"Do not put out the Spirit´s fire"  (1 Thess. 5:19)

A special joyful group within David´s administration was "set apart" to prophesy with "lyres, harps and cymbals".  In my Danish Bible it says twice, that they  "prophesied with rapture" (1 Chron. 25:1-2) and they did so "under the direction of the king".

This kind of joy (rapture) should always be among us under the direction of  our glorified King. A dull spirit among Christians is alien to the melodious Spirit of God.  When the word of God "dwells in us richly" it will generate "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Col. 3:16) - "making melody to the Lord in your heart"  (Eph. 5:19)

Loving friends have felt I should be "jacked up" on this as I have certain reservations about the stagey "contemporary worship" performances on modern platforms.  I appreciate their concern as I certainly don´t want to be a bilious critic refusing  "to go in" (Luke 15:28) and take part in the joyful.    But when the "the sound of singing" just becomes a frivolous, loud noise (Ex 32:17-18) at full blast, it goes against my spiritual instinct.

But that was not the case when many years ago one of our new believers  full of salvation joy suddenly stood up at the fellowship where I was ministering, and said, "Let´s all rise together" and he then led us into a spirit of worship "to give thanks and to praise the Lord"  (1 Chron. 25:3).  That was very refreshing, and that young man took the joy of the Lord with him and ended up as a chief pilot with New Tribes Mission in PNG.

Indeed, I welcome that.  There´s too little genuine spontaneity among us and sometimes too much dead orthodoxy.  But dead orthodoxy is not a  soul winning method and has no gospel joy.
 
To some of us it´s nearly over now.  May it still be granted us that we on this short day of grace may once more become "fathers through the gospel" rather than be merely among "the ten thousand instructors"  (1 Cor. 4:15) with a lot of head knowledge.

Sept. 18, 2019 - jn