Lately I've found myself at meetings and services where it's gotten pretty wild. Pure crazy and loud for Jesus! I'm talking, the kind of noise you only are used to hearing at college football stadiums. I have been in many many great church services and evangelistic meetings over the years but something has changed lately. Do you feel it?
I can remember when John Bevere came to our church last year and told us to shout for freedom at the top of our lungs. The roar shook the building and went on for at least 3 minutes maybe longer. It was the loudest sound I'd ever heard and yet it was music to my ears. What did that do you ask? Is there any need for that in the church you might think? Well you tell me? Have you ever shouted in praise to God like that? Well if you haven't then you have no idea.
I've been in a charismatic church now for around 18 years. There's always been excitement and a small group of people that were "free." But it wasn't me. I remember raising my arms half way in praise to God. That felt good to me. I was able to express my surrender and love for God in a new way that was safe but didn't draw too much attention to me. Because I'm sure everyone was looking at me....right? Lol. Why does everything have to be about us?
Then I remember the day that I flung my arms as high as I could get them in the air...and it felt good. I couldn't keep my arms down. I was unaware of the moment. Caught up with Him! Because I got to know my God a little better. I realized how much He loves me and gave me....and just like someone in the natural who'd had given me such a great gift, I found myself needing to express my love and gratitude a bit differently.
When sports fanatics watch a game they get into it. They yell and holler and laugh and run around like drunk idiots! (No offense sports fanatics. But you know you do!) Why do they do that? Because they are DEVOTED to their team. Because they love to celebrate with other fans and proudly let it be known that that's their team!!! Speaking of drunk...have you ever realized how drunk people don't care who's watching....they are in another world aren't they. They are caught up in drunk fantasy world! Makes me think of the scripture in Acts when the people accuse the believers speaking in tongues of being drunk. I wonder what they were doing and how they were acting to be accused of being drunk? Well I know....because I've seen it. How much PASSION did Jesus have for you gong to that cross? How much have you got for Him?
You know what the world does. It perverts. And it steals from the Bible. Hollywood's great stories of good vs. evil. All of Buddah's encouraging words. The Bible is the beginning. Everything came from it. And yet in this move of new age and karma people act like some person was a genius for discovering some new law of attraction and whatnot. But you see the world takes things and claims them for itself.
Why will we go to a football game and scream and holler for our team and jump up and down and shout praises when they are victorious? Why do people take their school colors and wear them upon every inch of their bodies in pride? But when we go to church we gotta act cilivized, right? Put on your church face and your church clothes and try not to fall asleep when the preacher is preaching.
Well my days of that are over. Because He's been too good to me to stay silent. I have discovered Him in a way I never dreamed. He's real to me. He's more real than you are to me. And there is nothing I enjoy more that getting in a room full of believers who just wanna express themselves to God. I find that I can't keep my arms down! I can't stay in the seat being entertained by the offering song! He's been too good to me. He's changed me forever and I can't help myself. I'm undone and I like it.
One morning I woke up with the words IT WAS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST SET YOU FREE in my mind. They were so loud and clear and intimate and direct that I felt like I'd never heard them before. Like it was said to me for the first time.....so I remember asking Daniel if it was a Scripture because I was so confused. Of course it was (so thankful that my husband knows the Word forwards and backwards...he should be on a Bible trivia game show!). Yes, there it was in Galatians 5:1, "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Look at it in a few different translations:
New Living Translation (©2007)
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law.
The Message
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
And that morning in the bed I realized that this verse is for me in every area of my life. If I am bound by a habit, Christ set me free on the cross! If I am bound by what others think of me, Christ set me free on the cross! And He didn't do it just for kicks! He did it so I WOULD TRULY BE FREE. When we take up those same things He died for it's like saying His sacrifice wasn't enough. But it was. And you know, fear of man can be so crippling. And it's really sad that we let the devil control us so much with it. I was ready to live life differently. Put all my eggs in one basket. Lay it all on the line. Sell out! No matter what.
You see, God is a jealous God. The same God from Deuteronomy is the same God we serve. And guess what? He's still jealous. He wants ALL of us. Not a half-hearted puny part reserved for proper worship on Sunday mornings. He wants every fiber of our being to worship Him and only Him. And He deserves it.
God isn't going to let the passion of a bunch of sold-out sports fanatics or young Muslim suicide bombers burn harder and brighter than His people. He's calling a remnant to be sold out for Jesus! John the Baptist radicals to proclaim the coming of the Lord! To usher in His presence with worldy abandonment! He's coming back for us. Not the lukewarm church who can't remember it's first love. To the bride burning with passion and zeal! Who's been preparing for this moment it's whole life just as a young bride dreams of her wedding. Who's kept herself for the only One that really matters and forsaken the lusts and draws of the world.
I'm not saying you have to throw your arms in the air to worship God. Why would I say that? People are all different, with differences and different expressions. Freedom may look and feel different to different people. But I wonder what it's gonna be like in Heaven?? How happy will we be? Oh how fun to run and rejoice with the angels! To shout Hosanna! To fall on our faces in gratitude and awe of the beauty, justice and mercy of the God of the universe who saved our souls!
I'm ready! But until then, I want to get in alot of practice!!!
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