomiming the various strongholds.
It was an awesome dance drama to witness - very inspiring and the Holy Spirit
was there. The memory remained vivid in my mind and I carried it to bed that
night. So why was this so anointed as opposed to the other "performances?"
I think it was because each person had their own part to play, they did not
have to match others movements. They were able to get past the concern of
performance, and into the story line, the meaning of the song.
In analyzing the concert that night, I kept going back to the performance
insecurities of the dancers and their focus on getting the movements right.
I thought about the hours of practice they must have done, their training
and how this paralleled the law and the Galatians’ schoolmaster. I realized
they were on a journey. It wasn’t that these dancers were wrong in their
desire to bring others into liberty. They just had yet to experience true
liberty themselves.
"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship
him." (John 4:23) True worship comes from a heart of adoration and gratefulness
that bubbles to the outside. I knew that if their intentions were right,
eventually they would get past their focus on performing the movements and
into worshipping the Lord with joyous liberty.
What is Liberty?
Liberty is the freedom to express your heart.
Liberty is the ability to keep your focus on Jesus.
Liberty is the freedom to not need another’s approval.
Liberty is the true desire to please God.
Liberty is the ability to respect others wishes so as not to cause offense.
Liberty is ambition lost.
Liberty is the ability to forget yourself.
Afterthought
I suddenly realized that throughout my years of music, whenever I
prayed while "performing" or worshipped through music and dance, my heart
was on Him. As a result, the performance ceased to be a performance. It had
effortlessly changed to freedom and liberty. And that is the true joy of
learning to walk in the grace of His Spirit and be in ministry and/or worship
situations. When we get our eyes off ourselves and how we appear to others,
the process of sharing what we have learned during the schoolmaster years
is effortless and salted with His grace liberating others into the same freedom.
The Lord says to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment." (Mark 12:30) I had often wondered about the strength part,
but now I understand that when our fleshly strength is spent in worshipping,
this releases our spirit into true worship.
The Lord is currently raising up a company of people all over the earth to
dance as David danced. They have taken the journey away from the law of
performance via grace, to find liberty. No matter what nation they are from,
they are coming together to dance before the Lord with all of their might.
The steps are not the same, nor the motions, but their hearts are united
towards adoration of their Beloved King. The Holy Spirit is the choreographer,
unifying the hearts into kindred and liberating worship of our Beloved.
Dignity/respectability 2 Sam 6:20-23, Gen 22:5 Abraham
Commitment "I will..." occurs numerous times in the Bible: ...praise, ...worship,
...wait for the Lord, ...bow down, ...make music, ...extol, ...glorify, ...lift
my hands, ...sing, ... exalt, ...seek, ...give thanks, ...rejoice, ...present
offerings.
Effects of worship
Brings the Lord’s Presence, "builds a house for Him" Ps 22:3,
2 Chron 5:13,14
Connects us with our true purpose and gives wholeness. 2 Pet 2:9
Opens us to His revelation Acts 13:2,3 2 Ki 3:16
Changes us into His image by beholding 2 Cor 3:18
Praise is becoming — it makes us look good! Ps 135:3, 147:1
[Taken from the devotional book "Words to Ponder" by Sandy Warner]
Worship is not contained in a package of rules. Do not allow man’s
interpretation to set you askew from an honest relationship with Me. As often
as you think of Me, as often as you speak of Me, as often as you sing of
Me, there I AM.
It is not how you worship, rather it is why. You worship and give Me honor
every time you set your heart in My direction. It is not in the outward display,
but in the heart. Man can go through the display with his heart far from
Me. You have allowed man’s interpretation to condemn you of that which
is precious to Me.
I cherish your yielded and tender heart’s response to Myself. Please
do not allow guilt to separate us when you do not fit into man’s mold.
You fit into My mold, and that’s all that matters.
"...The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth..."
