What happens at practice doesn’t always have to stay at practice. Below is a video of what goes on when we practice for events like Heart of Worship.
Thanks to Inga who was in town and had her camera to record all of the footage I used in this video. There’s another one that’ll be posted tomorrow or Monday that’ll have the debut of Come to Us on it.
I love the song None but Jesus, written by Brooke Fraser. And for some reason, lately, whenever I pick up my guitar and start to play, I eventually end up playing and singing this song. The words to this song simply allow one to just sit and be with God. It’s kind of got a soaking feel to it while still being a very corporate and singable song. That might be one of the reasons that I like it so much. Have a listen and watch the video.
Hopefully this song will bless you like it does me.
Over the last few days there’s been a certain sadness in my heart as I’ve read some really harmful and damaging words that certain Christians were writing regarding others. I’ve tried to come up with the words to adequately express the sadness and heart ache I feel, but one of the people I follow on Twitter posted a tweet today that put words to my feelings.
Christian on Christian web violence makes no sense to me. Why do we think we can love offline and hate online?
When are we as the Church going to finally embrace each other instead of attempt to bite and devour each other?
Yesterday was a big day for our country. President Barack Obama was sworn into office and is now the leader of the free world. No matter what political views you have, you have to acknowledge the fact that having an African American president when 40 years ago African Americans weren’t allowed in the same school as white people is a big deal. And these next four years come with some of the biggest expectations in history. There is so much pressure on this man to “fix” everything and that with him as our president, everything is going to change overnight and our country will wave goodbye to the problems with the economy, and the war, and healthcare problems, and education problems and we’re going to live in a utopian society.
This is how a lot of us think life is going to be when we become a Christian, or when we get baptized. We go in thinking that after this one event, after this one thing, everything is going to be different. We think that once we’re a Christian that life is just going to be smooth sailing and there will be no more problems we’ll have to deal with. That once we receive the message of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins that we may experience forgiveness and be reconciled to God, we’re going to be living on easy street from here on out.
That’s not the case.
There is a change that happens when we become a Christian. The Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and begins the work of healing our heart and working through all of the junk and brokenness that we have accumulated in our lives. Because our walk with God doesn’t conclude when we become a Christian, it begins there. There’s an illustration consistently used at our church to show this (click on the image for a larger view). The more I’ve seen this picture the more I like it. It does a really good job of showing that it’s really after we’re a Christian that the journey begins. The journey is hard, it’s not always fun, it can be painful. But it’s good. And that’s where I think we’re at as a nation. We’re at the beginning of something. There has been a seed planted that if taken care of will grow and blossom into something beautiful. It’s my prayer that these next four years for our nation will bring a sense of realness to our country. That we would begin the process of living more God centered lives and that would lead to a more God centered nation. These next four years might be some of the toughest we’ve ever gone through as a nation…
I really enjoy reading, although I’m the first to admit that I don’t read as often as I should. I don’t really have any books of interest to read around here and am asking you out there to comment here on the blog and let me know of a book that you recommend. Please include the title, author, and a short blurb on what it’s about.
We’ve done five of these events now. Each one has looked different and each one has been special: from the Saturday night last April where 30 or so people gathered for an hour in the youth room of our church to worship and hear a message about entering the the most holy place; the next one where it became an hour and a half that involved worship and testimonies of two people who have been radically rocked by God in the past year; the third one where a lesson was learned that it’s not by our own strengths or gifts that these events are meaningful, but it’s by His strength and His strength alone; the fourth and final event of 2008 saw worshipers enter into a new depth with God; and the fifth one was last night.
There were a number of things that made this one different from the previous ones. We moved the event into the sanctuary, we moved it to a Sunday night following the 5:00 service, we collaborated with Jeff to incorporate prayer stations that would engage both young people as well as adults.
It’d be too hard for me to go through chronologically, song by song, as to what happened when, but from the responses we’ve been hearing from those who attended is that this might possibly have been the best event so far.
