Revelations at 4:30 in the morning! August 9, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Faith, Gifts / Talents.Tags: gifts, God, intercession, morning, spirituality
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I’ve been thinking and reflecting on intercession lately, especially tonight. My biggest (spiritual) gift is that of an intercessor’s heart. We, the children of God, are all called to intercede. But in the same way we are all called to evangelize, and there are some given the gift of evangelism, so it is with intercession. As far as I can tell, having it given to you as a gift generally means you have more of a heart tuned to that need, that frequency, even more so than others do. Or perhaps it’s not so much even more so, but even more consistently than those who don’t have the gift.
Well, as I mentioned already, I’ve been reflecting on intercession and spiritual sensitivity to the deep needs of others – the very things they don’t share – and the spiritual atmosphere of any environment. Tonight I think God just gave me a new revelation about intercession: interceding, or standing in the gap, for someone can involve just being and not doing.
I have two good friends of mine, a brother in Christ and a sister in Christ, who have been heavy on my heart tonight. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you can probably guess who they are, as they are engaged and they are the leaders of PalmSway.
Yesterday – August 9 – PalmSway had an opportunity to play at a concert at Asaiah Ministries Church, in the Cataraqui area in Scarborough. After the concert, these two friends of mine and I, as we headed back to our church to set up the equipment we had used for the concert, had an opportunity to chat about spiritual things. The bible talks about “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another”, and that was the type of fellowship and conversation that occurred.
Since that time – actually beginning partway through that time of fellowship – these two were laid on my heart in an intercessory manner. In fact, much of the reason I’m still up at 4:30 in the morning is because I’ve been wrestling with what exactly has been laid on my heart, and what I am to do with it. Praise God there have been times of prayer and intercession even tonight for these two friends. But the sense I get regarding what has been laid upon me is that this is not a one-time prayer regarding something specific in a person’s life. Coming back to my point, as I was wrestling with what to do, and attempting some actions to prepare the atmosphere (to enter into prayer and worship), God struck me with the revelation I mentioned. Needless to say the actions I attempted were not fully working as I kept hitting a certain ‘wall’, which I believe was God stopping me from proceeding in a manner I wasn’t supposed to (at least not tonight).
So Father God I ask for Your guidance Holy Spirit in learning to just be and sit pregnant as it were with an intercessory burden. I pray to know when to move and act and when to sit. I pray for the discernment and understanding to see the intercession occurring in both states – the action and the non-action. Thank You. Amen.
DH
Dear God April 5, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in About Me, Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.Tags: Faith, God, life, struggles, Superchic[k]
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I’m going to take a page out of love, devi and style this post as a letter to God:
Dear God,
Tonight was pretty difficult; I’m sitting here at this moment listening to “Courage” by Superchic[k] and I have two questions to ask you. First, for those dealing with hurting and pain and difficulty, what difference does believing in you make? You and I both know that both questions arose in me earlier tonight while traveling home on the TTC. We also chatted about them at that time – well, more like I voiced them to you and then focused on the music coming out of my mp3 player. But I’m recounting them now both for the sake of anyone reading this, and because writing it this way is part of the healing (answering) process.
So back to the first question; if you recall I thought of the Footprints poem, and the line about how when there was one set of footprints, it was you carrying the dreamer. But I realized that both non-Christians and Christians get through hard times. (For those reading, I use those two terms in the traditional sense of the words). For example, a non-Christian, when confronted with losing a loved one, will experience the pain and loss. They will shed tears, go through the whole grieving process, and move on. Eventually the pain from the loss will completely cease, or at least subside to almost ‘background noise’. How is that any different from a Christian who turns to you during the grieving process for help? Alright, I admit that perhaps they will have a shorter grieving period, and there is also the prospect of hope that they will see the loved one in Heaven (should the loved one have been a Christian as well). But, in my eyes, there is no major ‘advantage’ to turning to you during the grieving process.
Or let’s look at another example: someone who is struggling with a difficult time, such as breaking an addiction. There is a lot of pain and hurt and hardship associated with an addiction – whether you’re the addicted one or someone you love is the addicted one – and breaking an addiction. My “church” upbringing tells me the ‘right’ answer to this scenario: my trusting you gives me your strength and invites you into the situation. But many who don’t trust you, who perhaps are not Christians, break addictions. Many who don’t trust you have their families healed and restored back from the damaging effects of an addiction.
