First off, let me start by saying that i have been looking forward to this segment of the Unquenchable Worshipper for a while. This section has been something that i think about often. This is something we all can apply to our worship leading. Please feel free to share your thoughts.
“The year is 1744. Hymn writer Charles Wesley is in Leeds, England, holding a prayer meeting in an upstairs room. Suddenly there is a creak in the floorboards, followed by a massive crack, and the whole floor collapses. All 100 people crash right through the ceiling into the room below. The place is in chaos – some are screaming, some are crying, some just sit in shock. But as the dust settles, Wesley, wounded and lying in a heap, cries out, “fear not! the Lord is with us; our lives are all safe.” And then he breaks out into the doxology: “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow” – perhaps a bizarre choice of song, considering what has just happened! But here’s the point: while everyone else was still licking their wounds. The heart of this unstoppable worshipper was responding with unshakable praise.
Unstoppable worshippers will never quit when it comes to adoring God. Faced with opposition, danger or even death, they just keep going. We’re told of worshippers in the Early Church who, more than simply enduring, actually rejoiced “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41).
Unstoppable worshippers are bold evangelists, lifting up the name of Jesus everywhere they get a chance…In chains for doing just that, the apostle Paul urged the Church in Ephesus: Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel…Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19,20).
If the apostle Paul needed to pray for more boldness, how much more do we? I’ve always found it very easy to lift up Jesus in the context of church but very hard to find opportunities – and take them – outside…We’ll carry the cross high at church and then hide it away in our pockets when we go out into the rest of life.
..another powerful tale of unstoppable worship…two…twisted students…with…grudges…against….Christians…found Rachel Scott….The killers shot her twice in the legs and once in the upper body. As she struggled to crawl away to safety, they pulled her body up by the hair and asked, “Do you believe in God?” They thought they’d won the battle, expecting her to back down from her faith with a whimpering “No.” But this bleeding, unstoppable worshipper bravely affirmed, “You know I do.” Furious with that answer, they yelled, “Then go be with him!” and shot her right through the head. Imagine the heart of God in that moment when of His precious worshippers threw her life on the line for his glory.
Unstoppable worshippers let nothing hinder them in their quest to glorify God. Whatever “goliaths” come their way, they walk out onto that worship battlefield and take their chances. They do not shrink back in times of trouble, but instead raise a spirited psalm of trust and praise.”
I hope this segment affected you as much as it has me. As i sit her typing i am fighting back from crying because i can think back to time after time when i choose to deny good with my actions and my words for small stupid reasons. Yet when i think of Rachel Scott enduring such pain and knowing she faced death, she was witnessing to these boys by declaring who her God was. How often have i stopped my worship in order to fulfill my needs or to give in to worldly desires? May we all have the heart of Charles Wesley and Rachel Scott, that no matter what we will continue to worship God. No matter if you hear a complaint about our service on sunday, or if you have a complaint yourself…no matter if you are surrounded by men with guns…no matter if you are home alone and have opportunity to give into the flesh…no matter what let us be unstoppable worshippers.
