But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23–24.
Let me give you a few keys that will help you to be the worshipers God wants you to be. The state of your spirit in worship is probably the best indication of your spiritual health. When your worship is bound, you seem to be frozen in almost everything you try to do or in anything that happens to you. The cloud stays over you continually until you break through to worship. Everything that you feel and experience personally colors your whole outlook and can lay a restraint on you. All of this is in the soul realm and you have to find some way to blitz yourself out of the intensity of your feelings. You know the worship has to come from your spirit, but your soul clouds it. So you have to back up and take a running jump at it, with the attitude that you will go through all three planes.
What should you do when you are really frozen and depressed, when your feelings and emotions, as well as your spirit is clouded, so that you don’t want to do anything? At that point you know you can always do something physical. It’s true, that it is just mechanical, but you can go through the motions. You can go off in the corner, clap your hands and sing a song; you can pray loud and long; you can stand on one verse of Scripture; you can break forth into tongues for about an hour—and slowly but surely you come up through the soul realm. As you begin to relax, the pressures leave and soon you’re able to go into the Spirit. That, of course, is the hard way to do it, but it can be done.
When you have a cloud over you it is usually because something has restrained you so that every time you go to pray you can’t get off the ground. That restraint may be your own fault and then you know you must repent and humble yourself before the Lord. You may be getting ahead of God, or else lagging behind and therefore fail to get the full blessing. When you are clouded in worship one or two things are probably happening: God was encouraging you, but you’ve been consistently lagging behind. You “goofed off”, just coasted along, and everything is all clouded, so you have to run to catch up again. Or, sometimes people get ahead of God; they become presumptuous, thinking they will determine what God is going to do for them. Then the blessing dries up and all their efforts are only frenzied motions that are not getting any place; and they have to back up and walk with God. When you’re too fast or too slow you miss it. You have to be there at the right time to move with God.
Sometimes you need a little correction in the things you’re doing or failing to do. Did God open up a walk with you in the Word or in prayer and then something else came in that seemed more important than God? So God said, “If that’s more important, go ahead and do it.” Then you woke up to the fact that the most important thing in the world for you is your walk with the Lord. There can’t be any other relationship, any other occupation; there can be nothing else that God can bring to your life that is as important as your walk with the Lord.
When your worship fails because you are restrained, a great deal of help can come if you absolutely refuse the restraint. I’m beginning to sense the power of the human will when it is set with God. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13. Not just a little hunger or desire but something God puts in your will. God has to do it because the will power of man became very deficient through the fall. We don’t have the will power we should have and we have to look to God for it. It was restored to Paul by the Holy Spirit and then that determination was really there. The disciples didn’t seem to have much of it until after the day of Pentecost, and then the people marveled at their boldness. When we become bold and violent in our spirit we will not be afraid of what anyone thinks. Many of the blessings we should have received have been held back from us because we have soft pedalled things.
My greatest concern right now is committing to others what God is showing me. This restoration of truth and principles is like a vast storehouse of treasure that should be given to the people of God. If I don’t set my heart and my will to accomplish it, nothing will happen. Everything comes because someone has the faith to believe. God works in you to will. Your own will can be very headstrong, but God will deal with that until your will is within His will and you move right in to possess what He has for you. Your will can literally blast loose any restraints if you absolutely refuse them, and insist that you are not going to have them. This is more than righteous indignation; it’s a furious rejection. Almost anything that oppresses the people of the Lord, especially in the area of human relationship, can be alleviated by absolutely refusing to be moved by it.
People sometimes have misguided burdens and don’t know how to pray, but God is able to straighten it out. The Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; He that knows the mind of the Spirit, makes that intercession according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26, 27).
The Holy Spirit keeps right on praying through you, and you may be praying in one direction and God will move in another, and when your prayer is answered you will know God was in every bit of it. You don’t need too much perception but you must have your will set that you’re not going to be restrained. No matter how misguided or mistaken a person may be, if his spirit is open to God and he is not restrained, many things can happen but nothing will happen disastrously.
Some people have a difficult time getting into this walk, and then nothing seems to shake them and they go on. Others have a certain openness that is natural to them. They can break right into this walk and the next thing they’re restrained. It’s some quality of spirit based upon the openness that they have, not only to the Lord but to other people. You can be open to people to love them, but there’s a wrong kind of openness, in that you become sympathetic when you see something that isn’t going right. The Bible says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Galatians 6:1. Christians ought to have a great burden for each other, but in order for you to help a brother, you’d better be strong yourself; for if you go to help him when he’s already fallen into the trespass, you’ll get pulled right in with him. Suppose an elder or a deacon or some strong brother has suddenly hit a rough place and is floundering and you want to help him—nine times out of ten you will also be tempted and get swallowed up. You’d better pray and strengthen the hands of some stronger brother who can go and help him. When you begin to sympathize with different people and situations you can easily become restrained.
