Chasing The Wind ---House of Blue Part II

John 3:8
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you can not tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

I will continue on from yesterday's posting.
Armed with the idea that blues music was to be the agent through which worship would be taught and then participated in, I began to share with others what I thought God might be calling us to. A type of recovery meeting that would allow the Word of God to be taught in a manner that was easily understood. We would be a place where people could encounter the real-deal-God-of-the-universe.
These thoughts I was having kind of rang true in my heart, since I am a simple man. My view has always been that this whole "God/relationship" thing was easier than what I had been taught.

Always seem to me that when ever someone talked about being saved and/or living for Jesus...there was a whole bunch of "don't s" involved. A bunch of rules on what not to do. I didn't see too many rules about what I should do. Maybe the reason for that was some people think following Jesus is based on what you don't do, rather than what you're suppose to do.
If I spent all my time doing the do's, I wouldn't have time for all the do not's, and even if I did, I wouldn't...so there.

What I saw in Scripture was that people who kind of fall in love with Jesus seem to not break as many of the "do not's". Why? Because when you really have a saving/life changing encounter, you find yourself wanting to do only what pleases Jesus. I read and study my Bible because I want to, not because I have to. I want to share my story with other people, not because I have to, but because I want to. I want to pray with people...praying for healing or to be released from the influence and control of demonic spirits. Once again, I do these things because I want to not because I have to.

We held our first House of Blue on August 21, 1999, not knowing what to expect. Not knowing how many (if any) would show up. There were 66 people there that night, and the one thing that I can still see today was what happened at the end. We said if anyone wanted prayer, to stand up right where they were. It could be prayer for anything...healing, salvation...to be restored...or simply to experience a fresh touch from God.  It seemed as though the entire room stood.

As we moved around the room praying, it just got crazy. Some people had to sit down because the Spirit of God was on them in such a heavy way. Others were crying...some were laughing...the team of people who were praying for people, were crawling over chairs to get to others who were saying..."Me! Me! I need prayer!". I stood up front taking it all in, thinking to myself, "God, please let this not be the only meeting where you come like this." 

It wasn't until months after House of Blue had finished, that during my prayer time, God showed me the reason He had called us to start a recovery meeting. We were all green and wet behind the ears about recovery. All the years we did House of Blue was simply God training us for the next step. Yes! People were saved. Yes! People were healed. Yes! We learned how to worship and hear God on the fly as we moved around the room praying each week. But the entire run of House of Blue was God raising up and training a people to carry the call and work out into the market place, and home, and school, and factory. We just didn't know that was what was going on. Sometimes that God is sneaky. You've got to watch Him.

As wonderful as that first House of Blue was, I distinctly remember being the last one out of the building. I turned off the lights, walked to the front door, and turned around for one last look at the room before I left. Letting my mind think back on what had taken place just hours before. Then suddenly a wave of fear came over me, followed by the thought..."I've got to do this again next week."

I'd like to say that the second meeting was more powerful than the first. It wasn't. In fact..it was terrible. I came into it trying to recreate what had happened in the first one. Talk about a dumb move. The worship was terrible. The teaching was dry and dead. There wasn't any ministry when we finished. I was sure that the House of Blue was probably going to be the shortest run meeting in the history of the church. But I learned. I quickly saw that each week had to be spent in prayer and study, asking God, "What do you want to do?" Then leave room each week for God to show up and change the direction of the meeting if He so desires. There were many times I stood up to teach, notes in hand...verses underlined, only to hear God say,"You know what? I want to teach something different." I would close my notes, lay them aside and then announce to the crowd...."Let's wait on God a moment and see what He wants to do."
It was a wonderful time that taught me the value of doing what God wants to do over the plans of what I think He wants to do.

More to come....
God on you....
mb