Word To Worshipers In Peru

I heard this word at a meeting for worship leaders just at the beginning of the Open Heavens conference taking place in Lima.  I share this word as I heard it because I suspect it may hold true for other worshipers elsewhere.

I always hear every expression of love and devotion MY people give me.  Some of you have tasted a place of liberty in worship when you have been alone and have poured out your hearts to Me.

But you wondered if it was okay.  “It doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard in church,” you’ve told yourself.

But I’m reminding you now that I spoke again and again in My word, “Sing to the Lord a new song.”  You’ve wondered if it was okay because it sounded so different from what you think worship should sound like.  Maybe the rhythm or the lyrics bothered you, but they didn’t bother Me.  It was a time when you could open your heart to Me, and I then opened My heart to you.

So I’m calling those who have tasted these new sounds, to come back to that place of freedom and intimacy with Me.  Come back when you are in the secret place and no others are around you to hear you.  I have heard and I remember, and these times have been sweet to Me, as they have been to you.  I can’t remember the whole song, but it ended with the words, “You shall be known as Friends Of God.”

“Haven’t I said that if you seek Me in secret, I will reward you openly?  Take courage and approach Me with a new song, even if the sounds don’t quite sound like worship in your ears.  Remember this:  I the Lord look not at the outward appearance, but at the heart.  I am looking not at the style or the sounds, but at your heart as you come into face-to-face communion with Me.

“Return to this place of worship again and again, and there I will teach you the new sounds you can release among My people.  I will train you to get into the flow of the song of the Lord, the prophetic sound that brings an impartation of spiritual gifts to My people, the prophetic sound that causes My people to escape the snares and the chains of the wicked one.”

“I will train you in the secret place.  I will teach you the laws of liberty, and how to let your heart go with the flow of living waters I have promised every believer.

“I’ll train you in the secret place, and then as you worship with others I have trained in the same way, I will take you as a group to higher levels of the flow of My Spirit.”

“Come to this place again and again, and let Me teach you to flow with the new song.”

In the Thursday night meeting, I got a chance to share this word.  I asked the congregation, “How many of you have had this experience, and feel this word is for you?”  To my surprise, about a fourth of the people raised their hands.  It was a larger group than I would have expected.

I got a chance to go to the keyboard and sang a new song, totally spontaneously. It was one of the sweetest love songs I have ever sung, a love song from God to the church in Peru.  Several dozen worship leaders made a point of asking me to lay hands on them and pray, afterwards.  It was a time of melting in the love of God.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2010, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Scavenger Hunt Checkup

A few weeks ago I posted an article about creating a scavenger hunt for December and January.  I planned to see how much of it I could get done in two months and now with January still ahead, here’s a progress report.

Stay filled with the Spirit. I wrote about this a few weeks ago – see Testimony:  Spirit-Filled Living – and found it hard to stay as Spirit-filled as I wanted to be.  But something good happened as I kept reaching for it:  it became easier and easier to get into a rich place of abiding in Christ.  Soaking helped, even if it was just to immerse myself in worship while I handled office work or ran errands in the car.

Get into the flow at home. Sometimes I pray at the keyboard.  I don’t try to bring a lot of requests to God; it’s just a time to reach for His presence and for heart-to-heart communion.

Learn five songs and write sequels that make room for a congregation to join in a spontaneous spinoff. I learned two or three; I haven’t memorized the lyrics, but at least I’ve found an appropriate sound on the keyboard and have worked out suitable arrangements.  These will be ready if I’m called upon to lead worship, and with each it’s easy to spin off into something spontaneous.

Write a song with a spontaneous bridge in it. I already had two that were partially written.  The idea of the spontaneous bridge is to include a part of the song that is meant for spontaneous lyrics, even if the rhythm and chord structure is already written.

Write a song in my sequencer; leave room for spontaneous playing in the track of my choice. I tried and didn’t like anything I came up with.  But time was an issue; I didn’t have time to devote to this project, but will leave it on my list because I believe I need songs of this sort that I can use in meetings.

Was the scavenger hunt worthwhile? Yes.  It gave me direction in my playing and practicing at home, and has moved me forward in being ready to lead worship with a crowd that may not be used to prophetic worship.

