Caught Up in God

One of my favorite descriptions of worship comes from R.A.Torrey: Worship is being “occupied and satisfied with God alone… It has been well said, ‘in prayer we are occupied with our needs, in thanksgiving we are occupied with our blessings, in worship we are occupied with Himself.’”

According to Torrey, true worship requires divine intervention: “The first thing we should do when we worship is, with a realization of our own utter helplessness, to look up to the Holy Spirit to teach us and enable us to worship properly. He must present God to our mind for our contemplation. He must subdue and awe our hearts before Him in true adoration.”

So, getting pumped up with high-energy songs at church after loading up on donuts doesn’t qualify as worship?

Most of my time with God is spent in prayer—caught up in my needs. Right after a prayer is answered, I might focus on thanksgiving—thus getting caught up in my blessings. However, only a few seconds a day are spent in worship—completely caught up in God, occupied and satisfied with Him alone. I might be able to initiate prayer and thanksgiving, but worship can only be ignited by the Spirit of God. We can collect the kindling, but God alone can light the fire.

“I was caught up at once in deep worship.” (Rev. 4:2 MSG)

“Right then the Spirit took control of me.” (Rev. 4:2 CEV)

 There is a reason why the Holy Spirit is often compared to the wind. We can’t catch the wind, but we can get caught up in it. We can’t influence the wind, or manage it, but we can be influenced and controlled by it. Like a windmill stands in the path of the wind, we can succumb to the Spirit’s power, which, in turn, generates power in us and through us.