Minstrel Musings | Kelly B. Wiens

He who remembers the poor, lends to the Lord

I hope you had a great time zooming, and teaming, and video chatting with all your friends and family in internet land this Christmas! And for the few that get to be with you I hope your Christmas was filled with joy and peace and lots of hugs even though as there is in my house there will be pain because loved ones are not allowed to be home at this time. This is so sad, and take time to grieve those losses to allow Jesus to comfort you with his words and His love by His Spirit at this time. I titled this post thinking about my friend Nicholas in Jinja Uganda. There are many all around us who are suffering this Christmas without a job, wondering how everything is going to work out right here in Canada. So let’s be attentive to cries going up to God silently and not so silently at this time asking for help.

Nicholas has put this verse on his website for Bright Light Children’s Ministry. Proverbs 19:17 – Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD and he will reward them for what they have done! I remember the first time I heard someone talk about financial renewal and God’s principles for finance and he talked about God rewarding those who give to the poor. God doesn’t say what those rewards are, but there is a always a payback because God is faithful and just. Jesus says when we give to others who are in need, we store up treasure in heaven where nothing can steal it. Jesus also says when you give don’t let right hand know what left is doing. Sometimes these verses make it difficult for me to know how to ask for help giving to a cause that I believe in. I don’t think it’s wrong to mention when a part the family I am connected to is suffering lack to ask another part of my family and friends to help. Nicholas is active caring for orphan children through the ministry God has raised up through him. Over 60 children are cared for through the ministry via foster families and the home which houses over 20 children. Nicholas and his team of faithful brothers and sisters make sure the children have what they need as best they can but it is difficult. The rent needs to be paid, food needs to be bought, firewood purchased for cooking, soap, medicine, and school is not free in Uganda and so there are many financial challenges. Would you consider giving so that orphan children in Uganda have what they need to begin the new year. Your giving is tax-deductible and so if the Lord has blessed you a little or a lot would you consider this in your year end giving plans.

Our goal is $3500.00 and it would mean a lot to Nicholas and each child in Bright Light’s care! This works out to only $52.00/child.

You can give on-line to our ministry here. FireRunner Music & Ministries. Our ministry operates as part of Bridges of Hope International Development Agency which actually does a lot of amazing work all over the world but especially in Africa. Just put in the comments Bright Light if you want it to go completely to Bright Light. Otherwise a portion of everything given to FireRunner will go to Bright Light to keep the lights on, the children fed, the school fees paid, the landlord happy and ensure the the good news of Jesus and His love for kids will keep going out through this ministry. We have dreams of sustainability through their own piece of land, with home, farming/gardening and school as part of the picture but for now they could really just use a hand to make it into this next year.

Today’s song is It’s time to sing, a song I wrote years ago in 2004 to celebrate Jesus birth and to prepare us for the soon return of Jesus! Find a child or a bunch if you are extra blessed and dance with them to the song. And let me know whether you want me to do a great recording of this song for next Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It’s time to sing!

I always love mail, comments, new subscribers etc. but even more than that I would love it that we could lighten the load as Bright Light enters 2021.

God’s doing a new thing and fulfilling an old promise

Today I am excited to be writing again as God is doing a new thing with my wife and I here in Winnipeg as we start our ministry assignment phase on Trek with Multiply https://multiply.net/ our supervising, training and partnering ministry. My assignment on Trek through FireRunnerMusic & Ministries is to come along side Living Word Temple and other churches and ministries the Lord seems to have networked together who have a burden for North End Winnipeg. One of those ministries is Winnipeg Centre Vineyard where my wife began her Trek assignment as Director of Youth and Children’s Ministries and whose building we have been using to live in and train in as Trekkers since August 30th. This week I began singing alongside the worship pastor at Living Word Temple Cherie Bright on their FB page live on Wednesday and had the opportunity to sing a song in advance of the lead pastor Paul Winter’s message on how Jesus brings hope and healing in the midst of despair and depression. FireRunnerMusic & Ministries is the name of our music minstrel record label and ministry. Our vision is to come alongside the local church to be a part of igniting a prairie wide awakening that has a global impact. How do we do that you may ask? By being filled with the Holy Spirit and letting Him lead in the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to one another and singing to the Lord Jesus and giving thanks to the Father in Jesus name through song. (Ephesians 5:18) The Holy Spirit is the River of Life and where He flows through us life and healing results in those He touches. FireRunnerMusic is about being vessels to be filled with the Holy Spirit to minister to Jesus and to each other the love of God in it’s many forms and manifestations which include inner healing.

