Beyond the Veil!

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" - Romans 6:16

The question asked by the Apostle Paul, above, is one which I have been pondering. Why does he ask such a, seemingly, obvious and redundant question? This simplicity of it, makes me wonder if there isn't more to it, and I believe that there is!

I often think that we do things in life, expecting totally different results to that which we end up getting. For instance, if you invest your money in some sort of investment scheme that promises a certain return and when the investment finally pays out you get nowhere near the return promised, in fact you lose money. Naturally you will be disappointing.

One of two things could have happened here: Either you were deceived into thinking that there was be money to be made, or there really was money to be made and due to unforeseen circumstances (market related), your return was less than initially expected.

When Paul asks the question above, I think he is speaking to those people who fall into the first category; the one of, "I was taken for a ride". You see, it is human nature to measure and weigh things and then make decisions based on the outcome of your predictions; thus, making YOU god in your life. 

By submitting yourself to YOU, your logic and your intellect, you are in fact engaging in one of the most common forms of idolatry, known as pride. You thus become a slave to your limited knowledge, abilities and obvious frailties.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey ..? When we obey our impulses and selfish desires we get deceived into thinking that the returns on this will be advantageous; we become slaves to this illusion. This is the veil that clouds carnal decision making. 

Our decisions must be made in the spirit, backed up by the word and covered by prayer. Without this we will be at the mercy of carnal mindedness, which can only lead one way ...

"For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" - Romans 8:6

Emotions: A catalyst for worship?

“Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, My lips will praise You” – Psalm 63:3

The question: What role do emotions play when we sing praises to God?

    We know that we are supposed to worship God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). One of the best and most outwardly expressed forms of worship is singing songs together as believers, songs that edify the body of Christ and bring glory to Jesus. Worship is by no means confined to thirty minutes in a church service; we are supposed to have a lifestyle of worship. That is, everything that we do, should be from our hearts responding to the goodness of God and what He has done for us; not just singing and playing instruments. Spheres such as giving, helping, working, socializing and every other conceivable aspect of life, should be done with an attitude of worship.

    However, since the birth of the charismatic movement a good forty years ago, there has been a shift in the importance of music within a church context; music has become a major part of any form of charismatic ministry. It is not uncommon for churches to spend millions on sound equipment, instruments, training and professional consultants in order to have their music sounding good, or up to ‘standard’. Does this grossly disproportionate allocation of resources have any substance? Or is it just something that has taken on a life of its own and like many other aspects of modern Christianity, has no real biblical basis?

    The main reason for this focus on music and singing is the undeniable link between the emotions that music evokes and our ability to worship God in spirit and truth. Now, this has been abused in many spheres, where the focus has been all about getting as much emotional reaction out of the congregation as possible and when a big response is received it is seen as ‘successful worship’ (if there is such a thing). On the other hand, there are sections of the more traditional churches, who stay away from contemporary music as much as they can, because of what the conjuring up of emotions, through music, could produce in there congregants. They maintain it takes the focus of the congregant off God and onto music. Both views have their merits, but what does the word say?

    The bible is full of examples of people singing hymns unto God, where they are shouting, dancing and playing instruments unto the Lord. (Ps 66:1-2, 92:3, 100, 149:3 Acts 16:25) Thus, it can’t be wrong to sing, dance and make a joyful noise to God; the question must rather lie in our motives behind this. It is impossible to worship God in this manner and not get emotional about it. If we look at worship, specifically music and singing, from a perspective of spirit, soul and body (1 Thes 5:23) things become a little bit more clear.

    Humans are made up of three parts, spirit, soul and body. When we get born-again we have the spirit of Jesus inside of us, our spirit and Jesus’ spirit are one, the individual characteristics of either have vanished and a new creation is formed (2 Cor 5:17) However our soul (mind, will and emotions) and our body (five senses) still remain the same, they still need to be sanctified or changed according to the perfect will of God. Our soul is the easier of the remaining two aspects, that make-up a person, to change. This can be done by renewing your mind to the truths contained in God’s word (Romans 12:2).

    A focused time of praise and worship is thus a unique opportunity for our entire being; spirit, soul and body to come into line and worship God. It’s not a struggle for your born-again spirit to worship God; it’s getting your soul and your body to agree with your spirit. When we encounter God-focused music and singing, our emotions, or 'soulish' realm, start having positive responses towards God and His goodness. We get reminded about what He has done for us and how good it is to be in His presence where there is liberty (2 Cor 3:17) and fullness of joy (Ps 16:11).

