In The Realm of Worship

Ladies Prayer Retreat

Sacro Costato Retreat House

March 24, 2018

            There was a deafening silence when I entered the sanctuary.  Ladies were quietly in prayer, meditation and worshipping God in their own way.  I seated near the side entrance of the church where I felt the awesome breeze that was so refreshing.   

            Why I am here?  What I’m supposed to do?  Am I ready to engage the battle?  Sigh.  I felt the emptiness inside me.  I knew in my heart that I’m unworthy of God’s grace as I come before His face but it is also by His grace that brought me this far.  While in the moment of silence, I was reminded of the song, “Praise Looks Good On You”.  I got stuck in this line, “You lift your voice with singing but your heart seems far away.”  I was confronted one way or the other so I humbled myself before God and asked His forgiveness.  I opened up myself to Him as I have nothing to hide from Him.  I don’t want to enter into battle unprepared so I acknowledged God’s sovereignty and as I put on the armor of God, I felt better.     

            “God longs for our true and genuine worship.  Enough of just singing, with hearts away from Me.  Worship me in spirit and in truth.  Because I long for you, my people.  I long for your presence.  I love you…” 

             I was hurt inside when I heard those words before worship.  I know, it was a correction from God and at the same time, words of encouragement.  I can’t explain what I felt at that moment but I asked God’s forgiveness of my shortcomings.  Then Jocyl read Psalm 63:1-4 to us, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. ² So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. ³ Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. ⁴ Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.”  and continued, “command your souls to bless me and I will bless you.”  Jocyl led us to sing the chorus of 10,000 Reasons which is “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name, sing like never before O my soul, I worship His holy name.” 

I can’t recall how many times we sang the chorus, then, it shifted to singing in the spirit.  I sense the spirit of heaviness there, that’s why we can’t flow to the worship but after the singing in the spirit, we were able to sing the entire song wilfully and we did it right.  The spirit of heaviness was gone and the singing in the spirit was different than the first one. 

I’m not certain which comes first, if it was the strong wind or the smell of incense that passed by on my side going to the altar area.  I wonder where it came from because there was no presence of incense there but I smelled it.  I’m pretty sure of it because I love the smell of incense in the church.  Besides, there is an open field on my right wing so how come?  I don’t know.  I keep on looking for possible visible explanation but I found none.  There is no person roaming around with the incense not even a smoke but I smelled it.  It’s not even cooking time because it’s only 9 o’clock in the morning and the kitchen is on my left wing while the incense I smelled was on my right wing.

It took me so long to write in details what happened during that day because until now, I don’t have answer what is the shofar or trumpet sound I heard during the singing or worship in the spirit.  I already wrote in my previous blog “The Language of Heaven” that experience and until now, I’m still in awe how it happened.  After the breakthrough during the worship in the spirit, the sound was so great though we were all singing and worshipping God in the spirit and in understanding with different voices and rhythm.  We have no instruments to play with nor any sound effects but the voices worshipping God in tongues and in understanding become one.  I heard no longer speaking in tongues nor in understanding but a blast of shofar or a trumpet.  I was surprised and wondering at the same time because how could it become a blast like that?  I don’t know.  Since it was new to me, I stopped speaking in tongues and listened to the ladies speaking in tongues and in understanding at the same time.  I want to make sure what I heard and yes, the higher the worship was, so is the blast.  It was the highest and long blast of shofar I ever heard in my life.  The melody was very perfect and I can’t even find a match in the youtube but only similar of it.  I can’t estimate the measure but it’s like this.  There was a flat tune at first when the worship in tongues and in understanding become one - the blast of shofar and gradually, the tune become higher and higher to modulation but there was no cutting of blowing the trumpet there.  I’m not a musician so I can’t explain how things being done.  After hearing the highest note of the blast, the shofar sound was back to normal - speaking in tongues and in understanding worshipping God.  Prayers for Primate, Priests and Deacons were offered after that moment followed by a speaking in tongues and a song.  

