I had the privilege of attending a very small church on Sunday. The church meets in a lovely space in a five star hotel in the metropolis. It’s as cute as church can be. The congregation numbered about a hundred. It was a new church. The pastor of the church was known to my wife and I. I had had this persistent recall of the ministry the week before our attendance. Decoded, I understood that to mean a supply of intelligence to visit the church. On a human level, it was our little way of giving some encouragement to the pastor. It’s never easy starting a ministry.
Perhaps I enjoyed the service because I have always longed for the simple life. There was no fuss in that church, no ceremonies. In pursuit of the simple life I regularly wear jeans, and a simple t-shirt. The protocols of life don’t always permit such sartorial disposition but as much as I can I try to wear my jeans. I do terribly cherish the idea of going into a church incognito, sitting at the back of the church and worshipping my God with all my heart. I do love God. And I love to worship him. He’s done so much for me. Besides, my unique understanding of scriptures demands I of all people must worship God. I have insight into him as a governmental entity. I know the church as a political assembly. It’s why Christians are called citizens and the Christian collective a nation. Ephesians 2:19, 1 Peter 2:9.
The political nature of the conclave on Sunday is why so much power is available during a church service – raw, concentrated energy forms. We call it “spiritual power” but “spiritual” is not really something esoteric. It just simply means extra dimensional. In those church gatherings God is in his elemental form. He’s potentate. He sits in constitutional capacity as El Shaddai – dispensing justice, granting supplications, decreeing righteousness. Extra dimensional political personages are clearly interested in the goings on in church on Sunday. Paul said so: “So now through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God in all its countless aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 3:10 AMP. Never ever see church as ordinary again. The reason angelic rulers and authorities play close attention to what’s going on on Sunday is because they need insight into God’s intelligence and thought process. The church is a central intelligence agency. Ephesians 3:10 AMP.
The approach of that small church to service was quite interactive. We were broken into groups, had group discussion and presentations. The topic of discussion was, why don’t we see manifestation of the miraculous like in the time of the apostles. That’s a highly debated issue in post-modern assemblies. The sermon interestingly was on God’s sovereignty.
But even though I enjoyed the intimacy of that gathering what brought it home for me was the spontaneous combustion of worship at the end of the sermon. The choir/band was small – singers and instrumentalists probably numbered seven, but they sure sing with authenticity. The lead singer had burst into a song I’d never heard before. Not that I know much about church songs. I tend to do covers for most of the songs. That I do covers is a polite way of saying I apply my peculiar creative capabilities to both melody and words such that you can’t recognise the original again. At least that’s what my wife says. The song contained the titular memorable words, “Owner of the Earth.” It was in reference to God. Those four words resonated strongly in me. They bear semblance to the declaration by that gentleman priest, Melchizedek. When Melchizedek met Abram as he then was, he had pronounced, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth.” Genesis 14:19 AMP.
We see the concatenation between the sovereign proprietary rights of God over resources of the earth and material prosperity in that declaration in Genesis 14:19. “Owner of the earth” has a very powerful economic undertone. When those words percolate into your spirit you realise God owns the gold, the silver and all the precious stones. They’re his. The resources of the earth belong to God. He’s the one who can bless, he’s the one who prospers, the one to approach for material prosperity. “I made Earth” he declared matter-of-factly in Isaiah 45:12. When God introduced himself to Jacob as potentate he tied the introduction to prosperity: “And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply.” Genesis 35:11 KJV.
Sometimes we think our inspiration in a service will come from the sermon. But then it comes from the words of a simple song. And as if that song was not enough the lead singer took things a notch higher. He punctuated the flow with the mid riff of the Phil Thompson song, My Worship. What a song! “I will not be silent/ I will always worship You/ As long as I’m breathing I will always worship you.” What words!
There’s an immediacy to that song, “My Worship”. It’s a covenantal proposition, a declaration of serious conviction – the expression of a stubborn disposition and loyalty to God. It’s a song of gratitude. I would later download that song to my phone. I hooked my phone to my Jabra speaker and generated the simulation of surround sound, puny surround sound. By Tuesday I had played that song over 70 times! In the privacy of our home that song sent me to my knees. It sent me sprawling before Deity. I was after all a nothingness before Omnipotence. I listened as Phil’s tenor ripped through the fabric of space-time, amalgamating the symphony in heaven with earthly orchestra. His throat became a membranous resonator. There was the melodious gentility of bells, the softness… Each sound was careful not to offend the other. There was a buttery touch despite the violence of the percussive instruments. Rhythm guitar, the bi-racial keys of the electric organ… All blended with human voices to produce a mellifluous and euphonious flow.
The song raised my face to heaven. It flexed my forefingers heavenward in pointed identification of the One to whom all praise belongs. In the middle of the night I found myself dancing animatedly to this one God – my maker, my protector, the lifter up of my head. I was singing to the One who deserves it all – all the accolades, all the praise, all the honour, all the worship; the God who made me who I am, the one who made me what I am – my one and only, the One who is more than enough. This is my worship.
If you’ll like to receive Jesus into your life please pray this prayer: “Father I acknowledge that I am a sinner, that Jesus died for me, that you raised him from the dead. Father please forgive me. I accept Jesus today as my Lord and my Saviour. Amen.”
© Leke Alder | talk2me@lekealder.com.