Some of the coolest moments of the night from my perspective was singing Healer; it’s a song that’s unfamiliar to most of the adults there but the level of participation and willingness to go for it with a new song was something cool to be a part of. It Is Well With My Soul was amazing. That song is possibly my favorite hymn and from what I could hear on stage, just about everyone was BELTING that song. And probably the most personal for me, the debut of Come to Us, the song that I wrote. I was super nervous going into that song because there’s something very vulnerable about taking words that you wrote down and a melody that you put over them and using it to lead others in worship of our Saviour. It got a very good response and I’ve heard comments that that was one of the best moments of the night. And those comments are more of a confirmation that the song really was God breathed and it was His intention for that song to be born.
Sunday was a great night of people encountering their Creator. It’s such an honor to do what we get to do and I look forward to the next time we gather together to worship like that and see more of God’s kingdom come.
These pictures are from the practice we had last night for the latest event in the Heart of Worship series, More than Conquerers:
The actual event is tomorrow at 6:45 at Community Covenant, and as of right now my throat hurts and thus my voice is extremely-not-good. Please pray for the event as a whole, as well as for all of the band members: me, Jesse, Blaine, Jordan, and Ricky that God would just strengthen us and work through us, and that none of what goes on tomorrow would be about us but that it would be about encountering God. Pray also for the intercession for the event and for strength and protection for those who are interceding. And last, pray for the ones who will be attending, that their hearts will be softened and open and ready for what God has for them.
I read this on another blog and thought that it was so good that I had to post it here.
If you know me of have been following this blog, then no doubt you’ve noticed that no matter what the layout of the blog is, there’s always a Twitter spot that shows my most recent updates. I’m on Twitter; you should be too. It’s cool, and as I recently found, it’s also biblical!
Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I moan like a dove;
My eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security.
– Isaiah 38:14 (New American Standard Bible)
Lately I’ve been having this desire for something; something that I’m not sure if it’s God revealing something that He wants me to do or just something that I want to do. And that’s where the uncertainty of the matter comes in. If it’s something that God wants me to do, then I know that I should do it. If it’s just something that I want to do and it’s not part of what God’s will is, then I shouldn’t do it. I’m trying to schedule a time to pray about this subject with two people I’m close with to discern if this is God or me. In fact, this looks like a good time to look at how to tell if something, (an idea, thought, whatever), is from God or not. There are four key areas to discerning if something is from God.
Is it scriptural?
Does the Word of God back up, or support the idea that is being presented? Sometimes this question is easier to answer than others. For example, if I thought God was wanting me to take something from someone else, would that be a Biblically based thing to do? No! Because most everyone will recall one of the Ten Commandments was to not steal. And this idea goes directly against that. The result = not from God.
Does it bear fruit?
Is the thing on the table a one-time-hooplah that’s not going to have any impact on things in the future? Then it’s not from God. God works all things together for His plan and His glory, and if the idea at hand isn’t going to be part of God’s plan, then do you think it’s really His idea?
Who does it glorify?
This one is pretty straight forward. If what’s being discerned glorifies or points to anyone outside of God, then it’s not from God. God is God, and He is the only one who is worthy of glory. Enough said.
Is it affirmed by other believers?
This is, in my opinion – I could be wrong, the most important step in discerning if something is from God. I believe this for two reasons. Not only does it put to the test if something is from God or not, often by looking back at the previous three steps. This also is the point where it’s generally discerned if this is a good idea or a God idea. There are plenty of ideas and visions out there that are scripturally based, that glorify God, and that would bear fruit, but if it’s not what God has planned, then it’s not something that should be carried out.
As for my own idea that I’m not sure if it’s from God or not, if it’s affirmed then I’ll share about it, but to avoid any unnecessary buzz, I’m going to try to stay pretty quiet about it.
