Every tear has watered your garden of destiny

Psalm 126

When the Lord brought back the exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said "what amazing things the Lord has done for them". Yes the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy! Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.

Let's read this again but in the passion translation from verse 2.

All the nations saw it and joined in saying "the Lord has done great miracles for them!" Yes, he did mighty miracles and we are overjoyed! Now Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again. Those who sow their tears as seeds will reap a harvest with joyful shouts of glee. They may weep as they go out carrying their seeds to sow, but they will return with joyful laughter and shouting with gladness as they bring back armloads of blessing and a harvest overflowing!

This psalm jumped off the page as a prophetic word for this coming season! I believe the Lord wants us to receive this as a prophetic declaration over our lives right now. I felt as though many of us have gone through a season of planting. Many have sown their tears as seeds. Many have been required to lay down much in obedience to the voice of God. From finances, to homes, to friends and much more, their has been a level of sacrifice required. We have chosen to lay down all even when it has been far from easy. Fleshly reasoning often tried to talk us out of it but we dug in our heels and remained steadfast to the call on our lives. Tears have most certainly been sown. But every tear has simply watered the garden of destiny for our lives.

I believe the Lord wants us to know that this is the season that we "bring back armloads of blessing and a harvest overflowing"! Now is the time we harvest with shouts of joy! And the most beautiful part is that it's all for his glory! Oh what a joy that all those onlooking will say "the Lord has done great miracles for them". He gets all the glory! I believe his blessing and harvest are about to come in such abundance that the onlookers of our lives will know it HAD to have been the Lord! How beautiful that those who walked away from you and called you crazy in your obedience will, by the grace of God, still have the opportunity to celebrate God's miraculous hand on your life!

What if the lord hadn’t been on your side?

I’ve been in a season of change and advancement lately. As we enter the new year and I'm set to embark on some changes and new challenges, it has definitely caused some moments of reflection to rise. I'm sure many of us have taken the opportunity to reflect on the past year(s) as we step into 2023.

As a family our past season has seen us walk through some challenging waters. As persecution set its sight on us we have definitely had our share of trials to navigate. I'm sure many of you can relate to this and to these seasons of trials.

When I reflect on the barrage of trials and challenges it can seem a little overwhelming. But as I reflected, I read psalm 124 and was overwhelmed with joy, relief and gratitude. The overwhelming thought of 'what if the Lord hadn't been on our side' hit my heart.

'What if the Lord had not been on our side? ... What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked? ... The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us." (Psalm 124)

Though things have been hard, just imagine how things could have looked if the Lord wasn't on your side! Unfortunately, our vision here is limited. We do not always get to see the ways in which the Lord’s hand touches our circumstances. But it is my personal conviction that had the Lord not been with us, these trials and challenges we have faced could have been a thousand times worse.

So, today I give thanks. I give thanks that by His grace and unfailing love I'm still standing, still praising and still running this race of love.

It’s time to wise-up

Do you want to be able to share freely and give generously to those in need? Do you want your good deeds to be remembered forever? Do you want influence and honour? Do you want to be confident and fearless? Do you want to lose the fear of bad news and confidently trust God to care for you? Do you want to be wealthy? Do you want an entire generation of godly people to be blessed? Do you want your children to be blessed everywhere?

If you answered yes to any or all of these, I have good news for you ... You can have it! How do I know? Because the bible tells us you can (see psalm 112:1-4). All you have to do is fear the Lord AND delight in obeying his commands. The bible tells us this is the foundation of true wisdom (psalm 111:10).

That's a lot of promises in exchange for our Obedience! You'd think we'd be more eager to obey considering all we'd get, and yet, we struggle. Our flesh is constantly trying to limit our level of obedience.

We will yield to the big requests (it's pretty easy not to murder someone) but we seem to find it's not so easy with the smaller things such as not getting angry with your brother, sister, spouse, colleague etc. It doesn't seem so easy to forgive the person that constantly hurts us or let's us down. It doesn't seem so easy to extend love to the person who has wronged us. And yet, if we did, all these promises would be ours to obtain!

I believe our struggle really comes down to us valuing ourselves and our ego above the Lord. If He truly was our greatest love, that whisper to not argue or to ignore that comment would be easy to obey. But, we choose to ignore that whisper so often because we fear our bruised ego more than we fear the Lord.

