After two years of Covid lock down and no gigs, we’ve just started to get Out of the Ashes playing at some events. Yesterday we played with great delight on the main stage at Creationfest in Cornwall.
In a time of uncertainty, the organisers have done an amazing job of welcoming as many people as possible to an entirely free event which lasted for three days with great music, great teaching, great worship and a host of activities for the kids. The sighs of relief from families who were finally to get away for a break with their children echoed from tent to tent.
This morning we felt we really needed to get back home, so we packed up our stuff, made our fond farewells, and left, walking past various marquees and activities on our way. As I walked past the young people’s worship tent – Pipeline – young people were crammed into a big marquee, filling it to overflowing. Not one of them appeared to be playing with their phones, they weren’t talking to each other, they were simply singing and praising God – hands held high, attitudes of worship, in the moment.
I caught myself reflecting on the fact that the sight was a strange one. To most people, and certainly to anyone who hasn’t really experienced The Holy Spirit what they were doing would look pretty strange, not to say pretty boring as a way of passing a couple of hours. No football stars, no alcohol, no iconic rock stars, just an invisible God who far too many of us believe doesn’t exist,
and I was reminded that for each person present, there was a solid, magnetic reason for being in that tent; it was because they knew God was going to speak to them.
They knew God was going to speak to them.
When we give ourselves in prayer, God speaks to us; not usually in audible words but in new convictions, a deep feeling of being loved, renewed hope, spiritual healing.
We all need to learn to pray just like those young people at Creationfest – learning to be there and to wait until He speaks to us, learning to be fully expectant – because we can know that He will speak to us. PENNY LYON