17 Oct 2014 by Adeline Lum CM-
On 4th of October, Malaysia churches of various states came together at their respective premise to celebrate the Global Worship Day (GWD) with the churches in the rest of the world.
GWD is a day calling all churches in the world regardless of denomination, culture, race, language, and expressions of worship to lift up the name of Jesus Christ on high. After all, we are called as one bride in Christ.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev 19:7-9 NIV)
A vision that is born from a small island of the Caribbean called Dominican Republic in 1999, thousands upon thousands of men and women of God have joined this powerful spiritual movement.
“It is the commandment from the Lord to have churches come together united and lift up his Holy Name. This is because when we come together corporately, the corporate anointing is just so different. God is pleased when we stand as one and put aside our doctrinal differences, and just let him be the center of our worship and nothing else,” said Christina Toh Meil Lin from First Assembly, Kota Bahru, Kelantan who congregated five churches in her church.
Bravo All Stars, a group in the late 1990’s sang, “Let the music heal your soul. Let the music take control. Let the music give you the power to move any mountain.” Music transcends a certain realm that touches our soul. It heals the broken-hearted and the downtrodden in spirits. Mostly, it connects us to the heart of God.
“Many times, we come worshiping God expecting Him to do something. But to me, I come as I am and worship Him for who He is and I just pour my heart’s adoration to Him. The Bible clearly says that He inhabits the praises of His people. This is so true. Wherever there’s praise, God’s presence is there,” said Shamini Ruth, Country Co-coordinator for the Global Worship Day.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:3 KJV)
“I guess for me, we are not just physical and spiritual beings but emotional beings as well. And sometimes, music speaks to that part where words or just talking cannot reach. It’s just more that what you can say or preach,” said Kysern Lim, worship leader of City Harvest Church, Kuala Lumpur.
“One could sense the open heavens to come with such liberty in humble adoration of our awesome God. It’s the greatest privilege a child of God could ever have,” said Reverend Geetha Rajagopal from Victorious Life Centre, Ipoh, Perak whose church participated in the GWD.
“When you come together with different people, you have to realize it’s no longer who’s around you, how you style, and how you look. But it’s about you and God. Worship is a prerequisite to come into God’s presence. Without worship, prayer is insignificant,” said Ashwin Joshua Menon, drummer from the Global Worship Team.
Reverend John Kirby from Shekinah Grace, Sungai Petani, Kedah added, “Worship is something that is prioritized in my church. It is something that we consider as a very major part of our Christian walk because it is a reflection of our relationship with Him. The more we love Him, the more we want to worship Him.” However, apart from singing and praising God, he hoped to incorporate more of Scripture-reading, prophesying, praying, and meditating in God’s presence in GWD next year.
That is why King David, perhaps being a harpist himself, appointed 4000 musicians to praise the Lord in the temple with musical instruments. (1 Chro23:4) When the Moabites and Ammonites declared war against Judah, King Jehoshaphat sent forth singers to sing praises to God ahead of his army. By the time they began to sing in faith, God began to annihilate the Moabites and Ammonites before them and they only saw dead bodies when they reached the peak. (2 Chro 20:22-24) And after Nehemiah completed building the ruined walls of Jerusalem, he also immediately appointed singers. (2 Chro 20:20:24) Bravo All Stars sang it right when they say, “Let the music give you the power to move any mountain.” That power comes from our faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
“It’s the beginning of greater things to see that everyone willing to come together for one purpose to praise and magnify the name of God and put aside every denomination and how big or small our church is, and reach God first.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom 12:3-5)
“What touched my heart the most is the younger generation. They come just so humbly and sincere without any political background whatsoever, willing to put everything aside, and bringing God into the picture,” said Pastor Philip Thomas of Grace Assembly, Klang who gathered 12 teams from various churches to worship as one body in his church.
Reverend Stephen Chan from Saint Andrew Church, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu who congregated six churches added, “Because the Christian population is less than 1000 people here, if we don’t get together, it’s difficult to reach out. Most of the people who came were college and university students. Many said it’s the first time they see so many university students in one church.”
Pastor Perry Robert of the Bahasa Ministry of the Breakthru’ Worship Community Church, Cheras shared that he was touched to see many young people coming to worship God at Bible College Malaysia with five other churches as well.
“Orang muda ini, mereka adalah waris gereja yang akan jadi pemimpin. Apa yang berlaku kepada generasi muda ini ialah mereka hilang ‘purity’ untuk menyembah. Mereka datang gereja tetapi mereka tidak mahu terlibat dalam apa-apa perlayanan.
“Generasi ini semakin hilang dan kita perlu membawa mereka untuk memahami apa itu penyembahan yang ‘pure’, jujur, ikhlas, dan yang menyenangkan hati Tuhan sehingga mereka digerakkan untuk melakukan perkerjaan Tuhan dan misi Tuhan,” said Pastor Perry Robert who felt the church should support the younger generation in creating new songs of praise and worship in the church.
Another interesting observation of worship in the Bible is that worship always happened in the company of an assembly of people. Even in Heaven, we see a picture of different people and different tribes worshiping the Lord in songs, hymns, and praises. (Rev 7:9-10)
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
(Rev 7:9-10 NIV)
Rev Davidson Lawrence, pastor of D’Oasis Asssembly, Skudai, Johor shared, “We had different groups of people to come and led us in worship with their own language such as the Pilipino and the Korean. The congregation expressed themselves in many forms of worship. Thank God for the experience!”
Rajkumar Abraham, GWD representative from Harvest Revival Centre, Penang also shared, “There was such an awesome presence of God and breakthrough as the English and Indonesian congregations came together as one voice before God. We believe that the Lord has done a mighty work in our midst during this prophetic and powerful time of worship.
“We even had the flag-bearers bring in the flags of every state in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria, to be a part of the Holy Spirit movement. May the churches in Malaysia continue to move with the Spirit of God through worship in the coming days, and not just wait for a once-in-a-year opportunity.”
All of the churches that participated in the GWD were grateful and looked forward to GDOW 2015. Pastor Dale Padman from Cross Culture, Shah Alam shared, “We started the event in the morning but five hours later, we were still refreshed and blessed. We are looking forward to be part of GWD next year!”
Yes. We are the Church.
We are the Bride of Christ.
We are one with God. And one with one another.
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:26-29)
Join GWD next year on 31 OCT 2015! If your church interested to host GWD at your premise or network with a few churches to host this next year, contact Shamini Ruth, GWD Country Coordinator at 012-297-2945 or email shamini.ruth@yahoo.com
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