Every once in awhile there are events that happen that bring me face to face with the power, bigness, and out of this world crazy wonderfulness of God. Let me share one of those moments with you.
On Tuesday nights I co-coordinate a team that organizes and executes a worship gathering for college students called SALT. It starts at 9:00pm and involves a worship band, a speaker, and various creative elements depending on the week. Each month we do a different theme that culminates in a special gathering at the end of the four week period. September's theme was Jesus. We spent the whole month talking about Jesus, and this past Tuesday night was the culmination of that. We planned to focus on our response to Jesus. Our speaker was a man who has the gift of evangelism and the whole goal of the night was to present the Gospel. We had been praying and asking others to pray with us the whole month for that night, that people's hearts would be open and that we would leave SALT that night with new brothers and sisters. As it got closer we prayed harder and by the time Tuesday came, we were definitely praying without ceasing.
Guess what happened? Satan fought us harder than he ever has before. We were under attack in a serious way. If you don't believe that we have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion waiting to see who he can devour (1 Peter 5:8) you are deceived. Because there is no other explanation for the way things went other than that Satan was fighting because he was afraid of what God was going to do that night.
This is what happened. Several people had had a bad day or were sick to begin with. Rehearsal got started late, and despite the fact that there was a shortened set list took longer than any other rehearsal this year. The band practiced right up until 8:45 non-stop...they didn't even get to eat dinner. The computer that we used to project words and images was acting like it was possessed. No joke, I wouldn't even be touching the computer and things on the screen would move. The program that we use was doing weird things that aren't just flukes but things that go against the code of how the program was written - Chorus 1 became chorus 2 and chorus 2 became chorus 1; the first chorus 1 didn't match the second chorus 1; the words were fine on my computer but when they projected on the screen they were 50x larger then they were supposed to be and didn't fit on the screen. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but trust me, it was a huge deal and very stressful, especially because this was all happening on the new song (and in some ways the most important song of the evening because it pretty much gave the Gospel message in song). The sound tech had to run and get some equipment and ended up running a bit late and missing most of rehersal (which meant that he couldn't work on making stuff sound right). We were setting up the church until 9:03 (remember we are supposed to start at 9:00). Laws of sound equipment (as set in stone as laws of gravity) were being broken - like things that physically as well as theoretically aren't supposed to happen were happening. It was weird and was causing quite a bit of tension on top of the general craziness of Tuesday nights.
Now comes the fun part - how good God is. When the speaker got there, we all went into the back room to pray together. He said "I don't know what's going on around here, but I can feel the Holy Spirit is in this place." We told him about how rehearsal had gone and he got a big smile on his face and said, "Good...that means Satan's running scared." You gotta love a guy that responsds like that. We then had the sweetest prayer time that I have ever been a part of in the four years of SALT I've done. It was so full of passion and it was very raw...we were all at the end of ourselves and knew that we could not fight alone. So as we asked God to fight with us and for us our hearts were calmed and we left that room ready for battle.
And battle it was. All night long Satan and his team was doing everything possible to keep people from coming to know Christ as Lord and Savior. And all night long I along with several others prayed against that. God won just as He always does. Worship was powerful and moving to the core. The message was funny, convicting, and real - there were no heart strings being pulled, except by the Holy Spirit. And at the end of the night there were somewhere around ten new believers, who were able to sing for the first time with meaning along with everyone else:
On Tuesday nights I co-coordinate a team that organizes and executes a worship gathering for college students called SALT. It starts at 9:00pm and involves a worship band, a speaker, and various creative elements depending on the week. Each month we do a different theme that culminates in a special gathering at the end of the four week period. September's theme was Jesus. We spent the whole month talking about Jesus, and this past Tuesday night was the culmination of that. We planned to focus on our response to Jesus. Our speaker was a man who has the gift of evangelism and the whole goal of the night was to present the Gospel. We had been praying and asking others to pray with us the whole month for that night, that people's hearts would be open and that we would leave SALT that night with new brothers and sisters. As it got closer we prayed harder and by the time Tuesday came, we were definitely praying without ceasing.
Guess what happened? Satan fought us harder than he ever has before. We were under attack in a serious way. If you don't believe that we have an enemy who prowls around like a roaring lion waiting to see who he can devour (1 Peter 5:8) you are deceived. Because there is no other explanation for the way things went other than that Satan was fighting because he was afraid of what God was going to do that night.
