A Dynamite Bride

July 20, 2009



I recently blogged about attending a worship conference in Carrollton, Texas, earlier this month. The event was called the Unveiled Worship Institute. It was hosted by North Church at the behest of its worship leader, Brian Ming - a remarkable young man who has stepped forward to take the baton passed on by the International Worship Institute, which exists to glorify God by edifying, encouraging, training and raising up worship leaders to prepare the Bride of Christ for her Groom's return.


One of the most inspiring speakers I've ever heard, Bob Sorge, closed the final session of that event. A former worship leader and pastor whose voice was damaged some 16 years ago, Bob is unable to speak save for about an hour a day - and that, at a painful whisper. I've heard him speak four times now; every time, I come away deeply enriched and refocused for ministry. (Follow his Twitter at http://twitter.com/bobsorge, or read more about him and his ministry at http://www.oasishouse.net/).


Bob's closing talk this year referenced Hebrews 10:19-22, which speaks about entering the holy place of God through getting sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus. Actually, Bob talks about "barging in with boldness" to the throne room, since the blood of Christ cleanses us and causes us to be declared righteous in God's eyes. That righteousness, he says, gives us the authority to draw near to God - and holiness is what happens to us when we get there.


As an illustration, Bob relayed the story of being a little boy who loved to get in the middle of his mom and dad's hugs. His father, he says, finally had to tell the growing boy that he was too big to squeeze between them any more. Nevertheless, Bob says, he still likes to be wherever that kind of love-in-action is.

His childhood analogy then points us to the love embrace between Father and Son in heaven.

"Notice what happens," Bob points out, "between Psalm 109 and 110."

Psalm 109 says that Jesus stands at the right hand of "the needy one" (us). Then look at the next sentence, which opens Psalm 110: "The Lord says to my Lord - 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"

Bob says - "Do the math. If Jesus is on our right hand, and Jesus is at God's right hand, where does that put us?" Right smack in the middle of the Love Embrace between Father and Son!


Bob says that each day, he takes the time to "get sprinkled with the Blood, barge into the throne room, and wriggle into the midst of that Love Embrace" - just like he used to do as a child with his parents. Bob took us all through that mental/spiritual exercise, and I was surprised I could picture it pretty well as he talked us through it.


After I got home from the conference, I decided I would also commit to such daily time in that holy Love Embrace. On about day three of that discipline, an interesting thing happened: Upon awakening that morning, I was trying to recreate the mental (spiritual) exercise Bob put us through at the closing session: I am sprinkled by the blood of the lamb, and I barge into the throne room – it’s ME again, Lord!


So in my mind’s eye, I got sprinkled, and I put my hand on the door of the throne room to push it open. I was expecting after I did so to see holy fire and light, multitudes of swirling and praising angelic beings, the love embrace of Father and Son, like I was able to visualize fairly well at the conference…but this morning, no visual came.


Instead, before I could even push that door open, I immediately “heard” (or the thought was given me):



I AM IN LOVE WITH A DYNAMITE BRIDE OF CHRIST



It’s as though He met me at the door of the throne room - I didn’t even need to go in. He delivered the message, and we were done for the morning.


I was rather taken by surprise, and puzzled by the “dynamite” reference. But my sense is that God was greatly pleased with our sacrifice of praise at the Unveiled Worship conference…that the humble, God-focused, passionate worship we shared there was a holy and pleasing fragrance unto Him, and that perhaps He was saying in response, “This is more like it! I can do something with worship like this! I am in love with this Bride, who is again on fire for Me.”


Something was certainly re-ignited in my spirit at the conference – and, I suspect, in all of us who attended. We were undone by the palpable Presence of the Lord at our worship services. We were shown how we had lost our focus; we were broken and repentant…and sprinkled again by the Blood of the Lamb. And then, He invited us into the throne room to sit in the midst of that amazing Love Embrace, where we were filled back up to overflowing.

As I returned to lead worship at my home church after the conference, I felt like I’d come down from the mountaintop….like maybe my hair had gone white, or my face was glowing, or my feet weren’t quite making contact with the ground.


While my physical appearance may not have actually changed, worship has been different at my church since then; people are commenting about it, and saying how good the music has been. But I’m not convinced it’s really about the music. I think they’re feeling the spark – and I’m hoping that spark will ignite a Dynamite Bride of Christ, one who’s again on fire for her Groom.

Power in our Praise (or, O Snake, Where Is Thy Bite?)

EEEEW - no offense to Mr. Snake, but - this gives you the creeps just to look at it, doesn't it?

This snake was making a beeline for a birds' nest on our back porch. At first glance, it looked and sounded like a rattler. But on closer examination (yeah, we actually got closer), it was just a "wannabe." A rat or bull snake, about 6 feet long. He'd take in a big puff of air, and then constrict and twist and contort himself while blowing it all out. When he did, it made a rattling sound.

