Bringing My Lamp & My Oil

(Matthew 25:1-4)

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins 

who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 

Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones 

took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, 

however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 

The Lord has really been pressing in my spirit the story of the ten virgins toward the end of the Book of Matthew. Even though I continued to read ahead I always seemed to make my way back to that small passage in the 25th chapter. This is one of my favorite parables that Jesus taught just because it mirrors the church as His bride, Jesus as the bridegroom, and He gives us another little glimpse of what bringing His kingdom down to earth looks like. I got some info about the tradition of Jewish weddings online because I really wanted to understand the context of what Jesus was talking about: "In Jewish society, the parents of the betrothed generally drew up the marriage contract. The bride and groom would meet, perhaps for the first time, when this contract was signed. The couple was considered married at this point, but they would separate until the actual time of the ceremony. The bride would remain with her parents, and the groom would leave to prepare their home. This could take quite a while. When the home was all ready, the groom would return for his bride without notice. The marriage ceremony would then take place, and the wedding banquet would follow."

When I started to read, a picture was painted in my head of these ten young ladies, half careless and the other half expectantly waiting for the groom to arrive. I imagined their talks of what he looked like standing at the altar, of where they would live together, and when he was coming. I imagined them pacing back and forth looking out of the windows to be the first ones to run to His side. At this point he could be right around the corner or far off in the distance: It was a total surprise visit waiting to happen. For any girl it's hard to wait, can I get an amen? I can picture joy turning into expectancy, expectancy turning into impatience, and impatience turning into boredom. The young women became so tired of waiting that they fell asleep. When the bridegroom arrived at midnight to take the ladies to the banquet to celebrate, the ones that were prepared followed with their well-oiled lamps while the one's that weren't were left behind and denied entrance into the feast.

The details of this parable are so important. What the Spirit pressed in my heart was that the wise virgins that were prepared with their lamps and oil are a symbol of God's church being ready through the filling of His Word and His Holy Spirit. Psalm 119:105 automatically popped up into my head word by word and I was like yes Lord, I understand. But right after He revealed that the lamp was talking about God's Word He then spoke this strongly into my spirit: The ladies that were left out had their lamps but lacked the oil...that oil is my Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit to breathe a new revelation of God's Word into our lives we the church will not see the glory of Jesus manifested here on earth. This is like supplementing His signs and wonders for a Bible study. We need the combination. We can't have one without the other. It is His desire for all of His children to move in the power of the Holy Spirit. These ten women, symbolizing the church, knew that without the oil eventually the fire was going to burn out and they would not be able to see their bridegroom coming and would either miss Him or get lost trying to go out to meet Him.

(Psalm 119:105)

Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

The Bible is the instrument that The Lord provides us with so that we can follow the path that He's marked out before us and His Holy Spirit is the source of power that is needed to turn keep the fire burning. His anointing in our lives is his seal of ownership because knowing the word alone won't do it, this just opens the door for religion. We need His Word + His Holy Spirit anointing in order to produce fire (power) in our lives.

(2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. 

He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit 

in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

.

We have one of those antique oil lamps at home on top of our fridge that we've conserved for years for those stormy nights when the power goes out. I want to talk a little bit about the maintenance of an oil lamp. Humor me guys I promise it's important. After you've filled the bottom glass end with oil the wick (rectangular thick stringy thingy) has to be trimmed if it's been previously used because it's all burned up. In the the parable of the ten virgins I noticed that the moment the ladies heard that the bridegroom was coming they woke up and the first thing they did was trim their lamps. They had left their lamps burning the whole time that now the time came for them to re-fuel them with some oil and a clean wick. You know that moment when you read through something but then stop, make a curious face, and then read back again? That was my aha moment. I knew that this portion of was important somehow so I said, "Holy Spirit show me, explain why this is important." He likes to flood me and that's exactly what happened and continues to happen. Just like that "wick" our spiritual lives reach points of burn out when we're stuck on old revelations and past experiences when the Holy Spirit wants to give us something fresh and new. I've been there and gosh I'm sure we all have but what He spoke into my spirit was that we need to trim off the old burned up wick. We need to throw away what we think we know about God through what we've learned so far, to make room for Him to show up in our lives a new way. We need to throw out the window what we've heard of God and prepare ourselves for daily encounters. And I'm not talking about shutting out readings or men and women of God, not at all. But I am saying that living off of second hand information is scary and not enough. We need to have a personal relationship with God and then let second hand information serve as a compliment and as confirmation for what the Holy Spirit has already revealed to us first. Let's just let our bridegroom pay us a surprise visit. Let's be ready for that visit. I'm excited!

