Silence

Silence

“I stand in awe of You
Yes, I stand in awe of You.
I’ll let my words be few.
Jesus, I am so in love with You.”
-Matt Redman

Silence, being still, quieting our hearts…an expression of love that is lacking in my generation. We live in a society that says “Go, go, go”. From the moment we wake up with our radio alarm, to the morning show over breakfast, to the ipod at the gym, to the television programming as we wrap up our day, there is no silence. So many of us, myself included, have no idea of what to do in the midst of silence. Believe me, I’ve tried.
Silence is the most difficult expression for me to offer my Savior. I am the most social of all people. I thrive on interaction. I am loud, outgoing, and self-assured. I am the highest “I” on the DISC personality profile, the extrovert. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and am willing to verbalize them to anyone at any time. Through the years, many friends have encouraged me to journal. I’ve tried that too! I totally see the benefit. I want to be able to do it, but it is not in my nature. I always say if I could do my journaling via Dictaphone, I’d be set. It is just too difficult for me to be quiet long enough to put it all on paper.
However, Scripture makes it very clear that worshipping in silence is necessary. And I don’t believe that excludes the extrovert personality. However, let’s look at how the Scriptures describe silent worship. Is it everyone quietly bowing their heads during the saxophone solo? Is it the congregation sitting and listening to the special music during the offertory? I don’t think it is. I think it is much more powerful than that.

Complete Awe
Habbakuk 2:17 says “Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” This is God speaking to importance of silence. Habbakuk isn’t instructing this. God is instructing Habbakuk and us to be silent before him. In contrast to idols of wood and stone, we serve a God who is alive. He is Sovereign over all. He moves in us. He knows when we sit and when we rise. If we go to the depths, He is there. If we go to the heavens, He is there. We cannot in our finite minds understand or grasp all that He is. Often times, in our worship, we find ourselves humbly realizing that He is so much more. It is in those times, that we are silent. No words can express our love, because He loves so much more. No words can express who He is, because He is so much more. No song can declare his worth, because He is worth so much more. So we stand in silence. We may shed a tear, but that is all we can muster in our humble existence as we attempt to look through that glass darkly!
Throughout the prophets of the Old Testament (Zec. 2:13, Is 41:1, Hab 2:17) as well as the passage in Revelation, silence comes as a result (or impending result) of judgement. As loving as our God is, as merciful and faithful as He is, He is also just. We serve a jealous God. He wants all men to know Him and love Him and worship Him and find Him. However, He has given us a picture of those who refuse Him.
A vivid picture of silence before the Almighty occurs in the eighth chapter of Revelation. The Lamb has opened each seal and verse one says, “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half and hour.” The seventh seal was about to unleash God’s judgement and all of heaven stands in awe. The word used here is the Greek word siopao. This word represents an involuntary stillness or inability to speak. That is tremendously different from a refusal to speak. When was the last time that your fear and awe of an Almighty God left you speechless? This is not the “speechless” that sings “let my words be few”. This is siopao that sings nothing, that says nothing. This is siopao that stands before a just, righteous, holy God dumbfounded. His glory pours out on us in such power that we try to sing, but we can’t. We try to praise, but we are unable. We try to lift His name, but we can only mouth the name “Jesus” through our tears.
Here we see how silence comes as a result of complete awe as we recognize all that God is. However, in our love relationship we don’t have to fear His judgement. We have been given access to His throne through Jesus Christ. This leads to my favorite picture of silence.

Complete Rest
Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” This familiar phrase in Scripture is preceded in verse 8 with “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolation he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. BE STILL AND KNOW that I am God.”(emphasis mine) Our former description of silence as we stand in awe is perfectly partnered with quiet rest. The two commands to not panic and to recognize His sovereignty are paired perfectly in this picture of complete rest.
As we acknowledge the power and sovereignty of Almighty God we are humbled, but at the same time relieved that we rest in that mighty hand. David says it better than I could in Psalm 131. “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.”
There is no storm that can overtake me. There is no trial that I cannot bear. I rest in the hand of Jehovah. I will sit there and let Him love all over me. I will crawl into the lap of Abba and be still. I will not speak. I will let Him sing His love song over me. I won’t talk. I will let Him hold me as I rest. I will be silent.

“For Now”
Sometimes I want to celebrate and dance before Your throne.
Sometimes I want to shout my praise to You and You alone.
Sometimes I want to sing a song, a simple melody.
But sometimes in my worship You speak to me.

So for now, I’ll quiet my heart.
For now, I’ll be still and know
For now, I’ll worship in peace
And let Your love song sing over me.

-Holly Parks

Be Careful Christians!

