I froze in place, my eyes locked on the bar we were about to play in. As I listened to the hard-core rock band that was playing, doubt started taking over. A huge part of me wanted to turn around and go home. I kept hearing a voice telling me, “There’s no way you can sing your song in this rock bar…there’s no way. Just leave.”
When one of my teammates waved for me to come in, I snapped out of my doubt-filled trance. My team and I all took seats in the bar and listened to the house band. As the clock neared 10:00, my stomach began churning with anxiousness.
Time kept passing by and the house band continued playing song after song. When the lead guitarist started playing an insanely good run, I looked around at people’s faces. All I saw was emptiness. Yes, the band was very talented musically, but the lyrics were clearly not fulfilling what people needed.
The longer I listened to them play, the more I realized the pure irony of the situation. While there were some bars that were playing some lower key music, God had given us an audition in the bar with the hard-core rock band with a head-banging lead singer.
When 10:30 rolled around, the house band motioned for us to come up on stage. Making our way to the stage, I kept hearing God say, “I will finish what I started, I will finish what I started.” Once I had tuned the guitar and all the mics were adjusted, we started playing “Set Free”, the song God had given me specifically for the city of Pattaya.
These are the words that flooded the bar…
My life feels like a game with no prize at the end.
Without a prize, am I just living to die?
I feel like a fish caught in a net, thrashing back and forth, trying to break free.
But the net entangles me, slowly taking away my life moment by moment.
I need a rescuer, I need a healer, I need a Savior.
Each day passes by with temporary highs that only solve the pain for a short while.
I search for love, I search for worth, but all I find is emptiness.
There’s got to be a way out.
There’s got to be more, more than this life I’m living.
I need a rescuer, I need a healer, I need a Savior.
You’re the only one who can tear the net and set me free.
Regardless of my past, you open your arms to me and call me “child”.
Your name is love, your name is forgiveness,
your name is hope, your name is Jesus.
I will live in your freedom.
I will stand in your mighty strength.
I will walk in your perfect love.
I need a rescuer, I need a healer, I need a Savior.
Before we played this song, only a few tables in the bar were filled. After we finished, every table was full. People were stopping in the street to listen. I looked at the counter and saw a woman dancing and clapping who had been sitting down during the house band. People were not only present but were actually interested and listening to the lyrics.
The next two songs we sang boldly proclaimed that God reigns. The first was “Our God”, which says “Our God is greater, Our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other. Our God is healer, awesome in power, our God!” The second was “God of This City”, which says “You’re the God of this city, You’re the King of these people, You’re the Lord of this nation. You’re the light in this darkness, You’re the hope to the hopeless, You’re the peace to the restless. There is no one like our God! Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city!“
Whether the people liked the music or not, God drew a large crowd to listen to words about His love and power. And once again, God finished what He started. He’s the one who spoke the lyrics into me, and He’s the one who drew the crowd of transsexuals, of men seeking after prostitutes, of random tourists, and of prostitutes themselves.
And I believe God is still using the song “Set Free” to make His name known. As we walked off the stage, I reached to grab the lyrics off the stand. Once I had them in my hand and was about to walk away, the Lord told me to stick the lyrics in the back of the house band’s music binder.
If anything reveals the faithfulness, the power, the love, the pure AWESOMENESS of our God, this is it. God is completely limitless!!!
