Preparing For Spontaneous Worship

This is a very busy week and all I’m going to write is a testimony of what it’s like to do the assignment.  For soaking and encouragement, I’m listing the record at http://miraclelifestyle.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/use-the-cracks-in-the-sidewalk/.

But I used music just once this week as I led a devotional at the Healing Rooms at Santa Maria.  The team who ministers healing spends about an hour soaking in God’s presence before they step into ministry. Every other Monday night I play live worship at their soaking meeting.

I’m going to give a brief synopsis of how I prepared for an evening of spontaneous worship.

I expected to have a high-level spiritual experience as I would look to God for inspiration; instead, I prayed and didn’t hear anything from God.  Office work gobbled up the morning and I had no time to practice or to prepare in any way. Then as I got ready to go, I realized I would have to take just one keyboard because my station wagon would not be available.

So I felt unprepared and very limited as I drove to the healing rooms.

Just as it was time to begin, Rick Taylor, the director of the Healing Rooms, told me a few testimonies of miraculous healings he had seen on his last trip.  Then he asked if he could pray for me before I began; I said go ahead.  He prayed that the heavens would be open as I played and that I would sing prophetically.

I had thought I might begin with “Breathe” and then include an old hymn, but when Rick prayed that I would sing prophetically I decided to drop into prophetic song and see where it went.

Soon I found myself singing about Jesus the rock, and the paradox that He can be rocklike and yet tender.  For a moment I would sing a song to Him, then it would be His words to us, then there would be a few moments of instrumental as I would wait on Him for the next lyrics.  All the words were based on scripture, yet it was a time of linking passages I would not usually think to connect.

Suddenly I realized God wanted me to shift gears and play an instrumental. I glanced at the clock; twenty-five minutes had already gone by.  I switched to the most heavenly sound on my keyboard, a split that allows me to make the lead instrument anything I want:  vocals, strings, flutes. When it was time for Rick to speak, he motioned for me to keep playing.

I never had time to prepare anything, but it didn’t matter.  The music flowed effortlessly for about an hour.  When words were needed, they were there.  And during the instrumental, I somehow knew what I was supposed to play next.

Even I noticed a rich sense of God’s manifest presence as the soaking time progressed.  Sometimes the air feels a bit heavier than usual, as though it’s filled with droplets of the water of life.  Rick stood up and announced that healing was in the atmosphere.

God is more than willing to give a flow of the Holy Spirit to those of us who are willing to jump into the river of God and let the current carry us.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Play By Ear

What if you are a piano player who has been classically trained, and now you find it hard to improvise or to play by ear?  During a recent trip to Korea, I was led to have an altar call for people who are trained musicians who want to learn to play by ear so they can jump into prophetic song.  Six or eight people came up.

Playing by ear can be challenging for those who have learned to sight-read because most training does not focus on improvisational skills.  Here are a few things that can help you get started – notes on how to pray, followed with a few musical exercises that will stretch your skill.

Prayer – Ask, believe, receive. “You have not because you ask not.”  Step one is to ask God to impart the gift of playing by ear.  Step two is to believe that He hears your prayer and is answering.  This is how James 1:2-8 says to pray for wisdom; the ability to play by ear is a form of wisdom.

Prayer – be patient in tribulation. Note this theme as James tells how to pray.  You will probably feel naked at first as you try to play by ear.  You are used to musical richness as you read and play a score; now you have nothing to work from but whatever you can think of yourself.  Be patient with yourself during this season.

Prayer – make the most of plateaus. As you learn new techniques and patterns, see how many songs you can use them with.  The skills that help with one song will often help with another.

Music – start with a tune you already know and fool around with it. For example, you might begin with Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy” and put it through a few permutations.

1. Transpose a familiar song from one key to another. The fingering patterns change, whatever instrument you’re playing.

2. Transpose songs in a major key into a minor, and vice versa. This gets you used to thinking of alternate ways to play a melody.  It will also force you to restructure the chords.  If the first line of “Ode To Joy” begins with a C – F – G progression, shifting it to a minor can lead tidily to Am – Dm – Em chords.  But as I played it just now, I was drawn to Am – F – D9 – G in the first line.  Fool around with it and see what you come up with.

