When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3)
Sometimes life just throws so much at you that it is easy to just give up and go under. But, you know, God is faithful. He ‘heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds’ (Ps 147:3)
Maybe you’re going through it at the moment. Maybe you need to know God’s presence and strength right now. My family and I are going through it right now….but on my mind these last few days has been the classic Vineyard song of 1987, by Danny Daniels, ‘I Will Trust In You‘. Here it is. join in and declare your trust in the One Who will never let you go – ever.
When I can’t see You, I know You’re here When I can’t feel You, I will not fear I will trust in You, and I will not be afraid
And when the battle is close at hand I know You’re with me to help me stand I will trust in You, and I will not be afraid
I will not (I will not) Be afraid (be afraid) I will not (I will not) Be afraid (be afraid) I will trust in You (I will trust in You) I will trust in You
And when the darkness is closing in And I am running against the wind I will trust in You, and I will not be afraid
’Cause when I’m standing upon that shore And all the battles have gone before I will trust in You, and I will not be afraid
I will not (I will not) Be afraid (be afraid) I will not (I will not) Be afraid (be afraid) I will trust in You (I will trust in You) I will trust in You
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him – Psalm 33:1
In the light of my former post, where I said that worship is a two-way thing, where we sing to God about how much we love Him, and He can say back to us how He is feeling about our worship, I wanted to present to you this song too.
In that post, I was writing about spontaneous prophetic song, but God can of course also speak to us of His approval through pre-written songs too. Here’s an example of such a song – Praise Looks Good on You by Don Moen, and sung here by him:
When you lift Your hands up high And you sing a song of praise to Me It brings Me great delight Such a lovely sight And yes it is true Praise looks good on You Morning night and noon Your praise ascends to heaven Like the smell of sweet perfume Filling every room And yes it is true Praise looks good on You
You bring your sacrifices And you offer up your praise You lift your voice with singing But your heart seems far away More than a sacrifice I am looking for your life Holy and acceptable And pleasing in my sight
So offer up your lives Holy and acceptable A willing sacrifice Precious in my sight But in all that you do Remember all I want is You
So lift your hands up high And worship Him before the altar Consecrate your lives A willing sacrifice But in all that you do Remember all He wants is you
And yes it is true Praise looks good on you
And remember too that this doesn’t just apply during worship. There is nothing God likes better than a life lived in His Presence, because then He gets to spend time with His kids.
I remember being in the congregation one evening at the 1983 Dales Bible Week in Harrogate. Everyone was singing ‘in the Spirit’ when, completely spontaneously, a chap called JD Lawtum (who was up on the stage) began singing a prophetic solo. After a few seconds (you can hear it on the track) he stepped up to the microphone and continued the prophecy accompanied by the band, led by David Hadden on the piano.
Bear in mind that none of this was pre-arranged, none of it was made up beforehand. This is purely God singing to His people, with JD simply singing the words as they came to him.
Worship is a two-way thing. We sing to God about how much we love Him, and how great He is. Prophetic singing is one of the ways in which He can say back to us how He is feeling about our worship. Sometimes, during a time of free worship, a prophetic worshipper, or someone with a prophetic ministry (hopefully one who can also sing!) is given by the Holy Spirit words to sing – either to the tune currently being sung, or to an entirely new tune – in which case the band (also being led by the Spirit) join in, as in this present case. When it’s sung spontaneously, the song is given line by line: as the singer finishes one line, the next comes into their head and they sing that next, and so on. You can imagine that the singer needs to be very brave to step out in faith like that, but God honours it and keeps the words coming! The whole effect is quite beautiful and uplifting, as well as upbuilding too.
Anyway, I’m sharing this one with you now because I want you to know that, even more than thirty years on, this is still God’s heart for His people. Enjoy!
For it is My desire, says the Lord your God
To sing over you this night
My salvation is come, not in part, but in full
And I give you inner peace and sight
So lift up your heads for the gate is open wide And come and sup with Me, says your God I have prepared a table and now you may eat This is an appetiser of what I’ve got for you
So sing with Me now, gently lift your sweet soul It’s your soul, not your voice, I need to hear For each and every one of you is precious in My sight And a sweet, sweet sound in My ear
God has prepared a feast of good things for those who would like to come. And He’s reserved a place at His table, just for you. No need to get dressed-up! Come just as you are. God loves your company! You will love His, too.