One of the things that really has encouraged me lately is I’ve been singing a lot of both pre-written and spontaneous songs that are new this last month on Facebook. One of the things Jesus spoke to me about this minstrel ministry is that He would give me songs that would minister healing to people who were traumatized and in fear and anxiety because of it. One of my younger sisters in Christ said she had listened a song I sang on Facebook live called “I see you” and she shared how God used that song to minister healing to her heart. She was suffering from the fallout of old trauma being stirred up and the anxiety and self-protective fear response had kicked in. As she combined what the Holy Spirit was speaking to her personally and what He was saying to her through His song it was as if, well let me quote what she said, because she says it so well…

I’ve just felt God telling me “I see you. Look into my eyes and let all the trauma from that moment vanish. Let me hold you. Tighter than the trauma and the pain. I’m here. I won’t force myself on you, but I want you to know that I’m here and I love you. And I’m ready when you are.” And when you sang your song tonight I felt seen completely by God and held completely. And for once, I didn’t feel like I was fighting it. It felt safe. Warm. It felt overpowering but in a good way. And for once I felt all the memories from that moment just go dull. They were overpowered by God’s furious love. It just brought me to a place of praying “God I want to be all in. Overcome by passion for you. Overcome by your love. I don’t want to run anymore. I don’t want to hide anymore. I just want to burn for you. Take me back to the place where it was only about you, and all I wanted was just to be with you. Take me back to that wide eyed wonder I used to have before trauma stole my passion and zest. I want to be like a child again, full of unwavering trust; unaffected by the brokenness of this world because I was consumed with you and only you. Take me back to that place.” So thank you. Thank you for being obedient in sharing. Thank you for helping me enter into God’s presence in a new and deeper way tonight.

It is stories like this that make me rejoice for being obedient and singing on Facebook live. Her words encapsulate the effect I pray and dream the Holy Spirit would have on the many who are hurting and suffering from trauma and it’s effects. There are many, many more hurting hearts out there that need to experience the love of Jesus through the Holy Spirit who have experienced trauma and fear. Ok Kelly, I get it, God is doing a new thing and using the songs you sing to minister healing to others but what about fulfilling an old promise. Well in June 1997, the same Holy Spirit who led me to write and the sing this healing song said this to me…

“The coming devastation of the earth will cause many to fear for their lives. It will create a mentality of almost craziness because of the high levels of anxiety and fear. It is to these people many people will throw up their hands in despair because seemingly nothing can be done for them. The trauma these people have experienced has scarred their hearts and nothing short of the healing balm that only Jesus can give will set these prisoners free and heal their wounds. Kelly, I will bring healing through the music I give you to write. People will listen and be brought into My manifest presence where I will heal them and set them back on their feet, ground in the knowledge that I love them and that nothing shall separate them from my love, not even global devastation.

God gave me a new song and he fulfilled an old promise and this 50 year old-man is excited about what obeying Jesus in this new adventure being planted in Winnipeg for this next season. If you want to continue to hear more about this please sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to this blog. We are sending out a newsletter once a month starting this week and I invite you to opt in to that if you like as well.

Here is the link:

https://mailchi.mp/3760e755754a/firerunner-ministries

As always there will be a link to the Facebook post of the song that Jesus used to minister healing to sister in Christ I hope you too are ministered to by the truth that God sees you and hears you and loves you.

Be blessed to be a blessing. Please take a listen and allow Jesus to sing His love over you!

https://www.facebook.com/718431818/videos/10157920910621819/

P.S. – I’m going through final discernment process to get an EP or a single or two to introduce myself and FireRunnerMusic and Ministries to the bride of Christ. God-willing one song before Christmas!!! We believe in freely sharing what God has given us, trusting God to give back to us through those we serve with the gifts He has given as we believe the worker is worth their keep. Interesting fact it takes approx. $157.00/day to meet my minimum daily needs when coupled with my wife’s 1/2 time salary as youth & children’s ministry director. We are hoping to raise $7000.00 for our initial recording word and initial web presence. Your generous giving will allow us to give what Jesus has asked us to give both “live” and in Spirit-filled recordings to minister healing in Jesus name to many. All gifts over $25 are eligible for tax receipts, and gifts given to FireRunnerMusic&Ministries will be matched up to 15% up to a maximum of $1000/individual donor if given through their website, to donate click. Our ministry operates under another organization called Bridges of Hope International Development Agency (BOHINDA) based in Lethbridge, AB. Their mission is to help people launch, manage, and market their charitable cause. Thus a perfect fit for FireRunner and we are deeply grateful for their adoption of FireRunner into their cause. All receipts for gifts given for FireRunner are given by this organization. Here is our donation page: https://www.bridgesofhope.ca/firerunner or the Alberta Treasury Branch matching donation program (15%) under Bridges of Hope, choose the FireRunnerMusic and Ministries project or simply click on this link: https://atbcares.benevity.org/community/cause/124-863616843RR0001

We are in a war!