If you have been worshipping with us at Broadway, we have been focusing on "praise" for the past several weeks. I have tried to keep my blog in line with that focus, but today I feel the need to veer off of that subject at least for today.
I am not a fan of technology. I think it is primarily because I don't really understand it, nor do I have a desire to sit in front of a computer or ipad and learn it. However, I have been encouraged to "get with the times" and join facebook, create a blog, create a web page, and the like. So I am trying it out. I have a facebook account. Obviously, I am attempting this "blog" thing! I don't quite understand twitter, so I am leaving that alone for now.
I had to laugh this morning when my daughter was reading over my shoulder as I caught up on everyone's facebook status. She said, "Mom, why do people send you this dumb stuff?" I guess what Tara was making for dinner and who Bailey is dating and Mallory's latest song lyric post was not interesting enough for her.
However, one thing that was posted has had me thinking all day. In fact, it really has me wanting to shout at everyone, "CHURCH, BE CAREFUL!" The following is a facebook conversation that took place this morning:
-"Your answers don't have to be "churchy" just because you are in a room of Christians. I think even Jesus wants you to be real. If you can't be real, how can you deal with real problems?"
-"Amen! Uh-oh I used a "churchy" word".
-"LOL, I figure "amen" is ok. It is words like sanctification and fellowship that make my skin crawl."
-"I totally agree. If you are not in seminary school, you should not use sanctification in a conversation."
ARE WE SERIOUS??? Christians, we must be very careful. If we are so worried about being "real" and "relevant" that we forsake God's Word, we are in tremendous danger. I agree, Jesus was real. He wasn't "churchy" at all (or should I say "synagoguey"). In fact, he kind of shook things up in the religious department of his day. But my dear friends, words like "sanctification" and "fellowship" were part of his vocabulary. If these words offend you or make your skin crawl, I have to question if you have studied His Word at all.
It scares me that we find ourselves in this situation as a church. People are posting and chatting and talking about Jesus, but I question if they really know Him. They want Jesus to be relevant. They want Him to be their Friend. They want Jesus to be "edgy" and "controversial". Let me tell you, friends. The only way that you will know Jesus as edgy and as a Friend and as relevant is if you study His Word. I mean....really study it!
And I guarantee you if you study it, you will see words like "sanctification" and "fellowship". I also guarantee that if you study those words they will in no way make your "skin crawl". I also guarantee that Peter and Paul didn't have seminary degrees and they used those words. I don't have a seminary degree and I love those words. I love them because I know what sanctification is and I praise Him for it. I love them because I know what fellowship is and I know that I have it because of Christ's work at the cross. I am sanctified because of the Spirit's work in me making me more like Jesus. I have fellowship with God because of Christ's atoning work. I can walk right into the Holy of Holies because my Savior died on the cross and rose again on the third day. He took my sin and nailed it to the cross. His blood was the perfect atonement. I am justified and made right because Christ became a servant and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. He said "It is finished"...and Praise God, it was! Praise be to God for His indescribable gift.
I guess this blog turned into a praise focus after all...(sorry about all the "churchy" words!)

Shout To The Lord

“If the world can scream and shout for earthly, temporary things,
I can give my loudest praise to Thee!”
-Tommy Walker


