(Our Worship Director, Holly Collins, sent this out to our church family today. I have her permission to post it here.)
I want to share with you something I felt God said this past Sunday morning during our worship. I know this was a word for my family and I and I hope it will be an encouragement to you, too!
Psalm 24:7 "Lift up your heads, O gates! ... that the King of glory may come in."
As we were singing, "Reign Above it All," I saw a picture of our world, but it was flat, almost like the bottom layer of a cake. It was dark and swirling, chaotic. Billions of people in different shapes and angles crammed together. At times I could see individual expressions of pain, anger, disappointment, fear, division, etc. The layer had movement to it but no one came out of it. At first I was in the thick of that layer and the influence felt overwhelming. Michael and I, and our girls, are currently in the middle of some circumstances that leave me very often feeling frustrated, fearful and not knowing what to do. I forget too often to look for God's help and perspective first, above my own worries or solutions. In the middle of standing in this layer, I heard God shout, "LIFT UP YOUR HEAD, SO THE KING OF GLORY CAN COME IN," over and over again.
As I obeyed and lifted up my head, my neck started to stretch so that my head slowly rose out and above that earthly layer, which all of a sudden felt like a prison. The higher above it my head got, the greater the freedom and the bigger the space above that earthly layer became...the amount of space and light was incomprehensible, unable to be contained in words. The earthly layer became smaller and smaller. My feet remained in the earthly layer, but as if I'd eaten of the mushroom from Alice in Wonderland, my body had grown exponentially above it. And then, the throne. I locked eyes with the King of Glory. He stood up and started coming. The frustration and fear of our current circumstances immediately dissipated. They weren't forgotten, but my perspective had changed completely. The panic was gone. The fear over not knowing how they would turn out was gone. Hope returned that wisdom & discernment was coming. Peace was in its place and the resolve to trust and praise Him took over.
I am often asked, as a worship leader, why does God care if we worship? Why do we have to sing or raise our hands? Is God some ego-maniac that He must hear us tell Him how wonderful He is all the time? The answer, I think, to these questions is this. Worship is the physical practice of putting our flesh/spirit/soul in alignment with God's thinking and the knowledge of Him. I would venture to say that most of spiritual warfare happens between the ears of humanity. Our stinking thinking is the enemy's footstool. If he can keep us seeing and living from this small, claustrophobic earthly layer, his destruction is pretty effortless. But, when we lift up our heads and look at the One who reigns above it all, our lives change, our thinking changes, our power changes, etc. Worship allows us to lift up our heads, to look above it all and see God. When we declare who He is, we see who He is. God doesn't need us to worship for His sake. He desires us to worship for our sake. Worship is other-mindedness on our part in exchange to gain His mind, which is truth!
So, God has lovingly reminded me that He's got this! The King of Glory has my home. The King of Glory has my children and He's coming in with help, solutions, and peace...His reign and rule. I need only to lift up my head to see Him...for He is more true than my circumstances.
Praise will be my breakthrough
My song becomes my triumph
Worship is my warfare
My victory is You, my victory is in You
--
Holly Collins
Redeemer Fellowship Church
Worship Director
