Three weeks ago, Vickie and I had the privilege of ministering a Holy Spirit Rally in Wauchula, Florida. Early that Sunday morning, I had an interruption to my sleep that I will never forget. Sometime around what I believe was 4 AM, I was awakened by a voice in my spirit that said, “This is your Captain speaking. I want to let you know that I have turned off the fasten your seatbelt sign. You can now feel free to move about the cabin.” Believe me when I write that I had not been dreaming about flying. With us flying from time to time to minister in churches outside of Florida, I have heard those words or words like them many times but that wasn’t the reason for this announcement in my spirit.
The words that morning were ever so clear. In a time when church services are like flying on Spirit Airlines…wait, I need to explain that statement. Have you ever flown on this airline? Do you know why they gave Spirit Airlines this name? To me, it’s because there is just enough room in the seat for your spirit and not your body. You are sitting in a seat that is too small, the distance between adjoining seats too tight, rows squeezed too close together…need I say more? Movement is almost non-existent.
Let me pick back up with my thought…In a time when church services are like flying on Spirit Airlines with little or no movement, the Holy Spirit was telling me that the restraint signs have been turned off. (I’m getting all excited again as I am remembering that message from our Captain.) In many churches, tradition, pride, and even culture have squeezed the life and passion out of our gatherings. The Holy Spirit was telling me that it is time to abandon the restraints and feel free to passionately move about the church – dance, clap, jump, run, raise our hands, lay prostrate, and shout unto God. (I know that this is messing with some people’s minds.) Listen, what some today have deemed as emotionalism and fanaticism are nothing more than an up-to-date abandonment as seen in David as the Ark of the Covenant was carried into Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 6). The Spirit of God urged me that morning to tell the church that it is okay to feel free to move with abandonment in worship to the Lord. And, I have included this announcement in every following Holy Spirit Rally.
Oh…one more note. What about those in the church who like David’s wife, Michal, look on with disdain? That question is answered by me posing another question. Was God’s favor upon David or Michal that day? Enough said.
To summarize my thoughts, I’ll close by doing something that I rarely if ever do. I want to pull a song from YouTube. Roy Turner’s The Dancing Heart is a song that I first heard back in the late 1960s or the early 1970s when The Cameron Family, a traveling ministry from Scotland, came to our West Columbia, Texas church. The pictures bring back so many memories. This song and others let us know that the seat belt sign of tradition and restraint had been turned off. We became a church that enjoyed the freedom of the Spirit. (And you and your church can too!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG6eVnuCs8Y
