After [Jehoshaphat] had advised the people, he appointed people to sing to the LORD and praise him for the beauty of his holiness. As they went in front of the troops, they sang, “Thank the LORD because his mercy endures forever!”
2 Chronicles 20:21 GWT
I love worship music.
My heart is transported from here to there in a single note.
In a moment, I am before the Throne, inside the Holy of Holies, crying out for more, more, more of Jesus.
Worship makes me vulnerable to the Spirit’s deep work in my heart-I hear truth, I see beyond the pain and I feel God’s love.
But it also makes me a target for the enemy of my soul.
Yesterday I plugged in Pandora to my stereo and was lifted higher, higher until… in a breath I was brought low.
Leaning over to raise the volume of a favorite song I came eye-to-eye with my missing son.
The photo we chose for his memorial folder is hanging with his siblings’ on my living room wall.
And I was transported from here to there in a heartbeat-
from almost two and a half years past that awful day to the moment I first breathed in the truth that he was gone.
I covered my eyes with both hands and refused the whispers of darkness.
The tears fell and my heart hurt, but I hissed back, “He’s not dead. He’s just not here!”
And I cranked the Truth up higher and dared the devil to come back.
I raised my hands and chose to worship the One Who is loving my son until I get there, Who loves me even in my brokenness and Who will redeem this pain and restore what the enemy has stolen.
I took out my sword and declared “He is a Good, Good Father.”
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Let all the world see us worship Him in the midst of our pain. Let us declare joyfully, “God is Good.”
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. Psalm 34:3
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💝 yes, yes, yes… to all of this… thank you for sharing your heart ❤️- such courage ministers to all of us – I am hugging you right now – all the way from North Carolina💝
Asking our Lord to hold you tenderly and speak to your heart as only He can do…
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I have the song ‘Good good Father’ downloaded onto my phone and I listen to it quite often as I really like it ❤️
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Thank you for reminding me that worship is warfare. It has been much too long since I last worshipped with abandon and I need it desperately.
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Melanie, today is POWERFUL!!! I felt the presence of God as I read your post. I LOVE LOVE to think and know Worship as Warfare!!!!!
Thank you for your amazing and anointed blogs!!!!!
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The truth and the power of the Gospel alive and working in you.
How interesting that you posted this today. Several in our family have struggled deeply this past week with our separation from Annika. It has been the hardest since the first couple of weeks. It seems like a deeper layer of the permanence of our earthly loss is settling in. Depression, physical issues, unfulfilled longing…our hearts hurt. Wondering if this awful state of our present being is our lot for the rest of our days. Who wants to live like that?
I awakened very early, even though we were up very late getting things prepared to go camping. I picked up my Kindle to look for some stored notes on setting up our satellite. As I was going down the list I saw my notes from when I shared with our congregation a powerful spiritual dream I had over a decade ago. I opened it up and read and remembered. The powerful images came flooding back to my mind. The enemy, who appeared as a terrifying, ferocious tiger, had Terry and me trapped in a cage in our backyard. He prowled, growled, watched us, and would leap at us. Our only weapon of defense was a burning torch that was swiftly running out of oil. I escaped out of the cage to get more oil and surveyed the total destruction and desolation all around. Our home was torn apart and had been pilfered. As I took in the totality of our loss I was overwhelmed with the desire to get a closer look at our enemy. I crept around to the other side of the house and came up behind the tiger. I could see our cage and knew he would be prowling. As I inched closer there to my shock stood a mangy, nasty, emaciated dog. He was short, small, skinny, and weak. I said aloud, “Oh my goodness! He’s just a mangy dog.” And I woke up.
In my notes I commented that the Lord has used the symbols in that dream to remind me of His truths. And this morning He reminded me that the enemy is once again growling and tearing at us in hopes to pilfer our lives hold us captive. He is tormenting our mind and hearts concerning our loss of Annika. The Lord so sweetly whispered, “Never forget, he is just a mangy dog speaking twisted half-truths. I will redeem this. Don’t listen to him and don’t suffer HIS way. You are suffering but you CAN suffer and still rest in My peace and stand strong in My power. I am FAR greater than him.”
Thank You Jesus. And thank you Mel. I worship and praise my great God. He is worthy.
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