"The winter is over
The season of singing has come."
Song of Songs 2
Having been initiated into my first Canadian winter, I was beyond THANKFUL when the Spring finally arrived! A Canadian winter is no joke, and even the locals said this one was a tough one. Having hibernated in the house of prayer for the winter, The Quebec House of Prayer was such a green house for me. Such a safe place to pray and step out and sing. It helps that the audience is pretty much the rest of the worship team and the heavenly hosts. But that has always been the heart of the house of prayer movement - to worship for an audience of ONE. And I wonder if God has a filter which he process the songs of our hearts through, so that by the time He hears them they just sound so much better than we could ever sound...
One of my favourite sets to be part of was joining Tanya and the team in the weekly Song of Songs set. Who cannot be deeply moved after spending an hour adoring the King?
But what exactly is a prophetic singer?
God instructed both Moses and David to build Him a tabernacle where His presence would dwell. David financed 288 singers (1 Chr. 25:7) and 4,000 musicians (1 Chr. 23:5) to function in the tabernacle of the Lord, giving instruction for music to arise before Him day and night as a sacrifice of praise (p15). As the prophet Isaiah said -
"...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
Isaiah 56:7
This is no performance Lord I pray it’s worship Empty words I can’t afford
I’m not chasing feelings That’s not why I’m singing You’re the reason for my song
I only wanna sing If I sing with everything If I sing for you my King
Recently, I watched one of my favourite animations! Thinking back... back to the time, when it felt like all my dreams had crashed and burned... I could hardly sing anymore. My song was a broken Hallelujah... and yet even in the brokenness, there is something so powerful when one is able to stand in the ashes and sing, the song in the night that precedes the dawn. I'm so thankful for those who helped my heart to laugh, and reminded me to sing...
It's true! Beauty can come out of ashes, and being at the house of prayer, reminded me continually of this. And hearing the version of Jordan Smith's song, sung by the infamous French Canadian singer, Celine Dion, was a declaration I loved to start my morning with.
Let Beauty come out of Ashes became a song for the season.
Being part of the QHOP community was such a blessing. What a special team to be part of, some of who have been praying and worshipping for almost a decade, here in Sherbrooke.
"The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming . . .
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope . . ."
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing . . ."
As I left Africa, God spoke to me out of Numbers 21:17-8, about visiting the spiritual wells of my forefathers. Right here in Quebec, I was at one of these wells. A well that was dug before Canadian confederation. A well, that has been reclaimed, restored and where believers gather to this very day.
From there they went to Beer, the well the Lord told Moses about,
“Gather the people so I may give them water.”
Then Israel sang this song:
Spring up, well—sing to it! The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with a scepter and with their staffs.
Numbers 21:17-8
But just who was Reverend Doolittle?
Amazing that the house of Reverend Doolittle now belongs to a Christian entrepreneur with a heart for transformative prayer. I could not think of a better way to end my "season of singing" at the Quebec House of Prayer than through their annual 12 hour worship BURN.
After a very special season at the house of prayer, I painted a few declarations I felt the Lord had put on my heart for the region. Change was in the air! And as the Song above all Songs so proudly proclaims in the Passion translation, "The Fragrance of their Flowers whispers "Change is in the Air" Change is in the air... for Quebec, for Canada, and for the nations...
The winter pruning precedes the spring, and the song in the night precedes the dawn...
A favourite song of mine recorded live in Jerusalem