Can you hear the sound of heaven?
Can you hear the angels’ song?
Calling us into His Presence
Drawing us to sing along
We gather here to bring You Honor
Our blessed hope to see Your face
Spirit, Son, and Holy Father
Come make us now Your resting place
He is wonderful!
He is beautiful!
He is radiant!
He is Jesus!
(He Is Wonderful, by Jesus Image)
A new song popped up on Spotify this past Friday. While driving to Aldi the lyrics and music filled my senses, and quickly moved to my spirit that day. Tears came rushing to the surface. The Spirit was moving. Powerfully. I told Chuck about it during dinner Friday night, and couldn’t stop the tears. We listened to the song on the way to our kid’s school carnival a little later, and I wept again. Over the next two days I played it over and over. Almost every time I would cry, but I couldn’t articulate why.
A fire was rising up in my spirit. Later that night, Chuck and I listened to a live message online from Damon Thompson, and I spent time with Jesus in the book of Romans the next day studying what I had learned the previous night: The Hebrew word for God's presence is Faces (Face-to-Face with God). On Saturday afternoon I had the opportunity of praying for some ladies in desperate situations. All the way there, and all the way home, “He Is Wonderful” blasted in the car. I joked with Chuck about how much I had been playing the song. He commented that I was warring in the spirit through worship.
That evening brought our favorite night of the month- Barn Worship at the House of Bread. Our family has been attending monthly worship nights at our friend’s (Jamie and Christine) barn for close to a year now. After chatting with others while eating dinner, we settled in for a time of ministering to the Father’s heart through singing, praying, reading Scripture, and ….what happened next was an encounter with God like nothing I have ever experienced.
There is a big, soft rug at the front of the room in the barn. Our family was sitting in the front row, so it was only a foot or so away from me. I kept feeling pulled to sit on the rug. It’s always a battle in my mind when I feel a prompting like that. “Should I really sit on the rug? Why would I do that?” I couldn’t shake the urge, so I plopped down. It was sweet to be low, and safe. Face to Face with Spirit, Son, and Holy Father. My left hand felt the fibers of the rug while my right felt the cool concrete. I was grounded.
Moving back to my chair a little while later brought with it a chance to observe the people around me. One friend was lying in a fetal position on the rug, while another laid flat on his back. A longing to sit back on the rug came over me. The hesitation was shorter this time, and down I went. “I wish I could lay down on the rug…” the thought was quiet and loud at the same time. “Well why not?” I told myself, “If Christine sings one more song, I’ll lay down for a minute…” She continued singing. So… I laid down on my side.
Like most people, it would take too long, and there are too many layers to express to you the years of pain, the years of grief, the years of warring, and the hours of sleep stolen from me I have endured. In that moment lying on the rug, it was all lifted off of me. I laid there feeling safe, free, my spirit fully at rest, completely relaxed, with joy in my heart and a smile on my lips. I knew I was in God’s Presence: “Faces”. I was Face-to-Face with my Savior. I don’t know how long I laid there. At one point, my dear friend Kate sat next to me scratching my back singing over me.
Simultaneously, a choir was singing. Loudly. Radiantly. It was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever experienced. The notes, the melody, the voices were like nothing I had ever heard. Angelic even. “Am I in Heaven?!” crossed my mind. I didn’t want the choir to stop singing, I wanted to listen forever. “Holy, Holy, Holy! Worthy, Worthy, Worthy!” I was in such a relaxed state, I felt myself drool- and that made me laugh! God, you are wonderful! It was an especially wildly sweet gift because I have always loved choirs.
Today, after I dropped the kids off from school, I blasted the song again. Today it was like hearing those lyrics for the first time. My body broke out in chills all over. I felt like gasping out loud! Chuck’s words from Saturday afternoon came back to me, “You are warring in the Spirit through worship.”
Can you hear the sound of heaven?
Can you hear the angels’ song?
Calling us into His Presence
Drawing us to sing along
We gather here to bring You Honor
Our blessed hope to see Your face
Spirit, Son, and Holy Father
Come make us now Your resting place
He is wonderful!
He is beautiful!
He is radiant!
He is Jesus!
(He Is Wonderful, by Jesus Image)
I didn’t even know what “hearing the sound of Heaven”, or “hearing the angels’ song” meant until my encounter on the rug Saturday night. I didn’t realize it until I listened to the song again this morning after purposely not listening yesterday! After warring through worship in the Spirit for two days prior, it was like my spirit called it into being for Saturday night. The angels came to draw me to His Presence. They called my spirit to sing along. We gathered to bring Him honor, and hoped to see His face.
Then….He made me His resting place.
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