I can’t believe that this series has stretched out to a month long. Here’s the final excerpt I’m going to be sharing from this paper. You can find all of the posts related to this series here. And now, the final excerpt.
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A very popular and effective way to go about the process of inner healing is through what’s known as prayer ministry. In a nutshell, prayer ministry is a group of people working in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to bring about inner healing in a person’s life. And there are some very key parts to the process of inner healing through prayer ministry.
“Affected people usually know not only that something is wrong, but that their problem might be caused by evil spirits” (MacNutt, 1995, p. 76). A person knows his or her own body and thoughts best, and usually he or she can tell when something just doesn’t feel right. As a person who is in the group performing prayer ministry, there are a few key areas to observe when diagnosing whether or not a person is being oppressed by an evil spirit: spirit, mind, will, emotions, and body (Log et al., 1999). Although one must always use caution when attempting to discern if the problem a person is experiencing is caused by demonic oppression or something else. Long et al. (1999) warn to, “Never presume too quickly, on the basis of observed symptoms or behaviors, that afflicting spirits are the cause of a presenting problem. Be careful to hold in mind the whole spectrum of potential causes of suffering, being open to be guided in other directions [by the Holy Spirit] (p.244). What this means is that it is never wise to immediately jump to the conclusion of saying that a person is being afflicted by an evil spirit and that you should examine other possible areas before diagnosing the cause of the problem. Francis MacNutt (1995) also gives the same warning that the problem might be caused by something else and that he’s been in situations where people have faked signs of demonic oppression just so they would receive attention. Just because a person is reporting signs or symptoms that are similar to spiritual oppression, one must always be careful and never rush to that conclusion.
Once it’s been determined that there is a problem or an oppression by evil spirits that needs to be dealt with, the ones doing the prayer ministry should try to go back and see where it might have started. It is a good thing to look back and try to find the source of the oppression, or an incident or ecperience that would allow evil spirits to come in and gain some influence and control. Examples of this would be but not limited to sexual sin, drunkenness, drug use, occult activites, or contact with persons or places with demonic power (Long et al., 1999). The purpose of doing this is to remove the reason the demon has to be there. And once the demon has no reason to inhabit the person anymore, it is much easier to, with the authority and backing of the Holy Spirit, tell it to come out.
Sometimes an evil spirit will come into a person because of a weakness or wounding that they are carrying around with them, not necessarily sin. If that is the case, “it is important that, following upon the healing and deliverance, we ask that Jesus’ life come into that person’s life to fill up whatever was missing” (MacNutt, 1995, p.192). This is imperative because like the picture Jesus paints of demons in Luke 11, the demon will go out and try to find others it can bring back to re-inhabit the person. But if Jesus’ life is in the spot where the demon once resided, it won’t be able to move back in.
According to Francis MacNutt, When doing prayer ministry, it is important to note that while deliverance always requires inner healing along with it, inner healing does not also require a deliverance session (1995). There are times where all that needs to be healed is a wound or burden someone is carrying around with them that isn’t necessarily sin, but it is something that prevents them from living the life that God intended them to live.
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There you have it, five excerpts addressing the wonderful subject of inner healing. There is so much that can be said about this topic that it’s almost impossible to cover everything, but I hope that this was informative and educational and raised some questions about God and how He still works. Again, if anyone has questions, don’t hesitate to ask me either through leaving a comment or by tracking me down on Facebook. Thanks for being a part of this series and reading the stuff that came out of my head.
Yesterday was a big day for our country. President Barack Obama was sworn into office and is now the leader of the free world. No matter what political views you have, you have to acknowledge the fact that having an African American president when 40 years ago African Americans weren’t allowed in the same school as white people is a big deal. And these next four years come with some of the biggest expectations in history. There is so much pressure on this man to “fix” everything and that with him as our president, everything is going to change overnight and our country will wave goodbye to the problems with the economy, and the war, and healthcare problems, and education problems and we’re going to live in a utopian society.
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