One of Britain’s finest worship leaders, Chris Bowater, leading (live) what is probably my favourite of his songs. Placing Jesus in the central place, which is exactly as things should be in worship.
You know the drill. Close your eyes, listen and enjoy!
Jesus shall take the highest honour Jesus shall take the highest praise Let all earth join heaven in exalting The Name which is above all other names Let’s bow the knee in humble adoration For at His name every knee must bow Let every tongue confess He is Christ, God’s only Son Sovereign Lord, we give You glory now
For all honour and blessing and power Belongs to You, belongs to You All honour and blessing and power Belongs to You, belongs to You Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God
This is a gorgeous worship song by American singer/songwriter/worship leader Kari Jobe.
As always with the worship songs I present, just relax, close your eyes and worship. Should your hands want to raise up as you listen, don’t stop them 😉
Enjoy!
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Holy, holy is He
Sing a new song to Him who sits on
Heaven’s mercy seat
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
Holy, holy is He
Sing a new song to Him who sits on
Heaven’s mercy seat
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything and I will adore You
Clothed in rainbows of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor strength and glory and power be
To You the only wise King
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything and I will adore You
Filled with wonder awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your name
Jesus Your name is power, breath and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing praise to the King of kings
You are my everything and I will adore You, I will adore You
– Kari Jobe
The chord vamp that forms the basic structure of the song is simply inspired. For those who might want to play it on guitar, the chords are D-Am-C-G and basically repeat. Remember it’s played on the dominant 5th rather than on the tonic, so the actual key signature is one sharp or ‘G’. Although, I personally prefer to play it in Gb (so, Db-Abm-B-Gb) as I feel it’s more atmospheric. Plus it makes me feel smug as it’s seen by some as a more ‘difficult’ key 😉
Finally, here is the same song, but performed live. Brilliant!
In 1993, Hosanna! Music did a song by Dave Bankhead and Ray Goudie called ‘Great Awakening’. 22 years ago, this Great Awakening was longed for by most Christians in my circles, but it simply didn’t happen. But it is happening now, beginning with God speaking to the hearts of His people about His true nature and His love for the broken, hurting and outcasts. People like me and others I know are being changed by God to be able to see and accommodate this new wave of His Spirit.
Here’s the song – ‘Great Awakening’, by Dave Bankhead and Ray Goudie:
All down the ages, God has caused to happen many ‘Great Moves of God’, where the Christian faith undergoes great upheaval which results in huge blessings, healings, miracles and so on. These events happen periodically in God’s good timing, and many believers today feel that we are long overdue such a blessing. I have friends who pray constantly for such a move of God to happen in our time.
And I personally believe that there is another such move coming. Usually what happens is that God brings new revelation and blessing, but what He does and how He does it is completely unexpected – or nearly so. I believe that He reveals His plans in advance to those who are ready and willing to listen – ready and willing, because the move He brings is going to shake the foundations of what was previously thought to be known about God, and many will reject it as a move of the enemy. This is what happened in Jesus’s time – Jesus Himself was the new move of God, and the religious people of the day rejected Him – and even in modern times, it is no different, and it will be no different in that respect the next time either.
People who are so entrenched in procedure – based religious systems will either rail against the move of God, or they may even miss it entirely. Some will of course decry it as being ‘of the devil’, as if he has any say in what God does! (Remember that the devil is not the equal and opposite of God, he is a created being too just like we are, and as such is subject to the rule of God).
But the new thing is coming. Those who can feel it can see the stirring of the first few blades of grass moving in the wind of the Spirit. And you can guarantee that it will be nothing like most people expect. It will not be like the great revivals of the past. Because of the communications capability we have on the Internet, this one will be bigger than any before. There will be healings, miracles, people being raised from the dead, huge salvation, people being brought into the Kingdom – not a kingdom of rules and regulations, but of freedom and power. The powerless will be made powerful and mighty in God. They will realise anew, and indeed some for the first time, just what Jesus has done for us, and they will also realise the loving, calling nature of God as He seeks to draw all people to Him in His love.
