And Their God Was So Proud of Them
Last Sunday we began something new at Living Streams Church. Though we continue to have our main worship and teaching time online, we opened the doors of the sanctuary for our first-ever, limited-capacity, social-distanced, face-masked, Sunday morning prayer and worship attack service! We held three of these services, each limited to fifty registered attendees. Those who came engaged in spiritual warfare, intercession, and worship on behalf of our church, the Church, our city, and our nation.
We opened the service pondering the story from Exodus 17: Moses, Aaron, and Hur were on a mountainside with Moses, making sure his hands were raised as Joshua led the Israelites in battle down in the valley. In the same way, we wanted to make sure we were doing our part to fight off the divisive battle raging in our society, trying to infiltrate the Church. Jay and his team led us into the fray with songs of praise, along with Psalm 2 and Psalm 73.
It was a wonderful time and it felt so apropos. I had the privilege of participating in all three services. Jesus spoke to me differently in all three, and compelled me to pray somewhat differently in all three.
At the end of the second service, as songs were being sung, I was still and quiet. In that space I saw a vision in my mind. It stirred me, and I could feel some of God’s emotion as He was showing me the vision. I was stirred and tears welled up.
(Now I know the danger and unreliability that visions in our head can have. And I know that reliance on visions alone can bring about great destruction. I am always careful to submit the visions that I sense God is giving me to the authority of the Scriptures. I hope you do the same.)
That being written, I believe the vision is in line with Scripture, and that it is for our church. I pray that it communicates God’s heart for us. Here is the vision:
I saw a long shoreline as far as the eye could see. A storm was raging on the sea, pummeling the shoreline with wind and waves. Then, I saw men and women spread out, walking one by one into the water, up to their knees, with faces set like flint. They were praying and worshipping in defiance of the storm. The wind whipped through their clothes and hair, and the waves crashed against them, causing some to stagger from time to time. Yet they knew they were there to keep the storm from making it to shore. As time passed, I saw some of them get knocked down and then they walked away. But those who stayed did not flinch and did not judge—they just continued to stand their ground. And their God was so proud of them!
The message to me, and to our church, was: You are not alone and the strain you feel is a battle that God wants you to fight.
God wants us to stand against the evil of our day. As 2 Corinthians says in the Message translation. “We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.”
Let’s keep praying.
And if you would like to register for one of the Sunday morning prayer and worship attack services, you can do so here: https://www.livingstreams.org/special-event
Registration will open each week at 8pm on Wednesday night for the subsequent Sunday morning.
God bless you and yours,
David