Travis Came to Town!

Last week, I had the privilege of going to Travis Greene’s listening event at Abundant Life Church in New Brunswick, NJ and that one action may have simply reignited my passion for the worship ministry.  Truth is I did not even recognize I needed it.  Have you ever been in a situation where you got something you didn’t even comprehend you needed? It felt like I had been ravenous and thirsty and I did not know it.

The understanding right here is that as we pray for God to take to us to the next level and I am going to let you plug in what that means for you.  God hears your prayers when it leaves your heart and reaches His. He sets things in motion.  I realize now the things that I had requested for, He had already met but I then stayed the place I was.

You see the passion or excitement you have at every level must increase not decrease.  Your hunger at level three should be higher than it is at level 1, it cannot remain the equal or you will experience undernourishment!  I was once searching for that word, malnourished!

The Reminder

That night was once a reminder for me that when God calls you, He equips you.  There is a part for you to play though.  He will provide you the potential to operate at the degree that you have requested Him for however ultimately; you are the one that needs to take the action needed to operate at that capacity.

So, the question is why don’t we operate at the required capacity?  The answer, for me at least is I prayed, He answered but I stayed at the old level when I had asked for more. That is why I started to get uncomfortable and ministering became nearly unfulfilling, and I started to sense as if God was distant.

God is Always near You!

I was nonetheless functioning however it used to be now not from the depth that I have been.  You see there used to be a time, I heard Him clearly.  I would sleep and without a doubt hear God drop things in my heart but now, it felt like He was far from me.

God did not move an inch, I did! You see I had developed a habit of spending time with God; however, I by some means was sidetracked with ‘busyness’ which is one of the greatest hazards to your spiritual life.  It is authentic that there is a healthy sort of busyness where you are busy with things that do matter and via that definition, even Jesus was once busy.

‘Busyness’ can be Trouble!

The hassle though is not when you have a lot to do, it is when you have too much and the only way to maintain that busyness is to hurry.  You cannot maintain a healthy spiritual lifestyle and live a life of speed.  I love how Jonathan McReynolds puts it in one of his songs.  He said, ‘help me maintain’.  That had me doing some difficult thinking.  To maintain anything, you need to be deliberate about not allowing it to decline.

I used to spend my 40-minute drive to work with my YouTube playlists in the background while I prayed or worshiped to the song.  Let me tell you those were some of the most gratifying mornings for me.  Somehow, I started little by little to bring in things that did not matter; I started to listen to other things and systematically praying grew to become a rapid prayer in the mornings and now not the slow down, unhurried and real talk with God type of morning.

His Mercy

Nevertheless, God is merciful due because He had to bring Travis Greene all the way to NJ for me to even recognize this.  I was at the point where things had been getting routine, there was no excitement because I was getting too familiar with the presence of God.

So, if you are a worship leader, pastor, or in leadership position and you are reading this; that discomfort may simply be God saying you hit the stage you asked me for, it is time for greater so come up higher.

Time for Him

Let me continue my story, so I did something that Travis said, I set an appointment with God.  I at once added a 6 am alarm, and when that alarm went off the next morning, I was ready! I put on my YouTube playlist and chose a new devotional “Limitless Faith”, did some praying and started my day and that is how was I revived from my ‘spiritual slumber’.

That Friday night was our Outpouring Service at my church (AHOW) and suffice to say God himself organized that whole service for me.  I say that because from the time I got up that morning, I felt such a connection to the Holy Spirit that as things unfolded, they were stuff He had been dropping in my heart all day. I had to lead all the worship sessions and it was the best experience I’d had in a while.

God Never Stops Speaking

I could hear him saying I called you to this, the capacity that you need to carry out my instructions are embedded in the words/prophecies that I send to you through my other children. It is not yours to attempt to figure out, it is for you to step out when those words come.

Where I got in trouble and began to feel like God was a long way from me is when I lost sight of this.  I got to the level I prayed for and then I became satisfied instead of asking Him what’s next.  I did the ‘let me take a small break and in that small break I got so distracted that I started to substitute time with God with other things.

Intimacy with God is a Deliberate Process

Those things will take you away from God and once that happens, you begin to lose connection with Him.  I am grateful that I listened to that nudge in my heart to go that Travis Greene event.

This week, I am leaving you with this song  titled ‘Communion’  featuring Steffany Gretzinger and Brandon Lake from Bethel Music.  I have been listening continuously to this song because it is what I have needed.  Please listen, be blessed and be deliberate about the presence of God.