Yesterday someone told me, 'I love our church. There's the anointing, the presence of God, the atmosphere is so open...' That's what church is all about: people gathering in the 'presence' of God, worshipping Him in joy and freedom. Several years ago, I walked into a church in another country and was immediately overwhelmed by God's presence in the entrance, even before I set foot in the worship room. It stirred something in me, and I wasn't interested in how many people there were in that church, whether the musicians were good or not, whether the Pastor preached well or not, or whether there was a youth program or not. I was captivated, it was good, and I told God that if that church had been in Paris, I would have gone there without even asking His permission. Those people were praising God with abandon. This is my ambition for our assembly.
And it is achievable. But we have learned that to get there, we must accept to function as God wants and not necessarily as we want. Many have passed through our doors and left seeking to push us to function as they would like. I love them deeply but I love God even more. I want them to come to church of course but the presence of God is more important than theirs. And His presence comes when He is honored. At Abba House we are learning, we are learning how to honor God, and I must say, I love these people of Abba House. They love God, they raise their voices from and even before the first song, they shout, they dance, they celebrate Jesus, and they worship Him. They do not come to be entertained by listening to the choir, there is none, they do not come to be lulled by the music, they come to let themselves go before God.
I would certainly find it difficult to be a pastor to people who didn't love Jesus enough to praise Him. I'm already deeply troubled to see other Christians sometimes come to our services and stay away from the worship, refusing to participate for no reason other than that they don't want to be bothered. Some people must think we're trying too hard, too exuberant, but how can it be otherwise? This is God we're talking about after all. After all, I'm passionate about tea, politics, I preach the 'Kindle', I devour books and I talk about them with verve and enthusiasm. How could I be less enthusiastic about the Son of God, the One who reconciled me to the Father, who washed away my sins, gave me a new identity and said to me, my daughter, you are my beloved, my little darling, my... And the enthusiasm cannot be hidden. No, we must offer God unbridled praise, and that is what He loves. That is where He makes His presence felt; and that is my ambition, for God to manifest Himself at Abba House.
Ultimately, it all depends on what we are looking for. I consider myself to have a mission in life, to love God fiercely and to bring others to love and worship Him, even if some find us beside ourselves. At least we will be in good company, Paul showed us the way; if I am beside myself, he wrote, it is for God. The Bible in Common English renders it thus: "If it is true that we are fools, it is for God that we are fools." To know God, to submit to Him, to praise Him, to celebrate Him, to honor Him, to consider Him as being entirely glorious and magnificent, to see Him objectively and honestly as the most excellent Being that is, and that could ever exist, and to bow down before Him openly and publicly, that is what it means to be a Christian, and that is the kind of Christian I want to be around, that is the kind of Christian who attracts the presence of God.
Shalom!