(John 4:23)
From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance in the Hebrew Dictionary
Praise
"And the priests attended to their services; the Levites also with instruments
of the music of the LORD, which King David had made to praise (01984) the
LORD, saying, "For His mercy endures forever," whenever David offered praise
by their ministry..." (2 Chronicles 7:6)
PRAISE (HEBREW)
01984 halal {haw-lal'} a primitive root; v AV - praise 117, glory
14, boast 10, mad 8, shine 3, foolish 3, fools 2, commended 2, rage 2, celebrate
1, give 1, marriage 1, renowned 1; 165
1) to shine 1a) (Qal) to shine (fig. of God's favour) 1b) (Hiphil) to flash
forth light 2) to praise, boast, be boastful 2a) (Qal) 2a1) to be boastful
2a2) boastful ones, boasters (participle) 2b) (Piel) 2b1) to praise 2b2)
to boast, make a boast 2c) (Pual) 2c1) to be praised, be made praiseworthy,
be commended, be worthy of praise 2d) (Hithpael) to boast, glory, make one's
boast 2e) (Poel) to make a fool of, make into a fool 2f) (Hithpoel) to act
madly, act like a madman
~~~~~~~~~~
Praise
"And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise (08416) unto our God:
many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD." (Psalms 40:3)
PRAISE (HEBREW)
08416 tehillah {teh-hil-law'} from 01984; n f AV - praise 57;
57 1) praise, song or hymn of praise 1a) praise, adoration, thanksgiving
(paid to God) 1b) act of general or public praise 1c) praise-song (as title)
1d) praise (demanded by qualities or deeds or attributes of God) 1e) renown,
fame, glory 1e1) of Damascus, God 1e2) object of praise, possessor of renown
(fig)
~~~~~~~~~~~
Praise
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?
hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise (03034) him, who is the health of
my countenance, and my God. (Psalm 42:11)
PRAISE (HEBREW)
03034 yadah {yaw-daw'} a primitive root; used only as denominative
from 03027; v AV - praise 53, give thanks 32, confess 16, thank 5,
make confession 2, thanksgiving 2, cast 1, cast out 1, shoot 1, thankful
1; 114
1) to throw, shoot, cast 1a) (Qal) to shoot (arrows) 1b) (Piel) to cast,
cast down, throw down 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to give thanks,, laud, praise 1c2)
to confess, confess (the name of God) 1d) (Hithpael) 1d1) to confess (sin)
1d2) to give thanks
~~~~~~~~~~
Worship
"All the earth shall worship (07812) thee, and shall sing unto thee; they
shall sing to thy name. Selah." (Psalms 66:4)
WORSHIP (HEBREW)
07812 shachah {shaw-khaw’}
¤ a primitive root; TWOT - 2360; v
¤ AV - worship 99, bow 31, bow down 18, obeisance 9, reverence 5, fall
down 3, themselves 2, stoop 1, crouch 1, misc 3; 172
¤ 1) to bow down 1a) (Qal) to bow down 1b) (Hiphil) to depress (fig)
1c) (Hithpael) 1c1) to bow down, prostrate oneself 1c1a) before superior
in homage 1c1b) before God in worship 1c1c) before false gods 1c1d) before
angel
Roland saw a vision while we worshipped the Lord in the evening service.
He saw a beautiful white dove descend down into the church and land on the
platform at the top of the steps. He said it was very beautiful, very gentle,
and very peaceful. He then saw a huge eagle descending down toward the dove
with its wings spread out. He said the wings were very large and very strong.
His first impression was that the eagle was going to attack the dove but
instead the eagle landed on the lower step and in front of the dove and bowed
down to it worshipping it. After a while he saw the dove begin to feed the
eagle with blue seeds from it mouth.
Possible Interpretation From Dale:
The dove represents the Holy Spirit and the Eagle the prophetic gifting.