Bringing To You A Sunday Sound

So as most of you know, I lead worship in Spanish at my church on Sunday afternoons. It was a total surprise to me when I got home after the service, half way into my mango, that my Dad said that he had recorded me singing so that I could hear. He hadn't thought about it, but once he was sitting down he just left his phone recording to later show me. I was really curious so he played it for me while I had dinner. The last time I had heard myself recorded was probably a year ago and honestly God has just been molding my voice one day at a time. It's been a long, beautiful, and painful process that I am so grateful for. For the pain too? Yes. I rejoice for those heart-breaking times because with them has come anointing and passion for the things of God. I guess you could just skip all my ramblings and go straight to hearing the song down below, but I do hope that you'll stick around long enough to hear my little stories. I grew up in a small church where it seemed like if you had any God-given talent you might as well hide it under the table because one must be "humble". I lived with these lies, believed them, and saw life through this lense. Jesus has a way of setting us free from those though, doesn't He? You see I saw two complete polar opposites as I began to serve during worship: those that were reserved and sang quietly as if to stop others from judging them and those who wanted to shine and through their singing they just screamed look at me. Can you guess which one I was? For a long time my voice almost resembled a caged bird, I just wasn't free. I sang almost all the time but something blocked me. My insecurities and the scary thought that people would think that I wanted the attention were a huge part of why I felt stuck. If I got a compliment I had a horrible fear of taking the attention away from God and the first thing I would say was, "thank you, all glory to God." That is still true today but the false humility is broken. I guess I thought that if I'd say it every time, somehow it would be enough to protect me and make God happy. But what does God's Word say again? Oh yeah. 

(1 John 4:18) There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

When God saved me He cleansed a completely prideful girl who thought all she needed was herself to be successful in life, so that girl became so grateful to her God and never wanted to go there again. She thought the best way to thank God was to be the total opposite of who she was. God's voice wasn't all too clear for her yet so she did the best she could with an honest heart knowing that her only truth was the genuine feeling of wholeness she encountered as she closed her eyes and sang. God began to work with that and now this girl knows that true humbleness isn't something one has to try hard to reflect because when your heart is placed in the right place it just flows out. The sound is different and that atmosphere of true worship is created. This is why God became frustrated with the Israelites when He told them how was it that by now they didn't understand that He did not desire sacrifices: it was their hearts He was after. If you've read a lot of my blog posts you'll read a lot about the heart and how it's the beginning of true worship because my journey has been devoted to knowing my Father's heart and that's what He's revealed to me. So I share. Through my spiritual process I've learned what true humility looks and smells like and that lesson is one of the greatest ones yet. It set me free. I say this because I have been wanting to share some of my music but the timing just hasn't been right...I love God's timing though. He loves doing things behind my back to bring about a touching surprise. We do life like that and I wouldn't have it any other way. So I share this "sound" with you as I did on my facebook page with an honestly stripped heart just hoping it makes you smile up at God. I even told my Dad Sunday night, is it weird that I'm here worshiping with myself...so weird lol. It's one thing being up there but stepping down to really hear myself I thought for the first time...I like this person. And again I'm not one to share such super intimate things but I strongly feel to. The process is worth it. Not because of the sound itself but because of the person behind the sound. We are the vessels who can either carry His anointing or just make noise. I live to worship in a way that doesn't make noise but that rather, brings my intimate worship into a public setting. I hope anyone who hears my music can hear and feel that. My life's calling in the worship area is to show people that it's more than okay to draw near, to come as we are, to flow in the Spirit...

This song is called "Te Doy Gloria" and in English it's "I Give You Glory."

Translation:

Oh, how beautiful
Are You, Lord
It's Your words
It's Your love

Oh, how glorious
Are You, Lord
It's Your power
It was Your cross

That saved me
And rescued me
Just a moment there
Set me free

//I give You glory, glory
I give You glory, glory
I give You glory, glory
Jesus//

////With a crown of thorns
You became my King forever///

His Rain Falls When We Prepare Our Hearts

 I want to talk about those times when we lead or participate in a praise and worship service in which we feel that God's presence just didn't move. We compare one service to another or one season to another and find ourselves playing the blame game: Yup it was that out of tune guitar, those loud drums, the tired vocalists, and definitely those new songs. It's easy sometimes for us to concoct some crazy-wild explanation for something so simple. I've even found myself saying, "Lord, why? These people needed You to show up...I was dying for You to show up." I don't know if any of you can relate but this is a horrible feeling. You come home and think that you just wasted your time and even worse that you just wasted God's time and probably made Him tear up a bit from how awful that whole service turned out. I've been there and it's because I've been there that I've sought out my Lord's council. I love how he speaks into my heart so clearly. There are specific moments when I've just felt God laugh and I'm pretty sure when I've talked to Him about these things He's been just balling out, shaking His head, ready to just cradle me because the answer is so simple.

