Worship Part Fouro: The Experience

i have always known that the Lord has not really given me a vocabulary that brings to life what is going on in my heart.  and even if He did, the words that could come from my mouth would have no effect on the hearts of those i speak to in the way i desire to see them moved.  

what brings so much passion and humility  to this heart and at the same time RELIEVES it from the pressure of feeling like IT has to be the thing to change hearts around me is that the Spirit the Lord has left here on earth is the only thing that transforms hearts!  

for this very reason is the reason i LOVE leading worship through music.  everybody knows that music goes deeper than the surface of our ears.  it is an intangible, unexplainable phenomenon that somehow finds its way to the soul of a human being.  like an unseen fragrance to the nose that brings memory, the vibrations of beauty move through the air towards the ears of an individual and begins to vibrate the hardness of a heart to a soft gelatin mold.  WHAT A TOOL THE LORD HAS GIVEN!  

all i can do is exactly what i know how to do in the exact place He calls me to do it.  the rest is His!  all i can do is play the music i know how to with all my heart (for our best is saved for the Lord) and ASK that He might just attach His Spirit to those vibrations and when they hit that individual’s soul, the LORD of hosts may INVADE their heart!

…mmm…how relieving to know that God Himself does the work of the heart…makes it easy to find humility:)

 

this saturday the Lord awakened and fulfilled a desire i have been begging Him to start in me.

 

 

 

From the beginning:  (what you need to know)

:the Lord has been growing our body here in seattle not only through unity and maturity but also in number.  He has given us some key individuals who have had their hearts captured by Himself after being enslaved to YEARS of living on the streets in need of addictions and full of pride and anger towards the world.  He has TRANSFORMED their lives through EXPERIENCING His truth.  the humility, belief and passion the Lord has given these men can now reach areas of the world our body would have never been able to reach.  talk about the beauty of the body and all its needed parts.

 

The Story of Experience:

last sunday after leading worship at our church, nathan (the life transformed from “street-doin’”) came up to me and told me that he had been given a revelation.  he told me that we needed to take that (the music we had just created) and bring it to the streets of seattle.  through growing in a relationship with the Lord and developing a trust with nathan, i have come to know that revelations are a HUGE way the Lord speaks to His people.  i knew in my heart of hearts that the only thing we could do was respond to what the Lord had spoken to the heart of nathan.  

thus, the experience begins…

i threw together all the music i could and brought the vision to a couple other musicians and leaders in our body.  the vision was caught and responded to.  the needed parts of the body to accomplish this vision had been provided.  we had three acoustic guitar player, a drummer, and three leaders who would speak to the people that would come to hear the music.  the goal of the speaking leaders was to offer prayer, bring understanding as to what we were doing and also to speak truth into their lives pertaining to specific areas and the state of heart that needed to be present in order to partake in communion (which is something we also had set up as well).  

we set out as a team late saturday night at about 10pm.  we went to the heart and soul of the city.  the range of diversity was incredible from people headed to the bars, night clubs, homeless people, drug dealers, prostitutes, police officers, backpackers and the list goes on.

we cracked open the guitar cases and from the second we all started WAILING on the guitars, vocal chords and the drum, people started flocking around.  the leaders of our body would begin to converse with individuals and all i saw from my perspective were knees dropping everywhere.  prayer was think in that area.  we had a man that leaned up against a near by post and just stood there in a state of softness taking to heart what the Spirit was speaking to him through the music.  the face of an individual in the process of receiving words from the ONE who reigns in freedom and transforms lives is not only obvious but unforgettable.  a woman all by herself came to one of our leaders and broke down…he spoke truth to her heart and explained the power of communion.  she slowly approached the table picking up the bread and the juice.  her eyes lifted to the music being played in front of her…she then closed them and partook.  