This time, the emphasis will be on how much God actually likes us. In the past, there has been too much emphasis on the ‘angry god’ who is distant, cold, and just waiting for us to put a foot wrong so that he can judge us, condemn us, ‘smite’ us (whatever that means) and generally be horrible. As I’ve said in previous blog posts, that’s not the God I know. The God I know is the one exemplified by Jesus in His life and works. He’s loving, kindly, caring, tolerant, forgiving, healing – he’s friendly! People all over the world are even now being shown by Holy Spirit what is going to happen, and they are being primed, trained and set up to work alongside the Master, His Hands on theirs, as their attitudes change towards God’s intended direction for them and for the Awakening.
Maybe this looks prophetic; well maybe it is. Maybe God is showing us what He’s going to do, and it’s exciting stuff!
The harshness of modern-day religion and religious practices will be missing from the new revival, but it will of course try to resist it and brand it a ‘work of the enemy’ as we have already seen. It will be like nothing we have ever seen before. The main resistance, as in Jesus’s day, will be from those whose power structures, either in terms of money, prestige, reputation or control are threatened by the move of the Spirit. Those working in existing Christian practices may have to change the way they do things – but don’t worry, this is healthy if it’s of God.
I know there will be many people reading this that love Jesus and may well be frightened by this prospect. Maybe it will look like heresy; how do I know this is ‘safe’; how do I know it’s the Spirit that’s doing this and not a counterfeit? I would say that you need to rest in God. You need to lean right back into His arms and hear what He’s saying. You know His promises: He will never let go of you; underneath are His everlasting arms; His Spirit will lead you into all Truth. God will not lead you against your conscience, but He might just re-educate your conscience with His ideas. Please be open to that. Your process of being ‘transformed by the renewing of your mind’ never actually stops; you don’t ‘arrive’ at a place when the transformation is complete, not this side of the veil anyway. So, be open to God’s Spirit breathing His changes and His life into your spirit.
And we need to flow with the Spirit. In a previous post on this blog, ‘Learning the Lessons of History‘, I said that in order to allow the ‘next revival’ to continue, we must be careful to allow the Spirit to flow things along, not to make rules and frameworks in order to try to ‘preserve’ the blessing. That warning still stands – let the Spirit do what He wills!
So, get ready for the Great Awakening. It’s coming. And it’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before!
See also my post on Don Francisco’s song ‘Vision of the Valley‘ for more on the kind of people that God will use in the upcoming Great Awakening.
The other thing is that you will most likely not hear about this on the standard news media. They tend to report only the bad news! But let’s wait and see….
I love walking with Jesus. He walk by me, speaks to me, guides me, comforts me and holds me up. Amongst other things… Walking with Him is the greatest and most unbelievably freeing thing that can happen to a person. We talk to each other in conversation, or we just walk in companionable silence. This is what walking in Him is like, for me at least.
Sometimes, though, it’s good to spend a more dedicated time with Him. To get alone with Him in a quiet place so that we can discuss things in more detail. Or simply to hear His voice more clearly without the hurly-burly of everyday life. It’s very much like going out on a date with my wife – a time for just us, without chores to do or other people to please.
Like how Jesus said to His friends in Mark 6:31, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while”
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away” – Song of Sol 2:10 (ESV)
Many believers practice a ‘quiet time’, in which they do just this; they retire to a secluded location – say a bedroom or study – and spend time just being with Jesus. The quiet time can consist of anything that the believer wants to bring to Jesus: worship, prayer, chatting, or just spending time sitting with Him. And such times are beautiful, sacred and blessed times.
Sadly, I’ve also heard of some people who see the quiet time as a ‘requirement’; a sacrament almost, and they have an almost legalistic approach. ‘Unless I have my quiet time’, they think, ‘God will not bless me’. Well, that’s not true. He meets with each of us in a different way according to our personalities, needs and predilections. There’s no need to be legalistic about something that’s supposed to be a joy; equally if the idea of ‘quiet time’ does not work for you, that’s no problem either! You and He, between you, will find a way in which you can bless each other in your own personal way.
So, if you love the quiet time, go for it; grab it with both hands. Don’t have any hangups about it, though, if you miss one! Really, it’s a decision for each believer and there’s no right or wrong way of doing these things. But I would recommend you try it. Relax and bask in His Presence. There doesn’t need to be any prayer requests, and conversation even. Just be there and see what He says to you.
What if you can’t find somewhere to ‘hide’ for your quiet time? What if you need His presence right away? I believe that each person has a ‘secret place’ within their own heart where Jesus lives by His Holy Spirit (cf. Mt 6:6). And I believe that this, with practice, can be accessed at any time. So, even in the midst of trouble, you can ascend the secret stairway into your Secret Place and commune with Jesus. This is going to be different for each believer, but in essence we are achieving the same thing. It’s finding the still, quiet place in the soul from which all your strength flows.
