And only one hand when you need the other to hold the hymnal, right?
Sorry about the ill-health. I'll nag God a little.
When individual saints (all believers are saints) have a close walk with the Lord, and have learned to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24 — the kind of worshipers God seeks), it is no strange thing that when many of these are assembled together in Jesus’ Name, there will be an atmosphere of public worship that reflects the same.
Raising of the hands, crying out in exultation of God, and many manifestations which are considered mere emotionalism by many — but they are not necessarily mere human emotion — will be witnessed. The universe can not contain God, and yet He dwells in every genuine believer. Think of what that might manifest when God's children are actually filled with the Spirit of God (Ephesians 5:18).
Such is not new. It is not a “contemporary” worship “style.” I am amazed at the current emphasis on “worship teams,” “worship leaders” and such like. Is not the Holy Spirit the worship Leader? If you have gathered together God's children who are accustomed to private worship in the genuine Biblical sense, it will ooze out, or bust out in “gathered” worship.
We have driven along back mountain roads in the Carolinas and West Virgina, and come across elderly Christian sisters, sitting on the porch overlooking a ravine, when they have been saturating themselves in the Words of God (that's the Bible), and have been in earnest prayer for pastors, missionaries, the sick, and the unconverted. We have witnessed the “glow” of their private worship. It's neither a mystical, nor a spooky thing. It is a real walk with a real God. What a joy to spend some hours with such saints. Many of these have read their Bibles completely through dozens of time in their Christian lives.
Now take 50 or a hundred, or more, of this same kind of Christian — those who talk to God in such a personal way because they actually know Him that person-ably (Philippians 3:10), and are filled with His Spirit. Gather them in a meeting where prayer is want to be made, and the preaching of the Word of God is in power. One might be very surprised at the manifestations of God in His people in such a gathering. This might be in a church house, or in a tabernacle, tent, or brush arbor — in a forest or at a river side. The place matters little. The Person of the Lord Jesus Christ being lifted up and the moving of the Holy Spirit not being quenched. My, my. What gatherings! What worship! What a Saviour!
It prepare the heart and the spiritual energies for more and greater service to our Lord and to His people.
LOL! Yes, and my other other hand to hold my glasses on while looking down :D
Sorry about the ill-health. I'll nag God a little.
Thanks, FRiend.