River Depths 9

  Some years ago, I was singing in church and I got to wondering why we sing in church. Years before that, I had a vision during praise and worship in which the music being played made up the walls of the temple and we were moving inside these walls. I know the power of music, but why exactly do we incorporate it into a worship service? Until recently, music was something you only experienced if you made it yourself or participated in a group such as church. Is the music portion of the service something left over from the long centuries of no radio or audio equipment? Do we really need it now that we have worship music available 24/7? Yeah, my worship leader friends are probably thinking I’m nuts or some kind of a traitor right now. This intrigued me, so I started dogging God about it. Soon, I was seeing all kinds of stuff about how music affects the brain. Researchers have found that music has profound effects on the human brain. Memory, speech, creativity, motor control and ...

I am involved in a Zoom group that meets like a house church through Church Without Walls International  . On Sundays, we meet for a couple of hours and each of us takes turns leading. These are the notes from the time I shared on the 7 Spirits of God.  Note: All scripture references and word definitions are taken from  the Blue Letter Bible.  It's an awesome tool! Check it out. Every now and then, I run into these verses, look into them a bit and then promptly forget about them because I haven’t really understood. This time, I decided to delve in a little further. Revelation 3:1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things say He that has the seven Spirits of God , and the seven stars; I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead . Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded flashes of lightning and thundering and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of G...

  You’ve been there many times. You are in church, about to take communion and the leader instructs you to examine yourself to see if you have any sin that you need to repent of so you don’t take the LORD’s supper unworthily. It sounds good and right, but what if that’s not what taking the LORD’s supper unworthily is about? What have been some of your thoughts or feelings when this request is made? I will be honest. As a practicing Christian, I try to repent of sins just as soon as I am aware of them. This is what I believe the Bible says I am to do. Waiting until communion time is not. That instruction to examine myself for sin usually winds up with my mind going in one of two directions: I must be missing it somehow if I can’t find any specific sins to repent of, or I feel pity and maybe even a little sense of pride because I have already repented and that sobbing woman two rows behind me is obviously really convicted. Neither reaction has anything to do with the sacrifice that...

  Back in 1990, I was working a “sit and wait job.” I was helping an elderly man. He needed someone to sit near his bed and help him to the bathroom when he woke in the night. He and his wife were light sleepers so I couldn't do much other than sit and read. That summer, I read through the Bible five times. I got so bored that I decided to dig into the genealogies in the first five books of the Bible. I made charts, compared life spans, and looked up the meanings of the names. The spin most preachers put on Cain began to bother me. The reason I had been taught that his lineage was included was to show how evil mankind had become. The passage supposedly shows that Cain's sin led to Lamech's sin of marrying two wives and illustrates how violently corrupt the world had become. The things that bothered me were: A. It seemed to me that Cain did not get the punishment he deserved. In Genesis 4:13-15 Cain seems repentant and God reduces his punishment. B: Lamech's declar...

  Back Story   My natural family is very academically gifted. Lots of doctors, teachers, and lawyers … Although we went to church, we were very skeptical of the Bible, regarding the miracles as myths. Even though I have seen many miracles sometimes it is still hard for me to let go and believe.   Many years ago, I was in a church service that has impacted me a lot. I don’t remember the whole sermon, but this verse is what I took out of it.   Rev 2:17   He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it .   The minister was explaining that while it is true that we take on the new name of Christ, in ancient cultures, when a man takes a wife, he often gives her a new name that describes what he sees in her. This, he said, is what this verse is real...

  I am involved in a Zoom group that meets like a house church through  Church Without Walls International  . On Sundays, we meet for a couple of hours and each of us takes turns leading. These are the notes from the time I shared on the power to be a witness.  Note: All scripture references and word definitions are taken from  the Blue Letter Bible.  It's an awesome tool! Check it out. Acts 1 3 To whom also He showed himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God:   4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, He said, “You have heard from Me.”   5 For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.   8 But you shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost comes upon you: and you shal...

  Many years ago, I was working in a factory. There was a man that I tried to witness to repeatedly. He would always shut me down by cussing at me. (I was a young, enthusiastic, and probably very annoying Christian at the time). One day he walked into the area that I was cleaning, took a drink of water from the fountain, fell and hit his head hard on the concrete floor, and died soon after. I started doing CPR and praying over him, telling him to live and not die. I was also pleading the Blood of Jesus over him. For a while, he was breathing with the death rattle. Just before he died, he opened his eyes and there was a look of terror on his face. Then he focused in on what I was praying. A look of peace came across his face and he died.  When the paramedics came in, they pronounced him dead. I was sitting in the corner asking God what had happened. I am supposed to be able to raise the dead with the Name of Jesus! I kept hearing, "It's alright Sue. He's with me." I ...

  I found myself mourning and agreeing with all those who are lamenting the changes we are seeing in our government, declaring that since these are the end-times, that it will only get worse … when God suddenly jerked me up by the neck and corrected me. “I have instructed you to pray that My will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven. If I have no ability to bring that to pass, why are you praying that? I also instructed you to pray for kings and all those in authority that you might live quiet and peaceable lives. If there is no hope that things can change, why would I do that? I have told you that I hold the heart of the kings in my hands and that I can turn it in whatever direction I choose. Do not give up hope. You are the salt of the earth. The purpose of salt is to preserve the earth. Do not give up your saltiness lest when I return, I find no faith in the earth.” My thoughts: What if? What if it is possible to have a government that allows us to live peaceable and ...