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

Spiritual Ecstasy

There is something supernatural that happens when we worship God.  We feel more of the Holy Spirit! Often this results in deep conviction, repentance, or Love.  There is a more excellent way.  There is another level to attain.  Once God get's our sinfulness out of the way, once we get ourselves out of the way, that's when there is a breakthrough to happen.

Now our faith in God shouldn't be built on our feelings alone.  His facts are greater than how we feel when in worship.  But if we are seen as perfect by the Lord, that's when He can really touch us.  That's when we can worship in Spirit and in truth (see John 4:24 and context).  When we praise Him in this way, that's what pleases Him.  And pleasing God usually feels really, really good.  Worship like this can be spiritual ecstasy.

There are times in worship when I God so fills me that I am about ready to burst.  And that's what He wants.  He wants us to know the depth of His Love.  The awesomeness of His Presence. The weight of His Glory!  He wants me to become so aware, that the treasure He's given is so from Him, so enormous that I alone cannot contain.

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."  2 Corinthians 4:7


Praises to God.  This is how every worship experience should feel.  If I worship Him and do not feel like this, I take it as a problem.  I may have become distracted; my heart may have hardened a little bit; I probably sinned.  All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23).  But that doesn't mean I am justified.  No, it means I need to get right and repent and allow the Spirit to unstop the release of His Love and His Glory.

Once this happens we have accepted His Love.  We have accepted such a gift of Love.  We should feel like we're in Heaven whenever we worship Him.  We should be Singing With All The Saints in Glory.  And if we are pleasing God, this is how worship will always feel.  No good gift will He withhold from us.

We will feel rivers of living water coming out from within us (John 7:38).  We will feel at one with the Father (John 17:22).  We will become flames as fire for Him (Psalms 104:4) and testify to His Joy and His Glory.  And so much more!!  Once again, it's spiritual ecstasy.  And we will do all this through the Holy Spirit, who works with us to fan into flames the gifts that we've already received from God.

Sidenote:  I was reading a new Bible commentary (it was a Birthday present) and there was a long sidenote about the callings of the OT prophets.  Many received their calling, the book said, in a state of ecstasy.  There were some cool facts about Isaiah the prophet.  I thought it interesting that Isaiah often used Spiritual music to induce an 'ecstatic' state, from which He could then prophecy accurately.  The closer we get to God, the more we will become Spirit and Truth, as opposed to flesh and lies.  Therefore, the more truthfully we can access details for prophecy.

Confirmed:  I thought the above book's use of the word, 'ecstatic' was interesting.  In the next few days I was reading a different book, and it was talking about the spiritual level that some of the New Testament Apostles attained.  Just look at His book of Revelation for some clues to this.

And I realized that spiritual ecstasy is totally biblical.  It's a good thing!  Let's hope that God takes us to new levels in the Spirit so that we can take all our delight in Him.  And let's allow Him to make us as undignified as He wants, (2 Samuel 6:22) so that He can pour His greatness into our human bodies.  Let's yield to Him today, and expect that He will show us His pleasure.  Let's ask Him to show us His Love in a new way.