Dream: The Glory of God or the Glory of man?

I had a dream last night where I was in a nice church...one of the many "seeker friendly" churches out there nowadays.  (Just so you know, I love these kinds of places!  Every time I've went to them, the Holy Spirit ministers to me.  But I think God wants to purify our motives...)

So, back to this church, there was some sort of youth ministry going on, and everyone was singing and worshiping and acting all excited. Something wasn't quite right, though.

There was a hardness to the worship that caught me off guard.  The musicians on stage were having fun -- and not necessarily in a good way.  They were going through the motions, trading out the worship of our Father for a show (2 Tim. 3:5).  There was some egotism evident there.  It was really sad. Vanessa and I were sitting up near the front, and I was watching these people, many of them my age, singing along with the band and just going through the motions, also.

This significance of all this was heightened because of how it contrasted what God was doing with me.  I felt such Love; I felt so much of Yahweh's presence.  I became pretty overwhelmed, and sorta just slumped over in my chair and kept checking out this scene. There was one teenage girl in particular that I felt bad for.  I could tell that her heart just wasn't in it; though she was doing some stuff right, she was missing out on the power of the Spirit.

The rest of the teens in the church were much the same.  I longed to tell them that it could be better.  I longed to tell them that they were falling short of the party.  I wanted to say, hey, God has a better way for you than this...but I just didn't have the words.  Plus, I was plastered to my chair under the weight of His glory and probably couldn't have moved a muscle even if I wanted to.  In retrospect, I think God put me into that symbolic scenario simply so I could observe

Sadly, this whole "let's go to church and not really love on God" mentality is something I've also seen played out in real life.  It's tragic to see people so close but yet so far.  People who sit there listening like they're watching a realllllyyy boring TV show or something.  Their hearts have not been awakened -- a veil of sadness is still there (2 Cor. 3:14).  They've never tried really seeking Him, and consequently have never realized that He's already been found (Proverbs 8:17).

Guys, God is fun!  He's a wonderfully burning Love (Song of Songs); He's incredibly powerful.  He's worthy of your fear (Psalms 119:120), He's worthy of your admiration and worship.  There is an ecstasy of divine exchange that comes with loving Him (John 3:30).




"God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."     ~John 4:24