It has been a long time since you have seen or heard anything from this minstrel who used to take time to share his thoughts and hopeful not just mine but thoughts that come from God’s heart and mind to you as a ministering musician. I have felt for a week now I need to begin blogging again. Listening to John Ramirez ex-satanist now evangelist testimony of Jesus intervention in his life this last hour, hearing a testimony today of a young woman who Satan deceived into meditation, astral projection, and subsequent demonization and Jesus rescue of her, and finally looking at media reports following President Trumps successful order to kill a top Iranian General through a U.S. military drone has me thinking about war a lot today.

The apostle Paul says clearly in his letter to the Ephesian church starting with chapter 6:10 the Message version – “That about wraps it up. God is strong and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. And don’t forget to pray for me. Pray that I’ll know what to say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am responsible for getting out.

This year I have felt the Lord urging me to move forward in develop the music minstrel umbrella organization to act as a covering for a ministry that focuses on preparing the church for God’s coming Kingdom and our coming Bridegroom King and equally so I have felt the need to proclaim the love of Jesus Christ for all people that they would know and understand and feel the love of Jesus for them personally as they listen to the testimony of Jesus in Spirit-filled music. Music has a way of carrying both thought and emotion that goes with it whether it be our thoughts or the Holy Spirit’s thoughts through us as God’s servants. It is an important medium through which God the Father and the Son express themselves to us and we to the Father and the Son and to our fellow human beings through the Spirit. I struggle to move forward knowing that moving forward means potential misunderstandings, challenges, the possibility of physical, and emotional pain, financial cost, physical energy drain, time spent investing outside of what I currently am committed to doing which is running a farm business, and being involved in local and some ministry beyond Beechy. However, the Lord continues to ask me and tell me that it is the time to move forward so move forward I have and move forward I will by His help. If you are interested in praying for this ministry I will share vision for the ministry via a private facebook group, please comment and I will connect you. My most urgent need as Paul lists here is prayer, I ask that you would pray for grace to overcome all obstacles to get through the planning process for this ministry as well as conviction and follow through to do the ministry assignments the Lord gives me as I work on building the organization this year. I will need a 3 member board to begin with and I am praying for 3 kinds of people one who is administrative, one who is a mature prophetic-intercessor and an accountant. I will be setting up a private facebook group to communicate with those of you who feel called to pray for this ministry as it goes through it’s designing and building process. This is not going to be easy but I know the one who calls me is faithful and so I will trust and obey knowing everything I need will be provided.

There have been some major things the Lord has been doing in my life these last 2 years while I’ve been away from the blog. I have gone through a healing discipleship ministry called Freedom Sessions which the Lord has used to do a lot of healing in my heart and others in the Beechy area. I’m going through it again and I felt the Lord wanted me to focus this time on the hurts which happened which resulted in me aborting the plan to launch this ministry in 1999-2000 when I first tried to do this. The armour of God that is listed in Ephesians 6 is what we need to successfully fight the devil and overcome him and do the work which Christ has called us to do on earth before His coming. We need to believe God’s word and confess it out loud after hearing it. We need to obey God’s word taking action on it. We need to trust in the righteousness of Christ to cover our sins and our heart from being wounded by the accuser. We need to rest in the knowledge that we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved from all that the enemy will bring against us and the sins that so easily beset us, because Christ is victor and He is our Lord. We also need to move in the Spirit’s ways of peace in our relationships with those who know Jesus and those who don’t yet. Why, because people are not our enemy even though the enemy uses people to cause us pain and those we love. The last thing I want to say is praise is a weapon. Remember that brothers and sisters when you feel under attack. Fix your thoughts on Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith by praising Him with all your soul, mind and strength. Give Him thanks, exalt His name the name that is above every other name. For at the name of Jesus demons flee and at the name of Jesus all heaven and earth will bow because He is King and rightful ruler of earth no matter what is going on right now. He will work for good the painful things going on in your life because He has promised to do that for those who love Him even though now it’s painful. Paul and Silas praised and worshipped our Lord and Saviour in jail after being beaten. There is something powerful that happens when God hears suffering saints worship and praise Him, somehow He is moved and He does things on earth as it is in heaven when we worship and praise Him in the midst of our trials and struggles. God is delighted to bring deliverance from our enemies because He delights in us and he actually has an entire angel army that is quite capable of getting done what needs to be done without our help. Because that is their job to serve and minister to those who will inherit God’s salvation. Isn’t our King Jesus amazing. So whatever you are going through right now I pray that God will give you strength to obey and persevere and bring Jesus glory wherever you live.

Today’s song is a song I sang last Sunday when I was teaching on the resurrection of Jesus and our death and resurrection with Him that places us in a place of victory over all our enemies. May you experience the victory of Christ over all your enemies as you follow your Father in heaven’s leadership and walk in His joy over you in 2020.

