Imagine

Warning: the views and opinions expressed in this blog are merely that---my views and opinions, they may or may not be yours and that is ok...but it is my blog that you are reading, therefore I am entitled to my opinion:) Read with caution!

What's on my heart right now? Well, thank you for asking:)
Worship. I wish people could really see, could really understand my heart for worship...I may not be a leader, or even on a team, but nonetheless, my heart, my entire being is made for worship.

Here lately I have really been watching worship videos of "The Ramp" (if you have never heard of them you should check it out, it's a youth ministry that Karen Wheaton started about 12 years ago---amazing and powerful!) on YouTube. Bryn Waddell is the Ramp worship leader. Every time I watch him, listen to him, my heart cries out. Oh how I want to worship like these people worship---and it's not just teens...they worship God with pure abandonment. They do not care what others think...they just simply and wholly worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

Abandoned worship is to worship Him without restraint, without control, without inhibitions. To completely give up yourself to Him. Imagine with me: Everyone worshipping Jesus with abandon...imagine the power that is in that...no distractions, no worries...everything is focused on Him, every thought is focused on Him. If this happens, all of a sudden, every worry, every problem, every fear, every hurt, EVERYTHING disappears in the image of Him. With just the mention of His name, mountains move! Can you picture that? You don't have to scream out His name, you don't have to pay, you don't have to do anything but muster up enough breath to speak His Name and mountains move!! Chains are loosed, bondages are broken, broken are restored, wounded are healed, joy is restored, sins are forgiven, debts are paid, money comes in, promotions, marriages are restored, souls are saved, demons tremble, EVERY knee bows, every tongue confesses that He is Lord, everything and anything that you need is brought to you---just when you SAY THE NAME of Jesus!

Imagine: if all those things can happen with just the whisper of His Name--what do you think will happen if we worship Him with complete and total abandon? Wow! I am so honored that He has given me a heart of worship...I long to worship Him with complete abandon. I long to see His face, I long to see Him! We were created to worship Him. Our sole purpose on earth is to worship Him; to have a relationship with Him! When we worship Him, we become less and He becomes more! For me, worship isn't about the song that you sing, it's about the words of those songs...how many times have we just sung the song without really feeling the words, without really knowing what we sing?
For instance: in the song "Beautiful One"--it says "My soul, my soul must sing..." It isn't saying your soul can sing if it wants....My soul, my soul MUST sing. Our soul was created to sing to Him! Our soul MUST sing, it cannot just be quiet, it MUST sing!

Through my worship deliverance comes, through my worship, my chains are loosed. Miracles happen! The things that are deemed as impossible happen when I worship! Unexplainable things happen! You never know what God can do for someone else through your worship!

Another thought: freedom--if you are truly free then you will truly worship. My definition of worship may not be the same as yours and that's okay. "Everyone worships differently." This is a saying I have heard and witnessed my entire life. I have seen dancers, jumpers, those who worship quietly, those who worship with their arms folded and their heads bowed---and that's okay I suppose. My only problem with this is if you are really free...free from your bondage, free from your sin, free from those things that have tormented you,--then how can you just sit there? That, in and of itself, should make you want to shout it from the mountaintops! Being truly free, you should want to dance and jump and prophecy it to the nations! We are free! Jesus Christ DIED, He gave up His life, was beaten and bruised, and took your sins upon His self, just so we could be free! Yet, we just sit there and "worship" Him with our arms folded, concerned about what other people may think of us...I just don't get it. Now, I will be the first to say that I have not been completely free in my worship, but my heart's cry is that God would change me!

My challenge to you: if you already have the heart of worship--ask God to help you worship Him with pure abandonment. To really worship Him with everything that you are---to truly understand the words you are singing. To put aside the worries of this world, of your world, and worship the Great I Am!
If you don't have a heart of worship-ask God to give you one:)

My prayer is this: That God would break my box, that He would loose my worship! That I would worship Him with pure abandon! Because He is worthy! He is worthy even if He never does another thing for me...He is worthy even if He leaves the circumstances in my life the way they are right now--He is still worthy of all of my worship--all of me!

God, I pray that I would have the courage to worship you with pure abandonment. I pray that you would increase my heart of worship! Lord, help the songs I sing not just be songs, but help them to be words of life that change me! You created my soul to worship you---help me to live for my sole purpose!! --Amen

I am going to include a few links to some videos of what I believe is abandoned worship:) Enjoy!

Striving to worship with abandonment,

Simply Drea

We Exalt Your Name---The Ramp Worship Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX5DSo8qiAo

Catherine Mullins @ The Ramp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0jzxs-X5N4

and finally Spencer Kopp w/ Eddie Jam singing Freedom Medley Pt. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9P1s2_fpfM

and Pt. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlgDvJDoOb0&feature=related