Next Level Worship

Do you hear the voice of God inviting you to a more intimate place of fellowship with Him? If you take a moment to listen with your spiritual ears, you will undoubtedly hear God extending a personalized, tailored-made invitation just for you. He is calling you to reach higher, delve deeper, and draw closer to his presence. There is a rich place of divine fellowship that you can experience with the Father, but it requires that you be willing to fully cooperate with Him and elevate, establish, and expect Him in an unprecedented way at the NEXT LEVEL in your WORSHIP.

As we embrace a season of newness in the natural and praise God for all that he is releasing in our lives, we must likewise embrace the next level of worship in our private and corporate worship experiences. In fact, it is what we experience first privately in worship that prepares us for our times of public gathering. So what exactly is NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP? It is simply, moving beyond your present level-no matter what that may look like-and deliberately seeking God so that you might experience greater intimacy and passion for Him. There are a few words that describe what our worship time with God should never be like: stale, boring, and predictable. If you have ever experienced any of these, chances are you have either: 1.) Become very comfortable in your routine and approach of spending time with God, or 2.) You have lost your fervor and excitement about being with the only one who can satisfy your hungry, craving soul as the ultimate bread of life.

ELEVATE YOUR THINKING

The first thing we must do in order to level up to NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP is ELEVATE our thinking. Have you ever stopped to really reflect upon how mighty, limitless, and powerful our God is? Isaiah 55: 9 tells us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” There is always a next place in him waiting to be explored because He is too vast to be contained within our human perception. If we are going to elevate our thinking to experience NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP, then we must be willing to let God stretch us in our ability to encounter him beyond what we have previously engaged.

This kind of expansion occurs first in our mind as God enlarges our capacity to receive revelation of who He is. The reality is this: we can spend our lifetime attempting to understand the Father and still never fully know the totality of who he is, because there is no ending to his greatness. God is always unveiling fresh revelation of who He is, but we must posture ourselves in worship so that we can gain insight. Before you can elevate, you may need to eradicate some old mindsets and abandon ineffective ideas about worship that have hindered your ability to receive revelation from God. Elevating our thoughts and the way we think about God is the springboard to NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP.

ESTABLISH NEW ALTARS

Have you ever heard the old cliché, “If you want something different then be willing to DO something differently?” Well, it’s true! If you desire to experience NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP then you must be willing to build a new altar as it relates to your worship. Throughout the Old Testament, altars represented a place of offerings. It also represented a place of sacrifice. As New Testament believers, we understand that when Jesus became the Lamb of God and the substitutionary atonement for our sin, it eliminated the need for animals to ever be offered again as sacrifices on the altar. Today, what moves the heart of God is when we present our worship as an offering unto Him. Do you know what qualifies an offering as acceptable? It’s when our offering is presented with sacrifice. If it does not cost you anything-convenience, time, intentionality-then it may not be an acceptable offering that moves the heart of God. 1 Chronicles 16:29 says, “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

In NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP, I want to challenge you to do something different as you approach your time of worship in this new season. Build God a new altar that memorializes the new revelation you experience with him in your daily time of devotion. Pray about it and be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Stay authentic. God is not interested in you trying to duplicate your secret place as a cookie-cutter copy of someone else’s. Only you and God know what that means, but I want to encourage you not to be afraid to do something you’ve never done before. One of the things God has impressed upon me lately is to “soak” more in my personal time of worship. Often times, it is easy to be verbal when we are in His presence worshiping. Soaking requires us to quiet ourselves and listen more as we follow where He leads. The unique thing about each of us is that we all get to experience a reserved place with God that is individually designed just for us-what an awesome God! Allow God to give you instructions about erecting your new altar, and then do just that!

EXPECT A NEW ENCOUNTER

Finally, the last part of transitioning to NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP is to expect a new encounter. Psalms 62:5 declares, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.” You must believe that God wants you to go to the next level in your worship. He wants to reveal his heart to you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Are you willing to pursue and chase Him like never before? When you only expect the ordinary, that’s just what you get. But our God is extraordinary, and if you can shift your faith to believe for supernatural, God will meet, fulfill, and exceed your expectations. In order to experience greater glory, you must expect a new revelation of God to manifest in your private worship time. May your NEXT LEVEL WORSHIP leave you forever changed. Lavish your love upon the Father, and may you know Him with fresh revelation as you bask in the profound joy of being alone with Him.