Sacrifice of Praise

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

Thank you for your patience in waiting for next blog posts on worship. I have been reading in the first books of the Bible since the new year and I am in Leviticus right now which is the book about what being a priest was like and now just read of festivals etc. As I am reading this, I am reflecting on various movements who have sought to reclaim the biblical festivals in our lives, the obedience to the laws of Moses and living out a Yeshuah focused life but endorsing obedience to everything Moses taught as well. So my question sometimes is God, what are you requiring of me? What does worship look like for me as a new covenant believer. The thought that occurred to me that if the festivals are binding on me, and the law then it should still be eye for eye and tooth for tooth, and animals must be sacrificed, festivals absolutely must be celebrated, all these things must be obeyed, you can’t pick and choose parts of a covenant with God, it’s all or nothing.

The other thing I have been reminded of is the consequences of sin and the only way for justice and mercy to be done when we sin is either we or an animal has to die for forgiveness and right relationship with God to be restored. I have to admit I have totally lost sight of this for the most part. I’m way to casual about sinning against God. So much so I have a hard time with some of God’s consequences in Old covenant before Christ. Some sins were so bad and contagious that death of the person committing them was the way God required us to deal with sin. Forgiveness eternally with a repentant person being put to death, but their sin required forfeiting the rest of their earthly life. Certain sins committed were dealt with like we deal with mad cow disease, kill all those infected because there isn’t a way to separate the disease organism from the host to eradicate it. In light of this I realized the importance of regularly celebrating the Lord’s supper or communion which is the fulfillment of the passover meal which Jesus completely fulfills as the Lamb of God who takes away of the sin of the world. Celebrating this regularly as part of worship is importance as we need to remind ourselves of the price of sin, the price of our forgiveness with God, and to be provoked to thankfulness and praise. It is the least sacrifice we can do to say thank you to Jesus for the high price he paid for our forgiveness, many beatings, a crown of thorns, carrying his cross, and being hung by nails on a cross, suffering shame, mockery, and identifying with us as criminals, rebels and lawbreakers, when He wasn’t one, and to top it off, separation from the Father and going to hell with us to get us out. Wow, what a Saviour we have who is worthy to remembered and worthy to be praise forever and ever!

The new covenant we have because of Jesus death is a new covenant based on Christ’s shed blood of himself rather than an animal for forgiveness of our sins, this is the agreement we have with God now. I am reminded of Paul and the writer of Hebrews who is particularly focused on helping understand Jesus in light of the old covenant and the priesthood and it’s duties they were so familiar with.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise–the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15

Then he goes on to say immediately, and do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16

Which then also reminds me of Paul in confronting the Judaizers which were saying circumcision is required and obedience to law of Moses says this. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor circumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. And later in Galatians 5:13 as Paul talks about our freedom in Christ and not being bound to law he says this “But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love”

So putting this all together as worship leaders and musicians in new covenant what is our responsibility and call from God. We are a subcategory of the royal priesthood Jesus established in a new order of Melchizedek priesthood not the Levitical priesthood established through Aaron that sacrifices animals for sin under old covenant. I believe our call is to serve the rest of the body by leading the body in offering the sacrifice of praise regularly. Together with the other gifts including, pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets and apostles we are to focus the attention of the body of Christ on giving thanks and praise to the One who gave us life for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. We can do this through live praise and worship leading on Sunday morning and evening services. We can do this in small groups. We can do this through recordings both video and audio to inspire praise to rise continually is the command to us. You have an important role so keep the praise rising and keep serving the body in this way and keep offering your gift to God and others. He loves you, and your willingness to honour His Son in this way.

Next time I am going to talk about the Melchizedek priesthood and how I believe this relates to us as ministering musicians who often are bi-vocational and if you happen to be in full time music ministry you will have this other component to your life which sometimes is referred to the kingly domain of business.

As I promised early I am going to share with you another version of You are Mine that I did using Garage band a program I haven’t used until now to do a basic recording using an M audio preamp interface with my computer and midi to USB input into my MacAir. This would be an example of a songwriter taking things the next step and playing with rhythm ideas, sounds, chord structure, melody and incorporating harmony and antiphonal singing into the spontaneous song I sang into my phone as a first step of capturing inspiration when it hits. I was amazed at how easy it was to start to learn Garage Band, up until this point in time I have only used Protools and at that I was just a basic user not a professional engineer or producer. So this is maybe a next step before recording a professional demo or a pre-produced version of a song with a producer. Hope you enjoy it.

