Nightlife was so good tonight
Tonight at Nightlife we had prayer and praise night :-) And it was so good, for so many reasons, but I'll put down the most important ones.
First of all, Trevor MC'd (did a great job). He talked to us about a particular model of prayer, based on the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. (If that makes no sense, don't tune out, it's simple) There were 6 stages to it.
1) Confessing all sin. (In the Old Testament, the people had to sacrifice an animal to pay for the bad stuff they did - they'd put their hands on the animal, confess their sins, and then it would be sacrificed. I know it sounds gross, but just think - that's the price for our sin) The good news is, once it's confessed, IT'S GONE. God doesn't remember it anymore.
Then we went into another room, where one of the guys was standing, holding a teddy bear on a table, with a knife above it, as though he was about to kill it. Okay, it was a teddy bear, but here came realisation #1 - that was the price that needed to be paid for my sin - death.
And Jesus paid it.
Realisation #2 - because Jesus paid it, when I confess my sin, it is forgiven and forgotten because it is gone. And I suddenly realised how scared I'd been of confessing my sin, because I was frightened of what God might do after I confessed it.
Do you know what He does with our confession? He forgives. On the other side of repentance lies forgiveness. I don't need to dread telling God the things I've done wrong. Confession and repentance will bring joy.
Later on, we took communion. And that was great too. I hadn't taken it in awhile as I felt that I wasn't where I should be with God - but tonight I decided I would. And realisation #3 - God doesn't want me to live under a cloud of guilt. This idea began creeping into my mind: He cares.
There was a lot of good stuff, but the songs were great - I really felt like I connected with God. And then I knew I had to get away for a little while, so I spent some time out in the girls toilets (great place to sneak away to ;-), knowing that God cared. Knowing that I wasn't facing all my difficulties and the sometimes-painful things that happen on my own. Knowing that God didn't want me to just fix them up instantly and get everything right - that He cared about the things that were hurting.
It's not just me - do you have pain? Is there something that you look back on, and it just hurts to think about? Or are there emotions left over from an event long past that sneak up on you while you're alone?
God cares about your pain. Please tell Him about it. He is very gentle. He won't break your will or crush your spirit. (I am preaching to myself here too :-) If it hurts you, it hurts Him, because He loves you so much.
Thank You God, for caring.
First of all, Trevor MC'd (did a great job). He talked to us about a particular model of prayer, based on the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. (If that makes no sense, don't tune out, it's simple) There were 6 stages to it.
1) Confessing all sin. (In the Old Testament, the people had to sacrifice an animal to pay for the bad stuff they did - they'd put their hands on the animal, confess their sins, and then it would be sacrificed. I know it sounds gross, but just think - that's the price for our sin) The good news is, once it's confessed, IT'S GONE. God doesn't remember it anymore.
Then we went into another room, where one of the guys was standing, holding a teddy bear on a table, with a knife above it, as though he was about to kill it. Okay, it was a teddy bear, but here came realisation #1 - that was the price that needed to be paid for my sin - death.
And Jesus paid it.
Realisation #2 - because Jesus paid it, when I confess my sin, it is forgiven and forgotten because it is gone. And I suddenly realised how scared I'd been of confessing my sin, because I was frightened of what God might do after I confessed it.
Do you know what He does with our confession? He forgives. On the other side of repentance lies forgiveness. I don't need to dread telling God the things I've done wrong. Confession and repentance will bring joy.
Later on, we took communion. And that was great too. I hadn't taken it in awhile as I felt that I wasn't where I should be with God - but tonight I decided I would. And realisation #3 - God doesn't want me to live under a cloud of guilt. This idea began creeping into my mind: He cares.
There was a lot of good stuff, but the songs were great - I really felt like I connected with God. And then I knew I had to get away for a little while, so I spent some time out in the girls toilets (great place to sneak away to ;-), knowing that God cared. Knowing that I wasn't facing all my difficulties and the sometimes-painful things that happen on my own. Knowing that God didn't want me to just fix them up instantly and get everything right - that He cared about the things that were hurting.
It's not just me - do you have pain? Is there something that you look back on, and it just hurts to think about? Or are there emotions left over from an event long past that sneak up on you while you're alone?
God cares about your pain. Please tell Him about it. He is very gentle. He won't break your will or crush your spirit. (I am preaching to myself here too :-) If it hurts you, it hurts Him, because He loves you so much.
Thank You God, for caring.
posted by Noof @ 10/19/2005 03:44:00 pm
1 Comments:
At October 19, 2005 5:34 pm,
Anonymous said…
Sounds like it was quite spiffy, we had somewhat of the same thing over at UQ, more of an open prayer and intercession thing. Needless to say it was really well received, by those in attendance and by God no doubt.
Post a Comment
<< Home