“We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
And we cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb."
I was drawn to listen to this song in greater depth after listening to a new Bethel music video.
Since listening to it, it has been engrained in my mind.
Playing over and over again.
And I keep revisiting what the words mean to the life of a worshipper.
What these words reveal about the true nature of Worship.
What Jesus has really commissioned for us.
"We Fall Down" is a song inspired by the Worship in Heaven. (Here's a short clip of Chris Tomlin talking about writing it)
It speaks of the verses in the book of Revelations where John writes about the Worship of the Elders. Here's the verses for context...
(Revelations 4vs1~5 NIV)
"After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing openin heaven. And the voice I had first
heard speaking to me like a trumpetsaid,“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder."
(Revelations 4vs8~11 NIV)
"Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
This song speaks of true Worship. It puts into perspective the reason and motivations of our Worship ~ the purpose of our lives.
To never stop proclaiming that Jesus is Lord.
It brought me to thinking about the context of our Church services today and how we so often walk away from this core reason of Worship. I've recently found myself conflicted by the comfortable position we take during our Sunday services and how the desire for encounter is seemingly reserved for the ministry time at the end of a service for a couple minutes once a week.
But for the King of Kings, for the Lord of Lords.... our praise just CAN'T be limited to what we see others doing or feel like doing or even what we've termed as 'normal' in our day and age.
Look how the elders, the great ones of the faith already appointed to high places in Heaven are laying their crowns, speaking nothing but the elevation of the Lord God Almighty.
If that's the Worship in heaven then who are we to come into our space of Worship and expect anything other than to join in the voices singing high praise for the King of Kings.
I don't know about you but in group Worship settings, I'm tired of not hearing the Word of God enough, I'm tired of the 'feel good' songs, I'm tired of separated, controlled and scheduled prayer times. I'm tired of fitting Praise into an agenda, I'm tired of the language of the Supernatural being moulded to suit what we can understand or explain.
We don't come to Church for ourselves, we come because God is good and deserves our cry of praise and we come to join with all others and sing His name in united fellowship. And this song reminds me of that.
It reminds me that we've turned worship settings into places that suit everyone's taste. We've watered down sharing the words of Scripture to fit our context and we've turned the Worship from lifting God's name higher and spreading the Good news of the Gospel to singing what comforts our souls and praying for what helps us only.
Jesus our king of kings. Nobody hold the power and authority as He does. Nobody knows the end from the beginning as He does. Nobody works the miracles He does. Nobody brings life out of death like He does. Nobody reflects the Father in fullness like Jesus does.
He alone if worthy of our cry and unless we take our everything to his feet, including our agenda, including our 'daily life', including the issues, the money, the relationships, the career, the concerns, the relationships, the pain, the joy, the confusion, the conflict....
unless we bring everything and lay it down before Him in complete worship and gather for nothing others than encountering Him more, nothing other that giving Him our full praise... we will never be changed.
I once heard Bill Johnson say; "You never walk out of an encounter with Jesus unchanged." And I was marked by the truth in that. We will forever be growing and changing into His likeness if we are walking step by step with Him.
Does that mean we're perfect or our lives are exempt from chaos? NO! But it means we know who holds the authority over all things in our lives.
Giving Him anything less than our full surrender is lukewarm. And Ge doesn’t want lukewarm… He wants our hearts burning within us for all of Him.
And it begins in the Secret Place. You can't expect a public breakthrough if the breakthrough in you very own heart is not accessible. You can't see the wonderworking power if you withhold from the Spirit moving.
Maybe we've just got to lay down our pride and repent in our pursuit of what we see right now and what we want to world to see, and turn around back to everything God wants for us and for those around us.
Because it's not our story we're sharing, not our thoughts we're preaching, but His Word breathed to life through the Scriptures.
It's not our ministries we're advertising or our denominations we're pursuing but the very story that God has written and is working through our lives.
This is a challenge for me! But as I step deeper into focusing in on reaching Jesus in everything I do I realise that we so often get it wrong. I could stand up to be the first culprit of keeping battles in my hands because it's things that 'aren't religious' or things that 'isn't a Church thing.' Because at the end of the day, we're all made for the same reason ~ to Praise the Lord and to live our lives how He designed them. To walk in communion with His design and to call out our unique God-given traits that are instilled in us to transform the world around us.
I challenge you today to set aside your time of uninterrupted space of encounter... without an agenda or a list... and simply seek Jesus.
And try and not be wholeheartedly moved by Him!!
You can use these verses and an anchoring point or this song as a guide, you can sit in a space of creativity making art of dancing before Him... whatever it looks like, you can choose today to lay your crown and Worship Him now!
~ X ~
Remember these are just thoughts and process I've had on my heart and feel led to share. Take it or leave it, this is simply a message Jesus has planted in me that has lifted my eyes for the GOOD!
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