Spontaneous Worship

This is something I've really been interested in over the past year. Going beyond the restraint of the song and having a conversation with God leading to encounter. One way I've been loving of doing that is spontaneous worship. To me this is singing from the heart. I was singing with my team at our Church's night of worship last Friday and one of my favorite parts of the night was I was singing my own words and my friends were singing their own words and the band was singing their own words or singing in tongues all spontaneous lyrics out of ONE song, then the pastor comes up and tells us to sing a song off the set-list and unrehearsed but that was perfect in that moment, it was amazing stuff.

I've been doing a little research about it because I'm a nerd and I research things a lot, this is some stuff I found:

I have encountered about 3 different ways people sing out in the spirit. All 3 are equally valid and have purpose, but the outcomes are very different and we therefore need to respond in different ways depending on what type of singing in the spirit God is calling us to do during a service.

1. You may be called to sing a prophetic/spontaneous song... something that is revealing God’s heart/nature to us to either encourage/guide or edify the church. Should these prophetic songs be transcribed if at all possible like any other prophetic word? What do you think?
The point is for everyone to hear what God has to say, so it is good to sing that out over a microphone – or if you’re me then don’t use one lol!

2. We may be called to sing out in the spirit spontaneous songs of praise. If it is a general song of praise – not something prophetic from God to His people, rather an overflowing of what is in your heart I would suggest stepping back from the microphone... this will encourage other people to join you in singing out praises from their hearts rather than stopping to listen to what you are singing... THINK... what is the purpose of my singing out, is it 'just' my own praise therefore between me and God or is it something to edify the church?

3. One of us, or even the congregation may start to sing a short phrase over and over again in the spirit. We need to listen out for this happening and ‘catch hold’ of it... allow the spirit to move in it and encourage the church to respond corporately to it, by joining in or adding their own phrases to follow on where one person has started us off. In that instance if it is a member of the team I would encourage you to sing into you microphone as you are leading people corporately singing in the spirit.

Our leadership want us when bringing a prophetic WORD to bring it to the person leading the service through briefly for them to make an initial yes bring it now or ...no not right now judgement. They then ask that person to write up the word so that they can revisit it over time, and weigh it up etc.
We cant really do that with spontaneous songs and prophetic songs... as in their nature they are spontaneous.

Sometimes they appear to be directly prophetic in nature, other times they appear to be 'just' spontaneous... who makes the judgement call over whether it was prophetic or not... not me I think that is a job for leadership, but we do need to therefore equip them to make that judgement by providing some means of assessing a spontaneous song by keeping some form of record. 

Pauline L - Worship Central Forums 

If you’re assembling a prophetic worship team, it won’t be enough if you merely find a few people who jam well together.  They may be spontaneous and they may sound good together.  But it doesn’t turn prophetic until we stop expressing our hearts, our sound, or our style.  Only when we express God’s heart do we step into  prophetic song.

Over the years, I’ve found two good ways to start.  First, sing in tongues for a while, and ask God for the interpretation.  Second, sing Bible truth about Jesus.  But then, invite the Holy Spirit to pour a song of worship through our lips, a song that will release the manifest presence of God.

Often, the prophetic song arrives not with a lot of musical virtuosity, but with sounds I suspect I could play in my sleep.

Prophetic activity doesn’t spill off the top of our heads.  Jesus said (John 7:37-38) “Out of your belly – out of your deepest parts – will flow rivers of living waters.”

If your deepest parts are thinking about music, your spontaneous songs will be little more than jamming.  But if your deepest parts are communing with Jesus, you are likely to get into a prophetic flow.

I don’t think John the Baptist ever picked up a guitar, but he had the recipe:  “I, [the musician] must decrease, but He. The Word of God, must increase.”

To cultivate this, it’s good to seek the flow of the Spirit and the manifest presence of God as we worship Him in secret.  That’s what Jesus taught; if we seek the Father in secret, He will reward us openly.

Go into the prophetic flow.  Don’t be satisfied just to jam.

 -Stan Smith

I'm going to do a lot more posts like this on this type of stuff that really just stirs me up. As much as I research and read and receive I'll share with you guys. 

Good news too. I know my "God" posts are long but I've decided I won't put a page break thing so that even if you happen to stumble upon this site you can read all these hopefully inspirational/educational posts without clicking and waiting...all for your convenience.

xx

Jo