To be part of the Holy Ghost moving through our praise and worship and teaching of the Word is the most incredible thing you can experience on the earth today.  Lives are changed, hearts are lifted, and none of us will ever be the same.

We aren’t just His servants, sons, or daughters.  Those alone are great, but we are overcoming to be the Bride of Christ, clothed in glory without spot or blemish, dressed in robes of righteousness.  It does not get better than that.  Anywhere.  Ever.

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WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

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Brother Nobles’ message about praise Saturday night.

That message, the way Brother Nobles spoke about it, helped us understand the purpose and personal manifestations of praise and worship in a new light.  For many, God spoke straight to our heart.  Sometimes it’s in unsuspecting moments during a message that something is said and God uses it to become a landmark in our lives.  Saturday night was one of those times.

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THE MESSAGE

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It’s The Oldest Trick In The Book.

You commit a sin against a brother or sister.  You go to them and ask forgiveness.  They respond with kindness telling you it’s forgiven and not to worry about it.  Awesome.

Except . . .

Even though they forgave you, the next few times you see them, you are uncomfortable and still feel a twinge of the troubled atmosphere between you and them.

It’s the same when we transgress against God.  He forgives us, but our sin has caused a separation between us and God.  He’s not causing us to feel this gap.  Our carnal nature is to blame.

We have a nature so subtle that it pulls every trick in the book to cause us to stumble.  It convinces us that we are not worthy to move past our transgression.  1 John 1:9 tells us He is faithful and just to forgive us.  If we make it right, He will forgive us.  As Elder said, “We have to forgive ourselves.”

Longing To Be Back In Zion, In God’s Presence

Not the flesh.  It wants to stay right here—where a separation exists between us and God.

Every time we sin, we create a gap.

Every time we praise Him, He closes the gap.

When you sin, your transgression breaks down your confidence with God.  There needs to be praise and worship in our lives because it restores and repairs our walk with God.  When you feel His presence all around you, your confidence is restored. –Brother Nobles

I Miss The Sparkle In Your Eyes

So does Psalm 38:10.  Brother Nobles says praising God will get the light back in our eyes.  He said we should associate our life with Psalm 38.

God impresses on us that our sins are egregious so we won’t do them again.  We can’t find comfort.  We are uncomfortable talking to Him.  When we transgress, we get into a pattern of foolishness as sin continues to put a separation between us and God.

Praise and worship repair that separation when His presence overwhelms us.  

Come.

When God calls us, something inside the depths of our heart wants to run to Him and fall on our knees.  He beckons us to come, be overwhelmed in His love, and let Him restore our relationship.

In our hesitation, we hear cautionary scriptures telling us how everything can go wrong if we don’t.  After a while, our hesitation begins to look like endless distance from God and nothing but more sins that all look exactly the same—like a thick wall of separation.

He knows our transgressions.

Still . . . He says, COME.

Things Could Get Ugly

God laughs at His enemies.  Stay clear of that group, pay heed, and you’ll be fine.

Choose Psalm 59 and let Him be your defense, strength, and refuge.  Let Him show you mercy.  When His spirit is flowing, when we have transgressed, when He wants to help us close the gap, when He knows what we’ve done and still loves us, and when the opportunity is there, privately or in church, COME.

We have a Father who loves us that much.  He is waiting to help us leave our transgressions behind.

He is speaking to us.  What is our response?

God Is Like The Bridegroom Shutting The Door, But With The Street Cred To Back It Up

In case you don’t think God will call it quits on you, ask Proverbs, Jeremiah, and the five foolish virgins.

They will try to find Him.  It’ll be too late.

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.  –Proverbs 1:26-28

These people were so corrupt they simply would not listen.  God checked out.  The people were conquered and exiled.  God left them, as in He no longer talked to them or heard their cries.

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;  Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.  And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.   –Jeremiah 7:13-16

“Wait, My Lamp Is Going Out.  Give Me Some Of Your Oil.” 

 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.  But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.  And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.  –Matthew 25:8-10

Turn The Music On.  There’s A Party Going On In Psalm 47.

There might have been a recent string of defeats in earlier Psalms, but David remains faithful and God is on top.  Sing, sing, sing!

 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.  –Psalm 47:6

Our singers and musicians pour their hearts into singing songs that declare what we believe.  They sing words that resonate in our spiritual core.  We’re blessed to live in a time and place to have this luxury—a full band, talented singers who are there to lift our mood and cheer us on to participate, and the liberty to praise Him without fear of being put in jail or losing our life.  Think:  Acts of the Apostles and countries today in which praising God or speaking about Him is illegal.

Yet, sometimes we sit there unimpressed.

Our musicians sacrifice time to practice, not to give a flawless performance or go through the motions, but to allow the Holy Ghost to use them to bring the spirit of God to us.  Hungry souls, heart-shattered lives, people needing the Holy Ghost, and those looking to close the gap between themselves and God—you do not for one moment escape God’s attention.

He sees you.  He cares.  He pulls on your heart, COME.

The spirit of God is sweeping through the Church.  God doesn’t want us to put on an act for him.  He knows what we’re hiding, He knows our transgressions, and He knows how we think.  He knows all that, and still says, COME.

Praise Looks Good On You

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.  Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.  Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.  For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.  –Psalm 33:1-4

Brother Nobles talked about not judging manifestations of others.  We don’t know what God has done for someone.  We don’t know what He has forgiven them, the trials they’ve overcome, the burden they are bearing, pain they are enduring, or the victory they are celebrating.   We come to God with different things happening in our lives, and God is moving in us according to what we need.

Our manifestations may be different.  That’s okay as long WE ALL lift our hands to praise God and we get our love and honor to Him—in our most genuine and sincerest way.

Just Come.