Our Guest Shane Warren

Sid: Well my friend Shane Warren pastor of a church, I’ve not heard of a church getting an honor like this. But your church was voted the place to be on Sunday in Louisiana. Now why was it voted that Shane?

Shane: Just because of the atmosphere Sid we have people coming from all over America and around the world just to get into the atmosphere of the services of our church. So when people come into the atmosphere we’ve seen these great life transformation and miracles that happen. Nobody touching anybody just in the presence of God. And because of that and because of our outreach it’s taking that glory not only what’s in the church but taking that same presence of God out into our community and touching lives and seeing miracles out in our community that’s the reason we were given that honor.

Sid: Now I want to take you back to a horrible time in your life, your father had died, your mother is dying, you’re praying for people and their having miracles, but nothing is happening to your mother. 10:30 at night you get your electric guitar; tell me in a little more detail what did you saying to God. Were you blaming God that your mother was dying and you pray for total strangers and they have miracles?

Shane:   Well at that time Sid we had just seen some of the most miraculous events, we had a man who was blind who was healed. We had a man who was lame whose leg literally grew out in our services. We had people with cancer that was being healed and here was my mother dying, so of course I had all of these questions for God. Almost like Job I began to ask questions and out of faith I was contending for her miracle begging God for her miracle. And I began to ask God “Why is it that we have all of these other miracles, people are getting healed and I can’t get my own mother healed.” And I couldn’t understand that so it drove me to the only place I’ve ever found peace and that was in just in worshiping God. And I actually told God as I went to that music room and put that guitar around my neck and I began to worship. I said “God, I might not ever have the answer of why you did not touch my mother or why my mother didn’t get healed.” I said, “But I’m not going to go to hell over a mystery.” But then all of a sudden I felt something shift in me and it was like something rose up on the inside and I turned my attention toward the enemy. I said “Enemy, but I want you to know tonight that no matter what happens to my mother whether she lives or dies you will never be able to take one thing from me, you will never take my song, you will never take my worship, you’ll never take my praise.” And almost in a holy indignation I began to worship God with everything that I had on the inside of me in that room.

Sid: You know what I don’t understand Shane, that is the way every believer should react.   Let’s face it we know… you know the older I get the more gray hair I get the less I know. The less dogmatic I am on what I am on the way I am. But the truth of the matter is we do know the love of God. So that to me is the normal way someone should react, so I’m so glad you reacted that way. But then something happened to you, what happened?

Shane:   Well I was caught up into the only way I know how to describe this is into a different realm. I was caught up into like a heavenly place, almost to… I’m not trying to compare myself to the apostle Paul but I was caught up into the heavens. And God began to show me things in the spirit realm as I was worshiping Him there God began to show me the power and the effect of worship. He began to show me that all of us have the ability to access the heavens no matter what’s going on in our lives, no matter what state we’re in we have keys as believers that God has given us through His word to unlock the heavens and that God can turn our mourning into dancing. He can take our midnights and make them beautiful mornings if we could just learn to access the heavens with these keys. And I began to see some of these keys. I mean God began to show me worship services, and what happens in church services when people are worshiping.

Sid: Excuse this was 7 hours this went on?

Shane:   This went on for 7 hours, when I came to 7 hours later the guitar was still around my neck and the guitar was still on a cord on the neck of the guitar and I was setting there. It was like God took me for 7 hours into a realm that I’ve never been in before and it literally changed my life. It gave me a revelation of the spirit realm that very few people have, not because it’s not available but because they’re not willing to do what it takes to discover it.

Sid: Now the next day you asked a simple question of God “God, what happened to me last night?” What did He say?

Shane:   He said “You came and you built an altar of worship to me.” And He said “And I turned into a well of resource for you.” And God began to speak to me how these times of worship, that praise and worship and personal intimacy with Christ actually becomes a well of resources to us where we can draw things from God that we can’t get any other way.

Sid: Shane, I’ve asked a lot of guests that have such intimacy with God and I always ask this question of them. “How do you personally worship when you’re alone and wherever you worship?” I know how you worship at church, but how do you worship when you’re alone. And I haven’t had what I consider a satisfactory answer. What is worship, let’s start right there.

Shane:   Well worship actually the word worship comes from two words wor-sky, which literally means to build an altar, it’s to build a sacred place an intimacy, a time with God. Sid how I personally worship, I worship God just like I worship Him at church, worship Him at home. In fact I’m more radical at home you know it’s almost like David when he was dancing down the streets of Jerusalem and Micha his wife was watching from above in the window. And he finally comes home and she says “Boy you really embarrassed us today you’ve been so radical in your worship. What kind of king does that?” He said, “If you think I’ve been undignified up to this point you haven’t seen anything yet because if I was undignified on the street I’m going to be undignified in my house.” And that’s where I am in my worship, that’s how I worship God. I’m as passionate, I mean I’ve danced all over my house, I’ve run, I’ve jumped, I’ve shouted, I’ve sang, I’ve wept, you know I’ve bowed down, laid on my face. That’s how I worship God,

Sid: Now do you normally sing songs when you worship God, that’s what most people think when they hear worship. They see the word song.

Shane: Well I think again there’s a lot of different expressions and postures in worship. And there’s no one time that I do the same thing back to back. Sometimes I’m singing songs; sometimes worship for me is laying there on my face in quietness in the presence of the Lord. Listening for and hearing that still small voice of God. There’s other times the Bible says in the Book of Habakkuk that “The prayer of Habakkuk set to Shagona” means wild, frenzied emotionally stirred prayer. And sometimes it’s that way for me too some days it’s wild and frenzied and emotionally stirring and I’m jumping and dancing shouting. And sometimes I’m very forceful and sometimes I’m very meek. I think that what we do is the box God into this little bitty box of what worship is. When really worship is just man drawing nigh to God by whatever means necessary, drawing nigh to God.

Sid: You know you talk about what’s more important than the song you sing is what your heart is bringing. Explain that.

Shane:   Well we have relegated personal intimacy with God through worship and praise to a song, to a style, to a certain place. But it’s not about the songs that we sing it’s about the heart we bring. I’ve been in Africa Sid where I’ve seen people beat on pots and pans because they didn’t have any instruments at all. I’ve seen the manifestation of God’s glory and people demon possessed fall out all over the place getting delivered at one time. The song wasn’t very pretty at all, in fact it didn’t sound good at all just beating on pots and pans but it was effective because the heart of the people were connecting with God.

Sid: Tell me where you were that 7 hours you said you were like Paul “Whether in the body or out of the body.” You were in another place, where were you?

Shane:   Honestly Sid I don’t know I wish I could tell you that but I don’t know.

Sid: (Laughing)

Shane:   All I could tell you was in a different realm and the Lord was teaching me different things about the realm of the Spirit that are in the Bible. There all in the word of God it’s just that we look right over them because we focus more on the natural realm than we do on the spiritual realm.

Sid: You know you are going to explain this week and you do in your brand new book and your 3 CD’s. We call it “Keys to Unlocking the Heavens.” You explain how you can live in the Holy of Holies 24-7. You explain how this intimacy with God is not just a word, it is the most wonderful thing a human can have on this earth. You explain the keys to have the favor with God, to have your prayer answered. You’ve explained how to access the glory realm for physical healing, for miracles, for information, for wisdom…