The Holy Spirit appears as beautifully pure, gentle, and peaceful and the
prophetic gifting comes across as mighty and powerful. I believe the vision
was a lesson for us that move in prophetic giftings: As we worship the Dove,
the Holy Spirit and Who He is, we will be fed the Word of the Lord. Blue
represents heavenly things; James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there
is no variation or shadow of turning." "The seed is the Word of God." (Luke
8:11)
I kept speaking the words tehillah and techillah during worship on Sunday
morning. I did not know what these words meant and later that week, when
I kept hearing the words over and over, I thought the Holy Spirit wanted
me to look them up. Here are the definitions to the two words. They
were speaking about worship:
TEHILLAH: 8416 tehillah (teh-hil-law'); from 1984; laudation; specifically
(concretely) a hymn: KJV-- praise.
Brown Driver Briggs: praise, a song or a hymn of praise -- a) praise,
adoration, thanksgiving (paid to God); b) the act of general or public
praise; c) a praise-song (as a Hebrew title); d) praise (demanded by qualities
or deeds or attributes of God); e) renown, fame, glory;
HALAL: 1984 halal (haw-lal'); a primitive root; to be clear (orig.
of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence, to make a show,
to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to
celebrate; also to stultify: KJV-- (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend,
(deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feignself)
mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned,
shine.
Brown, Driver, Briggs:
1) to shine
a) (Qal) to shine (figurative of God's favor),
b) (Hiphil) to flash forth light,
1) to praise, to boast, to be boastful,
a) (Qal) to be boastful, boastful ones, boasters (participle)
b) (Piel) to praise, to boast, to make a boast
c) (Pual) to be praised, to be made praiseworthy, to be commended, to be
worthy of praise
d) (Hithpael) to boast, to glory, to make one's boast
e) (Poel) to make a fool of, to make into a fool
f) (Hithpoel) to act madly, to act like a madman
TECHILLAH: 8462 techillah (tekh-il-law'); from 2490 in the sense of opening;
a commencement; rel. original (adverb, -ly): KJV-- begin (-ning), first
(time).
Brown, Driver, Briggs: beginning, first
a) the first time
b) from the beginning, in the beginning (with a preposition)
CHALAL: 2490 chalal (khaw-lal'); a primitive root [compare 2470]; properly,
to bore, i.e. (by implication) to wound, to dissolve; figuratively, to profane
(a person, place or thing), to break (one's word), to begin (as if
by an "opening wedge"); denom. (from 2485) to play (the flute): KJV-- begin
(X men began), defile, X break, defile, X eat (as common things), X first,
X gather the grape thereof, X take inheritance, pipe, player on instruments,
pollute, (cast as) profane (self), prostitute, slay (slain), sorrow, stain,
wound.
Brown, Driver, Briggs:
1) to profane, to defile, to pollute, to desecrate, to begin
(Niphal) to profane oneself, to defile oneself, to pollute oneself; ritually,
sexually
2) to be polluted, to be defiled
a) (Piel) 1) to profane, to make common, to defile, to pollute, 2) to violate
the honor of, to dishonor, 3) to violate (a covenant), 4) to treat as common,
b) (Pual) to profane (name of God)
c) (Hiphil) 1) to let be profaned, 2) to begin,
d) (Hophal) 1) to be begun,
1) to wound (fatally), to bore through, to pierce, to bore,
a) (Qal) to pierce
b) (Pual) to be slain
c) (Poel) to wound, to pierce
d) (Poal) to be wounded
2) (Piel) to play the flute or pipe
[The Lord may be saying that radical praise will make a way for a new beginning
in the Lord. I feel like the Lord was confirming that He truly has
changed the way we "Have Church," and is commencing with an original, first
time/beginning way of worship. He is "opening a wedge," beginning a new thing
in our midst. Lewis was playing the flute, which is part of the Techillah
root word Chalal. During this service, Pastor also was blowing the shofar.
Every time the shofar would blow my ears would open. I feel like the Lord
was showing me that it will be very important for us to open our ears, and
HEAR what the Lord is saying, if we are to enter in and receive this "New
Thing." It is going to be very important if we don’t want to miss out.]
A pervasive spirit sent to hinder worship and the free flow of the anointing
within churches
ITS BACKGROUND:
In the world’s definition, musicians are trained to perform.
