A few months ago I was leading worship at a conference and as I finished the speaker got up and spoke a prophetic word that has stuck with me ever since. The main reason it has stuck with me is this is not the first time I have had the same word and from different people… maybe God is trying to get my attention.
The word was to be a thermostat not a thermometer, that I am called to raise the temperature in a room, not read it.
This was off of the back of a beautiful time of worship and was said as an encouragement to me however the challenge keeps coming back to the forefront of my mind. This a call to me as I lead, to turn up the temperature and invite others to come with me. I also wonder if it’s also a call to us collectively.
If spiritually it feels ‘hot’ it’s far easier to get caught up in the moment and push in to worship.
It can be so easy to walk into a room, read what’s happening and regardless of how we are feeling we go with the rest of the room. If spiritually it feels ‘cold’ it’s easy to sit down, disengage, check instagram, watch what the band and worship team are doing and not feel a part of it. If spiritually it feels ‘hot’ it’s far easier to get caught up in the moment and push in to worship.
I can be guilty of this at times when I am leading. Sometimes you look out into the room, see arms folded and people sat down it can be really easy to not push in, not look to see what God is doing and respond to that. I dream of a community of people who are sold out, unashamedly and outrageously ready to worship God.
I love the passage in Revelation 5: 13-14:
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Imagine every creature in heaven and earth declaring praise, falling down and worshipping. That is not lukewarm, that is not passive. That is active and outrageous. If I dream of being part of a community who worship God in this way. My challenge this year is to be brave to not just read the temperature but turn it up.
Who’s with me?