3. Transpose songs in 4/4 or 2/4 to 3/4, and vice versa. Okay, it butchers “Ode To Joy”, especially if you’re still in a minor key.  But the point is to get used to what happens when you change the rhythm of a familiar song.

4. Play the melody, then add variations. Use parallel thirds and sixths.  Add trills of one kind or another – you may have run into grace notes in some of the classical music you’ve already learned.  Ask God to give you a few new ones of your own.

5. Try different octaves. Generally, the lower vs. higher registers provide a lot of contrast:  darkness vs. light, strength vs. weakness, heaviness vs. lightness.  Use these different sounds to capture different moods as you work through a piece of music.

These few stretching exercises will get you started.  Begin with the songs that seem easiest to you.  Get alone with God and fool around with your music.  Think of Him not as an audience demanding a perfect performance, but as a teacher who delights in awakening your creativity.  Mistakes don’t put Him off; they are necessary as you are learning to walk with Him on new paths in the realm of worship.  He looks past the musical imperfections and sees your heart, reaching to draw near to Him.  He in turn will draw near to you.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Two Ways To Flow

I was teaching about prophetic song at a conference in Korea with both Evangelicals and Charismatics attending, and I needed to teach this diverse group how to get into a prophetic flow.

As I pondered this great divide that has crept into the church, I made two decisions:  (1) I will not apologize for my own testimony, which falls into the Charismatic camp; and (2) I refuse to dishonor the Evangelicals, who tend to focus on the idea that everything has been provided in Christ and we don’t have to pursue a second experience to receive the Holy Spirit.

In both camps, I have met people who hunger for God and who move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit – they don’t always explain the gifts the same way, but it’s amazing how Spirit-led some of the Evangelicals have learned to be as they explore the things freely given them in Christ.  And in both camps, I have met smug, self-satisfied people who think everyone else is deceived.

Frankly, I think the two groups have more to agree about than to disagree about.  And at the conference in Korea, the crowd all seemed to think so too.

So here is how people from either background can get in the flow of prophetic song.

Evangelicals focus in Christ, which is the key to prophetic words and songs because the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.  In other words, as we begin to fill our mouths with truth about Jesus, the Holy Spirit will step in and begin to speak or sing through us.

Scripture after scripture reveals that Jesus is the Holy Spirit’s favorite subject matter.  To give just one example, I Corinthians 12:3 says no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit.  In other words, if we choose to declare that Jesus is Lord, the Holy Spirit gets into it, whatever our motive.

Start by calling Him Lord, and expect the Holy Spirit to help you pour out a flow of words of praise.  Call Him Truth, and let the Spirit of Truth pour specifics out of your mouth as you preach or worship or pray…

You get the idea.

Charismatics speak in tongues.  This gets us into a flow of words we don’t understand, given by the Holy Spirit.  This is a good introductory exercise; it gets us used to letting God give us our words one-by-one, and it gets us used to not having to understand everything – Proverbs 3:5 calls us to trust God with our whole heart and to lean not to our understanding.

But God doesn’t want us to stay in the dark.  He calls us to seek interpretation when we speak in tongues.  We may begin with a flow we don’t understand, but understanding will follow as we look to Him.

In time we can learn to jump straight into the prophetic flow, focusing on Jesus just as I’ve suggested the Evangelicals can do.

All Christians have an inheritance in the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2, however we choose to explain it.  But as Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy (see Acts 2:16-21), he never mentioned tongues.  Instead he listed God’s prophetic promises to the church:  sons and daughters who prophesy, people who se dreams and visions, open heaven encounters, signs and wonders.