From time to time I have been asked to lead worship in a unity meeting in our region.  “Just be yourself and do what you do,” they’ve told me.  But I’ve noticed that it helps if I can anchor the new songs in old songs that people already know.

I’ll keep reaching for everything listed on the scavenger hunt.  It was unrealistic to think I could finish it all in two months; there were too many other things to do.  But God isn’t a hard taskmaster.  He wants us to kick back and enjoy His goodness in our lives, not just to crank out work.

We all cry out for the same thing:  the experiences that transcend man’s works.  It’s important to approach God with a restful and joyful attitude of we want the sound of heaven to flow through us.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2010, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Play The Sound System

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.  We can use the sound system to give God’s people liberty as they worship.

But first we may need to revise our values in the church.  The most profound ministry isn’t necessarily what happens on the platform.  The one-on-one dialog between Jesus and the least of His disciples may be far more profound than anything that comes from the platform.

So here are a few thoughts about how to use the sound system to give freedom for the whole church to flow in prophetic worship.

The sound system allows the prophetic musicians to be heard. They don’t have to shout; they can play and sing softly if God leads, and the sound system makes them heard.  But of course they also have the liberty to release a loud and driving sound when needed.  But either way, the sound system allows the prophetic musicians to lead the meeting.

The sound system allows backup musicians to reach for the flow of the Spirit. The musicians who don’t have the microphone can sing and get in the flow, and nobody hears them but God.  This gives them room to explore and to find something fresh from God.

The sound system allows the individuals on the team to take the lead when God calls them to. The worship team needs to adapt the give-and-take principles of I Corinthians 14 to a musical format. When God gives something new and fresh to one of the singers, that’s the singer who should have the microphone.  It doesn’t matter who has the best voice or the most talent.  What matters is the anointing.

The sound system allows the congregation to sing a new song to God in privacy. The congregation is free to sing whatever is on their hearts.  They don’t have to worry that it will sound odd to someone else; without the microphone, they don’t have to worry that everyone in the church is listening.  They can focus on their dialog with God Himself.

The people on the platform are simply serving with a ministry of helps.  They aren’t the voice of God to the church; they are servants, helping the whole church access the open heavens.

Sometimes I have served a congregation in prophetic song for as much as two or three hours at a time, and people have often told me my ministry was a blessing to them.  At first I took it as encouragement that I did in fact have an anointing.

But God has been teaching me another way to look at it.  When we serve His people by leading prophetic worship, the atmosphere is rich with His presence and He does things in dialog with all of His people.  It isn’t us and our ministry that makes it happen; our little musical abilities are like a lunchbox full of a few loaves and fishes, but only Jesus can work the miracle of multiplication that feeds His people.

Sometimes I’m on the platform and sometimes I’m not, but my richest encounters with God have always happened when someone else was leading worship.

A few months ago I was in a conference with several prophetic musicians who are much more gifted than I am.  I was astonished at first that they were willing to stay in the room while I played and sang.  But then I saw them lying on the floor before God, and I remembered the times when the heavens have opened to me as I lay on the floor while someone else led worship.

It isn’t a talent show.  It’s about relationship, intimacy with God.  So use the microphone as a tool to let a few prophetic musicians fulfill a ministry of helps by rolling out the red carpet for God to come and commune with His people one-on-one.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2010, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Soaking Meetings

Many churches have started including soaking in their schedule.  They may include it at the beginning or end of their services; they may have special meetings in which they do nothing but soak and worship, and then at the end they take a few minutes to ask everyone what they received from God as they waited on Him.  A soaking meeting does several things for a church.

It’s an investment in first-love. If we obey all the commandments but miss the commandment to love God, we’ve missed everything.  Soaking is a time of intimacy with God.

It’s a time of impartation. People receive the anointing when they soak.  This will help train all the members of the church to move in the Spirit.

It’s a time of hearing from God. God may speak words of deliverance or healing to some; He may give ministry assignments to others; He may lead people to step out and minister to specific needs after the soaking.

It’s an example of something everyone can do at home. Calling the church together to soak in His presence helps people establish the habit of waiting on God between meetings.

These are a few of the benefits of a soaking meeting, but they may not happen automatically.  Teach the church how to soak – teach them to engage their hearts in first love, to expect impartation, and to hear from God.  Then use prophetic worship as the background music in the soaking meeting.

