Holy Forever

                April 6th, while sitting in service listening to the sermon, I heard God telling me I needed to pick my guitar back up and get back into worship.  I have never considered myself as a guitar player as much as someone who played with the guitar.  My knowledge base is very limited, and my technique is, let us say, elementary.  But nonetheless, God was clear and I wrote it down in my journal.  Admittedly, I did not pick up the guitar right away after that.  I did, however, start singing a bit more and trying to work on voice training.  Singing was my passion for much of my life, and worship was the thing that drew me closest to God most of the time, so this is what I focused on initially.  I would shortly learn that God was serious about not just worship, but specifically the guitar.

                I had only shared what I had heard from God with one other person, so I was stunned when I got a text from a different friend on May 10th saying, "I hope you're ready to sing and play guitar."  Neither of us had much time to text at that moment, so we agreed to have a phone call a couple of days later to discuss what she meant.  The phone call didn't happen due to life being busy, as usual, so that Tuesday, May 13th, she ended up inviting me over and I spent the evening with her and her husband discussing a ministry God was calling them to start.   I won't go into detail because that is their story to tell, but they told me that they knew I was supposed to be a part of it, and it would require me to follow through with brushing up on my guitar and vocal skills.

                The couple of weeks prior to this I had a worship song that had taken up occupancy in my head.  The song Holy Forever was constantly playing in the background of my mind no matter what I was doing throughout the day.  I decided to add it to my morning playlist as the first song each day because it felt as if God was trying to get my attention.  On the Sunday prior to meeting up with my friends I was listening to it on the way to church and I felt as if I were going to hear it somewhere else, and that it would somehow be significant.  I thought maybe I would hear it at church, although that would be unlikely because it is a little bit older than what our church normally includes in a worship set.  When Holy Forever was not played during worship, I figured I had misheard.

                I consider myself a practical and logical person, and as such I often need multiple confirmations from God to be clear that what I am hearing is actually Him.  Well, that is exactly what he did.  The night I visited with my friends, my friend's husband pulled out his phone and said, "This is what I feel worship should be like."  When the song began playing, I realized it was Holy Forever.  In that moment, the Spirit shook me so hard that I was honestly at a loss for words for a minute or so.  Those who know me know that this is not a common occurrence.  I shared with them how over the past couple of weeks that song had been at the forefront of all my time I spent with God.  At one point that evening, I asked my friend how long it had been since they felt God told them to move forward with this.  She told me it was about six weeks before.  I was meeting with them on May 13th, and God had told me to pick up my guitar again on April 6th, which was just a little less than six weeks prior.  God, you are so amazing.  The story is powerful enough, even if it ended here, but God had more in store.

                The following week, much to my surprise, my friend's husband visited my church for the first time in many years.  During worship I was focused on giving Him praise, and a bit lost in His presence when I suddenly realize they have started playing Holy Forever.  As I mentioned before, this was outside of the typical window of time for songs played during our worship sets.  In addition, our pastor felt moved to come forward in the middle of the song to share from the scriptures.  This was not something that was typical for him, to interrupt worship in this way.  He stood in front of the congregation and shared that the best all-encompassing word he could think of to describe our God is the word holy.  He proceeded to then read Revelation 4.

1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”

                What an amazing visual of what worship around the throne of God looks like!

                It is often easy to dismiss something as just a fleeting thought or as a mere coincidence.  Thankfully, God is faithful.  This journey started with God telling me how to prepare for what he was sending my way when he told me to pick up my guitar again, then putting Holy Forever in front of me constantly, then telling me I would hear it again elsewhere and it would be significant, then my friend reaching out about a ministry they are being called to start that I would be using those very skills for, then my friend's husband playing that exact song, then finding out the timing of when they first felt this ministry was moving forward lined up with when God told me to pick up the guitar, then our worship team playing that song on the very day my friend's husband was there, and finally, our pastor feeling led to interrupt worship to share the scriptures emphasizing what worship around the throne looks like.

                The fact that I just gave you the world's longest run-on sentence shows just how many points of confirmation God offered over the past seven weeks.  Obviously, He is determined that I understand this is not coincidence or something that just crossed my mind.  He has a plan for me and wants me to be prepared.

                I am so thankful for the way that God has been speaking to me.  I ask that you pray for the ministry as it moves forward and encourage you to spend time with God so you will hear what he has for you.  Be blessed.