Whether we speak in tongues or not, there’s plenty more for all of us to press into.  Jump in the flow wherever you can, and let the Holy Spirit take you higher and higher in Him.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Open-Heaven Bondslaves

This week I experienced one of the sweetest times of prophetic worship in thirty-plus years. It came at the end of a three-day conference in Korea; the theme was prophetic ministry and prophetic worship.  I was the keynote speaker, and the conference was held to coincide with publication of the Korean translation of my book, Prophetic Song:  Gateway To Glory.

I did my best to do my part well, but the best moment came when my part was done.

On the third day of the conference my theme was the open heavens, and I shared an experience I had a few years ago when God had me sing a prophecy that changed my life.  The essence of the word was that God had opened the heavens to the church 2000 years ago, and He was grieved that so few of us had dared to believe we could even approach the door of heaven during our lifetime.  He called us to be faithful to enter into an open-heaven experience as often as we could.

So now as I prepared my heart for the final day of meetings at the conference, I sensed God taking us to Exodus 21, where a servant had the opportunity to become a bondslave if he loved his master and wanted to serve him forever.  I sensed that God was offering us the opportunity to allow Him to pierce our ear with His awl at heaven’s doorpost, making us His servants forever and binding us to heaven’s door.

I explained that it didn’t really matter who did the anointing, for oil is one thing and piercing is another.  But we used oil simply to give us an act of faith by which we could invite God to do the real work, for the passage in Exodus makes it clear that only the Master could drive the awl through the earlobe of the servant.

I called a few helpers to help minister to people, anointed my helpers’ earlobes with oil, then I went to the keyboard to play a bit of worship music while they anointed the people.  The presence of God was intense as most if not all of us came forward in this childlike act of surrender.

When the last of the people had been ministered to, I suddenly sensed that I needed to stop playing.  There was a moment of stillness, but someone back in the crowd was still singing.  Soon I heard another voice, then another; within seconds we all were worshiping spontaneously.

There was no visible worship leader.  I left the platform and went back to my seat. Someone told me later that the song lasted thirty-five minutes.  It was one of the holiest experiences in prophetic song I have ever experienced.

I prayed the next morning and got further understanding about what happened.  The anointing with oil service was supposed to happen – that was the simple little step God gave me to present so we could act on our willingness to surrender – but God waited for man’s ministry time to end, then His began.  And He is the Master, and He truly made us His in a new way.

And what better way to end a conference on prophetic song than to have the Chief Musician come and lead us in it Himself?

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Filled With The Spirit

I’m old enough to remember the early days of the Charismatic movement and the lively debate about what was the real evidence that someone had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Was it tongues?  Some said yes, some said no.

It isn’t the hot issue it once was, but most of us have worked out a conviction one way or the other.  Some say tongues are the evidence that we have received this empowering work of grace; some say tongues are optional and God doesn’t give them to everybody; some say tongues are dangerous and not for our day.

I’ve meet good people in every camp, and I’ve seen abuse from each camp, but I’m not interested in resurrecting the debate.  I recently read a verse I’m sure I have read dozens if not hundreds of times, and it struck me that God may have given us a clear answer to the question about the real evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  I want to present it reverently but playfully, more in a “what if…?” scenario than as a doctrine:

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  [Ephesians 5:18-20]

I’ll say it again:  I’m not trying to create a doctrinal issue.  But looking at these words devotionally, I asked myself a few questions.

How do I know I am filled with the Spirit?  Well, I can speak in tongues any time I want to; this was the evidence I accepted years ago as proof that I’m filled with the Spirit.

Okay, but is there any fresh evidence that I’m filled with the Spirit?  Am I overflowing with spiritual songs?  Does the Holy Spirit keep pouring songs of praise through me?

I had to admit that it wasn’t happening, and I asked God for a fresh filling with His Spirit.  I took time to soak; I can’t say that particular soaking time was exceptionally anointed.

But sure enough, later in the day when I went out to do errands, I began singing a new song to God.  If I had played it in church it would have been a song we all could have learned and used again and again; it was a song of thanks for God’s promise that we are new creatures in Christ.

But I had no opportunity to write it down, and a day passed and now I can’t remember it.  It’s gone.

