Dancing In The Spirit

As you get closer you can see that in the midst of the crowd there is a box of pure gold resembling a treasure chest. Atop the box are two kneeling angels with wings outstretched fashioning a seat made of beaten gold. There is a brilliant light in the midst of the angel’s wings. Although it should be dark in the tabernacle, it is as bright as day because of the glorious light shining out from the box. The praise is fascinating...you find it drawing you in. The carefree expressions on the faces of these praisers are like nothing you’ve seen before. The joy and abandon are contagious! It’s almost impossible to just watch. As you participate you’re lost in the surroundings. It seems as though hours could pass and the joy and rapture of the atmosphere wouldn’t diminish. But wait! Shhhh the tone is changing. There is a quietening--.a gentle hush over the crowd almost like the lull of waves on the shore. Relaxing, peaceful, serene--. Something deep inside you responds--to a tugging feeling that’s not physical. The people around you must be sensing it too. Some begin to kneel, some quietly lift their hands, tears are streaming. You notice that some are lying prostrate before the Presence of God. You feel an inexplicable urge to bow. Something...someone is worthy--holy. Soft, intermittent unintelligible singing is heard. Syllables of words that were never before spoken on earth are whispered in muted tones. It seems as though everyone has forgotten the presence of everyone else except–the holy Presence to which everyone acknowledges in some personal way. Oh there is nothing like this peace! What fullness! Nothing on earth has ever touched you so deeply before. Like never before you sense that you are a spirit being and right now you are communing with something...Someone...different. Someone holy. Comfort envelopes you like a warm blanket--comfort for the secret pains that you’ve never dared to tell. Scars that you’d buried long, long ago are being healed in this Presence. The love that you’ve always craved and never known where to find fills the holes and voids in your broken heart to overflowing. Words of encouragement, peace, love, and patience are whispered into your spirit. You can feel His divine heartbeat. Is this what it means to shelter under His wings? Am I now hidden in the shadow of the Almighty? Here lost in His Presence time means nothing. Nothing means anything--. except the passion being birthed inside you. As you unconsciously press your way closer to the glory shining from that mysterious box in the midst of the room, your mind reels “I have to have more...more of this...more of Him. I have to get closer to this Presence...is there more? I have to get closer--!” Later, as you lift yourself from your place of worship on the floor, you notice that one by one the people are beginning to dissipate. As they leave another call to praise is sounded in the camp. The shifts change another group of praisers begins to assemble. A procession of banners and flags arrive. The musicians begin to play and whole progression begins again. As you are ushered back out into the light of day you know deep within that you have been changed...deep within everything is new. Your mind keeps repeating “Next time I’ll get closer. Tomorrow, I have to get closer--” This, beloved, is worship. That desperate, relentless pursuit that draws you by the delicate strings of your spirit to weekly, daily, hourly press your way closer into that most privileged place. You enter the Holy of Holies thinking “Maybe He’ll show me His face today. Maybe I can touch His heart today.” It leaves your soul hungry no matter how often you consume of Him--you are insatiable. This was the attitude of David, the man after God’s own heart. It was the attitude that prompted David to commission singers, dancers, musicians and other worshippers to worship 24/7 in his little makeshift tent. Without intending to, with only the desire to please the Lover of his Soul, David stumbles upon the prescription for worship that captures the heart of the Almighty. As our nation ails with the illnesses of crime, teen pregnancy, drug addiction, hopelessness and godlessness we wonder how to make a difference in our communities, how to rebuild our inner cities, how to capture our youth. We wonder how to give hope to crime-ridden communities and how to give life and vitality to our churches. The Holy Spirit is writing today the same prescription today.