Continuing - Confessions of a Former Cessationist

True confessions: (I have since repented for all of the following)

I judged people who raised their hands during worship. I thought it was overly emotional and unnecessary.

I judged people who shouted things like, "Praise You, Jesus!" "Glory to God!" "Hallelujah!" Shouting was rude, disruptive and not biblical, or so I thought. Then I read: "Let' us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms," in Psalm 95.

I judged people who waved banners or flags during worship services. Then I read Psalm 20:5 where it says, "We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!"

I judged people who danced during worship services...where IS your reverence for our Holy God? Then I read 2 Samuel 6:14 where "David danced before the LORD with all his might."

I even judged those worship services where a woman got up to preach the sermon, thinking that this too was unbiblical. Then I had a precious brother and pastor in Hungary walk me through the scriptures and show me that women can be teachers too, and when properly covered by a man and men in the church, women can bless the body with their teaching gifts.

My judgements were off the scale for those people who supposedly fell over during a service when someone prayed for them...I was sure that the person who put his hand on their head pushed them down, or the person was faking falling down. And even if someone was faking and doing a "cd" (courtesy drop), that was between them and God, and did not change Who God is or what He is doing in people's lives and hearts.

I judged those churches where people clapped their hands and sang loudly...but secretly, in the depths of my being, I wished that we in our church would sing songs through more than one time, and there were times when the desire to clap would begin to well up inside of me, but I worked hard to squelch it, out of supposed reverence.

Indeed, I suppose you could say that I was one of the most judgemental people in the church OF the church. Finally, as I began to explore the Scriptures, I learned much more about not only how judgemental I was, but also how wrong I was on every point above.

Probably the most amazing growth in my life has come in the past 8 years as I have released control to the Lord, watched Him break out of the neat little boxes I tried to put Him in and through it all, pour out His amazing love and grace.

Now, the challenge is not to swing to the other end of the pendulum and judge the place and perspectives that I once held. God is a big God, full of fresh revelation, and He has healed my heart and will continue to show me His Truths!