That’s okay.  If I need a song for the congregation, God will give one.  But perhaps He wanted me to give Him a drink offering with the song He gave me – something I could pour out for Him just once, and then it was gone forever.

New songs keep bubbling up, and moments of praise and thanksgiving.  There is something very gentle and peaceful about it.

May I recommend that you ask God to fill you with His Spirit in a way that will fulfill the words of Ephesians 5:18-20?  It’s a lifestyle that will release prophetic song in our personal lives, helping to equip us for prophetic song in the church.

More important, it equips us for life in the Spirit wherever we go, even if we never sing a note in our lives.  We can sing it; we can speak it.  The important thing is to be filled and overflowing with the Spirit.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Soaking Testimony: “Open Your Mouth”

I’ve been overworked.  On Wednesday I lay in bed with worship playing on my iPod and decided not to get up until I had met God.  Suddenly He poured out a word to me, and I wrote it down as fast as I could:

Haven’t I said Open your mouth wide and I will fill it?  Therefore be not slack, be not passive, but stir yourself to take hold of the promise of your God.  There are many things I will yet speak to you, but I look for you to abandon yourself to the flow of My Spirit.

For I will catch you into the momentum of the flow of My Spirit in heaven, and the current of My river will carry you to places beyond the reach of the energy of your flesh.  Haven’t I said My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and my ways higher than yours?  So, says the Lord, as you abandon yourself to My Spirit, I will convey you out of the shallows of your thoughts and into the deeps of Mine.

Trust Me.  Abandon yourself in Me.  Plunge into the flow of My Spirit.  Open your mouth and let Me fill it.  Pour out your heart to Me, and listen as you do.  You will hear me pouring My words through you. And so you will hear My voice, and I will reveal My thoughts and teach you My ways.

I wrote as much as I could, but the main conviction that gripped me was that I needed to start getting in the flow. My end is to open my mouth in childlike faith; God’s end is to fill my mouth.  But where could I get into the flow?

Four ways to flow. Before the day was over, I found four opportunities to flow.

The first was in prayer.  We had a guest speaker at our home church, Jon Collyer from England.  After what God had spoken to me while I was soaking, I felt it was important to take time to pray aloud for the meeting.  As I did, a few words flowed out of me that took my prayer in an unexpected direction:  that our worship would go to an unusual intensity in the evening service.

So the second opportunity to flow came during the worship service that evening. The worship team led several songs posted on the screen.  Occasionally I sang the words that were written.  More often, I sang something new and fresh from the heart.  I got a revelation about the blood of Jesus as I sang.  Hebrews 12:24 says that in heaven, the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel; in a vision I heard the blood crying from heaven, “Compel them to come in.”

The third opportunity came because God has given me favor as a prophetic voice in my home church, and Pastor Mike asked me during worship if I had a prophetic word.  I did – God had given it to me during my soaking time earlier in the day – and I got up and gave it.

The fourth opportunity came when Pastor Mike invited me to meet him and Jon Collyer for a late supper after the meeting.  I met them and had a prophetic word for Jon, which I gave in a conversational tone of voice.  He thanked me with a deeply sincere look in his eye.

You have a share in this. You may not have open doors where you are being asked to step up and speak to your church prophetically, but you can have them.  Start by reaching for the flow of the Holy Spirit when you pray.  Then start getting in the habit of singing a spontaneous new song to God whenever you are in a worship service in church.  Don’t just sing the words on the screen; expect God to give you something new and fresh.

As you get into the flow in secret, you’ll find opportunities to speak an encouraging word to a friend.  One thing will lead to another.  But as you start getting into the flow before God in secret, He will open doors for you to minister openly.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Testimony: God’s Noticeable Presence

When a congregation gives themselves to God in prophetic worship, God often gives His manifest presence to us.  Yesterday I heard a testimony of a way God showed His presence outside the meeting.

