play it out loud

Recently I’ve been having a more doubtful view of Christian books. It seems like they’re all essentially saying the same things: just trust God and let Him work through you (what the heck does that mean, and what does that look like practically?), just pray with faith (again, what does that look like?), etc. Everyone has the same advice, and while there’s no doubt that it’s extremely valuable, I’ve been looking for more beyond the same clichéd terms put on an endless repeat. Why can’t anyone seem to connect these things to real life? (Just to clarify, this isn’t a faith crisis - this is just frustration at the modern Christian book industry). I had been working through three Christian non-fiction books simultaneously, and as you can imagine, I got a little tired of the vapid, repetitive doctrines.

Of course, then, the logical thing to do was to start another book (the count was still at three, since I managed to plow my way through one of them). I was more than a little dubious of the value of starting yet another book, yet because it was “required” reading and my my fellow worship team leader had positive reviews, I picked it up anyway. (The book is Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin, for the record). So far, it’s been a welcome relief from the previous books: it’s VERY practical. Thank goodness.

But that’s not anywhere near the best part. In one of the middle chapters, Kauflin brings up some fears about following the Spirit and being spontaneous that resound powerfully with me:

What if I get to the middle of a line [of prayer] and blank out? What if people think I’m trying to draw attention to myself? What if no one is affected? Eventually I realized that my questions would keep me from ever responding to what I thought were the Spirit’s promptings …

It’s important to realize that many spontaneous moments in public are the fruit of consistent preparation in private. As I study God’s Word in my personal devotions, I’ll be more prone to remember it in public. Praying over the lyrics before a meeting prepares me for listening more carefully as I’m leading the church.

So following the nudgings of the Spirit aren’t necessarily instantaneous and “cold turkey” events; God may actually use our experiences from the past to guide our actions in the present. Hmm, interesting, I thought.

Suddenly, God broke through my dense wall of disillusionment when He showed me the connection between this and one of the other books, Hearing God by Dallas Willard (I shared some notes from that book about a month ago). One of the major themes I’m picking up from Willard is that communication with God is more about communion with God: seeking after His heart with your life so much that, almost like two intimate lovers (except TONS better), you know what He wants without Him having to say anything. Crazy right? Tie that in with the idea of past experiences, and maybe the typical guidings of the Spirit aren’t crazy, sudden things. Maybe God prepares us with seeking after His own heart in order to allow us to follow His Spirit faithfully in those “spontaneous” moments; we have to be in communion with God in order to truly discern how He wants us to act and fearlessly follow Him rather than doubting whether our sudden impulse is just an irrational and stupid idea. On the flip side, I realized something really important: we can’t really expect to hear clearly from God if we spend 99% of our time ignoring Him. Drowning Him out with the preoccupations of our lives makes it nearly impossible to recognize our shepherd by His voice during that 1% where we suddenly stop running away from Him, turn 180, and say hastily, “God, what do I do?” I’m not saying that He can’t spontaneously give us directions if we’re not right with God. I’m just saying that it’s a million times harder for us to receive and follow them.

I’m thinking I’m going to have to approach these books with a new attitude.