Don’t get me wrong God, I’m not saying I don’t trust you or that I don’t want to trust you. Until recently, I struggled with the whole “If God is loving, why does He let us go through difficult times, etc” issue. I finally fully understand why your letting us go through hard times IS an act of love – I understand and believe. Of course it’s only because you broke through and made the intellectual understanding become heart understanding. My current struggle is, therefore, not why are people going through hard times. Rather, it’s whether trusting in you during our struggles makes any major difference? Honestly, I can’t see any major difference on the surface between someone who trusts in you and someone who doesn’t while they are going through a rough patch. Eventually both the person who trusts in you, and the one who doesn’t, gets through the rough patch and does so seemingly victorious and stronger for it. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule. But those exceptions exist, as far as I am aware, in both camps. Perhaps any major difference exists underneath the surface…
DH
Psalm 40 February 20, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Scripture.Tags: Bible, God, patience
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1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.
5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.
7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.
8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart.”
9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“The LORD be exalted!”
17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.
Bible Gateway link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2040&version=31
DH
Ways to deliberate December 2, 2008
Posted by David Hiran Watson in About Me, Daily Life-Walk, God, Relationships.Tags: About Me, God, my blog
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I’m not sure what to write yet…I think at times I just like typing – it’s very soothing for me. I think I know what I’ll write on – the book study I was a part of today. But first, that initial sentence might seem a strange way to start a post, and you might be wondering why I did not just delete that sentence once I knew what to write on? I think the answer to that is partially related to who I am and what this blog is to/for me.
For those who know me, I am someone who hides aspects of myself, and will open those areas up only when I feel completely comfortable. I suppose we are all like that to some degree or another. For myself, mostly because I have felt burned in the past when sharing and expressing certain areas of who I am and my personality, I tend to express those areas only when I am by myself or around individuals/small groups I feel safe in. You could say I have been operating under the “once bitten, twice shy” principle in these areas.
When I started this blog, I wanted to use it to express myself. I quickly came to a point where I was filtering in my mind what I would post on, and that filter was set to only allow subjects that did not ‘expose’ those aspects of myself I wanted to hide. I believe I mentioned something to this affect in a previous post, but I have consciously decided that I don’t want to intentionally filter out those aspects of myself, both in my posts and (more and more as I’m able to by God’s grace) in life interaction.
This is my lengthy way of saying that the initial sentence is tied to one of those aspects. In particular, it is one of the ways I walk with God. I will talk out and express what I am feeling or thinking as part of the decision-making process. For example, if God tells me to go to a location, and I do, I will usually say out loud, “Ok Lord, what now?”. Or if I am in the middle of an activity and I get hungry, I might say out loud, “I’m starting to feel hungry; should I go eat something?”, and deliberate from that question. The point is that I, for some reason, feel more comfortable to deliberate out loud even if it means saying out loud all the thoughts and feelings going through me, akin to a running commentary.
So I don’t have time now to post on the book study – have my church’s worship team practice. I will try and write about the study later tonight or tomorrow.
DH
It’s been a long road… November 19, 2008
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.Tags: Faith, God, how God works, Star Trek: Enterprise
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Does anyone know the title song from the tv show, “Star Trek: Enterprise”? The one that starts off with “It’s been a long road getting from there to here / It’s been a long road, but my time is finally here”? I was thinking of that for the title of this post, but changing it to “It’s been a long while…”; I haven’t worked out the rest of the lyrics yet. But I guess it HAS been a while since I last posted. Truth be known, I had forgotten about this blog (!), but was faithfully reminded about it by God through a comment to my post God is GOOD!.
It’s amazing how God works; I have a friend who uses analogies describing God’s ways as that of a master weaver, or master chef, or master baker, or (I would add) master composer. HE knows just the right time for everything and He brings you to something or through something at just when it’s needed. And what’s really ‘mind-blowing’ is to sit back and watch how that right time is not just specific to you. That just-when-it’s-needed timing is applicable to you and all of those around you. I see this in the interaction and friendship (fellowship) of brothers and sisters in Christ. I have Christian friends whom I interact with on a fairly intimate level, and many of the times I only see how much God uses them as a source of encouragement and help for me. While I know that the friendship isn’t mainly one-sided, I still can’t help feeling that God mostly uses them in my life. And yet, in every instance where I’ve voiced that to the friends in question, they have responded with the same but reversed sentiments.