You are Mine

As the New Year Dawns

Planning for Spring and Summer, the season of planting, fertilizing and weeding and growth unto a much larger harvest than what is sown is what farmers do in winter. They network with other farmers, they go to shows and meetings to learn from others before making their final plans for the year. What about you? Are you seeking the Lord and dialoguing with your brothers and sisters about the new year and what the Lord is putting on your heart? What kind of seeds are you planning to sow in the new year? As a worship leader, as a husband or wife, mother or father, what are you planning to sow into your family this year? What are the weeds that you tend to fight every year, what might consulting with the Lord and others in the Lord yield in terms of fruit so that you don’t simply repeat the failings and sins of yesteryear! And fertilizer, what kind of fertilizer and how much fertilizer are you willing to invest in this year to ensure the seeds you sow have the very best environment to grow in, making the hearts of those around you very fertile? I’m believing God for a very healthy and large harvest this year and want to do my very best in this season of bitter cold to search out the very best from the Lord and those the Lord has placed around me to do my part in working with the Lord to produce a large healthy harvest. Wouldn’t it be great if 2018 was a year that produced a healthy abundant harvest in the natural world as well as the world of human hearts seeded with good news of God’s love in Christ His Son?

As worship leaders our task is to seek the Lord about songs which help carry the body of Christ into God’s throne room and speak the truth we need to here to walk in freedom and obedience to God’s commands! May the Lord help you in this task that the body might be very fruitful and healthy this year!

P.S. – This was written earlier but I think it is still applicable cause it’s winter still:). I forgot to hit publish

Breakforth One

I have returned from Breakforth One conference in Edmonton and I want to tell you a little bit about my experience there this year. As always I enjoy being on the prayer team. and the joy of ministering to the Lord Jesus in worship together as a team and in the large gathering of the body of Christ. We were reminded again we are a part of the Isaiah 61 mandate that Jesus began to us in His 3 year earthly ministry and continues through us to bring beauty for ashes, forgiveness, restoration, healing, in His name. Before I began praying for people this year I had the privilege of going to a one day intensive learning workshop called Healing Discipleship the next move of God by Pastor Ken Dyck from Vancouver. I was very impacted by his presentation and the great need there is for the church to receive healing on the inside and be a conduit of healing to others. But first it must begin with us. And so the long and the short of it is Kelly wants to go through a discipleship journey called Freedom Sessions soon and invite others into it with him:). If anyone has experienced this already I would appreciate hearing about your experience good or bad. Private message me on messenger or email me at kellyb.wiens@gmail.com. Thanks!

As I mentioned last year we continued to pray for people in the prayer room, pray in main assemblies for the ministers and the worshipping community there to receive from the Lord through His servants, and we continued doing treasure hunts aka roving prayer ministers throughout the Shaw Conference Centre. It never ceases to amaze me the intimate knowledge our Father has of each one of us and His love for us and desire to encourage, comfort and strengthen us. This year seemed to be a year of further growth in learning to listen to the Holy Spirit and learning to deliver what He is saying to others for their encouragement. I saw the Lord Jesus time and time again work so beautifully through members of the prayer team to see healing come to broken hearts and hurting bodies, burdens lifted, and believers exchanging lies for truth about our Father and His great love for us.

I also receive from the Lord often from members of the team and this year without fail the Lord was encouraging me to move forward to share deeply from my heart what He has put there and be unafraid to share it. So in keeping with that invitation from the Lord that has not only come through my siblings in Christ but from Christ to me directly many times I am going to share some things with you my readers that I hope will also bring freedom, courage, comfort and strength to you in your ministries. One is I want to begin to share my journey with Jesus with you one piece at a time, secondly I’m going to share some raw videos and recordings with you so you don’t just see polished finished songs and things but you get to see raw and unprocessed Holy Spirit moments. In doing this I am hoping to encourage you to be more authentic, and vulnerable in your ministry for the sake of encouraging and building up others and I want to encourage creativity. Thirdly, I am going to be developing some training materials in the coming weeks in February to begin sharing the training with you in the coming months starting in March God willing. One of those I hope to be is a slightly modified prayer training called Hands On Prayer Ministry by Mary Kassian of which I received her book as a thank you gift from my prayer team leads Art and Lorraine this year which seemed to confirm to me it is time to start giving away this training and multiplying the number of confident Spirit filled prayer ministers. The second training I want to do is in the area of training worship leaders to cultivate the prophetic gift of the Holy Spirit within them and their teams so that we have more bold and courageous worship leaders who sing the song of the Lord over His people, and the release of greater creativity in the church related to music in particular but also in all the expressions of art in making His praise Glorious and also communicating His heart of love to His people and those who have not yet tasted His love nor heard to good news!