A team of Korean ministers had come to the Santa Maria Valley Healing Rooms for a conference.  Rick Taylor, the leader of the healing rooms, has been contending for an atmosphere of God’s glory in all their gatherings and in their times of ministry one-on-one.  For the Saturday sessions, they had invited Peggy Cole to speak in the morning and the afternoon.

My role was very small:  to help with personal ministry when the opportunity arose, and to play keyboard to back up the worship team.  The worship team did a great job and God was good to us; we went into a prophetic vein in worship in both sessions and the presence of God was very intense.

Between sessions, Peggy went back to her hotel to rest.  As she walked through the hotel lobby on her way to the afternoon meeting, a man in the hotel greeted her and said, “There’s an aura of light all over you, and I think it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit.”  She asked him if he knew the Lord, and he replied, “I’m  Orthodox.”  (Peggy didn’t say whether this meant Eastern Orthodox or Jewish Orthodox.)  So Peggy asked if she could pray with him; he said yes; soon a prophetic word flowed out of the prayer.

Peggy shared the story humbly and tearfully, and urged us all to expect God to do the same in our lives.  Her testimony made me think of a Bible study someone told me about recently; he had looked up the word “overshadowed” in the New Testament and found that the same Greek word was used when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and when Peter’s shadow was healing the sick in Acts 5.  There is a Holy Spirit “shadow” you and I can have as we learn to cherish God’s manifest presence.  Peggy walked in it Saturday, but it’s for all of us.

Testimony: Prophetic Rap In Peru

I’m at a conference in Piura, Peru, with a team of four other Americans. Nobody planned this, but we realized all five of us have been used in prophetic song at one level or another. Before the meetings began we wondered if God was planning something we hadn’t thought of.

Brent Luck has been given the first session every day, and he has made room for prophetic worship each time.  He has been convicted that he needs to sow into the atmosphere of God’s presence so it will facilitate ministry for everyone else.  There have been healings, salvations, and powereful one-on-one encounters with God that we hear about after the meetings.

My sessions have followed Brent’s, and because we have wanted to leave an impartation of prophetic song  I have been led to do something in that direction whenever it’s been my turn to minister.  So on Friday, God gave Brent a spontaneous message about breaking demonic things out of the atmosphere as we move in prophetic song.  I knew I would need to pick up the theme when my turn came.

In due time my translator — Nathaly Sosa — and I went to the platform.  I shared a few things from the word then closed with as testimony about the night when Kim Clement’s team led us in a rap song to make a declaration tearing down Devil’s Night in Detroit.  I won’t take time to tell the story here; you may have read it in my book Prophetic Song:  Gateway To Glory.  As I shared the testimony, Nathaly turned to me and said, “I think we will prophesy in rap today.”

We did.  I got the drummer to give us a rhythm; the bass laid out a groove.  Then I came up with a couple of lines we could declare together and she spoke them faithfully in Spanish, shaking her head as she did.  I understood; the words were good but they weren’t music.  “Give me a minute,” she said, and then as the rhythm looped around again she poured out a declaration with a blaze of inspiration.  Soon the crowd was on their feet, declaring the words together and punching the air with their fists.  I stood like a dummy, not understanding a thing, waving the microphone back and forth like a metronome.

But this is what we’re here for:  to stir up the gifts of the Spirit in Peru.

Update. I wrote and posted this article before the conference ended, and I didn’t know more was waiting to happen.  Nathaly translated for Carl Garitson and everything flowed well, and Carl chose to end his meeting with a quick two-liner in rap.  Carl knows enough Spanish to come up with something we could all declare together, and we did:  Nathaly, the drummer, the worship team, and the whole congregation.

But when it died down a few minutes later, Nathaly took the mike and poured out a long song in rap.  I don’t know Spanish but the rhythm and expressiveness came off well.  It was breathtaking; she had found a God-given sound and carried it off as though she’d been doing it all her life.  I could feel that the congregation was startled and amazed at the flow of the Spirit.  And though I don’t know Spanish and will probably misspell it, the song ended with all of us declaring in unison –

Avivamiente — ahora!

Avivamiente — ahora!

