Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! (Psalm 34:8)
Every Sunday our worship team gathers early to rehearse for that morning’s time of singing together. At 8:30 we take 10 to 15 minutes to pray. We ask God’s Spirit to help and anoint us. We ask Jesus to bring the unsaved and give them new life. We ask him to grace and help our Childen’s Ministry teachers and move mightily on the children.
This past Sunday someone prayed that we would taste and see that the Lord is good – that we’d experience the Spirit and God’s love powerfully. We often pray similarly but this past Sunday God chose to answer in an unusual way.
First, I found myself overwhelmed by emotion during every song, which isn’t my norm.
Then I felt a strong impression from the Lord to share with his people something like this:
“My precious children, I am so pleased by your worship. Your praises honor and glorify me. And those of you who are worshiping in the midst of suffering – oh, how this glorifies me. That even in your pain you still declare I’m good and faithful and loving. There is a day coming when you will praise me face-to-face, and I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. Then your suffering will be over and you will praise me for ever and know nothing but joy for all eternity.”
As I shared, I was moved to tears for those in our church who are suffering. I could feel only a grain of God’s intense love for them, but it was powerful.
Am I going soft in my old age? No – I honestly believe that the Spirit manifested his presence in such a way that we could sense it more than usual. A number of people told me they felt Jesus’ nearness in remarkable ways.
We walk by faith and won’t always have intense experiences of God’s presence. That won’t mean he’s not with us. He’s promised to be there whenever two or more gather his name. But I’ll continue to pray that we will have more and more foretastes of heaven.
