March, 2017 | Kelly B. Wiens

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.

This is the year of the favor of the Lord?

Isaiah 61. Jesus read it in the synagogue and said this day this Scripture is fulfilled in Himself. He is the anointed one! I was singing Andy Park’s song Spirit of the Sovereign Lord and was declaring this is the year of the favor of the Lord and vengeance of our God. When I’ve been home I’ve been inviting people to my home to worship and pray on Saturday nights. Tonite as I was praying and declaring this Scriptural song, I also remembered something Luis Palau said at Breakforth that He believes that this is the year for Revival in Canada. He then proceeded to share why. At that point I was assigned to pray in the main assembly and I was walking and praying for the speaker and the people gathered. At that point after the declaration of immanent revival in Canada, I went into travailing prayer, I began to weep uncontrollably and I went onto the floor in the dark amidst the 5000 faithful who had gathered to hear the last speaker at Breakforth. I asked the Lord what is going on. He said to me “You’ve been carrying a burden to pray for Revival since 1988, almost 30 years!” The tears were a sign that the answer to those prayers are coming soon. I started praying for Revival in my first year of Bible School at Bethany Bible Institute. I had been shaken by a book written called 88 reasons why 1988 is the year and specifically Rosh Hashana Sept 18 is the time when Jesus will come to rapture His church. As you might know Jesus never came for His church and raptured us on Sept 18, 1988. The writer said we wouldn’t know the hour but that didn’t mean we couldn’t know the weekend was his justification. Now, the rapture before the antichrist is revealed might be bad theology when you read Mathew 24 and what Jesus taught there doesn’t seem to be any rapture at all, it looks like we are here through it all and severely persecuted. However, with an evangelist who has been through a great revival in Argentina and regular preaches to many and sees many enter the kingdom of God, and he says he believes 2017 is the year. Do we believe him? How do I test a word like that? What does revival mean? What would a Canadian wide revival look like? I’m not sure we can test the word without simply waiting for 2017 to pass, and see. However, the real question is what is Jesus asking of us His bride? To love God with all our heart soul mind and strength and to love each other as Christ has loved us. That is the real question. As long as we are loving Christ and loving one another which we can’t do one without the other, perhaps it doesn’t really matter. The point is we need to faithful to Christ and what He is asking of us. I know if we all did that the church of Christ would be radiant and extremely attractive to the lost. Even so, pour out Your Spirit God on your bride, wake us up, make us shine! Those are my thoughts today. Had a great worship time and prayer time that didn’t record well of Terry Alward and I worshipping and praying our hearts out! I have a 45 minute video which I’m hoping to fix the audio somehow. If you want to hear it anyways, comment please. Hope you all have a great day worshipping the King of Kings today!

Love in Christ,

Your friendly neighbourhood music minstrel!

A Minstrel’s Missionary Call

I hope you have had a good week. I have been a little consumed with mud and tape this last week as I am pursuing to get the renovation to the painting stage as quick as I can and sacrificing quality time with My King and my kids more than I’d like but it is the vision of the finished house prepared for the Lord to use for His purposes that moves me to push so hard. It has been a long journey of over 2 years. My mission is to see the house restored to it full potential by going through it from repairing it’s structural problems, it’s plumbing, it’s electrical system, it’s food preparation area, it’s indoor and outdoor lighting systems, it’s covering, and it’s heating and cooling system and finishing off with it’s inner appearance so that it’s future occupants can have a safe, comfortable environment to raise a family in and carry out the mission God has given them. As the people of God we are God’s house, we are the temple that He lives in by his Spirit. We are His bride that one day our Father in heaven will say, Son, go get your bride, it’s time, everything is prepared for the wedding feast of the Lamb. So what does a house reno, and the fact that God’s people are being prepared to be a dwelling place for the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and the topic a Minstrel’s Missionary Call have in common? Well let me try to put it together.

The great commandment is this that we would love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The great commission is that we would go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing those who believe in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded. The big command being love each other as Jesus says in John 15. I believe these two things are encapsulated in the heart of every believer, but for the minstrel we have a leadership role where our job is to inspire, to paint a picture, to cause the people of God to remember and connect with both God’s character, and His actions that he has done for us to show His love for us. So our job is to lead people to love God above all, in response to His great love expressed to us through His Son who loved us and gave His life for us to bring us back into relationship with our Father in Heaven. The songs we sing both inspire and give expression to the love that God has put into our hearts for His Son and for Himself through the Holy Spirit. The songs that we sing can also be used to remind and remember the commands and teachings of Christ as the songs we sing act as a discipleship school reminding and teaching the bride of Christ of who He is and what we need to believe and practice. The songs we sing with the Bride of Christ give expression to her love for the one who first loved us. These songs give expression to our commitment and our love.

Now as we go into the world, I believe the minstrel is to go into the world proclaiming the gospel, preaching it through musical words and pictures of who He is and what He has done to show His love for every human being on the planet. We are evangelists who proclaim there is a God who made you and loves you like a bridegroom loves His bride, like a Father or Mother loves their child. Not just any Father or mother, not just any bridegroom, we are loved by a perfect Father and the perfect Bridegroom who is capable of meeting all our needs.

Our greatest need is for true love, that will cover over the multitude of our sins, and bridge the justice problem that is there because of our sin. God is a judge who must punish those who have rebelled against Him. God is also a loving Father who wants to save His wayward children who have rebelled and broken His commands showing contempt for Him and all He stands for. He brings His mercy and love and perfect justice in sending His one and only Son to become sin and be punished as a sinner and rebel on a Roman cross so that we might be covered over by an intercessor’s life who never sinned and therefore could pay the price for our rebellion once and for all. Punishment is dished out and at the same time a way to be merciful to every lawbreaking human being that has every lived because the sentence of death for sin has been served.

We have a love story to write about as singer songwriters like none other. The ministry of worship is part of our mission, and the ministry of reconciliation both between God’s children and God’s yet to be adopted children is the other half of our mission. The unity of God’s children is a huge strategy of our Father according to Jesus prayer in John 17 showing the reconciliation and love is His heart and that unity and love between us as believers in Christ will be a key to removing the blindness of unbelief in a world shrowded in the darkness of hate, indifference and selfishness.

I wrote this post over a week ago, but lost my zeal to finish it. So here it is as part of the series on what is a minstrel. As I have been writing these posts I realize that I am writing what I believe my call is from our Father and our Saviour Jesus as a minstrel. It is good to reflect on what I believe not only for my call but also for the many others God is calling and has raised up and have gone before me as minstrels.

Here are two songs that reflect both the evangelistic call and the hunger that is in every human heart for love.

Do you know that Jesus Loves You – written by Lani Wiens my wife

Known by You – written by Kelly Wiens

I hope you have a good week! Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t!