We have five (5) prayer topics on that day, as follows:

1.       Primate

a.      Priest

b.     Deacon

2.      Workers and Parishioners

3.      Prayer Ministry

a.      Intercessors

                                                                          i.      Mens Prayer

                                                                       ii.      Sunday Schooler

                                                                     iii.      Youth Intercessor

                                                                     iv.      Elderly Intercessor

b.     Prayer Ministry – Cebu

                                                                          i.      Raise Up Intercessor

                                                                       ii.      Open door for Prayer Ministry for St. Stephen

4.     Church of Holy Family and St. Stephen Church

a.      Priest and Deacons

b.     Workers and Parishioners

c.      Spiritual growth of bible study

d.     More priest, deacons in Cebu

5.      C. Laserna Praise and Worship Rally

a.      Place

b.     Praise and Worship leaders, singers and  musicians

c.      4 churches who will participate

d.     People to come

e.      Clergies who will lead the prayer

Before Mam Grace led us to prayer topic number 4, she gave us this message from God, “This time forth and forevermore, never again when the intruders (satan and his co-hosts) tells you, you’re not righteous, you’re not pure.  Never believe when he brings accusations, it’s all lies.  For I tell you, you’re pure, you’re righteous not because of what you did but because of what I did in your behalf.  This is your inheritance from me.  I delight in you.  Never leave this place without bringing your prayer before me for I am hearing it.   The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  In hearing this, I was struck and crying inside that I can’t understand.  I became weak, so weak that I want someone to hug on and to be honest, I needed those words to hear.  Thank you Lord for your love and strength despite of my weaknesses.    

When we sang “Oh The Glory (Jesus Oh Glorious)”, I can’t held my tears anymore.  I asked God’s grace and mercy on me because I really felt sorry for all that I have done.  I poured out my heart to Him giving praise for His goodness that He didn’t discipline me in His wrath but in His love.  I’m praying to God that I may be whole again, heal from my brokenness, cleanse from all my infirmities and to be a new creation again.  During the worship in the spirit, I heard the blast of shofar or trumpet twice.  First was a long flat tune of gong and second was the same sound of shofar I heard the first time.  I knew from that moment that there is something in that sounds of shofar.  What’s the meaning of it?  Why I heard it thrice?  I was shaking and crying for no reason.  I don’t know but I felt the heaviness in my heart that I howled in silence.  I tried to look at the scriptures concerning trumpets and I read in Revelation 8:7-12 “⁷ The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. ⁸ The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, ⁹ a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. ¹⁰ The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— ¹¹ the name of the star is Wormwood.^[a] A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”  I was scared of what I’ve read but I prayed God to spare us from all these. 

Before the worship ends, I saw a white, huge and shining dove above the church.  Its wings spread so wide that covers the roof of the church.  I knew, I was inside the church but I saw the dove and the church from the outside.  Suddenly, the dove thrown down or poured out something in the church at the same time which I even felt the powerful impact of shaking the ground and the brightness that scattered all over the compound of Santo Costato.  I was stunned because in reality, we were worshipping God in the spirit and in understanding.  When I looked at the altar area, I saw the chair empty with my naked eyes but in a blink of an eye, I saw a man with a golden crown on his head, dressed in white seated there and smiling at us.  I don’t know how to react of what I saw but my heart was filled with joy and laughter.  I was kind of overwhelmed because I saw lot of things in the realm of worship.

When we were given an opportunity to speak of what we saw or any message to share or any encounter with God, I shared my testimony.  I found out later on that it’s not only I who heard the sounds of shofar or trumpet.  About 3 or 4 of us who heard it but they were not certain until they heard my story.  Most of us shared about our encounter with God, the choirs of angels singing with us, visions like Jesus Christ seated on the chair smiling at us, the brightness from above, the rain fell down and lot of stories that I can’t comprehend. 

There are so many things to unveil in the realm of worship but it takes time to understand it.  I may not have the answers of my queries for now but I know that God will give it in the right time, when I am ready, when I am not scared and when I am in good condition.  To God be the glory!