Why?  I wrote a testimony recently about how God used prophetic worship in a soaking meeting to impart spiritual gifts.  The testimony illustrates what God can do, but scripture shows that God can use in an atmosphere of prophetic worship to impart spiritual gifts.  See I Samuel 10 for the story of King Saul’s being anointed as he met the company of prophetic musicians

“After that you shall come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with a stringed instrument, a tambourine, a flute, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying.  Then the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.”  (I Sam 10:5-6)

Commentaries tell us that this was an example of the ministry of the school of the prophets Samuel had raised up.  Using prophetic worship, they practiced the presence of God and His manifest presence imparted gifts to those who were present.

Saul made a tragic mistake, thinking he needed just a one-time encounter with God to receive the anointing and to become another man.  King David by contrast understood that he needed to immerse himself in God’s presence again and again so he could live in a process of being changed by God’s presence.

If you want to have a soaking meeting, there are several reasons to use prophetic worship.

It’s biblical. This is how Samuel did it, and David continued the practice.

The musicians don’t have to make all their songs easy to sing with. The congregation is prepared to engage with God in silence.  If the worship team receives new songs, they don’t have to make them simple and repetitious so the congregation can learn them on the spot.

The congregation is free to sing along. It doesn’t matter if they sing a little off key; it doesn’t hurt anything if they sing their own words.  It’s an opportunity for each member of the congregation to get into the flow of the Holy Spirit.

Try it out.  A good starting place might be to close the Sunday service with about half an hour of soaking.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Releasing New Gifts

In II Kings 3:15, Elisha called for a minstrel to stir up and release his prophetic gift.  I got to be the minstrel last night as new gifts were released at Dunamis Resources in Las Vegas, but lest you get the wrong idea about the power of my music I should add a few other factors that contributed to what God was doing.  They are principles that any church can embrace and adapt, to serve your own mission as a congregation.

Dunamis Resources is an equipping ministry. Where many ministries mark their success by how many people attend, Dunamis looks to see how many people are doing the works of Jesus – getting people saved, healed, or delivered; or bringing prophetic words to people outside the meetings.

Every Tuesday night they meet to equip people for prophetic ministry; every Friday night they focus on healing.

Dunamis emphasizes soaking. They emphasize developing a personal and intimate one-on-one relationship with God.  They train people to hear His voice and to act on what they hear.

Every Saturday morning they meet for two hours of soaking, followed with a round-table discussion of what God said and did while everyone waited on Him.  This is their smallest meeting; most of the people soak at home.

The congregation is prepared to lavish time on God. Whether in their personal devotions or in meetings, they make it top priority to make room for the manifest presence of God.

Anyone who needs to leave the meeting early is free to do so without any guilt trips added; they understand that people have schedules.  But they don’t shut down the manifest presence of God to move on with the program.

Dennis Walker has consistently modeled a flow of the word of knowledge to release healing. He has walked in it himself and said that his experiences are a sample, showing what everyone in the body of Christ can do.  This example has given the congregation a picture of what the gifts of the Holy Spirit look like.

With all this in place, I was asked to lead worship last night, and God gave people words of knowledge for healing. Dennis and I rode home together and he was excited because people who had never had words of knowledge before had them last night.

I can’t say my music was exceptional in any way, nor can I say I brought the anointing.  The people were hungry for God, and He came to feed them.  My role was small; I was like one of the priests who stood in the Jordan with a rock in his hand as Joshua and the people entered into the promised land.

The presence of God did the work.  As the meeting ended, Dennis invited people to the altar if we wanted to become a manger, a place where Jesus can come into the world.  It lasted an hour or more; I kept playing, people kept soaking, and God kept giving words of knowledge to one person after another.

Any church can do this. Look again at the core values that contributed to the evening.  Most churches would not be ready to devote several meetings a week to soaking and releasing the gifts of the Spirit – but one meeting a week could work.

Maybe you’ve read this article and thought, “We could do that!”  If so, that’s a signal that God is already leading you in that direction.  Start with one meeting a week and stick with it.  Let God direct you as you adapt the meeting to fit the needs of your church.