I hope this makes sense. It’s a bit deep, I admit, but it is really good to be able to do this. Ask Jesus for His instructions on how to do it!
Here are a couple of songs which may be of help.
Firstly, Don Francisco’s classic ‘Come Away’:
Come away, come away Into quiet and trust, come away Come away, come away In repentance and rest, come away
For the heavens are telling the glory of God The works of His hands teach His ways The night reveals knowledge we must understand His invisible nature, is explained through the days
Come away, come away, Into quiet and trust, come away Come away, come away, In repentance and rest, come away
For the Lord of creation is calling you now To a place where the thief has no key Where your Father gives treasure that can never be lost And the love of the Spirit of Grace sets you free
– Music and Lyrics by Don Francisco, used with his permission
And then the brilliant ‘Awesome in this Place’, led here by Kent Henry:
As I come into Your presence Past the gates of praise Into Your sanctuary Till we’re standing face to face
I look upon Your countenance I see the fullness of Your grace I can only bow down and say
You are awesome in this place, Mighty God You are awesome in this place, Abba Father; You are worthy of all praise To You our lives we raise You are awesome in this place, Mighty God
So, can I encourage you to think about generating the habit of spending time with Jesus. Walk with Him, yes of course, but take the time to be alone with Him too on occasion. Daily, weekly, every hour, whatever you would like to do. You may well find that you love these times so much that you want to do it more; alternatively, maybe you’ll realise it’s not really your thing. But just give it a go and see what happens!
Today, I’m going to share a deeply personal testimony about what God has done in the lives of my family over the last eighteen months or so.
On 17th April 2014, I led public worship again for the first time in over fifteen years – the time of my Wilderness period was over. One of the key songs I brought that evening was ‘Have Your Way’, by Don Moen. A song in which the worshipper allows God to have His way; to fill the worshipper with His Spirit and to allow the Spirit to have His way in everything in the believer’s life. We sang that song from our hearts, meaning every word.
At that time, my lovely wife Fiona had just begun what was to be the second of sixteen months on chemotherapy. Treatment for what is usually a deadly illness, with extremely poor survival rates. We have gone through the fire, and we are still going through it. But thanks to a combination of prayer, God’s encouragement, special juice drinks, chemotherapy and a revolutionary new type of cancer treatment, my Fiona is still with us now and is more healthy than she has ever been. She has been given a break from chemotherapy because she is doing so well; the tumour has shrunk even more lately and there is no secondary cancer. Our Oncologist has said that Fiona has outlived all her expectations. We took the risk and allowed our amazing God to have His way. And He has indeed had His way! He’s spoken His word into our hearts and He’s had His way – with our faith, our lives, and the illness. In giving it to Him, He’s taken it on board Himself.
Sure, this could be seen as a scary time, without the ‘safety net’ of life-preserving chemotherapy. But we sang that song, that evening last year, for God to have His way. And over the following months, we had the most remarkable series of God encounters, ‘coincidences’ and blatant ‘mercy-moments’ that left no doubt in our minds that God was working in our lives, and having His way.
We don’t believe we are ‘tempting fate’ by writing this blog entry. God is bigger than Fate – and we have given Him permission to have His way. Superstition plays no part in Fiona’s healing!
And then the main theme of the meeting was the song ‘Healer’, by Kari Jobe. Brilliantly sung by my daughter (I hope to publish a video of us singing that song soon) and backed by me on the lovely grand piano, that song was the mainstay of the worship that evening on so many levels – personal, local, national and international.
But for us, it was the declaration into our lives that He’s our Healer; He’s Fiona’s Healer, He’s my Healer; He’s my family’s Healer. The evil of cancer damages more than just the patient herself. It has a huge concentric ripple effect where waves of horror and fear emanate out through the entire family.
But, you know what? God has used this terrible diagnosis to bring our family together, to bring healing to damaged relationships, to show forth His power and love and mercy, and He’s drawn closer to all of us in a way we’ve never experienced before.
As I’ve said, we’re still going through the fire. But Jesus spoke words to me last year that I hold in my heart as it’s His promise. And He spoke words to Fiona which we also hold in our hearts. Three specific words: two from two dear Christian friends; and one from the Lord Himself.