As a bride I believe we are on the road to true wisdom and thus true surrender. It's time to wise-up bride! Fear Him and obey Him above all else! I'm sure it would be a thousand times more satisfying to see an entire generation blessed than to prove your spouse wrong!

So let's fix our perspective on what really matters. Don't let the daily grind and demands distract you. It is the Lord first. In our obedience to him, everything else will fall into place.

See yourself as I see you

Psalm 89:17

"Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us"

This one sentence wrecked me as I read it this morning. What a statement! God's vibrant beauty has gotten inside YOU and ME! ALL that beauty we see in God (and are yet to see) now dwells on the inside of us!

Just think of the beauty to see in the Lord; the way he moves, the way he speaks, the way he treats others, the way he reacts, the grace he constantly extends, the way he forgives, the way he encourages and builds others up, the way he always sees the treasure in us, his patience, his tender touch, his gentle kiss, his faithfulness, his deep loving eyes, his passion, his peace, his gentleness. All of this that we recognise as his beauty and oh SO much more now dwells on the inside of us! How dare I view myself as anything less that I truly am!

Jesus didn't die for us to dwell within us just for us to see ourselves as "ugly people". That is a total devaluation of the blood that was poured out for us!

We are to see ourselves in all the beauty that the Father sees his Son - for just as he is so are we, now, in this world (see 1 John 4:17). As I write this I am reminded of one of my own songs called 'My child'. The father sings over us in the second verse;

"Oh how I long for the day you see yourself as I see you, my treasure, my child my beautiful child, you are perfect to me"

The Father isn't seeing us in our 'ugliness' but through the blood of His Son. This isn't something we are trying to obtain through discipline. It doesn't say 'just as he is so we have the potential to be'. No, it says just as he is so are we now! It is our reality ... Right now! If we are living as anything less then we are living out of our old nature ... That dead man. It's time to stop attaching ourselves to a corpse! Shake it off and embrace who you really are!

Refine the ‘why’

Today I want to encourage the worship leaders, worshippers and song writers. If you are anything like me you've probably spent much time refining the 'what' of your destiny. That is, what it is God has called you to. You've heard his voice, had dreams and words of prophecy and you know you are called to worship. That's great! Then you probably began discovering and tweaking (and still are) the 'how'. How are you going to fulfil your assignment?Figuring out if he wants you on the church platform, the streets, the radio etc. But today I feel like we need to remember and refine the 'why' which coincidently will encompass the 'who'.

Without solidifying the 'why', your fight and tenacity is at risk of diminishing. You will run the risk of giving up or watering down the vision. You become susceptible to motives creeping in and distraction can hold power over you. So let's talk about the 'why'.

In the last blog we spoke about the great return to intimacy. This place of intimacy is the place all worship leaders should live their lives from. What did you and your life look like without worship and intimacy with God? For me it looked powerless, depressive, unattractive and actually I wanted to give up. It looked void of joy and life. It looked dark and purposeless. But, when I found worship and the secret place I started to come to life. The secret place causes you to find hope and joy and gives you vision and purpose for life. You then begin to want to do your part to change the world, to help people and advance he kingdom. You begin to burn with passion and zest for life. You become an asset to the kingdom of God and His story of love.

Now, imagine a generation like that! Imagine a generation that found passion, joy, purpose and life itself. Imagine YOU could be a part of injecting that into a generation ... THAT is your 'why'.

As worship leaders you are to know how to come into the secret place with ease. You are to reside in His presence. You are here to sneak a generation into the courts of intimacy before they even realise where they have been lead. A song can do that! Your job is to give them a taste of this place of intimacy and leave them wanting more. Then teach them how to take themselves there.

And why? Because once they find this place, this love, this passion, they will be ruined for anything less than changing the world. Church projects will not provoke a generation to this place, but God can. His love will. Just lead them to his feet.

The great return to intimacy

Psalm 84:1-2 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Heavens Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord”.

I love how The Passion Translation writes verse 2; “Deep within me are these lovesick longings, desires and daydreams of living in union with you”.

As I read psalm 84 this morning I felt the Lord was asking ‘where is the bride’s passion for me? Are you still longing for me like you used to? Are you still burning with desire for me like when I first touched you? Are you fainting with longing to enter my courts? Are you lovesick for me? Are you daydreaming about me?’ If we are totally honest most of us are daydreaming more often about lunch than the Lord!

