I Wanna Dance Like Enoch Danced

Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
—Genesis 5:24

In the Fall of 1999, I was the Worship Leader at a small Baptist Church in Marietta, GA that had a revival. This revival wasn’t on our calendar. We had not planned it in our staff meetings. We hadn’t even discussed it in passing. But it happened anyway.

You see, we were a “broken” church. Over a two-month period the previous year, we lost our Senior Pastor, Worship Leader, and Associate Pastor — all had left to pursue God’s calling elsewhere. We were a church with no leadership and no direction. It was during that time that God raised me up as the Worship Leader.

God used those times of uncertainty to drive us to our knees; to seek Him with all of our hearts; to question why we existed as a church; and ultimately, why we existed as believers.

In time, God brought us a new Pastor and a new Associate Pastor. Together, we [the church Staff] sought God’s purpose for our little church. We made prayer the defining characteristic of our staff meetings (and worship rehearsals). Over the next couple of months, our worship changed—as a result of our renewed focus on prayer.

Then, one Sunday morning…God showed up!

None of us knew what had hit us. During our “regular” altar call at the end of the service, several people came forward—broken, weeping, and crying out to God. Before we knew what was happening, all of them were laying on the floor before us. We had never seen anything like this before!

At our service that evening, there were even more people on the floor, and a woman who spoke a word of Prophecy over our church — which had never happened before — and several folks began speaking in tongues. Needless to say, our little Baptist church was shaken to its core.

Over the next two months, this continued. And it continued to grow. We would hear testimony from people who found themselves turning into our parking lot without knowing why. As they walked into our foyer, they would be overwhelmed with conviction. They would cry out to God and be saved! BEFORE THEY EVER MADE IT INTO A SERVICE!

Being the Worship Leader during this time gave me a unique perspective from which to observe what was happening in our midst. From the platform, we witnessed countless people as they found salvation and embraced the strength and courage to pursue God’s call on their lives. And we saw several marriages restored.

But the thing that had the greatest impact on me was that at several times during this revival, God gave me what I can only describe as a glimpse into the Spiritual realm during our Praise and Worship. I saw¹ the Holy Spirit sweep across the congregation, bringing conviction, salvation, and healing. The “wave” that drove most of the congregation to their knees. The Cloud of Glory descending around our building. And I saw into the spiritual battleground that surrounds us. It was this final vision that has had the greatest, lasting impact on me.

While I could clearly see that I was on a battleground, I knew that I was not a warrior—in the sense that I was not the one directly involved with the enemy. The “warriors” were angels. ALL of the warriors were angels. I was simply a conduit that fed the angels around me. What I instantly understood was that the angels who are fighting on my behalf are empowered through my praise, worship, and intercession. As we increased our intensity, the vast host of angelic warriors around us were empowered to win great victories on our behalf in the spiritual realm.

While these physical manifestations were amazing, they paled in comparison to the unseen changes that were happening in our hearts and spirits as we drew near to God and allowed Him to do His work in us.

In the words of Isaiah the Prophet, this experience has left me undone (Isaiah 6:5). You see, while I realize the connection between the intensity of my praise, worship, and intercession and spiritual warfare, I still find myself struggling with pride. I am a prideful man, and I live in the midst of prideful men and women. We want to please God, but we also want to appear balanced and in control.

Jesus declared,

and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength… —Mark 12:30

If I am going to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, then I simply can’t hold anything back. Pride must die!

David declares,

I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing. —2 Samuel 24:24

Any sacrifice that is to be pleasing to God must cost us something. If praise is to be our sacrifice, then it must cost us something. The cost for me—for most of us — is our pride. We must forget about our image before men, and focus on our image before God.

Wayne Watson recorded a song called “One Day.” The chorus says:

“One day Jesus will call my name
As days go by, I hope I don’t stay the same
I want to get so close to him that it’s no big change
On that day when Jesus calls my name.”

Enoch understood this idea. Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:24). I imagine Enoch knew what it meant to abandon himself in worship. As he drew closer and closer to God, the intensity of his worship increased. Until one day, he entered into God’s presence in worship…and he never came back!

If we are to fulfill the destiny that God has laid before us—both personally and corporately—then we must learn to press into worship the way David and Enoch did. We must take hold of Jesus’ charge to love God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We must lay our pride on the sacrificial altar, stand naked before God, and change and become like little children (Matthew 18:3). We must chip away at our pride until there is nothing left standing except Christ in us.

Then God’s love, grace, power, and blessing can flow — unhindered — and we will become the people He has called us to be.

What a legacy that would be for our children and their children after them.

I wanna dance like Enoch danced!

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. —Psalm 139:23-24

¹I find myself at a loss to describe just how I “saw" these things. It was very real. It was as if I was physically seeing that which cannot be seen. The Holy Spirit sweeping across the congregation appeared like the heat waves rising off the asphalt on a hot summer day — except that instead of rising up, it swept across the congregation. And I knew instantly that it was the Holy Spirit.