Our Weaknesses, God’s Power, and Singing in the Spirit.
When you spend most of your day before the Lord, you see who you really are in light of who He is. Sometimes it is not very beautiful. That’s what happened to me this week.
This past week, all of my ugliness just came to the surface, and I had some overwhelming moments. Last week, I had prayed a prayer something like this: “Bring out the ugliness in me so that I can sustain your presence. Take out all of the hardness in my heart and give me tenderness. But Lord, I know that it is gonna be hard, so keep me from despairing or letting frustration take over.”
It is humbing to confess your sin to the Lord, but even more to go to the ones you’ve sinned against and confess to them. Another thing I prayed was “Lord, kill me! Heal me! Fill me!” This is a prayer that David Gordan prays.
I realized also that I have to cherish the time of Him killing me (my flesh), and I cannot wish to be anywhere else or skip any part of the process of cleansing. I can only focus on my Bridegroom and Lover.
I found that the biggest thing that tries to stand against me entering into the presence of the Lord is my own mind. Eph. 6:10,11 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
The word “stand” really struck me. I saw myself in all of the armor, but I wasn’t fighting. I was just standing firm and confident. The Lord has already fought, but I have to agree with Him by putting on His armor and standing there in the power of His might.
Harp and Bowl Worship
Today, we learned the worship model called Harp and Bowl Worship. Revelation 5:8 says: “And when he had taken the scroll, the frour living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayes of the saints.”
Harp and Bowl worship are prayers sung spontaneously. It sustains the people for long periods of time and keeps the singers and audience engaged. There is an order to the spontaneousness!
We worked out the model in the prayer room as a part of our teaching time. Jordan, Iain, John, and I took our places on stage. There were parts for each of us. Jordan was the main leader. He played guitar and lead us in a song that we knew. Then Iain was prayer leader. He prayed out loud and led the congregation in corporate prayer. John was chorus leader. He sang right after Iain prayed. He sang a simple line according to the scripture or prayer that Iain spoke. I was prophetic singer number 2. I sang after John sang either repeating what he sang or singing another spontaneous tag. Jesse jumped in to be prophetic singer number 3. He sang after I sang . John and Jordan were the only ones who could actually lead a spontaneous chorus for all of us to sing. We would sing the phrase about 10-12 times each so that the congregation would be able to catch on.
There are also three types of harp and bowl worship. Devotional is singing and playing to give an atmosphere comfortable for personal devotions. Worship with the word is singing and praying scripture. Intercession is when the prayer leader leads the singers and guides them. Intercession is what the five of us did this morning.
With this kind of worship, there is a freeing in your spirit. It releases a freedom in the atmosphere where God’s people can experience prayer and worship, and reading scripture all at the same time. At any time, any of the singers can sing in tongues or sing scripture. Singing in tongues is singing in the spirit.
I am excited about what the Lord has in store for us as we learn this Biblical way to worship. Also, I am looking forward to teaching it to others in the near future.
Grace and Peace,
Sarah Grace Cornelius