But I believe this is the place He is bringing the bride back to. I believe we are about to see a great returning of the bride to intimacy … to him! I believe He is going to consume even our daydreams. No longer will we be daydreaming about the weekend’s lay in but about getting on our knees to worship. I believe He is moving our hearts back to a place where we MUST have Him!Where we can’t function unless we’ve had his kiss and his embrace and heard his whisper of “I love you” in our ear.

Psalm 84 goes on to say;

Verse 10 (TPT) “for just one day of intimacy with you is like a thousand days of joy rolled into one! I’d rather stand at the threshold in front of the Gate Beautiful, ready to go in and worship my God, than to live without you in the most beautiful palace of the wicked”.

The message translation says it this way; “one day spent in your house, this beautiful place of worship, beats thousands spent on Greek Island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honoured as a guest in the palace of sin”.

This place of worship and intimacy with the Lord should be our greatest desire! Are we more excited about and motivated by our summer holiday on the beach or by our time with God? I’m not saying there is anything wrong with a holiday … that’s a blessing! But, I feel like He’s re-wiring our hearts to re-prioritise His presence.

Are you looking at your unsaved friends who have more material goods than you and a big house and longing for your turn? Or, do you have the eyes to see that just a moment with your king is far more valuable?! Let’s get back to waiting at his gates ready to worship.

Some may be thinking ‘I want this but how do I get to this place?’ I wholeheartedly believe it is He who loves us into this place. What He asks of us is that we sacrifice our time … that we give Him the time to love us. Start with ten minutes, just sit with him, let him speak to you and touch your heart. Then spend twenty minutes, then half an hour. Soon you will be addicted to his presence and will be wasting hours on Him and will have to drag yourself away. Once you come back to this place you will remember that there is no other place you’d rather be than in His beautiful love.

There is encouragement hiding in your history

As I sat hanging out with Jesus one morning I was digging into the psalms when I landed on psalm 77. Let’s take a look at verses 1-10;

“I cry out to God; yes, I shout. Oh that God would listen to me! When I was in deep trouble, I searched for the Lord, all night long I prayed, with hands lifted towards heaven, but my soul was not comforted. I think of God, and I moan, overwhelmed with longing for his help. You don’t let me sleep. I am too distressed even to pray. I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me? Is his unfailing love gone forever? Have his promises permanently failed? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he slammed the door on his compassion? And I said, “this is my fate; the most high has turned his hand against me”

Let’s pause here for a moment. Here we have Asaph in a pretty bad place. He is basically feeling let down and abandoned by God. He’s in the thick of the trial, distressed and overwhelmed. He can’t see a way out and is about to accept that God’s not coming through with his promise and this is his lot in life. I don’t know about anyone else but I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve found myself in Asaph’s shoes! You have all these words and promises spoken over you but right now they seem impossible. And the danger is that we focus so much on these promises not coming to pass that we dig ourselves into this pit until we begin to accept God’s not coming through with these promises and we begin to give up. We let the world give us a more attainable promise and destiny.

Thankfully this isn’t where psalm 77 ends. Asaph is about to reveal to us the secret to getting out of this hole of pity. In verses 11 and 12 we see an entire switch of his focus ...

“But then I recall all you have done, O Lord; I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works”

The psalm then goes on to acknowledge and declare the amazing works and ways of God. Asaph has allowed God to totally switch his mindset. The way out of the pit is to take your focus off all that you feel God has not done and place it onto GOD and all that he HAS done! There is encouragement hiding in your history! There are many things you have in your life now that were once a prayer and promise that probably seemed impossible at one point … but He came through!

So let’s take our thoughts captive, put them where they ought to be and get ourselves out of that pit and expectantly wait for our faithful father to come through again!

Now let’s take this a step further. Let us not forget that the psalms are the worship songs of their time. Yes they were really singing lyrics such as “this is my fate; the most high has turned his hand against me”. Let’s allow our worship to be just as real as this! When I first started worshipping and writing I felt like God said to me “Don’t hide how you are feeling from me. In those honest and open moments together I am able to invade your place of vulnerability and refocus you”.

The bible shows us how worship should be. Their worship songs present the full picture. They aren’t just these pretty and perfect songs that keep the church elders happy! They are raw and vulnerable and honest. They are singing out their reality; the good, the bad and the ugly. And just look at how God invaded this moment of vulnerability. What would happen if we brought our honest and vulnerable moments into our worship and song writing. I bet God would sing us out of our pits way quicker than we can counsel each other out of them!