Instead of sympathy you should have compassion, understanding, and faith. Sympathy identifies you with that person and you have an openness to the same spirit he has—and down you go. There are hundreds of people that I’m really concerned about and really love, but I love them with the compassion of the Lord. If I’d become sympathetic with them, I would be no stronger spiritually to help them than the sum total of all their oppressions. But when I have compassion, I can minister to them without being the least bit sympathetic with the situation. Suppose a brother has a need and you think, “Oh, nobody understood him,” etc. Forget it! He’s in it, because he’s in it—why excuse, why condemn it? Stay out of it! There has to be almost an impersonal approach in this walk while it’s also the most personal relationship that you’ve ever had in your life. This impersonal compassion is what God has. God isn’t sympathetic with any of us—but He’s compassionate and loves us deeply.
A husband and wife are generally either sympathetic or hostile to each other, depending on the situation. What happens if a husband becomes discouraged and depressed, sees everybody’s faults and goes home and murmurs and complains? More often than not he will drag his wife down because she sympathizes with him. The wife who can help her husband in a situation like that is one who will let it roll off, like water off a duck’s back; not pay any attention to it but go on, completely impersonal. Then she has the leverage to pray for him, to help him and reach him. She can’t help him if she crawls down to a low level with him. But if she stands on top she has the leverage to pull him up. This is another of the basic reasons why people are restrained: they are sympathetic to things that are wrong. Are you saying, “Not me—I have too many troubles of my own.” Did I fail to mention self-pity? Is there anything that restrains a person more than self-pity? You’ll really have a cloud over you and be under the “gloomies” if you just sit and feel sorry for yourself. Don’t do it!
God lets you get part way out of your situation and you may feel like you are in the midst of travail, just half-born wondering how you will get completely free and clear. The grace of God comes and breaks things loose for you, and then growth comes and the disciplines of growth. A little child is cared for completely in its infancy, but then it has to learn to eat, to crawl and to walk. Something is constantly challenging that little child, as it is struggling to learn. That’s the way many of you are. You get discouraged and want to throw a tantrum, and all you’re doing is clouding your spirit. Just get in there and try and try and try, because this is an every day walk with God, and your walk with God every day is closely related to your worship in the service. There’s no such thing as worship without worshipers, and there are no real worshipers unless there are spirits free to worship God. You can’t feel sorry for yourself.
Will introspection help? Yes, you have to look inside and find the problems, the things that are wrong, the things that you need. But unless you have repentance that deals with the problems within that are wrong, and faith that believes you’re in the hands of the Lord and He’s going to work things out for you, the introspection and meditation will cloud you that much more. Pray, seek the Lord, refuse the restraint. If you can, get a ministry to free you from it. Also, try to exhibit some evidence, some token act of this refusal of restraint by a little symbolic action, such as writing a note to your pastor, “Pray for me. Today I’m going to set my course; this and this and this I’m going to do,” give expression to what you’re standing for. Or, you might write down a specific verse that you are claiming; then meditate upon it and show that you’re absolutely refusing restraint. Another symbolic action—and one of the best—is to declare your freedom. Stand before the Lord and say, “For freedom did Christ set us free. I am free! If I had been bound, it has been by my own permission, but with all that I’m capable of, I no longer accept that bondage and restraint. I know, Lord, this was not Your doing; but through my own stupidity and negligence it came upon me. But now with Your help I stand in this liberty that I’m going to have.” And you have it! Sometimes you have to become even more violent about it than that.
When personal feelings and personal problems restrain you, then there isn’t any other way but to cool it. You are almost at a boiling point in your thinking because of some problem, some slight, somebody working against you, something happening at work or at school; and you get so upset that you can’t even sleep or eat, let alone worship. Your moods change; you become temperamental; even a little mean, taking it out on those around you even though they aren’t really the problem. Give yourself a good scolding, “look, you’re wasting too much time and energy on this, you’re closing up to God. Just stop it!” People who play the stock market sometimes give their broker a stop order, which means that when the market reaches a set price he is to either buy or sell a specific stock, to prevent a loss from a change in the market price. He will take the profits when it gets to a certain price, but he will also sell at a certain level when he can’t afford to lose any more. You ought to put a stop order on your emotions and feelings, on the things that “bug” you. If you don’t, they’ll zoom down some day and bankrupt you spiritually. You may be going through an increasing amount of pressures and troubles, family problems, business troubles, financial troubles. You have to decide how much worry and fear you’re going to invest in the problem—then put a stop order on it and say, “Now stop it. You’ve worried enough. Forget it. From this point on I dump it, I block it off. I trust the Lord.” Fear, insecurity, unbelief, anxiety will gnaw at you unless you become furious with yourself and say, “God’s been good to me; He’s blessed me, and in this walk I can’t afford any more worry and fear.” In fact, you really can’t afford to worry at all. Just put your trust in the Lord. But since you folks are not that spiritual yet, and you do worry—learn to put a stop order on it. That is the best way to help you break through to the Spirit. If you stop and think of all the problems you have to face tomorrow, you won’t even be able to sleep, let alone worship. Decide you’re going to walk differently; you’re going to walk with the Lord. When you walk in the church door with a lot of worries, realize it’s time to cut it off. You’ve worried enough and now you must get busy and worship the Lord. This is just good Sermon on the Mount teaching. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: For the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:34. Jesus is saying: “Live a day at a time; let tomorrow worry about itself.” People who learn to live a day at a time and live that day fully keep their spirits open toward God.
