We have heard a prophecy a long time ago that God would bring a revival over Vietnam. We believe that. And when it comes, we want it to start here in this city; we want it to start with us.
This is what our contact said to us, so plainly and matter-of-factly, right before worship with a group of Vietnamese believers on Saturday night. Half of my team was there, meeting in a cramped room with most everyone sitting on the floor. I was skeptical of what this night of worship would look like. Our contact's words were ringing in my ears but the distance I felt from the Father was still ringing in my heart. My heart just aches for You, Jesus. Show me Yourself.
We worshiped for almost two hours as the lyrics poured from our lips. More of You. More of You Jesus! More of You. I need more of You! became our anthem for that night. The Spirit met the group in ways I haven't felt in a long time, probably since before the Race. We shook that neighborhood for a solid hour and a half that night, crying from the depths of our spirits with a longing that's always been embedded in our hearts.
Tonight, we met again with the fiery group of Vietnamese believers. This time our whole team was present for the collective passion of praising His glorious name. Once again, our contact spoke to us.
We started this group one year ago. We want to see change. But the [government sanctioned] church didn't like it and forced us to stop. We did, but after two months I started to get uncomfortable in my stomach. How can we stop this worship that God loves for other people's comfort?
We can't.
There wasn't anger towards the church. There wasn't bitterness harbored in her tone. It was simply the facts of what happened. And her words still resonate with my spirit. We can't stop what He loves! We can't stop what we love! We praised His splendor and majesty. We breathed His name. We danced in His beauty. We received His song over us only to sing it back to Him.
I've found renewal over the past 48 hours in ways I never could have predicted. I found community in the most unlikely of places. The Lord met me in the most ridiculous ways, mainly in an empty kindergarten classroom crying out with a handful of desperate Vietnamese believers longing to see their country transformed for His glory. Their joy is unspeakable, their passion untamed, and their desperation unparalled. I discovered renewal after I've been searching in all the wrong places. In my heart of hearts, all my spirit longs to do is worship. And that's what has been happening the past two days. I know the spiritual repercussions are still reverberating in the places where we sang praises to the Creator. Worship brought renewal because God created me to worship.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth! Isaiah 40:28
