But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. John 3:23 NKJV

            I do realize that this word that the Lord gave me may be offensive for some; I struggled some with the idea of publishing this article; but I believe that for those that are hungry for God and are placed in leadership position, this article could be a liberating one.

            God is not looking for Doctors in Theology; God is looking for worshippers. There is absolutely nothing more important in our lives than to worship God and worship God alone for the Bible tells us in Exodus 34:14 “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” Even as worship is indeed a lifestyle, make no mistake about it, worship requires expression; worship requires action; worship requires that we express our love for God out loud, worship requires that we sing to him, jump for him, dance for him and shout for him. Worship requires that we let go of our prideful dignified ways and weep, laugh and cry out before HIM who is worthy. Beloved, David danced before the Lord in his underwear; in Second Samuel 6:14-16 we read:

“Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.”

See, when we worship God, our little external images must come off. David was a King, but as he danced before the Lord he was just like a little kid excited to see daddy. Notice how Michal, Saul’s daughter and one of David’s wife despised him in her heart. Second Samuel 6:20-23 tells us:

“Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” “So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord.And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.”

            You can also see in verse 23 that Michal had no children symbolizing how fruitless our lives become when we refuse to worship the Lord with all of our might. We hold back so much when it comes to God, but who holds us back when our favorite team scores? Who holds us back when our children give a great performance whether in arts or sports? Who holds us back when our favorite singer hits those high notes in that particular song we love? Who holds us back when we are after the woman we love as we chase her down with flowers, romantic letters, sweet words and gifts? Can you see the picture here? How much more should we go after God in radical expression of worship? Let the religious continue to be religious; let the Michals of this world despise us, but we must worship God with uncompromised passion.

It is sad to me when in our church services we place the preaching of the Word as the main event. I have news for you; if you are approaching God’s Word as a book to simply acquire knowledge you are violating the first commandment which is to love God above all things. The Word of God is a love letter that ought to radically generate a greater love and appreciation for our Heavenly Father. When we come together as a church Body, we first come to worship Who the Word is and not just the knowledge of the Word.

I am, by no means, taking away the important of the reading and study of God’s Word or suggesting that we do away without preaching and teaching the Bible, I am, however, desperately trying to express that we must change the emphasis.  I have seen many men and women of God with great knowledge of God’s Word, but with little or no expression of worship to God. They act in our services as if they are above everybody else; they act as if it is childless to worship God; they look over their little notes during worship, they look around, look at their watches, you never see a tear come out of their eyes or even the lifting of their hands for Jesus. I am grateful for the example of David who was a King established by God and anointed by Samuel as so. How amazing it would be the day that our Presidents stops trying to act so dignify and abandon themselves in God’s presence with no fear.

I will go as far as saying that the reason many church folks are not growing is because they have not opened their eyes to realize the freedom they have in Jesus to worship. It is sad to say, but many of our worship services are teaching our little ones to place God in a box called religion. We want God to move, we want God to manifest His power, but we want to continue following the same script Sunday after Sunday. It is truly time for freedom; it is time for us to stop the concerts and it is time for us to let the new song find herself among us. It is time for us as Pastors and leaders to get out of the way and let God touch His people directly. First King 8:10-11 tells us:

“¹⁰ And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.”

Notice that when the glory of God filled the place “…the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud.” This is symbolic of the fact that when God is in the house He does not need our help to minister to His own people. Through worship God wants to minister to His people without our help, after all the Bible tells us, “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel”. (Psalm 22: NKJV)

 We like to call our Sunday morning gathering “Worship Service”, but that is in fact the least that we do in such gathering. The two songs and an offering, one more song and the sermon formula most desperately go; that is not worship, but a prearrange mini-concert. Beloved we must come out of the Sunday morning prison; we must fight for our freedom to worship God. It can no longer be tolerated! We must stop limiting the Holy Spirit flow and allow God to move freely in the heart of His people. We must let God use us as He pleases and humbly realize that He does not need us and that there are times…many times, when He wants to do His thing without us.