Real, Raw Worship

When Does our worship become Real?

When does our worship become Real? Interesting question and answered according to where in the world you stand worshipping. Many, of course, will protest loudly that their worship is never anything but real but I would question that. It strikes me that the Lord seems to be showing me, probably a few others too, the difference between North, South, East, and West when it comes to the way in which Christianity manifests itself. In particular, there is, or seems to be, a vast East – West divide.

We hear so much about the burgeoning churches in persecuted lands where Christianity is, or has been declared, illegal. We see video clips and hear poignant stories of the Chinese and North Korean churches and how when they worship, the place is exploding with the presence of God. The worship is completely raw. Gut wrenching worship that expresses the longing for freedom to worship, and yet which also expresses the passionate nature of worship in that land, where they almost expect to be interrupted by soldiers “hell-bent” on breaking up their services and probably imprisoning the worshippers.

Here in the “civilised” West we are less passionate. It seems the best our worship can attain is when a few brave souls actually prostrate themselves before the Lord and there is a gentle “feeling” of God’s presence in the room. Oh that our worship could become more raw, more desperate for a touch from God, more physical and real than it is at the moment. Where is the spontaneity in our worship? Where is the passion? Why do we always seem to “hold ourselves back” when it comes to worshipping our God. He is, after all, the same God as the one worshipped with such passion and such raw emotion by those in the video clips we see on You Tube.

Yet maybe there is hope for a change. Here in the UK, a couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of witnessing some of those with less than most of the rest of us worshipping God. It really was truly gut-wrenching stuff. Men and women prostrated before the Lord crying out, at the top of their voices, their total gratitude to God for what He has already done for them and for what He is continuing to do for them. My wife and I were in tears watching them – we couldn’t join them as we didn’t know how to worship in this manner!!!! My wife’s words through her tears were these, “You know, watching these people made me ashamed of my own worship. My worship just isn’t enough. I want to worship as these guys did tonight. We must come back. I want to learn how to worship like this.”

So, tonight, we are taking a party of younger church people over to join this group again. My heart is already pounding and my stomach trembles in anticipation of what is to come and what may happen tonight. These wonderful people seemingly have nothing to offer us, yet I want to bring back some of their anointing to our church this weekend.

Revival starts with desperation. They have that desperation, and I want us to catch some of it.