Lampstand Review, October 2017~Julie

WORSHIP
We had the awesome privilege of having our friends, Samuel Knopp and his son Ethan join us for the Lampstand.  Samuel led us in worship and it was a powerful time lifting up the name of Jesus.  We truly were positioning ourselves before the throne and beholding the Lord! 

I love the powerful way the Lord can bring agreement as we worship.  I love that the Holy Spirit will speak the same thing to two different people in order to highlight something He wants us to see or understand.

The Lord was speaking to my heart during worship about being a Bride who has made herself ready.  I was reading Rev. 21 and 19:7.  Kim Ellis also came to Matthew during worship feeling a similar stirring from the Lord.  She shared that in thinking about Jesus coming back it is like engagement.  When people were engaged in Biblical times the man would go to prepare a home for his Bride, which is what Jesus is doing now!  And, women who are engaged do things to prepare for their wedding!  As the Bride of Christ, what are we doing to prepare?  Are we "waiting" for Him to come?  Like Esther who prepared for an entire year before going to the king...we need to be preparing ourselves with sweet fragrances of prayer, weeping for our loved ones, being prepared with oil.

Howard carter shared Psalm 77:11-14.  I so appreciate the Lord stirring His word in people's hearts.

MESSAGE
We have been focusing in these Lampstand meetings on getting oil, being fueled, learning to live with our hearts alive and connected to the Lord with His Word alive in our hearts.  We have specifically been pressing into Revelation 4 and 5 for the last several meetings because we feel like gazing at this "beauty realm" fuels and steadies our hearts in a powerful way. 

How many people can claim they have had a heavenly vision experience?  It certainly does happen, but it isn't necessarily a common experience.  Yet, we have this incredible gift in the Word of God of a "heavenly vision experience"!  We can choose to "go there" by asking the Spirit to open up understanding of this passage!  I'm going there!!  I want the reality of what is going on around the throne to touch my life.  I want to live daily connected to this heavenly reality!

At this Lampstand meeting, Matthew shared about Revelation 4 and how we get oil from gazing on the beauty of God revealed in this throne room picture.  He walked through the details that are included in this heavenly description and how and why these things are significant.

• The colors of God: each color described has significance in revealing something about God's nature.  What a fascinating study to search out the colors that are used in the Revelation description!
• The attendants around the throne: "Our destiny is to be enthroned with Him, crowned ones, dressed in white, priests before the Lord and kings with Him.  We have married into great wealth!"
• Lightning, thundering, sounds:  Oh the sounds of heaven!!  We don't want to just have singers who sing someone else's songs, but singers who have been before the Lord and sing the songs of heaven!  Oh that there would be worship leaders tapping into the sounds coming from the throne...
• Manifestations of fire: torches, burning ones (seraphim), sea of glass mingled with fire!  We need a fresh baptism of fire!  If there is fire all around the throne done' we want to go there to get it!!??

​RESPONSE
How can we respond to this consideration of God and His beauty other than in worship?  We took time to lift up our gaze and our voices again in song!
More on Revelation 4 in November....