Feeling Alive at the Front. 

Good Morning!  I suppose there are different places and scenarios that make me feel ‘alive’, and in some sense, more myself.  One place is the beach, with a breeze in my hair, the beauty and sound of crashing waves all around; another place is the mountains, freshly covered from a night time dusting of snow, and the opportunity to be in that place, and take in the hush, the quiet that powder brings.    But today, I get to be a participant in another setting that makes my senses come alive and my soul sing, as I walk into the Brooklyn Tabernacle. 

I first learned of Brooklyn Tabernacle in the Spring of 2000, when I devoured Jim Cymbala’s first book, fresh wind, fresh fire.  Pastor Cymbala was and is “real, raw, and relevant.”^* How he loves to tell the stories of God’s work among his people!  His eyes shine as he talks about the transformation he has witnessed as a result of prayers uttered in faith to an all-loving God.  You know, sometimes in order to see and experience change or healing, folks have to come to the end of themselves and cry out to God to come and do what only he can do.  God loves that entry point.  As the psalmist wrote, Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.  Psalm 107:28-30 

Cymbala’s stories of desperate prayer to a faithful God armed me to fight the battle of my lifetime when my two-year-old, Danny, was at death’s door and languishing 13 years ago.  Honestly, I was ready to stand strong, believing that I served a loving God and he had a plan, because my faith was armed.  I have continued to equip myself, as a believer and minister, by studying Cymbala’s subsequent books, which continue to teach the same basic thing:

         We serve a great, big God, and we are meant to know him

         and walk with him by being people in the Word and people

         of prayer. 

Friends, make a note to yourself right here: Christians need to learn more and more all the time, and ought be equipping ourselves with good and godly reading, and of course, the Word of God every day!  And there is nothing more exciting than reading the miraculous workings of God in our world yet today. 

This is the third time I have made the 2800-mile trip from California to Brooklyn to participate and be refreshed by the insightful teaching from ministers whose inspirational biblical messages go hand-in-glove with the same formula for successful ministry and successful living: God’s Word + prayers offered in faith + championing and being part of a community of faith and love.   Though I will be late to Pastor David Jeremiah’s opening message this morning, I just had to share a fresh word with believing friends from Alabama to Zambia—as two more precious readers joined Morning Briefings in the last hours, one from the Maldives and another from Uganda.  Thank you, God, that though this world is so large, it becomes so sweet as we connect one with another in your name and around your Word!

Why am I enamored with the Brooklyn Tabernacle experience?   First, there is unequalled music and worship, in an ethnically-diverse fellowship, filled with joy.  The choir … oh, the choir … two hundred voices strong, ensconced on the stage beneath a large sign that says “God is Love.”  It must surely be a taste of the music of Heaven!  But truly, love is palpable when you are around the B Tabernacle.  People love God, love one another, love those who come through their doors, and love serving those in and around the New York area.

Besides loving people well, the other major distinctive of B Tabernacle is a commitment to corporate prayer—folks coming together to pray.   ‘The most powerful person in the world is the person who prays because he becomes linked with an almighty God,’ Cymbala declared.  Perhaps you are like me, and your prayer life is sometimes less than vital, may I simply remind you (and myself), that if you take time to pray, you align and link yourself with the all-powerful God of the Universe!  Start your day seeking God, spending time with him, asking for his grace and wisdom.  And one more thing—find a community in which to participate and lift prayer together to the loving, all-powerful, miracle-working God we love.  Amen.

Christine

*– as per my Crip friend from Long Beach, who told me when I spoke, ‘Paasta, you gotta keep it real, raw and relevant.’