LET THE INCENSE RISE

06.01.08 l  Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Israel

LET THE INCENSE RISE

It feels completely surreal. I have pinched myself many times in the past three days. We are here on THE Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. I say THE Mount of Olives because its THE MOUNT where very feet of Jesus will touch when He returns again to the earth. Its VERY FIRST place where His glory will be seen by every nation, tribe, and tongue. The mount will split in two and He will enter through the Eastern Gate of the holy city (Zech 14:4) We are on this mountain and we can see the eastern gate as we worship. This is without a doubt the most contended for piece of land in the entire earth. Every power and principality of darkness knows their end is coming when the feet of the ONE touch down. Every angel in Heaven eagerly awaits this moment where the Son is revealed to the nations and justice and righteousness prevail. The earth itself groans and cries out for this. We all long for it in the deepest part of our being. It all starts with the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Its the beginning of the end.

We can feel the weight of this as we enter into His Presence. Mere words cannot reveal the heaviness in the air. You would not even believe the struggle its been and the pain endured to see this ten days of worship during Pentecost happen on this spot (fulfillmentfestival.com). Satan himself knows that God is glorified through the worship of God’s people and his grip has been firm to keep that far from this place UNTIL that day. City and government officials, the local police, security guards, the arab neighbors and many more people have worked hard to not let this sound be released from this place. Men have gone back on their word, corruption has been all too common, and local arabs even tried to burn down this massive tent we are worshipping in on the first night!! Every single simple thing has been a ton of work to say the least! (most people in Jerusalem say this is common).  But yet..in the midst of all the warfare, confusion, strife, and drama…GOD IS ACCESSIBLE. He is near!!! I don’t know any other way to say this…HE IS LONGING TO BE REVEALED in this place! The moment we play a chord and cry out to Him with passion and purity….HE COMES!!

Tonight it was over the top! We got into a few grooves where I could almost see his cloud moving through the tent.   The worship went deep and pure. I love how you cannot bring any “starter” songs or poppy churchy stuff here. That doesn’t work…you gotta go for the juggler!!! You start out at 110% and don’t let up until the end..its my kind of style! People said tonight that they could literally smell Gods presence with us. Several said it smelled like roses and hyssop mixed together when we sang out “Let is rise…let the incense rise.” As the sun set down over Mount Zion (The temple mount) during the first part of my set…I began to sing the verse from Psalm and Malachi “from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets you will be praised through all the earth.” It suddenly came full circle in my mind that this place I was singing this from is where the sun is going to RISE FOR ETERNITY!! Something has shifted again in my heart from our times of worship together on the mount. We have joined with a multitude of people from all over the globe coming to see a place where He can dwell established on this ground. I’m not even sure what has shifted in me…but I feel it in the deepest part of my soul. Every time I come here…I get messed up and this time is by far the worst!

Tomorrow I leave but the worship does not. Please keep this crew in your prayers as bands from all over the world are coming in to release their sounds of love and worship to the Father through June 10th!! I believe its just going to get thicker and thicker as the nights move on. Who knows…maybe it will usher in move of His Spirit back to this city. The only thing that can change the hard hearts of this land is His Presence released through true worship. What we have been doing is the answer. Its only answer and the hope for the nation.

I’m heading to Santa Cruz, CA for a few days of BURNING with some good friends, then to the East Coast for my sisters wedding, and back again to this glorious land with the BURN ISRAEL team!!!

POUR IT OUT LORD!!!

sean