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This article comes directly out of Victoria Boyson's newest book, His Passionate
Pursuit: God's passion to captivate your heart. Below is Chapter Five, Heaven's Song.
Chapter One, Passionate Pursuit, is
available to read online as well.
Heaven's Song
Victoria Boyson
www.victoriaboyson.com
Imagine with me a great multitude of people so immense you cannot see the end of it. You find yourself standing in the middle of this glorious, vast assembly, and as you look through the crowd you see that miles before you stands a magnificent throne.
The One sitting on the throne is radiant, with a brilliant, piercing light reflected like the facets of hundreds of gemstones all casting a different hue into the atmosphere. In front of the throne a shiny sea of glass sparkles like crystal.
You feel pulses of glory emanating from Him as they flow right through you, becoming more and more substantial. In them you feel glorified life - faith, joy, and love. Surge after surge, they rush through you until you are completely captivated by His presence and your entire physical body is enveloped by His glory.
Surrounding the great throne are twenty-four thrones for twenty-four elders wearing lavish crowns on their heads, clothed in white robes that seemed to flow into the river of glory that surges from Him who is seated on the throne. The effect of His glory is obvious on the faces of the elders as His overwhelming presence washes through them.
A hush falls over the crowd and you sense a heavy feeling of heightened expectation fill the room as every eye turns to the throne. People listen silently. You hear only the hushed breathing from the crowd.
Suddenly, intense thunderclaps fracture the air and lightning bursts out from the throne, pulsating with power. With it come heavy waves of glory that crash against you like a massive swell of energy. You feel as though you are in a giant womb feeling the vibration of your mother's heartbeat pulsating through you. You are shaken to your core again and again as you feel God's heart pounding through you.
Slowly in the distance before you, near the throne, you hear a sound rise... a quiet, gentle sound. And as you look intently off in the distance, you realize the sound you hear is ascending from four beings surrounding the throne of God.
At the center on each side of the throne stand four living beings - they are frightful and strange in appearance, with eyes all over their bodies. One is like a lion, the second like an ox, the third has the face like a man, and the last is like an eagle in flight (see Revelation 4:7).
And the song they sing is heaven's song: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty- the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.
As the living beings worship the Enthroned of heaven, the twenty-four elders, overflowing with love for Him, remove their crowns. Laying them before Him, they fall down and lay prostrate before Him, worshipping Him who lives forever and ever.
As they worship Him they proclaim: "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased." -Revelation 4:2-11 NLT
While the song builds in intensity, every heart in the room is overwhelmed with emotion as it fills them and each individual joins with the elders as with one voice - filling the atmosphere with passionate praise.
Countless numbers stand in this sacred room, each person filled to overflowing with the glory of God. He is saturating every soul, and now all are one with Him and filled with His holy love.
As you stand there, in the middle of the awe and majesty, you are filled with such overwhelming love. You struggle and even yearn for a way to express it. You long to give Him your whole heart, keeping nothing from Him, giving Him everything so you can express your love toward Him.
To lay at His feet is an expression of honor to display your overwhelming awe and love as your foremost desire. But what do you have to express your love? As you contemplate all of this, you realize you too have a crown of great price. Your crown represents the honor and love your Father has given you - your authority and your relationship with Him.
Your worship unfolds as a tender surrender of all you are - your crown you give willingly. And you lay at His feet every honor you've received - that is your privileged worship to Him. To give to Him what is dear to you out of the depth of a heart brimming with affection for Him. In essence, you surrender all you are to Him and say, "Let all that I am praise the Lord" (Psalm 146:1 NLT).
The worship He most desires, and what He's worked so hard and sacrificed so much to save, is you. Your love is what He longs for more than anything, because you are worship to Him.
He wanted you; He wanted to love you up close. The God of heaven who dwells in glory, who is continually worshipped, reached down and rescued you, called you by His name and clothed you with His glory to make you His own.
The fact that He wants you so desperately is reason enough to worship Him every time you take a breath and every morning when you open your eyes. He is with you waiting to share the day with you. This is the One you worship.
Your worship is one of the most important activities in heaven and earth; the throngs of heaven await your expression of love for your Beloved. He wants you to know He loves it when you worship Him, even when you just sit and think about Him. And when you speak out the words the Spirit has placed in your heart, you captivate the attention of heaven.
All of heaven stops and listens as you declare what they all feel so tenderly; it ignites the praise of heaven. In an uproarious thunder of praise for Him, all of heaven combines with yours, joining in your song. The awesome praise lifts His glory higher and higher as it catapults to the roar of an angel-filled sky.
That is the power of your words, dear one. Let nothing stop your song. Heaven is waiting to hear you sing its song, the song of heaven.
His Response
Now, imagine yourself in an anointed worship service. The band is playing passionate, explosive music. The congregation surrounding you is worshipping and engaging. And you are caught up in the
Spirit as you give praise to God. In spirit and in truth you declare His greatness and your love for Him. Why? Because He is worthy!
He deserves praise, and you love to show Him that you know He is worthy. You long
to give Him the praise due His name. It doesn't matter who's around you or what they are doing, you give Him praise and you don't care what others think. Your only thought is for Him, and nothing will hold you
back from flooding heaven with your passionate worship.
It doesn't matter what your personal life is like, or what difficulties you're dealing with. You know worship isn't just a response to the blessings
God's given you - your love for Him is unconditional regardless of any circumstance in your life. You may feel broken and raw, hurting and desperate, but He is worthy and you love Him. Your hands stretch out toward
heaven as far as you can reach them. Waving them like a banner, you practically see Him now on His throne as you sing your song personally to Him; face-to-face, you cry out praise to Him.
How do you think He reacts
to your praise?
He wants you to think about how your love and praise affects Him, because He is indeed soaking it all in. When you worship Him, He closes His eyes slowly, leans His head back, and breathes deeply. He
starts to smile and is flooded with emotion at the same time. He is soon overwhelmed and filled with love and gratitude. He reaches His hand to His heart and begins to weep - He is undone.
That is what your worship
means to Him.
As heaven looks on, the Almighty Lord of all is deeply touched by your declaration of love. All in heaven are deeply moved as they watch Him. Silence fills heaven. Then, quietly and respectfully, they
begin to join the earth. Singing slowly and very quietly so as not to drown out earth's praise, but with a quiet echoing response, they close their eyes, still listening intently to the earth singing heaven's
song.
Brimming with emotion, they begin to flow in response to the release in His heart, and they give in to their urge to roar with His praise. Heaven and earth join as one - hearts burning, as their desire for Him
heightens. Now no words can comprise their hearts' passion, and a glorious thunderous response in heaven gives way to riotous praise, uncapping the glory-wells of heaven.
When His heart is filled with your
praise, His glorious presence rushes to you and He grabs your hand as if to say, "Walk with me!" You are both caught up in heaven's song as He unfurls waves of His presence over you again and again. Unraveling
your heart, He releases you to enjoy Him. His love melts your pain, drawing you to Himself. He finds you - His beloved lost lamb.
Beloved, there are many things you do for God that you may not realize He receives as
worship. Your worship is so incredibly precious to Him; He listens and holds each word you speak close to His heart. He loves it so much because it brings you closer to Him, and you are what He wants.
"But an
hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers" (John 4:23 NASB).
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NEW Book by Victoria Boyson