Partnering with Heaven

an interview with worship leader Kelanie Gloeckler, by Liz Bailey
Apr/May/Jun 2012

We were created to worship. Everything about the way we were wired by our Creator God summons a response from deep within to worship. Turning our gaze to heaven and tuning in to the heart of God through worship is one of the most powerful weapons we have in the Spirit. In 2 Chronicles 20, as Jehoshaphat was made aware of the great army that was bearing down on him in battle, he knew that his first and most important response was to fall down before the Lord in worship. As the people of Judah prepared for battle, they sent out singers and musicians ahead of the army to give praise to their God whose ‘love endures forever’ (v.21). I love to imagine the faces of the enemies of Judah, as the praises of God’s people were heard and the Lord fought on their behalf. This is not your average battle plan! Our enemies have no power over us when we lift up the name of Jesus!

CHM has had the distinct pleasure of working with prophetic singer, songwriter, and worship leader, Kelanie Gloeckler. Kelanie is on staff as a worship leader at New Life Christian Fellowship in Jacksonville, and at IHOP–Jax (International House of Prayer) as a worship leader, teacher and mentor; she also travels extensively around the country leading worship and teaching at various churches, conferences and worship schools. At CHM, we have a desire to learn more about the role of worship in healing. Kelanie has been used by God to help us in our conferences. Recently, I sat down with Kelanie and interviewed her about her journey as a worship leader. Here is a little peek into the heart of a gifted and anointed worshipper:

Liz: How long have you been leading worship?

Kelanie: Twenty years. I started leading worship when I was 15 or 16, basically as soon as I could figure out how to put a few chords together on the guitar. I was a relatively shy young lady, so leading worship wasn’t something that I naturally had a huge desire to do — I had absolutely no desire to be on a stage or in front of people. But there were just little things along the way, cumulatively, that got me out of my shell.

Liz: You are known as a prophetic worship leader. What is prophetic worship?

Kelanie: A basic, fundamental definition of prophetic worship is the other half of the conversation of worship. Most people associate worship with singing songs in a congregational setting. It isn’t totally wrong to think this way, but a vital piece is missing. In worship, we’re singing to the Lord and about Him. Prophetic worship happens when we step from that place into the place of His response back to us in song. It’s like the other end of a phone conversation. Because we have the indwelling Holy Spirit, He’s always present and He’s always speaking to us. However, we aren’t always tuning in. In prophetic worship, we are intentional about understanding that He does want to say stuff and He wants to do stuff when we’re all together worshipping Him. There’s an activation that happens during this time. For me as a worship leader, sometimes I’ll get a sense of a theme that’s on the Lord’s heart and I might turn that into a phrase, a simple declaration that I can sing over and over again which enables the worshippers to come into agreement and declare it together. I find that when I’m obedient to follow that ‘faith trail’ with the Holy Spirit, a lot gets activated in that moment. If I wasn’t obedient, things would be missed. For example, I might start to release something prophetically in a song, maybe a certain theme of releasing hope, or something that causes people to respond by being freed from addictions. There’s so much activity going on during that kind of prophetic flow — it’s so cool how the Holy Spirit can be speaking so individually to everyone in the room while we’re corporately together singing the same song.

Liz: After twenty years of leading worship, how have you changed personally? How has God transformed what you understand worship to be?

Kelanie: It has changed a TON. My paradigm, my understanding of worship was just fine when I was younger but it was just so . . .tiny. When I really felt and heard the call of God on my life in this direction, I had no grid for where I was going. In the beginning, it was just that I loved to worship God and I loved to sing. Fast forward to college, I was exposed to some worship music that was unlike anything I’d ever heard before and something inside me resonated — I was like, woah, this sound is inside of me and I didn’t even know it existed. I was blown away. Something shifted and was awakened on the inside of me and the next thing I knew, that’s all I wanted to do. I wasn’t satisfied anymore with just singing the songs; I wanted to stay on them and see what God would do. That created a lot of boldness in me because it took a lot of faith. Most recently, my involvement in IHOP has focused me in a new way. It has really marked me in my understanding of worship, and being a Mary of Bethany at the feet of Jesus; of being an Elijah, a forerunner voice, preparing the way for the Lord, being an Anna who just lived in the house of the Lord. It’s a totally different mindset.

Liz: What do you see as your primary role as it relates to the body of Christ?

