SchoolOfWorship-WEEK UNO

Where to begin?!

The first week of SOW is done!  GLORY!  This past week has without a doubt been one of the best weeks of my life!  Our week began by putting Jesus in the rightful place He deserves.  We made sure we prioritized Him and let Him be the guest of honor in our school.  Jesus has been present since day one!  I can't imagine what our school is going to look like by the end of these 3 months, because I'm already blown away by what He's done!  There is a HUGE anointing on the staff of School of Worship this quarter...like seriously the DREAM TEAM!  I can't begin to explain to you how stacked our staff is.  God overly blessed our school with god-loving, extraordinary, prophetic, talented, and devoted staff.  Their hearts are to see us step into the fullness of who we are in Christ, to see us fall deeper in love with our maker, and to use the gifts God has given us to enhance His Kingdom.  Sooo good!

Our school leader Daniel Lehmann began the week speaking on how as a worship leader we need to remind ourselves that our greatest reward is to know God.  It's that simple!  Our hearts were in anguish thinking of all the worship leaders who get put on a pedestal, that honestly they do not deserve.  IT'S GOD WHO DESERVES TO BE ON THE PEDESTAL!  HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO DESERVES TO BE PRAISED!  We cried out that worship leaders would not be burdened with the praise of man, that they would look to God for praise.  God does not honor with a stage, he honors with more of himself!  As the school of worship,  at some point we will be on stage, but the Lord so strongly put on our hearts to minister to His heart first and foremost, and out of that, others hearts will be transformed because we will have brought them into the very throne room of God. 

On day 2 one of our staff, Kevin Norris, spoke to us about Jesus being our bridegroom.  He challenged us to read the bible like it's a love letter.  This week God showed me that I have all these deep, exciting visions for ministry, but if I don't have intimacy with God, my ministry will be nothing.  Kevin shared with us that an easy way to find that intimacy with God is to ask Jesus to reveal Himself to us as our bridegroom.  Romance, passion and desire were created by God and He loves to pursue us.

"You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride.  You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace.  Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride.  Your love is better than wine." -Song of Songs 4:9

In the NASB version it says "...you made my heart beat faster...", isn't that a crazy concept to grasp onto.  WE MAKE GOD'S HEART BEAT FAST JUST WHEN HE LOOKS AT US!  But, we need to realize it's a two way street; we need to constantly be asking ourselves...."What am I doing to get to know God better?" "What am I doing to pursue this man who is pursuing me?"

On day 4, our school had the privilege of hosting Andy Byrd as our speaker!  Talk about having your mind blown and the Holy Spirit wrecking you! Ahhh so good!  Andy talked a lot on the marriage of prayer and missions.  And how out of prayer and intercession births evangelism, revival...EVERYTHING!  He also talked about how God is raising up a generation like Noah.  A generation that will have child-like faith and move out of obedience even if they don't see the outcome right away.  Right now we are a generation with journals full of prophetic words and God's ideas for our lives, but there are only a few who actually believe and obey.  We have become so dependent on man's encouragement.  If only we could be like Noah, who didn't receive a single encouragement or prophesy for 100 years over His life.  Out of all the things God asks of man in the bible, I think the ark is the most absurd.  But, Noah was obedient!  We are alive because Noah believed and was obedient.  God is waiting for a Noah generation, because He doesn't want to share His heart with unbelief.  God so badly wants to release His dreams, but there are so few who's soil is fertile; and our soil must be fertile for Him to drop His seeds.  His dreams can only land in a soil of faith.  God is waiting for a generation that will dare Him to do things He's never done before. 

More updates coming soon......