*~*~*

(Song of Solomon 1:6) 

Do not stare at me because I am dark,

    because I am darkened by the sun.

My mother’s sons were angry with me

    and made me take care of the vineyards;

    my own vineyard I had to neglect.

(Song of Solomon 2:10)

My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.

*~*~*

What The Lord revealed to me was that we, His children, are the ones who carry His presence and He confirmed this with His Word that says that we are the Temple of The Holy Spirit, His church. We're suppose to be putting the "C', "H", "U", "R", "C", "H" in "church". The only way to do this is through our relationship with God. He is always able to move but we also have the calling to release what He has freely given us. His Spirit is waiting to be releases but if we don't feed our spirit's how can we accomplish this? It's about talking to our Father because His Holy Spirit is with us and longs to be upon all of us, it's about getting into His Word for a fresh and new revelation, and it's about intimate prayer and worship behind closed doors when no one is looking. God is tired of His unfaithful bride who is ravished by many lovers. In Jeremiah 3 The Lord tells His people that "the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen" because of their unfaithfulness. God uses the words prostitution and unfaithfulness to describe our desire to seek another's council and even our own;He refers to anything that occupies the first place in our hearts. 

*~*~*

(Jeremiah 2:13)

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

*~*~*

Do we not do this today? We lean on our own past understanding and at some point stop overflowing because we've traded fountains. We think we can survive with what we know but those moments are when we need The Lord the most. Only He can see a heart naked as it is. When He says He wants a worshiper in spirit and in truth, this is what He's referring to. He longs for His worshiper to lay beside Him and hear His heartbeat and the only way for us to do this is to cultivate that relationship. Sometimes we reach moments where we hide our faces from The Lord and sink back. He's calling out. Talk to Him. He just wants to talk to us. He just wants to love us. Our wells can't hold water but His can. He doesn't want us to struggle or get frustrated anymore. When you prepare your heart's garden He will walk in and spend time with you. Because you know Him He will listen and because He knows You His Spirit will be upon you ready to be released.

*~*~*

(Psalm 132:7-8)

“Let us go to his dwelling place,
    let us worship at his footstool, saying,
 ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.

//We are that resting place that 

The Holy Spirit longs to dwell in.//

*~*~*

 "Learn to steward God's presence in stillness, not just in corporate worship." 

                                                                                           

                                                                                            —Steffany Gretzinger

When we do this through intimate time with The Lord our services and corporate gatherings will be in continuous overflow. His signs and wonders will be there. The fullness of His Spirit is the key and that key can only be given to us through spirit taught knowledge that comes from the secret place. My secret place sometimes looks like a locked room with soft Bethel or Ihop music playing in the background, or a locked bathroom with me kneeling at the foot of the tub, a car ride, or gardening time outside. The one thing that all these locations have in common is that I am alone with God in order to seek Him. You don't need anything fancy just a place where you can cultivate that relationship with God behind closed doors so that when you do life in the open you will be walking in the fullness of His Spirit and that rain will fall no matter where you find yourself.

Worship Freely Tunes {10}

Happy Friday and 1st day of March!!! Since you're already here, enjoy a new tune and stay awhile  I really really like this song. Let's just say I like it enough to be screaming as I drive to school in the morning. Yup, other cars better watch out with the glory cloud around my car. Anyways, have a listen because I'm pretty sure y'all will like it. God bless!

"With Everything"- The School Of Worship

I Love It When The Holy Spirit Sets Me Up!