This is what happened. Several people had had a bad day or were sick to begin with. Rehearsal got started late, and despite the fact that there was a shortened set list took longer than any other rehearsal this year. The band practiced right up until 8:45 non-stop...they didn't even get to eat dinner. The computer that we used to project words and images was acting like it was possessed. No joke, I wouldn't even be touching the computer and things on the screen would move. The program that we use was doing weird things that aren't just flukes but things that go against the code of how the program was written - Chorus 1 became chorus 2 and chorus 2 became chorus 1; the first chorus 1 didn't match the second chorus 1; the words were fine on my computer but when they projected on the screen they were 50x larger then they were supposed to be and didn't fit on the screen. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but trust me, it was a huge deal and very stressful, especially because this was all happening on the new song (and in some ways the most important song of the evening because it pretty much gave the Gospel message in song). The sound tech had to run and get some equipment and ended up running a bit late and missing most of rehersal (which meant that he couldn't work on making stuff sound right). We were setting up the church until 9:03 (remember we are supposed to start at 9:00). Laws of sound equipment (as set in stone as laws of gravity) were being broken - like things that physically as well as theoretically aren't supposed to happen were happening. It was weird and was causing quite a bit of tension on top of the general craziness of Tuesday nights.
Now comes the fun part - how good God is. When the speaker got there, we all went into the back room to pray together. He said "I don't know what's going on around here, but I can feel the Holy Spirit is in this place." We told him about how rehearsal had gone and he got a big smile on his face and said, "Good...that means Satan's running scared." You gotta love a guy that responsds like that. We then had the sweetest prayer time that I have ever been a part of in the four years of SALT I've done. It was so full of passion and it was very raw...we were all at the end of ourselves and knew that we could not fight alone. So as we asked God to fight with us and for us our hearts were calmed and we left that room ready for battle.
And battle it was. All night long Satan and his team was doing everything possible to keep people from coming to know Christ as Lord and Savior. And all night long I along with several others prayed against that. God won just as He always does. Worship was powerful and moving to the core. The message was funny, convicting, and real - there were no heart strings being pulled, except by the Holy Spirit. And at the end of the night there were somewhere around ten new believers, who were able to sing for the first time with meaning along with everyone else:
I once was lost, but now I'm found
I once was lost, but now I'm found
So far away, but I'm home now
I once was lost, but now I'm found
And now my lifesong sings
I once was blind, but now I see
I once was blind, but now I see
I don't know how, but when He touched me
I once was blind, but now I see
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
I once was dead, but now I live
I once was dead, but now I live
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Let my lifesong sing to You
I once was lost, but now I'm found
So far away, but I'm home now
I once was lost, but now I'm found
And now my lifesong sings
I once was blind, but now I see
I once was blind, but now I see
I don't know how, but when He touched me
I once was blind, but now I see
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
And now my lifesong sings
I once was dead, but now I live
I once was dead, but now I live
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Now my life to You I give
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Let my lifesong sing to You
And it was a beautiful and joyous occasion as we worshipped through song with our new brothers and sisters and the enemy ran away defeated. And as we ended the night with a song of celebration, I could barely contain the smile that was covering my face as the enormity of what God had just done set in.
To have the privilege of being a part of something like that is awe-inspiring and humbling. It isn't often that I cry, but God can do it every time. Jenny (the girl who I co-coordinate SALT with) and I had been praying for a friend's brother all day. They ended up sitting right in front of us and I just prayed my heart out for this kid. And God was faithful to answer the prayers of many and save Steve that night. And when the speaker asked for those who made a decision to raise their hands, and we saw Steve's hand go up, Jenny and I both started crying out of pure awe and thankfulness and recognition of how great our God is.
It's moments like that that make all of the battle worth it. It's moments like Steve's sister and her roommate busting into my apartment at midnight yelling and screaming and jumping because her brother got saved, and then us running to Jenny's apartment to scream and yell and jump together that make me do what I do. Its knowing that I'm always fighting on the winning side that gets me out of bed every morning to face another day.
So take heart. God cares. He is intimately involved. He knows when the battle is raging. He is waiting for the right moment to step in and win...all you have to do is claim the victory.
Thank you Jesus that You know and care. Thank You that You are always there. Thank You for saving Steve and the others. Thank You for being faithful. Thank You for being big and mighty. Thank You for saving me. Amen.
To have the privilege of being a part of something like that is awe-inspiring and humbling. It isn't often that I cry, but God can do it every time. Jenny (the girl who I co-coordinate SALT with) and I had been praying for a friend's brother all day. They ended up sitting right in front of us and I just prayed my heart out for this kid. And God was faithful to answer the prayers of many and save Steve that night. And when the speaker asked for those who made a decision to raise their hands, and we saw Steve's hand go up, Jenny and I both started crying out of pure awe and thankfulness and recognition of how great our God is.
It's moments like that that make all of the battle worth it. It's moments like Steve's sister and her roommate busting into my apartment at midnight yelling and screaming and jumping because her brother got saved, and then us running to Jenny's apartment to scream and yell and jump together that make me do what I do. Its knowing that I'm always fighting on the winning side that gets me out of bed every morning to face another day.
So take heart. God cares. He is intimately involved. He knows when the battle is raging. He is waiting for the right moment to step in and win...all you have to do is claim the victory.
Thank you Jesus that You know and care. Thank You that You are always there. Thank You for saving Steve and the others. Thank You for being faithful. Thank You for being big and mighty. Thank You for saving me. Amen.
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