PULSE--DEW POINT

Mark asked me to lead the worship small group Wednesday night while he was off gallivanting, and I was a little scattered, but Spring came through and we had a great meeting! Now he has asked me to blog about it and the house is quiet, so here goes!

When I was studying it, I had to read the entire lesson before I completely understood why it was entitled "Dew Point." So I think I'll give you the last paragraph first--

Gen. 3:8 says that the Lord came to the Garden of Eden in the "cool of the day." This refers to the time of day when the sun is setting and the dew begins to rise and produce a sense of purity and cleansing of the air. I believe that the Lord specifically came to Adam and Eve at this time of day because He desired a pure and clean environment that was conducive for communion and fellowship. In the same way, when the heart of your worship is pure and sincere--when it reaches the dew point--God will reveal His presence to you.

This lesson was a little theological, but we discussed the difference between the OMNIPRESENCE of God and the MANIFEST or REVEALED presence of God.

God is omnipresent, which just means He is everywhere. He fills heaven, earth, past, present and future. C.S. Lewis said, "We may ignore, but we cannot evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere incognito."

Yet the Bible says that when Adam and Eve sinned, they "hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God."

Huh? How could they hide from his presence? Well, Lamar said the Hebrew word for presence used in Gen. 3 means "at or to the face." It's talking about an extreme level of up-closeness--a place of intimacy.

A lot of times in worship we ask God to reveal himself to us. I think that's a great prayer! We are asking him to, well, get in our faces (in a good way)--get really up close, get intimate with us.

Then Lamar said there's a wonderful SECRET God wants us to know, so listen close! Here it is--We can enter into his up-close presence anytime we want to!!

HOW??

First, we've got to have the same passion for His presence that David had when he said, "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple" (Psa. 27:4).

Then Lamar said that there are several "portals" into God's revealed presence, and we camped on one of them: songs of worship and praise. David said, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise" (Psa. 100:4).

The Hebrew word for thanks in this verse refers to a large group of believers who are worshipping God with their hands extended vertically! When we do that, we can enter into His intimate presence!

Then when we praise, we go even further into the courts of God's presence! BUT it's not just any kind of praise, it's specifically God-focused singing. That kind of praise is called "tehillah" in Scripture, and this was a whole new concept to Spring and me and the others who attended the Worship Institute for the first time last summer.

Tehillah (ask Mark how to pronounce it!) is a specific kind of song--a SPONTANEOUS song! That was like a lightbulb going off for me, because for many years I kept reading in the Bible about singing "a new song" to the Lord, and I had no idea what that meant! After all, I'm not a music composer, so I didn't think I could do that. But now I know!

This kind of extemporaneous song is so personal, it rises directly from your heart like fresh bread out of the oven, and God inhabits it or dwells in it, making His presence evident to you.

Of course Mark started singing like that very early in his ministry at FBC. In fact, I remember the first day he did it. I thought, "Whoa! He's on a whole new level now!" Even though I didn't really understand it, I sensed that it was important.

Now some of the others of us have started doing that in our worship services, and it's really cool! However, if you're shy about others hearing it, you can always do it at home or driving down the road or going for a walk. Try it--you'll like it!

OK, Mark, this may not be your writing style, but I did it!!