So I drove to a church I hadn't visited since I was 14 years old last, last, Tuesday. There was where my heart was captivated by how God could use music in such a powerful way. I explained this to a guy who I ran into outside in the parking lot. He told me that usually there were young adult Bible Studies but today they decided to do a Worship Night. My eyebrows were raised right there: Holy Spirit, what are you doing and why did you lead me here? My cousin and I met up right outside the church building and went on in around 8:00. Ushered in by the leader, we shyly stepped on up the large (big enough for me to sit Indian-style) carpet stairs and had a seat. The young guy speaking began to share how now that since they had been studying the Holy Spirit today was the day they were going to pray for baptisms. I felt overwhelmed and looked up at the sky. Oh the irony. I had been praying for a while and recently for the gift of speaking in tongues. It was burning in my heart and I just about wanted to cry from the words that were coming out of this guy's mouth. It was the Holy Spirit literally moving. He was so thick in that room that I could barely stand it. All I really remember from the beginning is that the guy said, "Whatever has been telling you that you can't receive this gift is a lie of the enemy because God wants to give it to you way more than you want it." Bang! Right there! The Holy Spirit took away all the doubts that I had. Overwhelmed is the word...speechless.  When the young adult Pastor (also a few years older than I) called out for anyone who wanted to receive the gift of tongues my legs seemed to have a mind of their own so I hurried down and was the first one on the floor near the musicians. The Pastor asked me for my name and I answered. Then she said these words that I still remember so clearly, "Deya, do you believe this gift is yours? Do you believe it?" After I said yes she started praying for me in tongues. I wasn't freaked out or anything because I'm no stranger to hearing people speak in the Spirit, especially because I'm always hearing my Momma. I was more than ready.Tears rolled down my eyes until I started balling out. I couldn't understand why. There was no reason for it other than feeling the Holy Spirit in my midst.  He was there and my flesh couldn't take what my Spirit was getting fed. I was being filled and my cup was running over. And after a while of the Pastor praying I suddenly started uttering the same unknown words that I muttered once when my Mom had prayed for me a year ago. Back then I shook myself thinking no this can't be it so I said nothing. The Pastor looked at me and said, "There it is! Keep going!" It felt like I was learning to walk again, to talk again. My tongue stumbled but then sudden bursts of joy came forth as the words grew stronger and stronger. I lifted up my hands and sang and worshipped my God for the gift that He had just given me. When I sing in the Spirit I'm a whole different person because my Spirit Man rises up and takes over. All I felt was wholeness, peace, and uncontrollable joy. 

(Acts 1:4-5) On one occasion, while he was eating with them, 

he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait 

for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak 

about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you 

will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

(Acts 2:1-4) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all 

together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a 

violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where 

they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire 

that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them 

were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in 

other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Surprise, surprise! The Holy Spirit did it again. He's so good at setting me up. Tuesday was a life-changing experience. I went back again last Tuesday and it's amazing to see how the Holy Spirit is connecting this new rising generation in one Spirit. I'm so excited! 

Stagnant Congregational/Corporate Worship {Wisdom & Revelation}

Congregational/Corporate Worship- An assembled group of people that have come together to respond to God's love by pouring out their love back onto Him through various forms of expression (bowing, dancing, clapping, lifting of hands, singing, playing an instrument, painting...etc).

We gather together in church for that time when feet are freely lifted off the floor, hands are stretched up to the sky as a show of surrender, and hearts are loving as faces are seeking. No matter how your church does Congregational Worship one thing is for certain, and that is that we are in the vulnerable position to love on God. Some churches have choirs while others have bands, some use an organ, while others incorporate electric guitars, and some are a combination of both old and new styles. I have nothing against either but this I do know for sure: God is a God of revelation. Jesus left us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and to reveal to us the treasures that are hidden in the Father's heart. The minute we let conformity depict our church's vision we say to God, "I like what you've done so I'm going to stay here and talk and live in this one thing forever." What happened to sing a new song? God is a God of fresh, new, and constant revelation and His Holy Spirit is always here with us willing to give a new vision to those that are truly hungry for it, for those that are willing. Here are a couple of signs that will let you know if your church has become stagnant, stuck in a vision that God has given them in the past with no desire to move forward. 

• The preachings/sermons have been the same for a good while and are repeated over a period of time.
• New ideas aren't considered and if they are, these ideas take flight but then gradually burn out and all goes back to normal.
• The congregation attends church services but there is really no change in their personal lives
• There is no desire to go deeper, to grow spiritually by fanning into flames the spiritual gifts (wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discerning between spirits, speaking in different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues) that come from God's Holy Spirit. (2 Timothy 1:6) and (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

*~*~*~*~*

^{(Ephesians 1:17)} I keep asking that 

the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 

glorious Father, may give you the 

Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so 

that you may know him better. 

If you feel this to be the case in your 

church, turn this verse into a prayer 

and speak it over yourself and your 

church saying:

God, my glorious Father, I ask that 

You give me (and my church) the 

Spirit of wisdom and revelation so 

that I (we) may know You better.