after playing in this one place for an extended period of time we decided to pick up and move to a new location.  we found, yet again, the perfect corner.  we began wailing!  immediately a man dragged his girlfriend over to where we were and began yelling at me.  ”PLAY LOUDER!  SING LOUDER!  LET IT BE FROM YOUR HEART!  THE WORLD NEEDS TO HEAR THIS”.  we had been singing a song that was foreign to him but he attempted to join us at the top of his lungs and through dance with his girlfriend not knowing a single word!  after more knees had been dropping and more partaking had taken place, nathan came up to me and he said, “i think we need to play a song with holy, holy, holy in it”.  i couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head.  BUT then a man walked up to me and asked if i knew how to play a song that went something like, “Lord, open my eyes”.  IMMIDIATELY we started wailing on open the eyes of my heart.  his bottom jaw began drop, his eyes opened and he proclaimed,”…yes…Yes!”  at that moment he stood less than two feet in front of my face and just stared at me in the eyes.  i couldnt help but feel semi awkward, but i felt the Spirit speak to my heart telling me, “look him back in the eyes and do not leave his eyes until he leaves yours”.  i continued to play and sing with all of my heart and shifted my eyes so that they locked with his and held them there with intensity.  …his face softened…tears began pouring as we slipped into the bridge of the song singing, holy, holy, holy…i want to see You.  he turned his head and began doing a dance that almost looked like a dance of speaking in tongues but with his body…so free, and unhindered…like nothing i had ever seen before.  the night continued on…

we moved yet again to a new corner.  this corner was much less populated, but the time was just past 2am and this was the time the bars closed and the people were out.  we were tired.  we just chose a chord progression and just jammed for some time.  people would walk by and just listen.  some groups would act like they were still in the club and be grinding with each other (which im totally cool with…little do they know that they are grinding to the music of Jesus…aww yeah:)  after a few minutes of jamming, we stopped.  a group of three individuals came up to us and told us they wanted to hear something.  the name of one of them (translated from spanish) literally meant Jesus, Son of God.  i told him that this song costs them nothing.  they moved closer almost curious of what was to come after that comment spoken to them with the Spirit in my eyes…you could tell they really wanted to hear.  we played how great is our God.  we sang the words intentionally to the Lord and the second we hit the with HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD at the top of all of our lungs, Jesus, Son of God closed his eyes and said “Oh, LORD!” and raised his hands in a dance that not only moved him but transferred to his friends and they WORSHIPED!! they didnt stop dancing with their hands in the air until the song was done.  when we stopped, he came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eyes while dropping his neck to move his head closer to my face and said, “what you are doing in amazing, never stop doing this”.

finally, they left and we began to put our stuff away because the street was becoming silent.  at that moment two girls came up to us and asked if we were playing music.  it was obvious that the one was looking to hear something.  she asked if there was any way she could hear just something.  i opened my case and picked up my guitar.  i walked up close to her and looked her in the eyes and smiled.  i told her we would play one more.  BUT you have to know that this song is totally on us.  ALSO, the one thing i ask of you is this: to LET…let the Lord speak to you through this song.  she kinda smirked and said, “ok”.  it was just my guitar, a drum and all of us singing at the top of our lungs.  we played beautiful one.  i have NEVER worship like i did for that song in my entire life.  i felt the Lord telling me to keep my eyes closed the entire time.  when the song finished, she walked up to me and engulfed me with the biggest hug that i have ever received…and she held me for what seemed forever.  and during that ENTIRE  elongated embrace…she whispered into my ears, “thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you…thank you.”  all i could say back was you are welcome as she stepped back and looked me in the eye.  she looked at our entire group with a state of awe and said one last thank you and walked off with her friend.  

 

…nathan came up to me and said to me, “people out here are dying to experience our God…they need freedom…they need truth…life on this planet has nothing to offer and these people desire for Christ to come to them on the street, where they are at…i know because i lived it, i heard it, and i experienced it.”

 

the power of the Spirit through music allows the people of this world to EXPERIENCE Christ.  through experience people come to KNOW and desire life in the full from our Father.