    It is in this state where our spirits are worshiping, our soul is touched on all levels and all of a sudden we find our body reacting accordingly. We find ourselves lifting our hands, closing our eyes, kneeling down, bowing, clapping or dancing; all as a response in worship to our King. This my friends, is when we are worshiping Him with all that we have; spirit, soul and body; this is worshiping the Father in truth.

    Can this be achieved without music and singing? Yes, of course, you don’t need a keyboard player to help you experience God in His fullness. It is just one of the many vehicles available to us to help us experience a real and living God. Should we therefore try and avoid emotion when we worship God? Emotions are unavoidable; if we are going to worship Him with everything then emotions are included. However, we don’t focus on getting emotional, we focus on Jesus, we rest in His presence and everything flows from that. Keep the main thing, the main thing.

Pic by: Bohemianme

Eureka!

   Have you ever found out something about God, that you've never seen before? It may have been while you were reading the Word or in a time of worship or prayer and, suddenly, the Holy Spirit shows you something about God and His kingdom, in a fresh way. "Eureka, this changes everything!" This happens often to me, and it just keeps getting better. The more I find out about God, His character and His goodness, the more there is to find out; it's a snowball effect.

   With new-found knowledge, though, there comes a responsibility. Firstly, there is an onus on you to allow the new truth to work in your life, to become reality to you, to start walking it out and experiencing the freedom it brings. If truth doesn't lead to freedom, then it's not truth at all (John 8:32). Secondly, once we have made it a reality in our lives and see it's benefits, we need to extend the life to other people. It is only once you have broken through, that you can help others break through. We have a responsibility to help others share in the freedom we are experiencing ( Matt 28:18).

   However, herein lies the problem, not so much in the idea, but rather in the execution. We tend often to use new-found revelation knowledge to win arguments. We see it as our right to use something that God has shown us in order to show someone else that they are wrong in what they believe. This is the wrong attitude. Sometimes God shows us things, just so that we can benefit from it. But, more often than not, He shows us things so that the body can benefit, even if it is just one other person.

   When He does this we must realize that it wasn't us who came up with the idea, it was the Holy Spirit.Therefore if you feel God pressing it upon your heart to share the revelation with someone else, it is not up to you to convince them; it is only up to you to be obedient and present the truth that has been revealed to you. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to quicken the truth to them; helping it become a lasting revelation and not just the flavour of the week. (Rom 10:14)

   Taking this stance will cause a lot of conflict to be avoided, within the body of Christ. God knows how much you love that person and how much you want to make them see things your way; but do you think you love them more than God? No.  Our mandate is to help transition other people into the same freedom and fruitful life that we are experiencing, but at the end of the day every person is responsible for there own spiritual growth.

   What are you doing with your revelation, that which God is showing you? Are you using it to become spiritually proud and beat other Christians over the head with it? Or are you using it, in love, to try and help facilitate others to break through into what the Holy Spirit has shown you? (1 Cor 13:1)

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free"

Lately

     Over the past few weeks I've kept myself busy on various projects. However, I find that serving, is the best way to keep my mind focused on the bigger picture, and keep it off 'lil old me'. Conveniently, I  didn't have to look very far in order to find places in which to serve. As I transition into my next season, I am grateful that God allowed me to play a part, albeit a very small part, in the lives of these lovely people.

     School Leavers Opportunity Training (SLOT), is an NGO focused on giving young, disadvantaged people, the necessary skills in order to contribute to society as a whole. SLOT offers a holistic program addressing the pressing issues associated with the youth of South Africa, today. I was privileged to be a part of their spiritual side of things, where I gave a class on the Holy Spirit. I took the liberty of demonstrating the active power of the Holy Spirit and many were healed; from headaches to body aches! It was a great blessing and I know that for some of these young people, it was a life-changing experience. Yes people, God heals outside of church and even where there is no keyboard in the background!

The 60 young people I had the honour of ministering to at SLOT

   NCF church is expanding rapidly in the region and I happen to be related to the person in charge of all thirteen of the music bands, that make up this colossal effort. They have seven different sites (and counting) in one city, but due to the explosion of sites, there was a shortage of musicians. I put my hand up to help them out and had such a lot of fun. Seeing people encounter the living God during worship, is enough to inspire anyone to make the most of their life. It also made me realise more, that church is not about a building or a mission statement, it's not even about a band or a tattoo-bearing charismatic speaker (with a past), it's about Jesus; His love for us and our response to that love.

NCF Church - doing good stuff