Another group of people who are easily restrained and are poor worshipers are the busy ones. Busy, busy, busy—they get in the church and you still hear the motor running; they never slow down. They lift their hands to worship, but the wheels are still going round—buzz, buzz, buzz. They’re like computers that have had a lot of data fed into them but nothing has come out yet and they’re just about ready to pop; they are busy, so busy, and no worship is coming out of them. Then the other type, the negligent ones, come to church and their motor is not running; they are coasting because someone is pushing them. They can’t worship because they are too preoccupied with their failures, “I should have done this; I goofed it; I flubbed another day.” So the busy ones and the negligent ones are both poor worshipers.
If you think you’ve “goofed off” all day long, prepare for church so you have five minutes to spare; open your Bible, read a few verses, and meditate on the way to church. When you get there your motor will be running just right; idling a little, but ready to go. What should the busy people do? Go in a closet and shut the door. Stand there and say, “Slow down, slow down, stop. That’s enough.”
Take your walk with the Lord and your place in God seriously; but don’t take all of these things in your own little personal life too seriously. As you look at the passing parade, stop and think—one hundred years from now will the things that have bothered me today even be remembered? Get the right perspective, and know that it will be all right, because you’re going to commit it to the Lord. Have you noticed that the people who don’t seem to care too much are the ones whose prayers are answered.
But those who are up-tight in their circumstance have created a restraint on their spirit by their own anxiety that has blocked them off. Relax. Cast your burdens on the Lord. Delight yourself in the Lord. Commit your ways unto the Lord and say, “It isn’t too serious, Lord. So they’ll foreclose and take my house—they’re going to take my car—but Lord, you still gave me a pair of feet to walk with. I’m not going to get too steamed up. Lord, will You take care of this mortgage and my car payments? Will you help me with it, Lord?” Many times when I would pray and pray and pray about something, nothing happened. Then I’d back off and say, “Lord, here’s a problem, I’m going to believe You to answer it.” After I walked away from it and forgot it, it would be resolved within twenty-four hours.
Physical exercise can help you break restraints. It is important that you learn to stand correctly, too. Just let yourself hang loose. You should stand so that your body is actually having a motionless exercise, with the muscles so positioned that at the end of the day you’re not exhausted from bad posture. The man who stands right, walks right, sits right, sleeps right, automatically keeps himself in good physical condition. Everything that he gains he will keep. That principle should be taught to every ministry. The right posture not only keeps you fit, but also prevents fatigue and tension. These are very simple helps, but they will work for you.
Another thing to remember is absolutely refuse depression. Picture yourself as a rocket aimed at God and when you blast off, know that you’re not going to be restrained. God has given you the ability by the Holy Spirit, to get through to Him at any time. It’s up to you to remove the clouds, to throw off restraints. Be determined that you’re going to come right up to the presence of the Lord.
When you worship what do you have to tell the Lord? How do you adore Him? Do you just kind of sing along? Give Him the greatest concentration you’re capable of. Really concentrate—because the focus of your spirit is the result of your will. Your will controls the whole action of your spirit. Your soul actually is an emotional thing and is moved by various circumstances and appearances. This is not true of your spirit. It is in tune with God, so you reach right through.
Now let me talk to you about singing in the Spirit. Regardless of how many problems people have concerning singing in the Spirit, one way or the other, they have to learn to forget them and just get used to it. There is a way that this worship can be very beautiful. Sometimes people are not on the same key and it’s irritating to stand next to them. Get on the common note. Don’t sing too softly or the person next to you will distract you, and don’t be too loud or you will distract those near you. Blend, melt—get the feeling of being a part of a whole body of people. You can’t be too quiet or self-conscious because then it all floods in on you, nor can you be too aggressive, for then it stands out like a sore thumb. Try to blend so that no one is aware of you and you’re not aware of anyone else, but there is just an awareness of the whole Body of the Lord worshiping Him.
When we bring our worship to almost a whisper we seem to shift more into the level of the spirit, rather than the soul. When we sing with great intensity the reactions are greater, but it is more soulish than spiritual and therefore we become tired, there’s a weariness. The intensity of that, but on a quiet level, could be so intense that people would be lost in God. I can envision a service of worship in which we would first sing with all our heart; and then have quiet reverent worship, just above a whisper, like a great organ playing. It would have an impressive and reverent quality to it.
This is the day of victory that the Lord hath chosen for His people. Thy heart is not to be dismayed because the enemy seemeth to thunder against thee. Be not dismayed, for the Lord hath given thee a word that the victory is thine. He hath given thee a word that the victory is thine! For many days thou hast beheld the instruction of the Lord hath come by the Spirit. Thou shalt be strong to believe the words of the Lord. How shall thy heart war as though the battle had not been won, or shall thy heart contend in faith for the victory that is an accomplished thing? Let your heart rejoice in the finished thing. Though it may be heavy and dismayed by the assault of the things that come against thee, yet, trust what He hath said is so, and what He hath declared is—exists. What He hath said that thou art and shall walk in—that this you are—and you will walk in it. Amen.