Selah Moments.
Last night, at worship Practice we were reading through Psalm 21-25 and Proverbs 5. Let me back up...
Our worship pastor, Adam Walker, was given a Sabbatical of 4 weeks. At the time we found out, he asked my wife, Amber, to lead worship in his stead. With hesitancy, she said she would. Adam, then enlisted the aid of two other people to help with leading songs that are out of Amber's range. We chose songs, and who would sing them, and were very excited for Adam. Little did we know that he was such a huge influence on that area and had such huge shoes to fill. Part of that was further broken down into someone overseeing the musical side of things and supporting Amber from a musicianship stand point.
Selah.
I was asked 2 days before the first practice to help with that portion. Now, I have grown up in the church and had some incredible experiences in worship. My goal as a musician is to allow my worship to be an extension of my love for God. In that, learning to play beyond my natural ability.
Worship for me is huge. It is the only thing that God gets out of a Sunday morning service. We pray for us, the preaching is for us, even the alter time is for us, but worship is where we get to connect with God on a different level. The wonderful thing about worship is that while you worship, you can completely let go of your inhibitions and just give God glory in whatever way you can! Usually, losing inhibitions is something that Society tells us is not a good thing. I mean we all laugh(or judgmentally point our fingers) at drunk people who do stupid things, but we never let go of the inhibitions we have with worship!
Selah.
We see in 2 Samuel 6 that David was dancing
This verse has been something of a focal point for many things for many people... but one thing that it makes me think of is how fully committed to worship David was. He had just lived out his love for God by bringing the ark back, and now was expressing it publicly. I think many of us have a hard time with the fervor that David showed because we are concerned about what people will say. That attitude is something that only comes when you aren't truly worshiping God.
Selah.
What is worship?
Worship comes from two words: worth and ship. Worth is value. Ship is to create, ordain, or appoint. Put them together and you see that worship is really about creating, ordaining and appointing worth to God!
This verse defines two areas of worship, Spirit and truth. The spiritual worship that we do is assigning God the MOST value in our thought lives. When was the last time you put God at the forefront of your life? Spirit and truth, allow what's in your spirit to be manifested!
Selah.
Ok so back to Psalm. We were reading these songs that David wrote, out of his heart of love and admiration for God. He writes all this, and every once in a while he says, "Selah." By now you may be wondering what it means.
Selah means "Look and Listen" or "Reflect(think) about what you just heard." In our worship, we tend to have our lives so messed up inside and out, that we don't really engage, or we passively involve ourselves with singing some songs. We go our own ways again and wonder why. Why didn't God talk to me? Why was church so boring?
The guitar was too loud, the drums to annoying...We begin to complain because we didn't allow God to connect with us.
Selah.
What if we actually engaged in worship? What if musicians, singers, and people being lead into worship allowed their spirits to reflect on all that God did and allowed that to drive, inspire, and ordain their worship? What if instead of singing some songs, God truly breathed life into you and your problems seemed to melt off like wax? All this is possible, but first we must take that Selah moment.
Selah.
Every day, after getting done with work, or when you feel frustrated, or when you read your bible, or when you drive, take a Selah moment.
These moments will truly remind you who you are and who God is; They will remind you how much God loves you. As they do, allow those thoughts to fill up your spirit, and allow it to overflow with expressions of love, admiration, hope, thanksgiving, joy, to God our Lord.
Selah.
Our worship pastor, Adam Walker, was given a Sabbatical of 4 weeks. At the time we found out, he asked my wife, Amber, to lead worship in his stead. With hesitancy, she said she would. Adam, then enlisted the aid of two other people to help with leading songs that are out of Amber's range. We chose songs, and who would sing them, and were very excited for Adam. Little did we know that he was such a huge influence on that area and had such huge shoes to fill. Part of that was further broken down into someone overseeing the musical side of things and supporting Amber from a musicianship stand point.
Selah.
I was asked 2 days before the first practice to help with that portion. Now, I have grown up in the church and had some incredible experiences in worship. My goal as a musician is to allow my worship to be an extension of my love for God. In that, learning to play beyond my natural ability.
Worship for me is huge. It is the only thing that God gets out of a Sunday morning service. We pray for us, the preaching is for us, even the alter time is for us, but worship is where we get to connect with God on a different level. The wonderful thing about worship is that while you worship, you can completely let go of your inhibitions and just give God glory in whatever way you can! Usually, losing inhibitions is something that Society tells us is not a good thing. I mean we all laugh(or judgmentally point our fingers) at drunk people who do stupid things, but we never let go of the inhibitions we have with worship!
Selah.
We see in 2 Samuel 6 that David was dancing
"...before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets."
This verse has been something of a focal point for many things for many people... but one thing that it makes me think of is how fully committed to worship David was. He had just lived out his love for God by bringing the ark back, and now was expressing it publicly. I think many of us have a hard time with the fervor that David showed because we are concerned about what people will say. That attitude is something that only comes when you aren't truly worshiping God.
Selah.
What is worship?
Worship comes from two words: worth and ship. Worth is value. Ship is to create, ordain, or appoint. Put them together and you see that worship is really about creating, ordaining and appointing worth to God!
John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
This verse defines two areas of worship, Spirit and truth. The spiritual worship that we do is assigning God the MOST value in our thought lives. When was the last time you put God at the forefront of your life? Spirit and truth, allow what's in your spirit to be manifested!
Selah.
Ok so back to Psalm. We were reading these songs that David wrote, out of his heart of love and admiration for God. He writes all this, and every once in a while he says, "Selah." By now you may be wondering what it means.
Selah means "Look and Listen" or "Reflect(think) about what you just heard." In our worship, we tend to have our lives so messed up inside and out, that we don't really engage, or we passively involve ourselves with singing some songs. We go our own ways again and wonder why. Why didn't God talk to me? Why was church so boring?
The guitar was too loud, the drums to annoying...We begin to complain because we didn't allow God to connect with us.
Selah.
What if we actually engaged in worship? What if musicians, singers, and people being lead into worship allowed their spirits to reflect on all that God did and allowed that to drive, inspire, and ordain their worship? What if instead of singing some songs, God truly breathed life into you and your problems seemed to melt off like wax? All this is possible, but first we must take that Selah moment.
Selah.
Every day, after getting done with work, or when you feel frustrated, or when you read your bible, or when you drive, take a Selah moment.
These moments will truly remind you who you are and who God is; They will remind you how much God loves you. As they do, allow those thoughts to fill up your spirit, and allow it to overflow with expressions of love, admiration, hope, thanksgiving, joy, to God our Lord.
Selah.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
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