Words we’re going to stand on in faith, because we’ve given God permission to have His way. And because He’s our Healer – He’s said that, and we continue to declare it.
Praise God!
The beautiful mountain picture at the top of this page is in Wasdale, in the Lake District, UK. Fells from left to right: Yewbarrow; Kirk Fell (just visible behind Yewbarrow); Great Gable; Lingmell; Scafell Pike (just visible to the right of Lingmell).
Here’s the video of the classic 1992 Hosanna! album ‘Lift Him Up!’, led by Ron Kenoly. This album was one of the best recordings Hosanna! ever made.
Great instrumentals and vocals make up just over an hour of heartfelt praise and worship; especially spectacular are the vocals in the spine-tingling ‘Anointing Fall on Me‘ and ‘All Honor‘, and notably the anointed instrumentals from Justo Almario and Alex Acuña, culminating in Abraham Laboriel’s stunning bass solo in ‘Ancient of Days‘, in the instrumental section at about 28mins.
Ok, the hair and clothing styles are a bit dated, but the worship is just tremendous. The standard of musicianship is extremely high, but this does not detract from the worship in the way that today’s ‘clinically-perfect’ recordings often do. I simply wanted to share this with you in order to bless you.
Here is the track list:
Lift Him Up
Mourning into Dancing
Righteousness, Peace and Joy
The Solid Rock
Let Everything that has Breath
Prayer
We will Wait upon the Lord
Ancient of Days
Hallowed Be Your Name
Anointing Fall on Me
All Honor
Going Up to the High Places
Whose Report will You Believe
Worship the Lord
Call Him Up
Can’t Stop Praisin’ His Name
So, find an hour or so, find somewhere quiet to sit, plug in your best headphones and let this video and its message flow over you. Soak in it. Drink it in. There is so much truth in this video that the music and stuff somehow become secondary:
Whose report will you believe?We shall believe the report of the Lord!
If you confess the Lord, call Him up!
Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto the Ancient of Days!
A couple of months ago, I posted a link to the song ‘Oceans’. At the time, I commented that the song was profound; lately, I have increasingly come to realise just how profound, and indeed I am still hearing God’s Voice through it.
Here are the lyrics once again:
You call me out upon the waters The great unknown where feet may fail And there I find You in the mystery In oceans deep My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters Your sovereign hand Will be my guide Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me You’ve never failed and You won’t start now
So I will call upon Your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise My soul will rest in Your embrace For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior
I will call upon Your name Keep my eyes above the waves My soul will rest in Your embrace I am Yours and You are mine
(Oceans by Crocker, Houston & Ligthelm)
When we are completely out of our depth in life, when everything is too much, when fear and horror surround us, God is there. Where feet may fail and fear surrounds us, He’s never failed, and He won’t start now.
‘ Walking on the water’ is not simply something that St. Peter did 2,000 years ago on the Sea of Galilee. Figuratively, it’s something we all have to learn to do if we want to weather the storms that life throws at us. Granted, in our own strength, we can try to do this, and I’m not saying that it’s not humanly possible. But why not tap into the immense, unlimited reservoirs of God’s peace and grace as we navigate life’s storms? He walks right by us, holding us up.
How to do this? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Remember, it’s all about Jesus! He’s the One Who has already been there; He’s the One Who has borne all our burdens – allour burdens! in His Body on the Cross. He’s borne our sickness, our grief, our strife, everything (as prophesied in about 800BC in Isaiah 53:4ff) – all our burdens. Keep your eyes on Him, and you will walk on the water of the storms of life without going under.
And this bears fruit in your Christian walk. Let’s look at the lyrics again:
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders Let me walk upon the waters Wherever You would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith will be made stronger In the presence of my Savior
Read that again and again. I can’t add anything to that lyric; I will let it speak for itself. This is why that musical passage is sung over and over in this rendition of the song. This is the core of the whole thing. Holy Spirit, lead us where our trust is without borders. Unlimited trust.
You only need trust like that when you are completely out of your depth. And that’s where you learn to trust Him completely – and that trust will not be in vain.
Here is the song again. Sit down, plug in your headphones, ignore the cheesy graphics (preferably by closing your eyes) and just soak. Let the Spirit of God soak your life with His security and His peace, no matter how deep are the waters He’s having you walk on at the moment.
