Sweaty Worship and Humble Prayers.

Have you ever worshipped so hard your clothes fell off?
  Have you ever prayed so hard you had sweat fall off your face like drops of blood?

2 Samuel 6:14 English Standard Version (ESV)14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.

Luke 22:44 (NLT)44 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.

I have been in worship services where everyone leading and everyone in the audience are sweat-soaked thru their clothes.  I've been in worship services that when everyone stops for a moment the sweat and tears are rolling so hard there's a pool of sweat and tears at all our feet.   

This is how David worshipped and this is how Jesus prayed.  Why are we not living by this example?  We can use the excuse that it's not our culture, we are more reserved or sophisticated....but this is what David's wife thought when she saw him dancing before the Lord and blessings were withheld from her.

2 Samuel 6: 20 And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince[b] over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your[c]eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” 23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

 I have seen and experienced work and workouts that made me sweat thru my clothes or made the sweat roll off my face, but the one thing I was created for has rarely made me sweat like that.  

When I think about how I've seen people pray in Uganda I wonder how is it often so different here when we serve the same God?  I think about how I often feel the presence of God so much stronger there than I do here. 

* I struggle to even share this because if I'm not careful I can make God sound Ugandan.  He is not a certain race or nationality, he doesn't take up residence in a country or people group.  God is everywhere at all times and His Spirit dwells in His people, everywhere they are.*

 That being said....I can't deny the presence I feel when I'm there.  As I think and pray on this I think about the people that Jesus encountered and healed when He was here on the earth....it was the desperate ones.  The ones that knew they were desperate and didn't let social boundaries or behaviors stop them from getting to Him.  They would tear thru roofs of houses, and crawl to touch the hem of His robe.  They were desperate and they were willing to humble themselves for a touch, for some attention.  

I look at the way people worship with all their might and I see freedom and a joy that you can't get anywhere on this earth except for in the presence of God.

  His presence doesn't depend on our location but on our desperate desire for Him.
 The only location that matters is the direction of our hearts and the worship of our lives. 

 May we live our lives in wild worship to Him!