On that note I want to share a little bit about a little chorus I started singing and recorded on my iPhone at Breakforth. This morning I listened to the 30 seconds I recorded at Breakforth and thought I would sing it again and see if more came. The perfectionist side of me would normally prevent me from sharing any such recording especially since I’m practicing a lot of chest to head voice flips in the song some of which are quite bad but for the sake of encouraging the creative Spirit led process in you I will let you the hear the raw heart and expression before the refinement comes. Have an enjoyable rest of your day! Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour like Jesus has loved you!

Kelly

Here’s the song I started working on from a little melody at Breakforth. You are Mine

And here is a private video of spontaneous worship in key of G from this morning! Worship in G

Until next Monday, have a great week.

Kelly

My Story Part 1

I was born in Lucky Lake, July 7, 1970 because my mother wasn’t comfortable with the doctor at the time in my home town of Beechy. I came home to a farm 8 miles northwest of Beechy that my Father and Mother had been renting since 1965 I believe. I had an older sister Tammy (Tamara) who was 3 and 3 years later to the day I would receive another sister named Sonya on July 7, 1973. I have a few memories from those days on the farm, one that came back to me many years later when I gutted my first chicken at my sister in laws after I married my wife which was of my mom gutting a chicken on the kitchen table at this farm. The other memory I have is being stomach flu sick in my bedroom there which was shared with my sister Tamara at that time. My favourite memory by far was when my dad got me my first bike from Canadian Tire, it was bright yellow. I rode down the hill with training wheels at that farm and loved it.

A little less than a year after my younger sister Sonya was born, Dad and Mom got a chance to buy a farm in 1974 only 3 miles from town. So we moved there in 1974. I remember puddles everywhere in the yard as the previous owners the Driedgers had their auction sale in spring before we moved there. 1974 was a winter of much snow which took a long time to melt. It is this farm that I live on to this day with my wife and 3 youngest kids.

My parents were both believers and very active in our Mennonite Brethren Church on railway street in Beechy across from the Pioneer elevator where my dad hauled most of his grain. Dad was moderator of the church council often, led the church choir and taught adult Sunday school. My mom was the church pianist and played a lot for church services and the choir and she led the children’s choir. We did a lot of musical stuff growing up. We had a little family band where I played Tenor recorder in together with my sister Sonya who played alto recorder and my older sister Tamara who played flute together with my dad and my mom who accompanied us on the piano. All of us kids sang in the kids choir and did musicals a lot. Later I would start playing trombone in the band in Grade 5. My sisters and I all were started on piano before school started it seemed the the Kelly Kirby method of learning piano. In grade 8 we would join Dad’s choir at church when we became of age. I learned guitar for a year in school in Grade 9 but that was as far as it went for me in guitar as I found my wrist got sore holding guitar from the fallout of a broken arm in Grade 9.

My faith journey with Christ started when my mother shared a Good News booklet with me about what God had done for me through His Son in dying for my sins and being raised from the dead so I could be forgiven and have eternal life. I wanted to be forgiven as even at 5 years old , I recognized the lack of perfection in me at that time already and I wanted to go to heaven when I die and not be separated from God forever. I received Christ by faith into my heart at that time. I remember sharing my faith with a classmate from school underneath the sandbox in our kindergarten and grade 1 room. I was pretty pumped about Jesus at that time.

I was an academically inclined kid who found school easy and did very well in all my classes except Penmanship. My writing is very bad still. Be thankful I’m typing this. I actually was good at that, achieving 55 wpm on a manual typewriter while starting my training in Grade 10 with only 1 hand because of recovering from a broken arm at the time.

Although I had enthusiasm in my faith at school in the beginning I found that my desire to be accepted by peers generally trumped my willingness to step out and talk about what I believed with my classmates very often. And so I was quiet about my faith for the most part. I had a friend who shared my faith who I did a lot with whose name was Kevin. His presence was a great gift in my life helping to preserve my faith and to give me a friend I could do a lot of fun things with including fall prey to temptation with.

One of the things my parents taught me quite strongly was the dangerous influence of alcohol in ones life. Although I saw alcohol in my grandmothers fridge once I have to admit I was shocked because of how evil my perception was of drinking alcohol and the conviction that I had from my parents instruction that a Christian should never drink it. One day in grade 6 will forever be etched in my mind was a day a bunch of my classmates thought it would be a great idea to bring alcohol from home to school and drink it on the playground. I managed to avoid temptation number one when one of my cousins suggested I try drinking some of the “water” he had in a container. I wasn’t that easily deceived. However, later on that day when a certain female classmate came up to me with a 7up bottle in hand containing a mixture of vodka and 7up offered some for me to try, I had a much harder decision to make. Would I stay with what my parents taught me and within the school rules or would I try some to see what this evil substance tasted like and maybe not look so prudish in front of this pretty girl…