The following is a true story. However, the names have been changed to protect the ignorant!...I was flipping channels on a Sunday evening at about 7:00. I came across a well known home video show. They were running a montage of people who had been tricked into thinking that they had won the lottery. I guess this is a pretty common prank amongst lottery players. This very plain housewife, standing in her bathrobe, stopped scratching her ticket as she realized she had “won” $10,000! Now, keep in mind, $10.000. She didn’t win a million dollars. She didn’t win the powerball 35 million dollar jackpot. She won $10,000. This woman began screaming, jumping around, telling everyone in the room, and screaming some more. “I won 10 thousand dollars, 10 THOUSAND DOLLARS!”
You know exactly where I am going with this. The worship leader in me begins to think…”What would our worship services look like if Christians could grasp the unbelievable gift we have been given in Jesus Christ?” Even more thought provoking, “What would church leadership do if we got that excited about our God?”
Throughout Scripture it is stated, “Shout to the Lord”. What does that mean? How do we get our minds around this idea of shouting to the Lord? For the congregations that shout comfortably, do they understand the biblical concept of such an expression?
Throughout the Old Testament, many examples are given of God’s people shouting aloud. In Joshua 6, we remember the Israelites marching around Jericho. “The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, ‘Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!’” Upon their shouts, the walls of Jericho came down. In Judges 6, Gideon defeated the Midianites, not with sword or strategy, but with a shout unto God. Similarly in 2 Sam 6, David brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
The Hebrew words used here give a picture of an alarm, or a battle cry. These shouts are loud, ear splitting, triumphant shouts. Throughout God’s story, His people responded with exuberant expressions of triumph. In comparing these texts, I completely understood why Gideon and Joshua would use a battle cry. I became confused how the same word used for them, was also used in the example of David celebrating the ark being brought to Jerusalem. What is so joyful about a battle cry? What is so exciting about heading off to war? Why celebrate a confrontation?
Here’s why…the Lord has given us the city!! The victory is ours. This battle that we are fighting is already won. Is that not reason to celebrate? This battle is not like that of Gideon or David or Joshua. No! Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We shout, not for victory, but because of our victory. We shout because everyone born of God overcomes the world. We shout because 1 John promises: “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Make no mistake, friends, the war is not over! Although we know the outcome, we are still called to fight. We are still in the heat of the conflict. Satan has many fiery darts waiting for us. Yet, we cannot live defeated lives. As Satan hurls his flaming weapon, we shout “HALLELUJAH!” As the roaring lion prowls around seeking to devour, we scream “MY GOD REIGNS!” As the prince of darkness masquerades as light, we clamor, “PRAISE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD IN WHOM THERE IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL!” As the serpent spews lies, we shrill, “THE TRUTH HAS SET ME FREE!” Although the war is won, the battle, itself, is gained each time we shout unto the Lord. Each time we claim victory in His name, our enemy is defeated. Each time we shout aloud with a voice of triumph, another stronghold is released, another chain broken, and another bondage freed.
Can you imagine a church who understood the power of this shout? We would be a people who have life abundantly. We would be a people diving into this river with reckless abandon. We would be a people effecting change for the kingdom of God. We think that people would see us and think we were strange, shouting all over the place. In all actuality, people would be drawn to our victorious Christian life. People would be seeking us out to determine the source of our joy. People would be saying, “I need to have some of that!”
I can’t say it any better than my dear brother, A.W. Tozer:
This may be hard for some to admit.
But when we are truly worshiping and adoring
the God of all grace and of all love
and of all mercy and of all truth,
we may not be quiet enough to please everyone?

Thankful For Freedom

I am always reminded this time of year (as we head into the 4th of July weekend) of America's independence. I am thankful for the soldiers who have given their lives so that I can enjoy the freedoms that we have in this country. Many have given the ultimate sacrifice so that I can worship freely, live freely and enjoy all of the other freedoms that I have. I don't take this sacrifice for granted.

However, I have to be honest. I don't know what it is like to live without those freedoms. Since I was born, those freedoms have always been accessible to me. I don't have the experience of worshipping in an underground church. I don't know what it is like to have my government telling me what job I can have or how I should spend my money. I don't even personally know anyone who has died for this country. I don't even know any family members of soldiers who have died for this country.

I am wondering if all of that has any affect on how thankful I am for my country and my freedoms. Don't get me wrong. I am definitely grateful for this nation and the men who have sacrificed for it. I just think...how much more would I be impacted if I had a personal connection?

Now, let me turn your thoughts to the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus. God's Word tells us if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed! Let me tell you, dear friends, I AM FREE INDEED!! This thankfulness, this gratefulness, this gratitude is altogether different. I have experienced being bound by sin. I have felt the chains holding me from all the peace and joy that was available to me. I have known the miry pit of sin that drags us down. I have been stuck in sinful choices, unable to break free because of my selfishness.
Not only have I lived there, I know the man who sacrificed his life to break me out of that prison. I haven't just heard of Jesus, I know him personally. He isn't a friend of the family. He is my friend. I have met the man who loved me enough to leave His throne in heaven and become obedient to death. He was perfect, sinless, and innocent. His love was so great that He became the perfect sacrifice to take every bit of my sin and shame and guilt. For a moment, I turned away from this love. I wasn't willing to give up my position in the miry pit. It had begun to feel like home to me. But He relentlessly sought me out. He reached down His hand to me and pulled me out of my helpless state. He released my chains and cleaned me off. He clothed me and fed me and threw a party for me. He taught me how to live...not just exist, but truly live!

So, I am truly thankful. There is a difference in how thankful I am because I know the bondage of sin. I know the prison of fear and insecurity and doubt and negativity and shame. I know the man who died so that I could be free.
So while I am grateful for this nation that I live in, it pales in comparison to the thankfulness I have for my Savior, Jesus Christ, my Lord. Praise be to God for His indescribable gift! To Him be the glory and honor and power forever and ever!