And encourage two or three prophetic worship teams to form so they can cover for each other.  I was second-string last night, covering for the usual Friday night team so they could be on vacation.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

4 Ways To Train A Worship Team For Prophetic Song

Jesus made it simple.  He said that if we seek God in secret, He will reward us openly.  Therefore, if a worship team wants a greater flow of prophetic song, the best way to get it is to seek God in secret.  Here are four ways to do so.

One. The members do it themselves at home, on their own time.  They use their own instruments, or they sing along with CDs.

This doesn’t have to be time consuming.  While driving the car to do errands, it’s easy to play an instrumental CD and sing a spontaneous song to God along with it.

When I have done this myself, I have experienced everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Sometimes I sing playful little songs – “Lord here we are and I feel like a fool, but I want to be a fool for You” – or something else that’s just as silly.  But sometimes the manifest presence of God has been profound, lingering for hours or even days.

Two. The team includes it in their rehearsals.  They don’t just practice the songs they can learn; they also get in the river together and just flow.

This doesn’t have to take long; a few minutes can be enough.  But the principle here is to reach for a flow of the Holy Spirit.  Use a chord loop that spins off one of the songs you’re practicing, or just sing in the Spirit with a single chord.

If God takes it higher, go with God.  If He doesn’t, don’t try to force things.  This discipline will prepare you for the next thing in the list.

Three. The team makes a point of reaching for it in worship services whenever it is appropriate.  Typically, this will happen once or twice in a meeting at first; if the church becomes accustomed to prophetic worship, the time may come when the spontaneous flow of prophetic song will go from one song to another and can last for half an hour or an hour or even longer.

But here’s the key point:  use the sound that best allows the congregation to engage with God.  In the beginning, this will usually be the songs they already know.  As they stretch into the spontaneous new song, don’t allow it to run so long that it becomes forced.  Keep it short until the time comes when God Himself lifts the song and makes it special.  When He does, go with Him.

Four. The worship team takes time to debrief after a meeting.  What went right?  What went wrong?  The teams that grow the fastest make a point of doing this.

It takes time.  It means the musicians need to take a few minutes after each service to discuss what they were sensing.  If this isn’t possible, the discussion can happen at the weekly music practice.

It means the worship leader needs to be skilled at maintaining a sense of teamwork.  Damaging remarks can be made under the guise of “constructive criticism”, so it takes skill to maintain an atmosphere that is always supportive.

One key is to develop a culture of taking musical pride to the cross,  cherishing the breakings of God that free musicians from ego issues so they can move in the Spirit.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Create A Scavenger Hunt

A few months ago I began to experiment with using a scavenger hunt, listing several experiences you can reach for as you seek to grow in the things of the Spirit.

Recently I was led to create a scavenger hunt to stretch myself as I spend December and January with Dunamis Resources in Las Vegas.  Here’s my list; you’re welcome to use it yourself, or to use it as a sample as you develop your own.

But here’s a caveat.  I’m trying to avoid good ideas.  I took time to soak and asked God what He wants to do in my life with prophetic song in the next few weeks; I want it to be what He wants, not necessarily what I want.  As I got quiet and listened, I sensed I need to prepare myself for more worship leading that will make room for the whole church to get involved in prophetic song.  So here are a few things I feel led to reach for.

Stay filled with the Spirit. I’m seeking to stay in a fulfillment of Ephesians 5:18-20.  I wrote about this a few weeks ago – see Testimony:  Spirit-Filled Living.

Get into the flow at home. This means I should have a few soaking times at the keyboard in my private devotions at which I access the manifest presence of God.  I might simply sense His anointing, or there might be a rich flow of spontaneous words or even music that is a bit beyond me.  But however God chooses to manifest His presence, I want to access it not just in the church but also at home.  See More God Encounters.

Learn five songs and write sequels that make room for a congregation to join in a spontaneous spinoff. I need to be ready to use songs everybody already knows.  It shouldn’t be hard to write a bridge that will be musically interesting but easy for the whole church to sing along with.

Write a song with a spontaneous bridge in it. I’ve already written a few songs, some of which are not quite finished.  I need to finish at least one; it should include a few lines that will allow the church to go off in the song of the Lord.

Write a song in my sequencer; leave room for spontaneous playing in the track of my choice. This is a bit technical and I won’t try to explain it; but if you have a Korg Triton, this is something you can do in the sequencer.

