Reveal Week 4 - The Loving Spirit of Adoption

“God lives in the place of praise. If we want to be where He is, we need to go to His address.” - Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Having spent the last few weeks in reflective contemplation during Reveal, many people have done a lot of 'business' with God. We have been told on numerous occasions that the opportunity to be still and speak with God has meant that certain issues which had been put off for years had come to the surface and been dealt with. We also found ourself in a position where people were saying that they had met with God in completely new ways, had discovered things about him that they had never known before, been challenged and moulded and shaped by creating space in which he was able to manoeuvre. We had even had testimony of healing. We came to the conclusion that there was only one way we, as a body of people could react to this: Worship.

The beginning of the evening gave the congregation an opportunity to think; what has God done in my life in the last few weeks? What have I learned and gained from considering my father in this way? How am I able to process that? We allowed several groups about 20 minutes to consider and discuss this. After speaking with a lot of people I was massively encouraged by the response. it seemed like every person had in some way experienced something new of God. But we still realised there was so much more. We still knew that we could draw closer to God and deepen our relationships once more.

As we all left the hall and made our way to the sanctuary, a band struck up and began to play 'Great is your faithfulness'. Those in attendance seemed surprised and delighted by the presence of the band, which they were previously completely unaware of. Immediately I saw people with their hands in the air, on their knees, reflecting, praising, singing, worshiping and abandoning themselves to God. As the quote says, at the beginning of the evening we decided this is where we were going; Gods address. We wanted to meet with God in praise because we know that he is enthroned on the praise of his people (Psalm 22:3). I personally meet with God in worship more so than at any other time. This was not only a response to what God had been doing, but also a way to meet with him afresh and discover his heart for our congregation.

The band led us through a time of amazing praise and then into a time which allowed more reflection. As the evening went on God began to speak. One of the members of New Life church had been passing the building and saw all the cars so decided to come in and join our Reveal evening. She shared with me something she had felt God wanted to remind us of:Psalm 84. This person had no idea that we had gone through this psalm during our spring conference earlier in the year. We began to speak out the psalm and be reminded of the promises contained within it. Richard then began sharing with us some amazing news which he had heard regarding two of the members of our congregation who are battling cancer. He spoke about how their test results had shown dramatic positive changes in recent weeks. We had been reminded not only of the promises God has made, but the ways in which he is fulfilling them.

As the evening drew to a close I was personally struck by the way in which we had entered into the presence of God that night. We had postured ourselves not only to hear from him, but to pour back praise for what he had already been doing. His faithfulness to meet with us during these times has been unparalleled. We have been overwhelmed, and continue to be so every week. I am excited to see what he is going to do in the next couple of weeks.

Debbie.