Freedom
A few days ago I was having lunch with a fellow worship leader in town. We visited about many things. We shared about our families and jobs. Mostly we shared of our mutual love and calling in the area of worship, we ended up in a great discussion.
My friend comes from a charismatic background and has a great heart for worship. He sees things in a different light than I do. His worship experiences are different then my own and yet, we can come together and share what God is doing in our lives and churches.
After lunch and a short visit and fellowship, he shared his thoughts on the various physical responses to worship. There was dancing, singing, shouting, praying, bowing, kneeling, standing and more. He spoke of David who was undoubtedly a dancer and musician. He obviously cared nothing about what others said in regards to his personal worship to the Lord. Then there was Paul. Paul appeared to be less outward in his worship. Although he sang in prison and loved the Lord, he wasn't the personality that David was in his worship expression.
After a bit of discussion in this area he shared, "We do not all have to worship the same. These physical acts of worship are not required to be a true worshiper. We don't all have to be David's or Paul's. What we do have however, is the FREEDOM to do it." We have the freedom to dance before the Lord if led to do so. We have the freedom to sing and shout to the Lord, to fall on our faces if led to do so. We all respond to God in worship according to our love for Him and His leading in our lives. In the Old Testament, if you saw God you would die. There were a few expections to that but it was a fact. When God leads us to do something and we don't do it, that is sin.
In short, if the Lord leads you to fall on your face before Him, you have the freedom to do it. If His spirit fills the room to the point where you feel led to fall to your knees, you have the freedom to do it. If you feel led to just stand still and love the Lord during worship, you have the freedom to do it as well. There are great freedoms in Christ. I pray that our churches will submit to these freedoms and allow their people to worship the Lord the way they feel led. God is worthy of all our praise. Woe to those who stiffle others acts of worship.
For more on this thought see the article, Are You Barren?
Freedom
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.