Horses?

The church services I attend are rarely as powerful and transformative as I wish they were.

I suspect the same may be true for you.

They might be boring, or flashy. They may have plain music or spectacular music. They may have simple plans or crafted liturgy. They may have decent preachers or captivating communicators. They may have poor technology or concert-goer level production.

But they lack Spirit-power; testimonies of life-change are rare.

I hope you're seeing better evidence than I am.

If not, keep reading. I think there may be something here that could help.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Ps 20:7)

When we gather for worship, we don't use horses or chariots. But we sure use some powerful and beautiful tools! Songs, microphones, instruments, projectors and screens, lights, even haze. The most beautiful tool, of course, is your team... and you.

And we should. Every tool at our disposal should be engaged in the spiritual battle we call worship. After all, King David, who wrote this Psalm, used horses and chariots in his army. I imagine he worked diligently through his troops to breed horses that were faster and stronger than the people groups around Israel. And, given what we know about David, he likely did the same with chariots, entrusting his best craftsmen to make the fastest, sturdiest, most effective chariots they could.

But David was different from the leaders of those other groups in one essential way.

He trusted in his God, not his army. He put his trust in the supernatural, not the natural.

I confess. Far too often I have put my trust in my voice, my planning, my team, my pastor, my experience, my education, even my gifts. I lament that. And I trust God will continue to work in spite of my fallenness.

I want to repent. I want to trust in the name of the Lord our God. I want to rely on what is happening in the unseen realm instead of focusing on the seen realm.

And the sneaky truth is, I believe those who attend your worship gathering want the same. They may not be able to articulate it, and they may not even know it, but they are craving an experience that's more than our resources can give them. They might say they want more old music or more new music, but what they really want is an encounter with the Living God. They want a new heart.

I'm cheering you on as you choose to trust in the Lord our God.