Prophetic Word: The Coming Wave of Spontaneous Worship That Will Sweep Unbelievers Off Their Feet
In the next wave of worship, watch for greater spontaneity in our expressions of love and for an even stronger prophetic flow in worship.
Let me unpack what I mean…
Paul divided the songs we sing into three categories—psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs:
Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).
Let me explain what Paul meant by these three designations.
By psalms, Paul meant the singing of Scripture. The book of Psalms is the Bible’s songbook, so it’s the most commonly sung portion of Scripture but not the only one. We also sing from virtually all the books of the Bible.
By hymns, Paul meant songs of human composition. The lyrics aren’t taken verbatim from Scripture, but they support biblical ideas and glorify Jesus. When we sing the latest YouTube worship hits, we’re singing hymns. Most songs being written and sung today would properly be called hymns (as Paul used the term).
And by spiritual songs, Paul meant the spontaneous singing of songs that are moved along by the waves of the Holy Spirit. The words of a spiritual song don’t come directly from a Scripture or from the lyrics of a composed hymn but come straight from a worshiper’s heart as they express their thoughts to Jesus in the moment. Spiritual songs are unpremeditated, spontaneous, extemporaneous, and unrehearsed. Spiritual songs can be sung in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance or can be sung in a person’s native tongue (such as English or Spanish) (see Acts 2:4; 1 Cor. 14:15).
When we see that Scripture has sanctioned a wide variety of song, from psalms and hymns to spiritual songs, we realize we’ve been empowered in the Spirit to capture all the waves of worship He’s going to be sending.
In the 1960s, all the churches were singing hymns only. In the 1970s, the Holy Spirit taught the Body of Christ to sing spiritual songs. Then, in the 2000s, the Church began to explore the singing of Scripture in a more intentional way.
At the time of this writing, most churches in the earth devote almost the entirety of their corporate worship to the singing of hymns (songs of human composition). We’re a bit stuck in a hymn-dominant worship culture right now, but the Lord is going to continue to draw us forward. In the waves of worship that are coming, watch for a more equal distribution between all three of Paul’s song expressions—psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Get ready for that wave because it’s going to be great!
Thematic Diversity
When we intentionally incorporate psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs into our corporate worship services, something else happens: The breadth of our vocabulary expands, which in turn makes worship richer and deeper.
A wave of worship is coming in which our vocabulary of worship will diversify and reflect the themes of the whole counsel of God: the Kingdom, salvation, Holy Spirit power, sanctification, obedience, suffering, intimacy, end times, identity, family, judgment, grace, redemption, intercession, courage, faith, mercy, revival, the beauty of Jesus, the blood, brokenness, compassion, discipleship, endurance, giving, heaven, the Trinity, knowing God, love, evangelism, persecution, Communion, servanthood, forgiveness, sovereignty, waiting on God, and more.
As my friend Ruben Cervantes observed, we need to introduce theology back into the songs we sing. We need songs that teach because church culture is shaped by the theology we sing.
Songs, hymns, and spiritual songs will help us explore all the themes of the Kingdom in our worship.
The Creatives
In the next wave, we’re going to worship Jesus through a greater diversity in the arts. Get ready because the creatives are coming. Who are they? Those in the Body of Christ with a holy anointing to harness the latest technologies and release creativity in the proclamation of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
We will see increasing creativity in the use of film in worship in the coming decades. The Scriptures draw a strong connection between worship and the eyes, and the creatives will help us explore that holy ground. We’ve seen YouTube explode as a visual medium for worship, but we’re just at the beginning of this wave. Online platforms such as YouTube will continue to be used creatively to spread psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs throughout the earth.
Spontaneity
When we’re equipped to sing all three song forms—psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs—the potential for spontaneity in worship multiplies. Spontaneity naturally follows when we feel permission to practice all three in corporate worship.
Let me identify what spontaneous worship is. Spontaneous worship is the freedom to move seamlessly between psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as the Holy Spirit leads.
Whenever the topic of spontaneity in worship comes up, we immediately feel the familiar tension between spontaneity and preparation. Some folks think spontaneity happens when we scrap the idea of preparing for worship and just show up and see where the Spirit might lead.
Where no preparation has been invested into worship, you end up with aimlessness, not spontaneity.
Preparation and spontaneity are fast friends. Preparation empowers spontaneity. Preparation provides a safety net that gives you courage to deviate from your preparation. When you’re prepared with a worship set list, you can follow a spontaneous prompting with courage because you know you can always return to your set list.
The more spontaneous you want to be, the harder you must work to prepare.
Labor hard to plan for worship but then hold your preparation lightly because now you’ll enjoy the freedom of moving seamlessly between psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
The next wave of worship will be less weighted toward the curated and more courageous in the spontaneous.
Prophetic Worship
There’s a symbiotic relationship between worship and prophecy, and David set a precedent by exploring it aggressively.
More specifically, David and his military cabinet appointed musical Levites “who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals” (1 Chron. 25:1). The passage says they were the ones “who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord” (v. 3). Their thanks and praise flowed like inspired oracles.
Were they prophesying while musical instruments were being played? Or was the very playing of their instruments an expression of prophecy? Both. They sang prophecies, and they also prophesied upon their instruments. Musicians can prophesy, therefore, with their voices and also with their instruments.(1)
How does prophesying on an instrument work? When musicians are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, they can play their instrument in a way that opens the hearts of the congregation to more of God.
An anointed musical interlude, played spontaneously in the Spirit at a strategic moment, can sometimes carry more impact than spoken or sung words. I’ve been in services where a drummer played an unexpected drum solo in such a Spirit-inspired way that it broke the meeting open.
There are moments in worship when it’s fitting for an anointed guitarist to take off on a screaming lead guitar solo in prophetic joy. There are other moments when it’s fitting for a sax or flute player to feel their way on the waves of the Spirit.
In the coming wave of worship, I see musicians prophesying on their instruments and singers singing prophetic oracles of praise spontaneously as the Holy Spirit gives utterance.
I love how Paul described the way prophecy can work in a public worship gathering:
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you (1 Corinthians 14:25).
In context, Paul was addressing proper order in corporate worship gatherings. He said that, when the Spirit of God moves in corporate worship, a prophetic spirit can fall on the meeting. As the gift of prophecy is expressed, God reads the mail of an unbeliever in the meeting. He’s not embarrassed by the prophecy that’s given, but he realizes that God sees him, knows him, and recognizes the longings of his heart.
When the secret desires of his heart are revealed, Paul said he will fall on his face, worship God, and then go and tell his friends, “God is with those people.”
Isn’t this what we want? We want such a strong reality of God’s Presence in our midst that unbelievers are falling on their faces in our worship services and declaring that God is among us.(2)
I see a prophetic wave of worship coming that is so strong it sweeps unbelievers off their feet and levels them with the realization that God is among His people.
Notes
1. For further study on this theme, see chapter seven in my book Exploring Worship: A Practical Guide to Praise and Worship.
2. For more on this, see my book Following the River: A Vision for Corporate Worship.