Tune in next week for part 2 – The Teenage Years

Revival 2017 and Our First Nations Brothers and Sisters

Hello my friends. It has been too long, and the Lord is telling me I need to begin blogging again. I had the privilege of being a worship leader at a special gathering of Eagles held at Shekinah Retreat Centre north of Saskatoon. Why eagles you might ask? Well it was a gathering of prophetically gifted people in the body of Christ. The eagle represents keen vision in the animal kingdom and reflects aspects of the character of Christ as reflected in the four living creatures surrounding the throne. Thus eagles or the prophetic gift or seer gift was present in abundance at this small gathering. Many at this gathering were First Nations people from different parts of North America. I was invited by a sister in the Lord who is First Nations whom I had spent significant time in ministry practicing doing harp and bowl worship about 12 years ago which included singing the Scriptures spontaneously. When I asked her what she really wanted me to do she said she wanted me to lead the gathering of eagles into the throne room of God. I have to admit that while I do have a calling to lead people into the presence of God through music, when she stated it like that, it made me a little apprehensive. It is a high calling, and I am totally depending on God through the Holy Spirit to do it. Before I left I sensed the Lord saying that I needed to humble myself and ask a few people to pray for me as I went, the anxiety left me as I humbled myself and asked for prayer. Did I play all my notes perfectly, did I sing all the lyrics correctly, did I make an embarrassing mistake once or twice, no, no, and yes. But did I lead the people who came into the Presence of God. Based on what those who gathered have told me, they said I did help them get there. I am really thankful to God for this.

It is really a mystery this business of worship. Jesus says the Father is looking for worshippers who worship in spirit and in truth. This means that the invisible part of us is engaged in true worship and it also means that what we say and sing through our spirits must be true. The presence of God dwells in the throne room of God in heaven. From the Scriptures we know that is where He is right now, together with the Lamb of God His one and only Son at His right side. Jesus and His apostles teach that through His broken body and shed blood Jesus made a way for us to enter the presence of God, right into His throne room in heaven. The veil to the holy of holies was ripped to show that truth on earth in the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus said He would not leave us orphans when He left but would give us the gift of Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is pictured as a river of life flowing from the throne of God in heaven to the earth and is described as rivers of living water coming out of our belly or gut or innermost being of the true believer in Christ. When I lead in worship and play the piano or keyboard I can feel the flow of the river of God through me as I fix my spiritual eyes on Jesus and the Father in heaven and worship Him. The Spirit of God is the connecting being that allows me to be on earth and connected to heaven and able to access the throne room of heaven. It is so awesome to be able to come into God’s presence and declare His worth! As I enter into worship in the throne room, those who are with me begin to to experience what I am experiencing through the medium of musical sound and words and sense the Presence of God in their spirits. From this place once we are engaged in worship it seems to easy for God to give us gifts from His Spirit of all kinds and then He responds to His kids building us up in our faith and healing our hearts and bodies. He is amazing to watch in action through His body:)

Now the Revival piece, earlier I commented on Luis Palau’s word that He believed Revival would begin in 2017 in Canada. After he declared that I described being flat on the floor in what some call travailing prayer crying my heart out as the Holy Spirit confirmed I was weeping because I had been praying for 30 years for revival in Canada and to know it is near caused my heart to burst as the Holy Spirit continues to move me to pray. What happened that makes me say Revival has started, well let me tell you. Revival happens when God’s people convicted by the Spirit humble themselves repent and seek God’s face and ask for forgiveness. When God responds and forgives, He also refreshes and fills us up with His Spirit again and we feel alive and connected to God in ways that because of the deadening and hardening effect of sin and the curses that follow we didn’t before. That is the beginning of Revival, I believe I saw this weekend. The next stage of Revival is the multiplication stage of what is to come, the impact on the rest of the church and the lost coming into the kingdom in droves. Let it come Lord, let it come!