Hallelujah

Hallelujah

“Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Your love makes me sing!”
-Your Love Is Amazing

We sing it every Sunday. Hallelujah! There are countless hymns and choruses that contain it in their lyrics. Hallelujah! We shout it in our worship. Hallelujah! It is repeated throughout Scriptures. Hallelujah! However, I believe we have lost sight of the meaning of this word. And if we understand the meaning, then we have lost sight of the power in the words Halal Jehovah.
I was preparing a worship service several months ago. It was a relatively normal Sunday (in that there were no special events, holidays, or the like). As I was pouring over my Bible and my music, I was praying that the Lord would give me a fresh anointing. I was struggling with singing the same old songs week after week. I felt like even though we were adding new music, there was an uncomfortable familiarity with it all.
If I have learned anything as a worship leader it is that true offerings, true worship should never be comfortable. Leviticus 16 gives us a picture of Aaron giving worship and offering to the Lord our God. Some of the phrases include: slaughter the bull, take burning coals, two handfuls of incense, slaughter the goat, take the blood, and sprinkle blood with his finger. I challenge you to read through this chapter and recognize how messy this must have been. Yes, we have been covered with the blood of Christ’s sacrifice, but I think the principle still holds true today.
If we are going through the motions, singing the same songs, leaving our “worship” time unchanged, we are not truly worshipping. If our worship is not costing us something, if it is not messy, we need to reevaluate where we are in relation to Jehovah. The continuation of the same lesson for me is that when your worship gets comfortable, God will make sure you don’t stay there. He will stretch you, shape you, teach you, love you, knock you around, and make you very uncomfortable to remind us who He is and who we are.
This is where I found myself during that week of preparation. It was that week that God revealed even more of Himself to me. He prompted me to study the word, “Hallelujah”. What I found changed how I sing, how I lead, and how I worship Almighty God. “Hallelujah” is made up of two Hebrew words. Halal is often translated “Praise” and Yahh is translated “Jehovah”. Praise Jehovah, Praise God. Again I was finding myself using terminology that was oversung and losing effectiveness in my congregation. Until I found the definition of Halal.
Halal is defined in Strong’s Concordance as making a show or boast, even to rave. Already I started to have a different picture of what my praise should look like. As I sing “Hallelujah”, I should be raving about my God, putting on a show for Him, boasting about Him. But that isn’t even my favorite picture. The definition that brought me to my knees in that moment was “to be clamorously foolish” or “To clamor foolishly”. Wow!
As I look to my God and all He has done, it only makes sense that I should go on and on about Him. I should clamor foolishly. That is what the psalmist was doing in Psalm 113 when he says, “Praise the Lord. Praise O servants of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord!” This psalmist goes on and on, raving about His God, boasting in who God is. We should do the same.
I think the word “foolishly” is what gave me the best picture of Hallelujah. We live in a society where we worry about what everyone around us thinks. As a worship leader, I see this in congregational worship as well. I don’t lead in a charismatic church, so I find the congregation worries about expressing their worship. I have to admit, myself, that I have held back my dancing or shouting as their leader because I didn’t want to look foolish. Hallelujah is clamoring foolishly for our God.
David says it best in 2 Samuel 6:21 after his wife became embarrassed about his expression of worship. “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified in this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” He understood “Hallelujah”. He understood how to rave about His God. He understood how to put on a show and clamor foolishly before the One who is worthy of praise.
However, it is necessary to be reminded that worship and praise is a lifestyle. I have met people who have no problem clamoring on Sunday morning, but don’t live “Hallelujah” after they leave their pew. I have often been challenged by A.W. Tozer who says, “You can’t worship on Sunday morning if you have not worshipped on Saturday night”. I find it easy to boast and rave and put on a show for the Lord on Sunday morning with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is when I go into the world that I am challenged to continue raving and clamoring foolishly. I believe and pray that the church will be an effective tool in bringing souls to Christ when we consistently live “Hallelujah” in the world.
This is what the Lord says,
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
Or the strong man boast of his strength
Or the rich man boast of his riches,
But let him who boasts boast about this:
That He understands and knows me,
That I am the Lord who exercises kindness,
Justice, righteousness on earth,
For in these I delight,”
Declares the Lord.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have anything else to boast in. I have tried this life on my own, and that didn’t fare too well for me. I boast in a Savior who lifted me from the miry clay. I boast in a God who knows the plans He has for me. I boast in the Spirit who gives me wisdom and revelation that I may know Him better. I boast that I have been adopted into a royal family, a royal preisthood. That is all I can boast about. And I will boast and rave and praise and worship and clamor foolishly until He calls me home.