Avivamiente — ahora!

Avivamiente — ahora!

Revival — now!

Stan Smith  ::  www.gospelsmith.com  ::  (c)2009, GospelSmith

The School → Encounter God

Probably no other ministry centers on God’s manifest presence more than prophetic song.  Music can be beautiful, but if God’s presence isn’t there, the music isn’t prophetic.  Here is how the activities of the online school can release more of God’s presence in your life.

Soaking Will Transform You

Soaking is a time of beholding God’s glory, and as II Corinthians 3 says, you will be transformed as you gaze upon Him.  That transformation will affect your life and your ministry, and the two are inseparable.

Sometimes you’ll soak by worshiping God with your own spontaneous songs, and God will give you inspiration as you play and sing.  Sometimes you’ll let someone else provide the music or you’ll wait on God in silence so you can free your mind from music and see Jesus more clearly.

As you receive inspiration from God day by day – sing it, speak it, act on it.

Encouraging People Will Build You Up

Prophetic song flows from a prophetic life.  As you give yourself to the mission statement of Jesus, it will put prophetic substance in you:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. (Luke 4:18-19)

There will be plenty of times when God will show you how or what to play and sing, but nothing can substitute for allowing Him to enlarge your heart as He moves you with compassion towards His people.

Your Journal Will Teach You

Keep a record of two things:  what you do and what God does.  Looking back will help you look forward.

The record of what you’ve done to draw near to God will help you stay accountable, but the record of what God has done in drawing near to you will help you identify the blessings you need to thank Him for.

You’ll often find thanksgiving to be a good way to launch spiritual songs.  And sometimes as you look back through your journal, a song or a part of a song will begin to form.  Looking back at God’s faithfulness will often bring fresh inspiration.

Share Your Testimonies

Share your testimonies of encounters with God.  Your goal in doing so isn’t to try to get people to think you’re a super-saint; it’s to celebrate the grace of God that unveils His presence to ordinary folks like you and me.  Post testimonies here and share your stories in your church – encourage people to believe that they too can experience God’s manifest presence.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

More God Encounters

Psalm 22:3 says God is enthroned on the praises – the tehillim or spontaneous songs – of Israel.  Prophetic song is one of the best possible ways to reach for God’s manifest presence.  Here are a few ways you may experience Him while doing the Online School assignments.

God’s Manifest Presence In Worship

Sometimes you’ll feel His presence and sometimes you’ll feel dry as toast but your song will cause someone else to experience a breakthrough.  Either of these is a manifestation of God’s presence.

Sometimes God will manifest His presence in your music itself:  by giving you new melodies, harmonies, and rhythms; by enabling you to play things that are far beyond your skill level; by meeting you before the service and giving you a musical snippet that opens the church to a higher level of His presence.

The prophetic content of the lyrics He gives you can be another manifestation of His presence

God’s Manifest Presence In Practice Sessions

This can be a bit frustrating, because our instinct is to wish for our best music to happen when we are in front of a crowd, not when we practice.  But sometimes God is more interested in meeting the musicians than the church they serve.

It’s not that the musicians are more hungry or spiritual than the congregation; instead, they are the pioneers who are ready to enter new territory first.  Think of yourselves as spies like Joshua and Caleb, getting to come back to the rest of the congregation with a good report of what God is leading the whole church into.

God’s Manifest Presence As You Encourage People

Your ministry of encouragement will cause you to experience God’s manifest presence when no music is present.  These experiences will remind you that Jesus – not music – is the mediator between God and man.

God’s Manifest Presence In Daily Life

It can happen when you soak, when you encourage, or at unexpected moments as you go about your daily life.  But it’s important not to compartmentalize your expectations to meet God, but to have a lifestyle in which He can manifest your presence at any time.

This was the secret of David’s strength.  Whether in battle or when facing the administrative issues of his kingdom, he longed for one thing only:

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

Prophetic song can never be just a performance.  It must always be the overflow of God’s presence from a heart that is fixed on Him.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com