Kelanie: I’ll tell you what it’s not: it’s not to be a cheerleader; it’s not to work everybody up into a froth so that they think that they had an encounter with God. I really want to see people genuinely encountering the Lord in a way that is transforming and life changing. I want to help create an atmosphere and lead people to Jesus — get them to focus on Jesus because that’s where it all happens. If you need healing in your body, it’s done in Jesus, so focus on Jesus. If you need deliverance, if there’s anxiety or stress in your life, if your marriage is in trouble, it doesn’t matter what the need is, focusing on Jesus is where you find the answers. I am a presence–driven person; I want to go into the presence of the Lord, period. And I want to help people connect with the Lord in that way and be changed. The Holy Spirit will do so much inside of us if we have a willing heart, even during worship. In that moment, sometimes things happen almost instantaneously — something lifts off of us, or joy comes. Some people have real supernatural encounters during worship. As we continuously gaze on the Lord and learn how to stay in that place, we abide in Him. There is also that ongoing transformation that’s happening day by day and then one day we wake up and realize ‘wow, I’ve come a long way.’

Liz: In Judith’s new book on angels, there is a section on the Seraphim, the angels who are assigned to the Throne Room of God to worship Him. How does this reality impact the way you lead people in worship?

Kelanie: It has everything to do with it. The Seraphim, aka ‘the burning ones,’ are perpetual worshippers of God. They are continually magnifying the worth of Jesus Christ. They never get tired of worshipping; they never cease to cry out about God’s holiness and His glory. Heaven is our inheritance and our eternal home. It is the dwelling place of God and because of that, it is important that we pay attention to what is happening in that place. The glimpses we get (in Scripture) concerning the activity going on in the heavenly sanctuary are not put there just to make us homesick for a place that we hope to get to one day; they are put there because it is God’s desire that the worship on earth would be in alignment with and would be a true reflection of the worship in heaven. Praying ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ means that we are asking God to release on the earth what is in heaven — and one of the primary things that Scripture shows us about heaven is the incessant worship of God on His throne. Just as the Seraphim have been given the role in heaven to worship God, we have been given a role on earth to minister to the Lord. Our worship, our prayer, and our intercession going before Him actually impacts things here and changes the atmosphere around us because when I am worshipping, I am interacting with heaven. My voice is being heard before the throne of God. My prayer, my intercession is rising up like incense in a real place, before a real throne. I’m not just flinging words up into the ethereal realm — I’m actually interacting with a real place. Psalm 22 says ‘God is enthroned on the praises of Israel’ so we understand this concept that God literally inhabits our praise. Just in the same way He is surrounded by worship in heaven, He desires to be enthroned in worship on the earth. It is so awesome that we get to worship Him as His sons, His daughters, and His bride.

Liz: How do you feel worship ‘sets the stage’ for healing?

Kelanie: Worship goes hand–in–hand with healing because we are focusing on Jesus, the healer. Our hearts are being prepared to receive from Him. I believe that worship really contributes to an atmosphere of faith. Where there are people who need a breakthrough, whether in their physical body, or in their emotions, they can receive from Him. Worship increases our awareness of who He is. I love in Ephesians 5 when Paul says ‘be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in songs, hymns and spiritual songs’ (v.19). I have always thought that it was really cool that he emphasizes ‘speaking to one another’ because in our times of worship when we come together as the church, we always think we are singing to the Lord but there’s also another dimension where we’re singing to one another and exhorting one another through worship. For example, when I make a decision to press in to God and worship Him, I am helping contribute to an atmosphere of faith that may bring about the breakthrough for somebody else. People need to encounter God and that can often come through worship. And whether He chooses to heal someone in a moment or whether it’s a progressive thing, being in the atmosphere of worship is really healthy for our bodies and life giving. Saturating yourself in God’s presence affects us profoundly on a physical and emotional level. Compare this to being bombarded by negativity. Negative words can affect us in a negative way, because our bodies hear and respond — I believe that’s why we see healing take place in direct connection with an atmosphere of worship.

Liz: Thank you Kelanie. We ask the Lord to continue to bless you as you continue to press into His heart.

After the enemies of Judah were defeated, we read in 2 Chronicles 20:

The battle started with worship and ended with worship. That was the priority. Worship was the weapon that led Judah to victory.

I love the presence of Jesus. I love to worship. Without question, the most significant healings that I, personally, have experienced have been in the midst of worship. I long for that day in eternity when we will join with the mighty host of angels surrounding the Throne of our great God; but I also rejoice in the reality that my role as a worshipper here on earth is crucial and valid. As Kelanie said, we are His sons and daughters, His bride — and living as these means that our worship of Him releases His Kingdom here on earth as it is now in heaven. What a remarkable inheritance!

Liz Bailey is the Events Coordinator for CHM.