Now during this gathering a precious sister in the Lord, Linda Bird confronted us again with the atrocities done to First Nations people and the broken promises and unfaithfulness of Canada to their side of the treaty. She said she often feels that she is constantly repenting for her sins and identifying and repenting for the sins of others but rarely does she have someone repent or ask for forgiveness of her and her people. So the Holy Spirit worked and convicted us as she spoke and a number of participants came forward or simply expressed Spirit convicted requests for forgiveness acknowledging the sins of themselves personally and their forefathers against the first nations people in their family line. I knew her statement that you pray for Revival and expect it to comes without dealing with the broken covenant with First Nations and the atrocities done to them. I knew that probably I should go forward on behalf of my family and my heritage as part of the mennonites and say something but I wasn’t sure what and I wanted it to be genuine from the Holy Spirit and from my heart. So I waited, then the next thing I knew the Holy Spirit had moved me to go up to this precious sister and face to face express my gratitude for her nation signing the treaties and giving up their land at such a high price and many atrocities so that me and my family could have a safe place to come where we would have religious freedom and not the threat of war. We had come from a very traumatic experience in Russia and interestingly it seemed like I felt some of the trauma from Russia get expressed through me even though I had not first hand experienced the horrors of Machno and his gang who murdered, raped and pillaged many in the Mennonites colonies during the anarchy of the Russian Revolution and famine in Russia before my great grandfather John Wiens came to Canada in 1925. I confessed that we as Mennonites were guilty of pride and haven’t appreciated and honoured the First Nations people and the treaties the way we ought to, given their great sacrifice and promises made. I asked for her forgiveness on behalf of my people from her and her people. She graciously did and prayed a blessing on me and my people and on my land and my farm. I cried many tears through the process and my soul was cleansed by God’s Spirit and a relationship was restored and blessing from God now will begin to flow to our land and theirs. There is only one way to deal with innocent bloodshed, and that is through covering it with the blood of Christ through identificational repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. I knew what my sister was saying was correct because the Lord showed me many years ago there are two major things setting us up for judgment from God in Canada, one was shedding of innocent blood through abortion and the other was the broken treaties with First Nations people which also resulted the death of many innocents not to mention horrible abuse of children through residential schools and the broken families from the 60’s Scoop. After this happened, later on my sister in the Lord, Jean asked me to play New Day Dawning, a song I haven’t played for many years now. The Lord gave me this song after asking me to write a song to show His vision for Saskatoon and Saskatchewan. It is about turning to Him and seeing an amazing new unity in the body of Christ between Red, Brown, Yellow, Black, and White Children of God. It felt so good to sing that song knowing that we had responded in obedience to the call of the Lord that day which is very much in line with His call in this song to the body of Christ. I was excited because we were moving forward in God’s plan in obedience. 2 chronicles 7:14 says If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. James 5:16 says also”. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. This simply restates what God said to Solomon that if we confess our sins and turn to God he will forgive and he will heal us and our land.

So am I seeing signs of Revival in 2017 beginning? Yes I am praise God. God met us in a very powerful way this weekend and we are forever changed and I only told you one little part of what happened 🙂 The season is changing, the cold dark winter of sins curse is broken and new growth and multiplication will be the result of our repentance and forgiveness from God. How about you, what are you seeing in 2017 now that it is almost over that would corroborate revival is beginning in Canada or wherever you are?

This weeks song will be the old song New Day Dawning, which we have entered into in a new way this last weekend in Saskatchewan. Hope you enjoy it, feel free to download it if you can, it is yours for the taking! Have a blessed day!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time where we pause to reflect upon the goodness of God in our lives. We surround ourselves with good food and family and friends to say thank you Father in heaven for every good and perfect gift that You have given. As a farmer I say thank you for the harvest that God our Father so graciously gave us inspite of a very dry year. I am also grateful for the end of the drought as Our Father gave us so generously 3 inches of rain the day after I finished combining! Thankful for my kids and my wife and her family which have graced our table today! Thanks God for your faithfulness through a very challenging season which has resulted in our return to the farm and finishing a very comprehensive renovation on our city house! Praise the Lord!

What can this man do?

As I prepare for ministry opportunity with an event called Hopeful at our church on Saturday night, I am reminded of my weakness. I am sniveling and sneezing, and leaking out of my nasal cavities and sound and look terrible. 2 days from now I am to share a little story of hope and a song in an effort to share the hope the God put in my heart the night he gave me that song. There will be others sharing about how God intervened in their darkness, their despair, anxiety, depression, they will be sharing specifically how God spoke into the darkness of their souls and brought light and hope again in a desperate place. The words of the song I will be sharing start with, “What can I do? Nothing, without You Jesus”. We are utterly dependent on the Lord Jesus to move in and through us to touch other people’s lives. Without him, we can do nothing. Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborer’s labor in vain, the psalmist says. It is so true, He is the vine we are the branches, the life that we need to produce fruit comes from the sap of His Holy Spirit that flows through the vine to each branch which represents individual believers.

I am praying and trusting God for a breakthrough in people’s lives as stories are told, hearts listen and receive and people take advantage of prayer ministry in the prayer tent that night. I invite you to take a moment and pray for the 7 that will be sharing, and for the worship time and ministry time with the prayer team that happens, that Hope will rise in people’s hearts and that darkness of all kinds will be scattered! Finally pray that nothing will stop people from coming to the event and that for those who need to hear, they will be able to get a copy of the recording of the event! And , please pray I overcome these allergy symptoms. Thanks for praying!

P.S. I will try to get that worship and prayer time up for next time Cheryl and Keith, it’s on my phone, thanks for asking.