LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (7)

“And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth” (Revelations 14:2-3 NKJV).

The Christian life is always to be lived in view of God’s glory. Every pursuit in this present life must be with the glory of God in view. Getting one’s eyes off the glory of God heads one towards an avoidable perdition.  If you doubt this, ask Demas who loved the things of this present world more than Christ and thus forfeited the glory (2 Timothy 4:10).  Irrespective of whatever glory one gets out of this life, if the person misses out on actualising the fullness of God’s glory in eternity, the person’s loss is colossal. Central to our quest to experiencing the glory of God is worship.  Worship is an adoring relationship with God in deep appreciation of who He and for what He does. It is setting our attention on God and on heavenly realities more than on earthly ones. In worship, we celebrate and contemplate the excellencies of God. The immediate reward is a download of the peace of God that is beyond human understanding. The Prophet Isaiah said, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3 NLT).  Fixing our thoughts on God is the core component of pure worship. Whatever or whoever is primary in your thoughts is the thing or person you worship. You cannot ravish your thoughts on worldly things all week and quickly switch on the worship button on Sunday morning.  To worship God properly, He must be at the centre of our thoughts all the time. We must constantly pull our thoughts back to Him from time to time all through the day. Singing with all your might while your thought is on something else other than God is not worship.

True worship draws us close to the heart of God and positions us to commune with Him. There is hardly any other way to get quickly to the heart of God than to approach Him with pure worship.  The process of true worship would include, reflective bible reading, prayers and singing –either short choruses or hymns. The singing may be in a known language and sometimes in the Holy Spirit inspired supernatural language.  Paul declared, “...I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (1 Corinthians 14:14 NKJV). It is beautiful and very spiritually nourishing to sing and worship God in the spirit. Glory descends in a worship session when one receives a new song from the Lord.

A new song is not the latest song you just learnt. It does not originate from the human mind but from the Spirit of God.  Often, it is the song the Angels and heavenly beings are worshipping God with which the Holy Spirit decides to share with the worshipping believer or congregation. When you receive a new song, stay on it as long as the Holy Spirit stays on it.  The hundred and forty-four thousand saints redeemed from the twelve tribes of Israel sang such a new song to the Lord to celebrate their redemption.  “They sang as it were a new song before the throne, before the four living creatures, and the elders; and no one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who were redeemed from the earth.”   This is a special song, which nobody else could learn except the one hundred and forty-four thousand.  Glory always comes with a coming of a new song from God. We must learn to stay long enough in worship until the glory comes. When we sense the glory has come, we must keep singing the new song until the Holy Spirit signals the satisfaction of our Father.

This quality of worship calls for creating special time for God inspite of our crowded program. God desires to bring us into special experience with His glory. Our Lord declared, “The same glory you gave me, I gave them...” (John 17:22 The Message). Worship is indispensable in every human attempt to cultivate and enjoy the glory of God –His weighty Presence in and around His Children.  May the Lord help you to press into this life-changing encounter in Jesus name.

LIVING IN THE VIEW OF GLORY (6)

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelations 5:9-10 NKJV)

One key feature of worship in heaven is its spontaneity. Heavenly beings are God-watchers. They have their attention focused on Him and any action of His resonates in spontaneous praise and worship. Cultivating your spirit until it easily worships God in spontaneous songs is one good way of experiencing the glory of heaven. The word “spontaneous” is defined as “coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation, natural and unconstrained, unplanned.” Spontaneous worship results from supernatural impulse without effort or premeditation. As a matter of fact, spontaneous worship is the worshipper’s response to the stimulus of the Holy Spirit. Many of the songs, and to some extent, the hymns we sing came originally to the composers as a spontaneous praise and worship. 

Spontaneous worship happens when we observe what God is doing or has done and respond in joyful praise to what we observe.  For example, when God divided the sea for the children of Israel who were fleeing from Egypt to cross on dry land, and then collapsed the water to drown the Egyptian army, the children of Israel burst out in spontaneous praise.  “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!  The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” (Exodus 15:1 NKJV). They did not know this song before the incident of crossing the sea.  It was a spontaneous response to what God has just done to deliver them from the hand of their enemies. The works of God in our lives are likewise meant to elicit spontaneous songs of praise and worship from us.  This was one key way heavenly beings worshipped God. Most of the psalms of David were spontaneous songs sang unpremeditatedly to celebrate the present wonders of God in His life.

When the four living creatures and twenty-four elders observed the gallantry of the Eternal Lamb of God as He stepped forward to take the scroll from the Hand of the Father and to open its seven seals, having triumphed over the enemies of God, they burst into spontaneous song to worship the Lamb. “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelations 5:8-10 NKJV). This song was birthed at that moment to celebrate the gallantry of our Lord. Hence, the Bible said, “they sang a new song.”

God is doing so much in your life; but are you raising new songs to Him?  Every experience of blessing from God should be celebrated with a new song. New songs express our original and heartfelt appreciation to God for His present blessings in our lives. New songs declare new seasons of God’s favour in our lives and position us to live under the cloud of that favour. What great opportunities we have wasted in not celebrating God’s favours with new songs as the Spirit of God spurs us at any given moment! The beauty of new songs is that they are melodious to God even when they is not to human beings. Provided they are flowing from the Holy Spirit through your spirit to the heart of the Father, they are welcome in the court of heaven. “He has put a new song in my mouth...,” declares the Psalmist. (Psalm 40:3 NKJV). Sing God new songs every day as they come to you in your quiet moments as you soak in the glory of His Presence. Every day dawns with new opportunities to sing new songs to God. Let us make the most of those opportunities and His glory will ever enshroud us in Jesus name.