Posture in Worship
Baby Girl,
I’m pouring out My Spirit in your life and you’re still holding up that silly little glass to catch it.
Last night at worship, you opened your hands to receive what you felt Me pouring out. Your hands are just a sieve. Laying out across the floor, posturing yourself as a surrendered vessel, felt inappropriate… but how much more can you receive when your entire body is postured to receive?
Don’t worry - I’m not saying this to chastise you for not acting on the image you had of yourself prostrate before the cross.
Yes, I’ll wait.
Chastise = to rebuke or reprimand severely
Prostrate = lying stretched out on the ground with one’s face downward
As a sidenote, I’m glad you’re curious enough about what these words mean to look them up. They are words that your husband jokingly refers to as “Christianese” or words that only “super religious” people seem to understand what they mean. You understand them enough in theory to hear Me when I speak them to you but not enough to properly apply them to your life.
I need you to be acutely aware as you step further and further into your calling as a teacher that you have 39 years’ experience to call on when you consider spiritual matters. You may have missed the point and misunderstood the purpose of those things but you are coming to our relationship with fresh eyes and a wealth of groundwork understanding already in place.
You will be speaking to many people who are hearing My Name for the first time and these words you feel the need to look up are words I want you to always feel the need to spell out when you say them.
When you teach, imagine yourself teaching English as a second language.
You were born into an English-speaking family. The concept of English as a foreign language seems foreign to you but, for people who were not born into an English-speaking family or home with American culture, the customs and language of America are foreign.
Foreign = of, from, in, or characteristic of a country or language other than one’s own
See what I mean? The Kingdom of Heaven is a foreign concept.
Really?
Concept = an abstract idea; a general notion
Okay, I’m glad you looked that one up. Let’s look at it that way. Most of the world sees Me as a concept; a vague generality; an abstract idea or a general notion. I’m not, and yet a concept is the most your finite human minds can grasp. THAT is why I manifest Myself as God the Father, God the Son, Jesus Christ, and as the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.
Ghost = an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image
Nebulous - I like that word!
Nebulous = in the form of a cloud or haze; hazy; unclear, vague, or ill-defined
When you say “Holy Ghost,” you couldn’t imagine the creativity I’ve seen the human mind put to work trying to wrap their finite brains around the concept. Be assured that not everyone is imagining My Spirit as a friendly presence. I notice it’s become hard for you to say “the Holy Spirit” anymore. Do you know why? When you add the word “the” to Holy Spirit, you take away the personhood of Holy Spirit. He is not a concept or a vague generality to you anymore. You have come to know, understand, and relate to Him as the Person of “Holy Spirit.” That is His Name.
When you speak to Him and of Him, keep that awareness that He is a person.
Person = a human regarded as an individual
You and that dictionary… Girl, I’m laughing with you. I understand. Holy Spirit is not a human but that dictionary of yours, and even your native language, is limited in its ability to explain the fullness of God. We’re doing the best we can. Regard Holy Spirit as the Person of the Spirit of God.
You are a mess! Somehow, you can even take Me down rabbit trails and get Me off topic! Do you remember where we were? We were talking about your reluctance to assume a prostrate position at church in worship.
You will see things in your spirit that represent the spiritual posture I am calling you to take. When you imagine yourself face-to-the-floor in surrender, there are distractions that are pulling your focus away from My Presence.
When, in worship, you see this posture in your spirit, I want you to close your eyes, close your mouth, and recenter yourself mentally with Me before re-engaging in corporate worship. Your soul is a powerful tool the enemy will attempt to use to draw you out of My Presence and into the carnal, mental, and emotional arena.
Carnal = relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities
Command your soul to be still in those moments. True worship is a wholehearted activity and it is a skill to acquire.
Acquire = to learn or develop for oneself
Worship = feeling, showing, or expressing reverence and adoration for a deity
Reverence = deep respect for someone or something
Adoration = deep love and respect
When your spirit is attempting to commune with Mine in worship, the enemy will offer a host of suggestions to interrupt the flow.
Commune = to share one’s intimate thoughts or feelings with someone, especially on a spiritual level; to feel in close spiritual contact with
Wow… this is a lot of new vocabulary understanding for you. With this understanding, let Me attempt to spell this out a little better.
Worship is a wholehearted activity in which you are posturing yourself spiritually to share your intimate thoughts and feelings of profound LOVE and respect you feel toward Me.
Someone in your life has been disturbed, almost to the point of disgusted, by the idea that I would create humans and place them on earth expecting them to bow down and worship Me for My goodness, as though worshiping Me is your purpose in existing. He reasons that, as a Father, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and generosity should simply be My nature and I should expect no gratitude for simply showing up as who I am.
I do not call you to worship Me for My sake, Little One. Throughout Scripture, it is written that you shall worship the LORD your God and Him only shall you serve because you will naturally worship that which you love and respect; meaning, what you love and respect will become a deity in your life. If you love and respect money, money will become your god. If you love and respect possessions, what you own will become your god. If you love and respect yourself above others, you will become your god.
Worship has very little to do with musical inclination and EVERYTHING to do with the posture of your heart.
When I call you to worship, I am calling you to take your eyes off of everything the enemy would love to make a god in your life, and to remember that you were made for more than all of that.
Worship is a wholehearted, life-altering, soul-shaping posture I want you to consciously enter into from the moment your alarm goes off in the morning until your mind drifts off to sleep at night.
Singing religious songs detached from the meaning of the words with the crowd at church simply because everyone is singing is a fruitless ritual. Posture yourself, THEN sing. THAT, Little One, is music to My ears!
That was your alarm. Get back to bed. We’ve got another beautiful day ahead!
LOVE,
Daddy
Psalm 95:6