*~*~*~*~*

Every church has a vision but if we want to grow as both a body and a congregation we have to embrace the Holy Spirit's out-pour of wisdom and revelation in all areas (vision, worship, our personal lives, ministry, preachings, age group classes...etc.). A few words can make a difference, one prayer can change it all...I can testify to that. In fact, going a little personal, the church that my family and I attended for 13 years of my life modeled and still models this behavior. It's like they got stuck in time and instead of growing, the exact opposite happened. I pray tough that one day God will touch their hearts and light an eternal fire in their spirits. For years and years the same Spanish hymns were sung, the same sermons were repeated and circled, and new ideas were "politely" ignored. Until...one day God touched the heart of a young 15 year old girl who constantly did all in her power to avoid church at all cost even though her parents were associate pastors. That young teen, by the grace of God alone, was me. Our whole youth group (around 15 teens) packed up and headed off to Discovery Camp in Columbus TX. There, right there, God gave me direction and a calling. After 3 days away from home my return brought on a huge revolution to our church. As we drove back I kept repeating words that even I did not comprehend, "Mom we need to call so and so and get this and that because God wants me to start a youth band at church." Even my mom looked at me in disbelief. After I repeated the same thing over and over again she realized that I was being for real. Now after I repeated the same thing day after day she was sure that it was all God and made some phone calls. In short, from that day and beyond God placed the right people in our midst and confirmed the word that He had given me. Over a six month period a youth group band was formed from nothing, God has a way of doing that. It was something that only God could have done because any type of idea brought forth to the pastors was tossed under the rug or was short lived. The kids and teens were growing spiritually and their parents attended church enthusiastically. Here I learned to be a leader, I learned about instruments and grew vocally, here God showed me that He was going to use me to give birth to true worship in the hearts of others. Now...here comes the vision change and the transition. At age 16 many oppositions came through gossip and unfair acts by the Pastor and his family and my family's eyes and my own were opened to the stagnation in our church. We were contempt and blind to the spiritual placidity and conformity. God was trying to tell us that He had more for us, much more. God lead us to another church where we find ourselves today where we witness the Glory of God fall down. In my case, God was trying to bring revival to my first church and a new vision but God's revelation was rejected there. So God says to me, "You did what I asked of you and because they have rejected me and not you it's time to move on. I have something special for you, let it go and trust me for I have been faithful to you." 

God has been more than good to me and I can say with all my heart that when you give your whole life to Him He guides your every step to give you a hope and a future because all things will work together for your good. Wherever you find yourself right now, ask God to reveal to you what your church needs and how you can help it grow and move forward. The Holy Spirit will show you how to make blossom your Corporate Worship time so that the whole congregation can be open to the desires of the Father's heart. Like I've stated before though, true worship first has to blossom in your heart through intimate time with the Lord so that you can impact all that is around you. God has a special purpose for you, go at it and discover how it is that you can draw your Congregation into a deeper relationship with the Lord so that the Holy Spirit can freely flow as He wants. God is bringing an amazing awakening to our churches and the way we worship Him there,. I can feel it. I know that I am going to be apart of this by God's grace alone, are you?

Remember: Church is a place of preparation. When we worship God in church through any form (music, dancing, painting...etc.) we are simply being prepared and equipped for what we should be doing on a daily basis, and this will ultimately give us a glimpse into what awaits for us in eternity. 

New Things:God's Promises

Updates, updates, updates!!! My mind is so full and stocked up with information that if my brain was a waterfall it would definitely be breaking through and flowing out at ridiculous speeds. The Lord keeps all of his promises and more than that he exceeds our own expectations!

*~*~*

This whole week has been full of blessing. So much blessing. Daniel and I have been performing at this church that our Psalmist School instructor provided us with and have been instructing the other band members, (who are so awesome!) all to glorify the Lord. There have been some challenges (as was expected) but the holy spirit always has us one step ahead. I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am and how great it feels to worship God with a full band filled with youth who seek to glorify the Lord as well. By the grace of God, for right now I'm the first voice but I am training the pianist to sing with me because Daniel and I know that this is not the ministry God has for us, it's a mission that has been given to us. We've been holding practices for now three times a week to prepare ourselves and so far have been improving tremendously thanks to God.

On another note, the Psalmist school is having a Christmas Concert and Joel is looking for two singers from the school in our area to record his christmas CD with him! Oh my Lord! I've decided to just give it to God and give it all I got no matter what happens. I know that if it's His will for me it'll come to be, and if it just doesn't happen I'll be happy for whoever God has that opportunity destined for. Pray for me though!

(Isaiah 61:1-3) The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

I'll keep you guys posted!