To perform is merely to produce something in front of an audience.
The audience’s task is to observe and to respond.
How they respond is to either appreciate or to judge.
The above concept is the basic ingredients of a world-wide spirit of performance
that attacks worship teams as well as the participators in church services.
ITS INFLUENCE:
1) The worship team feels responsible to produce their gifts in such a way
that they must take the people into the Presence of the Lord.
2) Because of this, they take the burden upon their shoulders to "produce."
3) If the "performing" of their gift doesn’t produce the proper response,
then they feel like they have failed. They are going to feel a measure of
frustration. And they are going to lose a measure of confidence in their
giftedness.
4) If the worship team is going through the motions and they see that the
"audience" is just observing and not participating, it leaves the team feeling
helpless and not knowing what to do to help the audience to enter into the
desired response.
5) Likewise, if the people in the audience participate in outward visual
worship and they think that other people are watching them and therefore
it inhibits their participation, this is also the influence of a spirit of
performance.
6) If people actually do not participate at all because they are worried
that other people will be watching, then that is also the influence of a
spirit of performance.
7) This influence goes beyond our traditional definition of worship. It also
encompasses anyone who has a gift and is inhibited in sharing that gift,
no matter what the gift.
ITS FRUIT:
The bottom line of being influenced by a spirit of performance is that we
have our eyes on people and how they are or are not responding. A performance
spirit gets our eyes on people and off our adoration for the Lord.
This spirit of performance quenches the anointing. It has been prophesied
world-wide that the glory of God is coming and it is coming on the wings
of worship and praise. God inhabits the praises of His people. We have got
to overcome this spirit of performance if we want Him to inhabit our meetings.
PRACTICAL WAYS TO OVERCOME:
1) Building the progression of songs from singing about God to singing to
God. This brings people’s hearts into united adoration as a natural
result of the flow.
2) Using transparencies enables people to enter in and not just observe.
3) Positioning the overhead projector so all can see the words to the songs.
4) Positioning the setting so people don’t have to look through the
worship team in order to worship and in order to see the transparencies.
A stage and an audience is a natural set up towards presenting the "performer
and the audience."
A while back, Don Potter, leader of MorningStar worship was trying to overcome
another stronghold and that is one of worshipping the worship leader. Don
had to turn his keyboard to the wall for 2 years until he could get his eyes
off people and get the people’s eyes off him!
5) Limiting songs that people do not know.
6) Allowing time for the Spirit of the Lord to hover in the room. After people
have "spent" themselves in worship, musicians (without voices) play quietly,
allowing people to rest in His Presence. The Spirit is allowed to do a deeper
work than just a surface level. Many visions and hearing the Lord occur during
this time of waiting upon the Lord. These deeper level experiences happen
after people have finally entered in, got their eyes off of others and onto
adoring and hearing the Lord.
SPIRITUAL WAYS TO OVERCOME:
1) Ask the Lord to forgive us for having our eyes on people and ask Him for
help in turning our hearts towards Him.
2) Pray corporately against the spirit of performance.
3) Understand worship: Rick Joyner’s newest book (The Call) shares his
experience of going to the throne room. Jesus told him that one pathetic
worship meeting had the capacity to touch the Father’s heart like no
other worship in heaven could. That is the reason why the angels love to
come to earth and minister to us because they know how it pleases the Father.
Rick saw this pathetic meeting and all of heaven crying because the Father
was so deeply touched by the people’s love and efforts to worship. He
was deeply moved because in spite of all hell coming against us, still they
chose to love and worship Him! We have the capacity to touch the Father like
no one can in heaven. Rick could hardly wait to come down to earth and worship
Him.
Worship is a matter of our expressing our heart to Him, and that is impossible
when we have our eyes on others and their responses instead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words from the The Quickened Word are excerpts from the journals of Sandy Warner. To
better understand how God speaks, read Sandy’s book, “101+ Ways God
Speaks, And How to Hear Him.” Website:
www.thequickenedword.com Email:
swauthor777@usa.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