If you don’t have a Korg Triton, here’s how you might want to revise this item in the scavenger hunt.  Is there a feature in your electronic instrument that you haven’t bothered to learn to use yet?  Or as far as that goes, is there a technique you can learn on your guitar or flute or drums that will expand your versatility as a musician?

In broad terms, that’s what this item is all about.  In the specific terms that fit my life, I will expand my versatility by starting to use a feature in my keyboard I’ve never bothered to use before.  But here’s the key thought:  it isn’t enough to play around with it when I practice at home.  I need to get something ready to take into the church and use in live worship.

 

That’s my list.  I think it will make room for me to stretch as I soak 2-3 times a week and encourage 5 people – new musical techniques, new ministry opportunities, and plenty of room for the manifest presence of God.

Feel free to join me; take the list to God in a soaking time and let Him revise the list to fit you better – look for items you can use not just at home but also in the church.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

 

6 Things To Teach The Congregation

My home church flows in prophetic worship, but we get a steady stream of newcomers and I’ve noticed that we can sometimes sink into a performance-mode as we worship.  Recently I received a prophetic word for our church, and part of it was that we would need to set aside a few Sundays for teaching about worship.

Here are a few  things to teach a congregation to help them flow in prophetic worship.

1. Focus on Jesus. Get in the habit of looking for Jesus whenever you worship.  Look for what He’s doing in the church at the moment; look for whatever He’s speaking in your personal life; look at what the scripture says about Him.

Why focus on Jesus?  Because Revelation 19:10 says the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.  Whatever you sense about Him, put into words and sing it or pray it.  This is the root system for prophetic worship.

2. You don’t have to sing what the worship team sings. They have the microphones; everybody hears them, not you.  This gives you a private space where you can sing whatever you want to God.

Sing what the worship team is singing whenever you want, and think about the words you’re singing.  Often this will spark a revelation of Jesus.  As soon as you have something of your own to sing, sing it to God.  Nobody will hear you but Him.

3. You don’t have to stop singing when the worship team stops. Sometimes you’ll be engaged with God and will want to keep singing softly in the pause between songs.

The goal here isn’t to take over the meeting.  Don’t sing so loudly you call attention to yourself.  The worship team has been given the job of leading the service; respect their authority and don’t try to take it away from them.

Instead, stay in the secret place God has led you into during the last song.  Keep it private and intimate as you keep singing.

4. Let the worship team lead, but let God be your source. It isn’t their job to release the anointing; it’s yours.  No matter how anointed they are, they can present nothing more than an anointed performance unless the congregation chooses to engage with God.

This is why it’s so important to focus on Jesus.  If your eye is on the team, it will be hard to get into the flow of the Spirit.  But if you see Jesus, He can lead you.

5. Get your body involved. There is more to worship than words and music.  God will sometimes lead you to do something nobody else is doing:  to raise your hands, to dance before the Lord, to kneel at the altar, or to lie prostrate before Him.  These small acts of obedience contribute richly to an atmosphere of spiritual freedom.

6. If there’s a lull, don’t disconnect. Sometimes there will be moments of waiting to see what God will do next.  The lull doesn’t mean that the worship service has ended; don’t disengage.  Instead, keep your focus on Jesus.

Finally, It takes three to bring prophetic worship to the church:  the pastoral staff, the worship team, and the congregation. The pastor casts the vision for it, the worship team facilitates it, and the congregation carries it.

Ideally, we all work together.  And if we do, our worship services can become holy ground, a place where God and His people meet face to face.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

Testimony: Spirit-Filled Living

I’m not trying to come up with a new doctrine, but a fresh idea hit me a few weeks ago: that a good litmus test for whether we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit might be Ephesians 5:18-19, which commands us to “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…”

Charismatics and Evangelicals sometimes divide over the issue of tongues, but the spontaneous song of praise and thanksgiving is something we can all have in common. And it keeps us on our toes.

After all, I’ve been a Charismatic for almost forty years and have been able to speak in other tongues whenever I want to.  But I’ve been through my share of dry times over the years.  How Spirit-filled was I?  Using Ephesians 5:18-19 as a yardstick, I haven’t always been filled with the Spirit.

What fills our mouths?  You may be able to speak with other tongues, but how much time do you spend complaining?  Gossiping? Ranting about the government and the media?  Jesus said that from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Your speech reveals where your heart is.