This snake turned out not to have a rattler, or the infamous diamond-shaped head. But it was threatening in its own way (if not to us, then to our cats and small dogs), and sure was something we'd rather have avoided stumbling across when going outside.

This incident so reminds me of a dream I had while attending a worship leading institute July 8-10, 2009, called Unveiled Worship, in Carrollton, Texas. This event blessed me deeply, as I am sure it did the many others who attended. The Spirit of God was so powerful that it absolutely unchained us - the junk that had been weighing us down was broken off, and sent us away with renewed energy and passion for serving as worship leaders.

On the second night of this three-day event, I dreamed all of the attendees were hanging out together, talking, visiting, and exploring the property around the place where we were gathered. In the dream, we were in rocky terrain, and gathered together outside as much as inside, climbing the rocks and taking in the view. But suddenly I noticed two large snakes entwined in a lethal wrestling match. I stopped in my tracks and warned the others around me to be careful, to get back.

But I became aware that the snakes weren't trying to attack us - they were too busy attacking each other. I was also curious about the fact that their mouths remained closed - they were not biting - just twisting and squeezing each other.

As others filtered outside to play on the rocks, I would warn them about the snakes, or pull them away from other snakes that were slithering out from cracks in the rocks. But again, with each snake I saw, I noticed the mouths remained closed. Also, the snakes did not pursue us -in fact, they would retreat back into the rocks if they did see us.

When I awoke, I pondered what the dream might mean. Snakes often represent evil forces, so their presence in the dream was clearly indicative of the evil around us. However, as we were caught up in worshipping and praising God in Spirit and Truth at our gathering, that evil had no power to attack or harm us. In fact, it had to flee, because the Spirit of the Lord was also present, and rendered the snakes not only harmless, but afraid.

I then remembered a Bible passage that well illlustrates this concept of how powerful our praise and worship to God can be against the spiritual forces of darkness. 2 Chronicles 20 tells of King Jehoshaphat's fear upon hearing that armies from three countries were advancing in a united front to attack his people.

Greatly distressed and afraid because he was badly outnumbered, the king declared a time of fasting and prayer. As he stood praying in the temple of the Lord, surrounded by the men, women and children of his land, the king reminded God of His promises to protect them and provide for them, and once again asked for favor. Then, the Lord responded through a prophet named Jahaziel:

15 He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow march down against them. ..17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' "
18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the LORD. 19 Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Korahites stood up and praised the LORD, the God of Israel, with very loud voice.
20 Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." 21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever."
22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 23 The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. ...The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.

(Highlights are mine.)

WOW! So the worship team went before the army, and as they praised, the Lord caused the enemy armies to turn against each other - and finally upon themselves. Jehoshaphat's army NEVER HAD TO UNSHEATH A SWORD! It was all done through the power loosed by praising God.

I think my dream about the snakes was showing me how our praises at the Unveiled Worship event were riling the spiritual forces of darkness because we were winning a victory for the Lord! I was also aware that we needed to be careful not to taunt them or engage them, but also not fear them because God was causing them to destroy one another rather than attack us - just like the story of Jehoshaphat.

As a final cap on this story - the organizer of this event, Brian Ming, is the worship leader at the host church (North Church) where Unveiled Worship Institute was held. The day I arrived there, I made it a point to thank Brian for his effort to host this event, saying, "I know what a sacrifice it entails." I know, because Satan attacks regularly when we are doing a good work for the Lord. He's been pretty relentlessly after me since I started leading worship, trying to discourage me and make me stop. Also, I have seen that the wider our circle of influence, the more rigorous Satan's efforts to make us stand down (ever heard the adage, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall"?). In hosting this event, Brian had just widened his already considerable circle a great deal by pulling people together from all over the world to give God the glory and recalibrate our hearts and minds in service to Him.

The day after I had this dream, which was the last day of the event, I saw Brian in the lobby of the church. I greeted him and again thanked him for his transparency in sharing his heart and vulnerability with us in some of the sessions.

About an hour later, we got word that his parents had been in a terrible car accident, and had to be pulled out of the wreck using the "jaws of life". We were asked to pray. A few hours after that report, we learned that they were, miraculously, bumped and bruised and shaken up, but otherwise well. In fact, there was a woman in the car behind them who saw it all. She said the Lord had placed her there at that time, and had told her to intercede for them with prayer. She apparently prayed with them as they were waiting to be freed from the wreckage.

I think Satan tried to frighten Brian and steal away his focus and effectiveness as we were wrapping up the conference. But the Lord kept the snake's mouth shut so it couldn't harm the Ming family. Brian stayed and finished the event, and a victory was won by and for all of us.

To God be the glory, forever and ever, and may we as worship leaders proclaim His favor all the days of our lives.