I wouldn't normally be writing a post so soon after my latest 60 Seconds of Faith broadcast, but I thought you all deserved to know a little experiment I was running last week from Sunday, 26th May to Saturday, 30th May.
A little experiment I'm calling 7 Days of Praise...
It started in an inadvertant manner as I'd just finished listening to Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, talk about the issue of whether or not a single person should marry. In fact the message was entitled "Marry or Burn" for those interested.
I really connected with that because, as impossible as it looks now, I am determinedly believing that God gave me a promise back in summer of 2009. The promise of a life partner. A wife.
I'm not, at this point, going to give you the full rundown of my romantic history because it doesn't exactly make for pleasant reading in places, but that doesn't stop me believing.
Anyways, after the message I felt really inspired to stick on some praise and worship music and just let go. By that I mean go for it, no, really go for it reulting in the below song becoming my anthem for the "7 Days of Praise" I was committed to undertaking! :)
What ended up happening was that this sparked off a commitment to, regardless of the problems I'm facing on a day to day basis, lift my shouts of praise up to God even louder. Just to show Him that I'm expecting miracles still, even though it seems like I walk through the barren lands at the minute.
It ended up that I was engaging in watching different ministry programmes from people ranging from Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, John Hagee and Steven Furtick. Also, special mention has to be made of Dr. David Jeremiah's Turning Point programme, for helping me see why it is essential we conquer the giants in our lives.
These sessions, were each book-ended by praise and worship sessions that only ended when enough spiritual momentum had been gained.
You've seen some of my posts lately, I've gone from elation, to despair, and back again, haven't I?
This time, however, things are considerably different...
A Story of Two Miracles
Let me share with you a couple of stories of the remarkable events that took place over the last seven days.
The first one happened last Monday night when, during one of my worship sessions I can only describe it as a breaking sensation was felt towards the end, you know, the kind that happens when you push on a plank of wood that you can feel flexing under your pushing weight.
What I mean by this is that I was just enjoying myself being free to worship God as only I can; by offering up my own unique brand of "crazy praise" and that's when it happened. I heard it!
SNAP!!!
You know, like I said, when you push against a plank of wood and it breaks, or you step on a branch and it breaks; that was the kind of sensation & sound I felt & heard. I didn't draw anymore attention to it by dwelling upon it because it was worship time & that meant putting God first with no distractions!
Well, fast forward a day later and in the evening and that is when it hit me; my ongoing problem with suspected kidney stones had gone. I realised when I moved a certain way there was no longer a stabbing sensation in my lower right side of my back, something that was always there when I woke up in a morning and moved to get out of bed.
I was pain free...
There's more to it than that, because I'm sure the enemy was committed to keeping me chained up in my own self-pity & doubt until I decided to set up camp in my Saviour's city!
I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep. God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you — shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke. God guards you from every evil, He guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, He guards you now, He guards you always. Psalm 121 (emphasis added)
Miracles Are REAL, People Are Fake!
You cannot tell me there are no such things as miracles because that one was seven years in the making. For it was seven years ago that I was hospitalised with them & only until recently I decided that I was not happy with not being entirely pain free.
As Jesus is, so are we!
I committed it to prayer and had been conscious that it was something I was believing for for some weeks now. One thing's for sure and that is that I never meant for it to happen like that because I was worshipping, not praying.
My time this past week has been precious to me because it has been a great opportunity to get closer to the heartbeat of God and expect Him to move in so many ways for so many people.
Miracle one won & done!
Secondly, I went round to my parents' flat on Wednesday in a constant reminder of how they said it was as though an oppressive atmosphere had been hanging over the place.
It hit me, the spirit of depression that had been so deeply latched onto my life, had transferred to their abode because they seemed to be exactly as I was during my dark days a month or so ago; it was as though the drive, the passion of life had seemingly left them behind
At this point, I'll share with you a song that has been instrumental during these past seven days: -
There's a line here that really sings out to me every time I hear it: -
"this is prophetic I can feel it in the air, we lift our praise and You change the atmosphere"Ever since the miracle of Monday night, that line kept echoing round and round my mind because the truth there is self-explanatory; the more I praise and the louder I get, the more the atmosphere is liable to change as I bring my "natural" life to God and watch as He adds the "super" to my natural, thus bringing me a supernatural result to my situation!
So, with that being said, it brings me back to my arrival at my parents house on the Wednesday. I shared with them the spiritual momentum I was gaining, all for God, only little did I know that when I next turned up on the Thursday my mum said to me something along these lines: -
"when you left it was as though a huge weight lifted"What do I make of that?
My response came in the form of a picture I'd got as to how best describe what the momentum I was gaining felt like to me: -
This illustration is my way of saying that I felt as though for every moment I lifted higher my praise, right behind me momentum heated up to the point where it distorted what the enemy was doing around me to the point where he had to scarper and go find someone else to taunt/accuse.
The disturbance left behind as the jet takes off is what it felt like to me as I lived my life on a daily basis this past week. It just got stronger and stronger as the week went on.
Someone once said that there's nothing more effective than an ineffective Christian and they are right, because to Satan they are no threat at all.
Final Thought
Before anyone says I'm taking too much glory for myself, I'm not, I'm going on record that, yes, this is my life, but this is what God is doing through me!
Well, this went on for much longer than I anticipated, but let me close by saying what an amazing time it's been and to have finally made it up not one level, but several levels of faith this past week alone, gives me great hope for the work that God is doing going forward!
May He send His rain all the more then, if it means more weeks like the one I've just had, bro's!
Peace off!
PS. It may be a few days before my next post now given that I've done so much this weekend for my blog, so I need to de-tox for a few days, ta! ;)
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