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!
