It has been around 5-6 years that I've been in New Life Christian Community, and getting accustomed from one church to another was very difficult. My church is very similar to the church here: raising me up by a huge body of people with Christ as the Head. I remembered vividly the time my parents 'strongly' encouraged me to join the youth group. I was 12 years old. Not surprisingly, I hesitated to attend the youth meetings. The people back in the 'youth dock' were of age 17-18 and were physically bigger than myself. If you saw pictures of me back then and compared it to them you'd understand! Furthermore, I knew of no one there besides my brother and didn't think I'd be able to settle in well.
The youth group was indeed very unique. My first experience there was nonetheless my most valuable experience. Youth was held on Saturday nights at the church's youth leader's house. We had a worship leader that played the guitar and one other musician that played the piano. The night started off with strong up-tempo songs. Everyone was jumping and praising the Lord in that small living room! After a while the music slowed down to worship songs and the atmosphere greatly changed in the room. Cries of adoration and exhortation were heard and everyone lifted their hands up exhorting the Lord God almighty. It came to my adolescent brain that it wasn't the very music played that was responsible for this change, but it was the deep cry of every individual that caused the presence of the Lord to fall down!
Worship lasted approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, which was really short at that time! After receiving strong words of faith and teachings from the scripture the Holy Spirit silently entered the room, and I observed first-hand the manifestation of the Holy Spirit right in front of my eyes. Something taught briefly in Sunday school happened right before my naked eyes. The heart cry of the youths turned into something extremely powerful! Suddenly, the worship leader was filled with the Holy Spirit, and started laughing vigorously. He couldn't help but fall backwards, with one hand holding his body up by clinging onto the wall, while at the same time the other hand on his stomach. I guess there was a degree of pain in his stomach caused by this laughter. The spiritual realm is really powerful! As strong as the worship leader appeared to me physically, he stumbled upon the floor and laughed, "HAHAHAHA" very loudly, trying to gain control over his every action. The others were so in-tuned with the Holy Spirit it didn't affect their communion with God.
Interestingly enough, the worship leader started rolling over in laughter and his hand touched another who was kneeling down worshiping God, and she too started laughing and rolling over. Eventually, a chain reaction was birthed and everyone experienced 'holy laughter'. It was quite funny as well. The worship leader would walk to a corner of the room towards someone who's laughter was about to die off and touch him once again. This sparked a tremendous laughter that continued the chain reaction over and over again! What a priceless sight! From that day onwards, I looked forward in meeting God. Youth started getting bigger and the church grew.
"A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them" - [Mark 2:1-2].
Why was the house full? Because Jesus was in the house :) I believe that when Jesus is with you or in anyplace, crowds will be attracted! AMEN.
All over the world, different people just like us are living lives differently, with different meanings and purpose behind each individual action. Many modern Christians are more interested in manifestations of the Lord rather than knowing Him who manifests. It is possible to have high-intensified praise music with skilled musicians and great musical arrangements AND also have the complete absence of the Lord's presence. Today, there are people standing inside churches, eyes wide open, hands in pockets, some talking to their neighbours or looking out the windows, appearing bored waiting patiently for God or the church to perform some kind of dead-raising miracle to strike their attention. What can be more heart-breaking is that some of these people are 'Christians' as well.
Imagine this: You are a salesperson selling highly ergonomic technological devises and you do door-to-door services, ringing the doorbell of each house, with a big smile on your face and a great desire to bring something of great value into another person's life. The door opens and you were greeted with a careless attitude and a monotone sigh, "Oh, its
you again". How would you respond to such a greeting? Maybe brush it off and just get to 'selling of products' phase? Well, imagine that was the response you get from your wife, or family members? Would you just brush it off?
Well, would the Lord God almighty enter the house where respect, honour and reverance is not due to Him? Would the Creator of the Universe speak forth when His Word is not respected enough to be listened with open hearts? I have learnt that we cannot truely love God until we fear Him.
"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" - [Isaiah 11:1-2]
This fear is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we continually read and drink from the Word of God. I attended my 'missed' lesson post-encounter #1 and Anne mentioned that you can have all the knowledge provided from the Bible and not have a heart that hears God's heartbeat. That is so true for the Pharisee's were scripture geniuses, were able to quote ANY part of the scripture from their memory and YET did not recognize the awesome God manifested in man they professed with their lips to serve faithfully.
"The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure." - [Isaiah 33:5-6]
