Spiritual Barometers

When I was growing up, my mum had this funny statue of the Virgin Mary. We are of Italian background and so she had been given this as a gift from one of her relatives all the way from Italy. This statue was coated in some sort of substance that changed colour according to whatever the weather was going to be that day – i.e., if it was blue it was going to be fine, if it was pink – rain, green – snow etc. She affectionately became known in our household as the ‘Madonna barometer’ and we would often bring it out to see if it was actually correlating with the weather and most times she was right!

A barometer in scientific terms is used to measure air pressure in the environment and can be used to forecast short term weather changes, essentially it is measuring the atmosphere. I am going to go out on a limb and actually say that we as creative people and Worship Leaders especially have a special capacity for being ‘spiritual barometers’ when it comes to our environments. I think it is part of the way God has made us and I think it's also part of our spiritual function. He has given us this ability to sense what is going on in the spiritual atmosphere around us, not only to bring awareness to it, but to be able to sing and praise into it and declare God’s truth over people and the battles they may be facing. The bible talks about the fact that there are other forces at work in our atmospheres –

Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

And in Daniel 10:10–20 we see that Daniel has an encounter with an angelic being who has been battling some of these principalities at work in the world –

“But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia” (v.13).

We get a very clear picture here that there is a spiritual war going on in our world that the physical realm is affected by. I believe that especially as creatives, worshippers and worship leaders we are extra sensitive to this dimension, like ‘spiritual barometers’ we are sensitive to the atmospheres around us.

Jeff and Julie Crabtree in their book Living with a Creative Mind describe creative people as living a kind of ‘skinless’ existence — that metaphorically, we almost live with a layer of less skin making us sense and feel things more deeply. We are actually wired to take in more information from our world around us in order to be able to turn this into creative expression to lead people to experience something transcendent. It is the same for worshippers and worship leaders. God allows us to sense what is going on in the spiritual atmosphere around us in order to be able to go before in the battle and lead people into a place of transcendence and encountering Him deeply.

How many times have you been rostered ‘on’ as worship leader and in the week leading up you have encountered things you didn’t expect?

You may have been bombarded with anxious thoughts, or heaviness or discouragement. They might have been things that are ‘uncharacteristically You’ and you have thought, “Man, where did this come from?” Can I suggest that sometimes God is revealing to you the spiritual atmosphere, the battles that people are facing, and as you step out and lead them in worship you are able to confront these things with the weapon of praise and to fight these battles on their behalf. Let’s not forget that worship is warfare and it does shift atmospheres, and as we read in 2 Chronicles 20:21 His worshippers are on the front line of the battle. As we worship, we win the battle for others.

2 Activations for us –

Cultivate awareness – of what’s happening, within yourself and externally. It’s good to ask – what’s going on here, is it me and my stuff? Is it the atmosphere? What do I hear other people facing? Ask God to reveal the enemy’s strategies and what He is wanting to highlight to be able to bring victory into.

Counter punch with truth – The enemy will want to take advantage of your own weakness so if you find yourself bombarded with negative thought patterns, take them captive and declare God’s truth over yourself and then take those things into your worship times to declare over others.