Fueling The Fire

Psalm 72:8
He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

This was the verse that was lifted as a central focal point for the Catch The Fire Conference of 1998. The renewal, or visitation of God, had been going on for 4 years and 9 months by the time I arrived in Toronto. Meetings had been taking place every night since that first night in 1994 when the Spirit of God manifested in that church. It was like an explosion of God's presence, followed by a tremendous fire that was seen by the world. People from all over were streaming to Toronto to be touched by God. I know that some will find such a thing absurd and may even believe that I am over stating what took place. Believe me...if anything, I am understating. I am the skeptic of skeptics. Thomas, the disciple, and I are cut for the same cloth. I had been a part of this renewal in our own fellowship, brought back by the leadership who had gone early on in the renewal. I had been witness to some pretty incredible and powerful times during our services. Healing's, salvation, deliverance, words of knowledge and prophetic words were all the norm now and on the surface, sometimes it looked like a spiritual free-for-all. But God was at work and I did not want to miss what He was doing.

God will rule from sea to sea and FROM THE RIVER.
The call was for everyone to get into the river. Get into the flow of God's Spirit and accept His rule and reign in your life. See where it would take you. See who God would put in your path for you to pray for and minister to. You can stand on the bank and watch everyone else having fun in the river..........or you can jump in and join the fun yourself. I chose to jump in. 

Days before I left to go to Toronto, I had a dream that would prove to be prophetic in my life.
I dreamed that Jim Bentley and I were in a huge library. We were walking up and down the rows of books just browsing. I did not have the sense that we were looking for any particular book or author. Jim finally called for me to come to the stack he was looking through. As I made my way there, he stretched out his hand and gave me a book. "Here...I think you are going to need this." Very plain looking book....Blue hardback with the title "THE BLUES WAY".  I took it to mean "blues" as in the music. That was the entire dream. Didn't know what it meant at the time but it would prove to be important in the days and years ahead.

Finally arriving at the Toronto Airport Vineyard, I registered and made my way into the main building. As I entered, I was met with the sounds of the most incredible slide guitar I had ever heard. My knees buckled and I went down. Now in other places, this might seem incredibly strange, but not in a place where God was touching people in many different ways. I simply laid there on the floor soaking up this worship and these sounds. I do remember God speaking telling me to "REMEMBER". Over and over and over I heard these words. This trip was about me being soaked in the renewal that His Spirit was unleashing and to observe everything I could. So that is what I did over the next 5 days. 

Later, I found out that the slide guitar player was Bryn Haworth, a worship leader for North Brompton Trinity Church in England. He was also a session musician who had played on some of the biggest blues and rock albums every recorded. Playing with such musicians as Eric Clapton, John Mayall and many others. Also scheduled to lead worship was a pastor/worship leader named David Markee. He too was a session musician and blues man. As far as I know this was the only time this style of worship was every used at a Catch The Fire Conference. Blues! God was speaking and I needed to hear what the message was. 

Turns out that everywhere I went during my stay in Toronto, I kept running into blues music. I went to a local eatery, Pat and Mike's, because Jim had suggested it because of the pizza they served. Upon entering, I was met with the sounds of Robert Johnson...an original blues man who wrote the song "Crossroads".  Over and over I kept the blues music every where I went.  Turns out that this style and emotion found in blues music would be the basis and foundation for the meetings we would start upon my return to Gadsden from Toronto.

I always felt that the blues was a music that was kind of universal. It speaks to something deep inside all of us. For that reason, I felt like since the blues was a cry of the heart why not direct that cry to God? Why not take the vehicle of blues and combine it with the move of God's spirit. I knew that this style really spoke to the guys who were coming through Rapha, so it was a matter of simply adapting our worship to fit the cry of the heart. Yes, it is about pain and misery and grief, but we take all of those things and lay them at the feet of the one and only healer, Jesus. 

It has been a wild ride from when I was in Toronto. During a  prayer time this week, I heard God say, "Son, you're only hitting your stride..keep it up!" So I guess we'll continue to meet on Saturday's.....play a few 12-bar blues and see what God wants to do.

God on you.....
mb