Some of you may remember my previous post: "Thirsty? There is No Other Stream ...". I learnt that when you make a statement such as that it's important - no vital - to "live" what you write. To "experience" what I saw. Otherwise I'm no better than any other dry and dusty Pharisee that's a dime a dozen these days. I've been having a pretty terrible few weeks at work and have been struggling with work-related stress and it looks like I may have to work through a grievance procedure at work so things probably aren't going to get better for a while. BUT! I was walking to work on my 5th night of 6 and happened to play a selection of worship songs on my IPOD - with my favourite worship leaders; Darlene Zscech, Kate Simmonds and Lou Fellingham.
And I can only say that the power of God fell on me! The theme of all the worship songs seemed to naturally be the Cross of Christ - the amazing nature of "shuffle"! Again and again the fresh and amazing revelation of those songs came through to me again and again. That "Christ was made sin for us - Took the blame, bore the wrath—We stand forgiven at the cross"! When it got to the line; "For through Your suffering I am free. Death is crushed to death; Life is mine to live" - I found it hard to keep standing never mind walking!
It reminded me of the vital nature of drinking of the Spirit - continually. Why is it that we so quickly forget and relegate experiences of God to special occasions? If we are - then surely we are depriving ourselves of power to live by! And worship is such an awesome way to turn our attention off our problems and back to God. Thanks to Lydia for reminding me of the awesome Hillsongs resources that are available - their worship videos never fail to stir me.
Here's a few. Enjoy!
"You are My World".
"I Will Run to You".
And one of my favourites; "Mighty to Save".
Whatever life throws at us - whatever trials, whatever tribulations - let's never forget to worship the King of Kings - the Lover of our souls! Because He is worthy!
3 comments:
Dan it's great to have you back and posting, you have been missed!!! My prayers are with you during this time of trial you are facing at work!!
You are most welcome as well!!!
One of the negs of ever brooching the subject of 3rd level things....actually like anything a bit new to us in God...is that somewhere between the transmission and pickup there is a powerful Devil who has spent 6000 years honing his skills at keeping us in the dark.
This is real and this is what happened in 1980. TWICE.So bear with this bit of history cos I want to relate it to what's happening at your work...which in terms of unfair pressure seems to be what happened to Ian (at church) working as a night shelf-stacker in Tescos.
Ed Miller came to do a twin conference at Ashburnham with two of the churches he was inputting : Emsworth and Michael Reid's church in Brentwood Essex.(Peniel)
Our main leader just briefly warned us that Michael was an ex-cop so tended to be quite strict in his manner, and quite particular about things.
Well...the conference came, and the Presence of the Lord was strong
one day I'll share some of the rest....but there was a session where we had to be open about confessing things that we had between us. One wonderful sister!!!
from Emsworth got it into her head to confess on behalf of our pastor, to Ed Miller that he had been judgmental about Michael Reid.
Here are the results!!! Result 1. The sparks flew between Ed Miller, Our leader and Michael Reid. Result 2. We never had any more input from Ed Miller- so forget any idea about the 3rd level.3.The wonderful sister is not even part of any church anymore, as far as I know...so much for her extreme sensitivity to the things of the Lord...such that she will confess on behalf of others!!!!
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HISTORY 2. Fisher' Pond Southampton, was the 3rd level Community (briefly) that my friends lived in, and that was visited by John Noble. Used to get fantastic Word content there...the least said about the praise the better.well the Presence of the Lord was there...but it was accordian music choruses. Even that was better than Zerubbabel!!!!
Anyhow, the leadership exploded and the whole centre went bellyup, moving into the ownership of Community Church Southampton. I guess the leadership weren't quite as 3rd level as they were believing for. So yet again the whole subject was a lovely laughing stock...which the Devil wants.
The enormous pressures at work. The absolute nightmarish injustices. The flagrant usage of those willing workers by the lazy. The taking advantage etc. etc. The lies. The manipulation. All this is actually being done to Christ in you Dan. And actually the clock is ticking, unbeknown to the perpetrators...because one Day The Father will say to them..."This is why you are being judged. Christ in My Son Dan was wronged in this and this way....so I declare you righteously judged." One night things got so bad fro Ian...I believe there was a last straw at 3am. He just began to laugh. (This is often how we know God is about to turn up with stuff in a meeting)
He laughed and laughed in the Spirit until 7am. None of the other staff could do anything. It was so infectious they began to laugh too. To this day they try and make him do it again. But as he says, I can't make it happen. It's something God does.
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As rude as I am about New Frontiers I love anything they are doing which is right in God's heart. I love, I love I love Phatfish and Louise Fellingham...well the whole Fellingham dynasty.The Father studied music with Marcus Roberts, who I followed from Amersham down to the South Coast. He owns Roberts Piano Shop in Oxford.
Dear Dan
Thanks for your honest post! One of my favourite quotes is:- "God is as worthy of worship on our best day as He is on our worst." The number of times that life has thrown weirdness at me and it has been really tough and I have remembered this quote and the realisation comes afresh that God does not alter, shift or change!
I really want to encourage you that this is a passing season - it won't last so with all the stuff that is going on take heart that God has precious things for you, lined up for you, in store for you! Start revelling in anticaption of what is going to burst forth in your life! Start anticipating that our great God has great blessings, great encounters in store for you and as you start revelling I think you will find you start to be blessed and blessed beyond anything you have experienced before! ;@)
I am pointing you back to Isaiah 43 (Message version):- "Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands."
Bring it on Lord!!!!
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