With this in mind, I decided to use Ephesians 5:18-19 as my guide.  If I kept finding myself singing spontaneous songs of praise to God during my daily life, I would assume I was filled with His Spirit and overflowing.  If not, I would assume I needed a fresh refilling with the Holy Spirit; the way I usually try to get refilled is to spend time soaking.

Here’s what I found:

1. It is possible to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that songs of praise will flow out spontaneously during the day.  We get there by asking God to fill us, then taking time to linger in His presence and let Him do it.

2. The atmosphere of the Holy Spirit is very peaceful and very holy.  I can lose touch with it by allowing myself to become frenzied or hurried.  Any unholy choice, something as simple as being rude in traffic, can disrupt it.  I have to cherish His peace and His holiness.

3. When I am filled with His Spirit, it is very easy to overflow with grace in ministry opportunities. They are easy; they press themselves into daily life.  I catch myself singing softly to God as I walk down the aisles of a grocery store, and then I easily find a prophetic word for a friend I meet a few minutes later.

4.  The song is a symptom of something greater:  being filled with the Spirit.  Just deciding to make myself sing isn’t at all the same.

 

As I say, I’m not interested in creating a new doctrine.  Spend your life in theological debates if you feel you must, but here’s how Jesus advised us to test a new teaching:

Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  (John 5:16-17)

The key is to do what God says, not to talk about it or study Greek words about it or to debate about it.

So let me challenge you to be filled with the Spirit according to the words of Ephesians 5:18-19.  Ask God to fill you and linger in His presence until He does. See what the fruit of it is in daily life; and if you like what you see, refuse to live with less

 

 

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com

 

Preparing For Spontaneous Worship

This is a very busy week and all I’m going to write is a testimony of what it’s like to do the assignment.  For soaking and encouragement, I’m listing the record at http://miraclelifestyle.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/use-the-cracks-in-the-sidewalk/.

But I used music just once this week as I led a devotional at the Healing Rooms at Santa Maria.  The team who ministers healing spends about an hour soaking in God’s presence before they step into ministry. Every other Monday night I play live worship at their soaking meeting.

I’m going to give a brief synopsis of how I prepared for an evening of spontaneous worship.

I expected to have a high-level spiritual experience as I would look to God for inspiration; instead, I prayed and didn’t hear anything from God.  Office work gobbled up the morning and I had no time to practice or to prepare in any way. Then as I got ready to go, I realized I would have to take just one keyboard because my station wagon would not be available.

So I felt unprepared and very limited as I drove to the healing rooms.

Just as it was time to begin, Rick Taylor, the director of the Healing Rooms, told me a few testimonies of miraculous healings he had seen on his last trip.  Then he asked if he could pray for me before I began; I said go ahead.  He prayed that the heavens would be open as I played and that I would sing prophetically.

I had thought I might begin with “Breathe” and then include an old hymn, but when Rick prayed that I would sing prophetically I decided to drop into prophetic song and see where it went.

Soon I found myself singing about Jesus the rock, and the paradox that He can be rocklike and yet tender.  For a moment I would sing a song to Him, then it would be His words to us, then there would be a few moments of instrumental as I would wait on Him for the next lyrics.  All the words were based on scripture, yet it was a time of linking passages I would not usually think to connect.

Suddenly I realized God wanted me to shift gears and play an instrumental. I glanced at the clock; twenty-five minutes had already gone by.  I switched to the most heavenly sound on my keyboard, a split that allows me to make the lead instrument anything I want:  vocals, strings, flutes. When it was time for Rick to speak, he motioned for me to keep playing.

I never had time to prepare anything, but it didn’t matter.  The music flowed effortlessly for about an hour.  When words were needed, they were there.  And during the instrumental, I somehow knew what I was supposed to play next.

Even I noticed a rich sense of God’s manifest presence as the soaking time progressed.  Sometimes the air feels a bit heavier than usual, as though it’s filled with droplets of the water of life.  Rick stood up and announced that healing was in the atmosphere.

God is more than willing to give a flow of the Holy Spirit to those of us who are willing to jump into the river of God and let the current carry us.

Stan Smith  ::  © 2009, GospelSmith  ::  www.GospelSmith.com