All of this recognition about how God works makes me often wonder why I don’t trust Him more. Surely, even if I’m struggling through an issue, and I’m not sure how God is going to resolve it, I can at least look back to the past and draw strength from how God has come through for me every time I’ve needed Him.
DH
Sin struggles May 20, 2008
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Daily Life-Walk, Faith, God.Tags: Bible, Christian walk, Faith, forgiveness, God, grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, love, mercy, repentance, Satan, sin
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Why is is that whenever you are trying to go deeper with God, to get to the next level as it were, there’s such a struggle involved in it? It’s like at that very point, Paul’s words, “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19) kick into effect. Sometimes I wonder if my heart desire is true or not. One moment, I’m saying to God, “Father, I want to know you more and I surrender all of myself”, and then the next moment I’m doing that which is the very opposite of surrender. Now I know that Satan is our Accuser and that a good portion of the doubts about my heart desire stems from his lies. But wait…the Holy Spirit just reminded me of something: God does not accuse us in any way! That means that not just a good portion, but ALL of the doubts stems from his lies. That still doesn’t excuse my sin, nor diminish the need to overcome it. But, as Paul goes on to say, “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:20). And further on in the chapter, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 24b-25). I can only keep coming back to He is the Author and Perfecter of my faith, and that because I live in the bounds of time, every moment I am able to make a fresh choice to pursue God or not. That means that even though I sought to grow in God one moment, fell to sin the next moment, if I repent and seek to grow in Him again the next moment after that, the choice I made to sin is over and done with. That is, my sin is forgiven, and the choice I made doesn’t negate the choice to repent and seek Him again! And furthermore, the choice to sin didn’t negate the choice to seek God in the first place (or moment); it just slowed down the process. Amen, thank you God for Your grace and mercy, love and forgiveness.
DH
Name changes May 20, 2008
Posted by David Hiran Watson in About Me.Tags: arts, God, names, personal growth
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Some of you may be wondering why dEhiN, and, for those who already know me and have read my About page, why David Hiran Watson. My full name is David Hiran Watson, but pretty much my whole life I’ve gone as Hiran Watson. It was a decision my parents made for a couple of reasons. Much of my government id has my full name on it, but my SIN card, and everything else – school records, work info at all the places I’ve worked at, resume, etc. – has Hiran Watson. Lately, as in 2008 and latter half of 2007, God has been doing work in me related to discovering more of who I am, who He has created me to be. This has included discovering abilities, interests, personality traits, that I suppose lay dormant before this point.
So how does this relate to dEhiN and the use of my full name? Well, through all this discovering, God has been planting on my heart to start using my full name. To me, it’s symbolic because I used to use part of my name when I was only partially aware of who God had created me to be. Now that I’m fully (or almost fully) aware of who He has created me to be, there is a desire to use my full name. In addition, much of the discovering has been in the realm of art and my artistic side. Because of this, I felt the need to create a pseudonym (primarily) for artistic endeavours, again as a reflection of this ‘new’ me. Hence: dEhiN – DAvid HIran watsoN. (I know David is spelled with an ‘a’, but it’s pronounced as an ‘e’).
DH
Presence and Power of God February 26, 2009
Posted by David Hiran Watson in Church, God.Tags: Church, God, Social Commentary
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Pastor Brendan Witton, senior pastor of Church Without Limits just posted the following at his blog. The post is titled All we can do is give them a hug…”.
I finally finished Pursuit of the Holy by Cory Russell… a really good read.
Here is another quote that just hit me:
“We are spiritually barren. We don’t have the knowledge of God and we don’t have the fear of the LORD and only a few are even in pursuit of these things. Our churches and cities and families are not turning back to God. It doesn’t matter how many Bible Schools we have, how many church plants we have, or how many radio and television ministries we have. Our cities are not turning back to God. In fact they appear to be going the opposite direction. When those who are dying, sick, troubled, hurting, addicted, abused and abandoned show up at the doors of the Church, we are not able to help them. We can’t heal, deliver, cure or comfort them. It takes the power of God to do that. And we don’t have the power of God, the presence of God or the knowledge of God. All we can do is give them a hug, sign them up for a home group and hope for the best. Things will not get better because we use the latest evangelism method or create a better radio commercial, because at the end of the day, only the presence and power of God can affect eternity.” (pg. 128)
DH