The Music Exchange

‘Prophetic worship’ is a phrase that is used commonly these days among Christian musicians.

I wish I could nail down exactly what is meant by prophetic worship. I’ve been to conferences where the phrase has been used, read books about it, and been on the internet to find definitions of it. I’ve come to the conclusion that prophetic worship is considered to be something that everyone should be involved with, but no one actually knows what it is.

Clues

Here are some clues from quotes if you fancy coming up with your own definition.

One article defines two types of worship: 1. Devotional and adorational; 2. Prophetic and life-changing.

‘Devotional worship is giving to God what is rightfully his — respect, honour, adoration, etc. Prophetic worship is about connecting heaven and earth. It is worship that is both heavenly and earthly.’

‘Prophetic worship is worship which is not predictable — worship that is fresh and new. Prophetic worship involves singing, dance, mime, symbolic actions, art, supernatural sounds and new music.’

‘Prophetic worship — music inspired by God himself, has an even greater power to liberate, release and empower.’

‘Communing with and expressing our love to God in praise, adoration and worship is a key to releasing the flow of prophetic revelation from God’s throne. And as God inhabits the praises of his people, their worship itself becomes part of the prophetic flow as the Lord makes himself known in new songs and through the instruments.’

Can you tell what it is yet, Rolf?

I’m still unsure myself, but I think that the broad definition of prophetic worship is the search for a revelation of God that has an immediate spiritual (small ‘s’) effect. This corresponds with a lot of the language that is used with regard to prophetic worship: ‘I want to go deeper into God’, ‘I want to move into my destiny in God’. At the same time, the physical actions which accompany this ‘searching’ today have developed into outstretched arms with hands in the shape of grasping claws.

I myself often have that sense of longing and searching for an immediate experience of God. I know that God has revealed himself in his Word totally and sufficiently, yet much of the time I’m impatient and want results now. My temptation is always to look inwards and say: ‘I don’t feel like I’m engaging with God when I read his Word; I need something to happen which will convince me that he’s there.’ And so, in my own way, I sit there with my arms outstretched, clawing the air for God to make himself real.

Man-driven

However, as you’ll have noticed from the quotes above, the revelation of God that is expected from ‘prophetic worship’ is driven more by man than by God — our music, dance or art decides whether God engages with us or not.

The whole point about true prophecy, however, is that God reveals himself through his Word. The fact that I don’t feel a change within me, or experience any extra intimacy with God doesn’t mean that God’s Word has failed. God’s Word never returns to him empty, but it accomplishes that which he purposes, not what I purpose (Isaiah 55.11). If we stand there, clawing in the air for God to make his presence known through human means, our hope may never be fulfilled. No wonder that many of today’s songs speak of waiting, longing and yearning to be satisfied. This is a well-known song-writer of today: ‘I know the promise should be enough, but I want more, how long till I am satisfied?’

Firm foundation

We will never reach the satisfaction the songs yearn for until we find our rest in the firm foundation of God’s Word. This doesn’t mean that we stop longing and yearning for heaven, but it does mean that we don’t need to reach out with desperately clawing hands for something that isn’t guaranteed to happen. Instead, God guarantees eternal satisfaction through his grace proclaimed in Scripture and in the praise of Christian believers to the God who will never leave us or forsake us.

To conclude, prophetic worship is perceived to be today’s Holy Grail of ‘worship’: it is something that is to be searched for, but never found, and I’m not sure we’d know what to do with it if we found it anyway. The good news, however, is that God has revealed himself to us fully and finally, through his Son, in his Word, by the Spirit, so that we have a hope that is driven not by man-made music and art, but by genuine thanksgiving.

Prophetic worship?

Clues

Man-driven

Firm foundation

Richard Simpkin

Main Articles

Other articles