Worship That Changes Atmospheres
The Keys:
*By design, worship changes the worshiper to be like the one being worshiped.
*When we worship God, there's a heightened awareness of Him and His Kingdom.
*He is a God of unity so the congregation becomes unified.
*The atmosphere takes on His supernatural qualities, manifesting heaven on earth.
Returning the True Worship Culture
In the Old Testament, it seems like their idea of worship was much more powerful. I see our culture heading back into this, and it is really exciting.
It seems like so much of the Church in the West still is seeing worship as a time when we get together and do a sing-a-long. But it is so much more than that.
In the OT, worship was foundational to everything the Israelites did. They believed that the more and harder they worshiped, the more the Spirit of God would come down. When His Spirit came down, they knew their enemies would be defeated, their inheritance would come in, their culture would flourish, and it would be like heaven on earth. That’s why King David actually paid thousands of musicians and worshipers to do just that full time.
Again, this was because the Israelites didn’t gather around a man, or a sermon, they gathered around the presence of God! You can’t tell me that isn’t an extraordinary thought! The people of God not gathering around to hear an great speaker. Not gathering to hear some good music. Not gathering just because they should. But gathering because they believed God would actually show up!
We need that belief in our churches today! God is always with us, but He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He has always spoken to individuals, but communal participation has always brought increase. There is a reason even the New Testament Scriptures say He comes when we gather. He is already there, but our coming together brings an increase in what we see manifest.
How Worship Changes The Room
So what happens when this kind of worship occurs? Typically about three things happen.
1) There is an increase in the awareness of the Kingdom and the Presence of God.
2) There is a greater sense of unity among the people.
3) The rest of the service is supernaturally charged.
Worship by nature exalts and emphasizes the qualities of the person or thing being worshiped. How many times have you walked into church grumpy and came out feeling happy and light? If you notice many of David’s Psalms start off with him freaking out, by the end he is showing trust in the Lord. Worship emphasizes the qualities of God and gets our minds focused on that instead of the life’s issues.
So then, when there is a group of us together doing this, singing the same words and fixing on the same ideas, we build our bonds in the spiritual realm and in our hearts. I won’t say this goes for everyone, but anyone who is really tied into the Holy Spirit can especially feel this bond during communal worship. We find it incredibly easy to not act negatively, but also find it much easier to step out in acts of love toward one another. So where we unite to glorify God, He unites us. To me, this sounds like Jesus’ prayer in the garden that He gave us His glory that was given to Him before the foundations of the world that we might have unity.
When the worship of God is going on communally then, in spirit and truth, that we are ringing out His praises from our hearts and living in the place of love, our services get supernaturally charged. I don’t know how many times I have been in a place where the speaker said they felt unsure of their message that morning, or maybe they didn’t even really have one. But then worship hit solid, the speaker got up and the whole place was wrecked. Why?
Even the speakers acknowledged that worship changed the atmosphere. Here’s what happened: First, it became noticeable that everyone else was focused on God, not on any of the people, not even the leaders. So this takes the pressure off.
At that time, people are so in a place of giving and receiving that even the speaker is not self-focused anymore. They don’t care about sounding wise to people. They care about giving something to the people.
Lastly, the people in the congregation become so full of grace in that moment. They have gotten filled since service began. So in that place of grace, there is a much less chance of a critical spirit to be the mood killer. In that kind of a place, the only way you can go wrong is for your message to not line up with the God leading that service.
I will tell you, this is true in services, but it isn’t the only place this can happen. So is our communal worship important? Absolutely. It doesn’t just make us feel good. It actually changes everything that is going on in the room. God takes over. After all, the Psalms say “He establishes His throne on the praises of His people."
