I woke up this morning with this heavy feeling. The feeling similar to when you wake up to find a gloomy morning where the sky is overcast and a fog looms in the air. However, this morning had no physical fog blocking the sunlight from reaching my face, this fog that made my spirit feel defeated was a fog that was invited in, a fog of a seemingly grave season to come, a fog lingering in the aftermath of choices made.

Then, fear came knocking at my door and the giant of intimidation yelled insults at the warrior within me. I felt as if I was facing a monster before me in a land that had forgotten God and embraced this godless terror with open arms.

As I woke on this fateful day when once again that daily choice had been made, turning our eyes from the beauty of the Lord, I heard a voice within calling for me to set my eyes on His holy mountain. I was made for one thing and that is to love my Lord with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my strength! I live for this, I am His minstrel and I live to see His beauty in all the world! I live to hear His song sung in the darkest places and today, I find that dark place in my own back yard.

I then turned my eyes upon the God of the nations, the one who sits enthroned above every king, every government, the one who makes the earth his footstool. I cried out to my God. Once again He captured my heart and he put a song my mouth, a fierce weapon of praise! I began to play my instrument and lift my voice. I got up from my bed and woke the dawn with a new song and my God danced in and around my song of praise!

The fog began to dissipate from around my discouraged heart and I saw the Lord coming like a blazing fire! I began to sing a coronation anthem to the coming King as His fire drew near! He started rising like the morning sun! He came running with a jealous fire in His eyes for a pure and spotless Bride!

Like a wave, the glory of the Lord began to descend, the fire of the Lord began to fall and consume….the darkness grew greater and but glory of the Lord began to rise higher and higher with the praises of His people! I began to see that my weak little song joined with the symphony of heaven! I believe that Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” and Romans 5:20 “Where sin abounds graces does much more abound!”

I found that I was a conductor of this day; my song set the tone for the heavenly realms as I sang the song that has no end…Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty!

Then the gloom, the fear, the intimidation over the people of God fell to the ground, the giants found their place underneath the feet of the armies of God.

Rise up, Rise up mighty warriors! Sing the song of the redeemed, the song of victory!
Stir up your faith! Fresh fire is being released in our bones!
We are fearless, we are reckless in our abandonment, and we are after the heart of God.
We are creating space and that is enough to bring a generation flat on its face in worship!

Do not loose sight of the beauty of the Lord. In a time where everything is gray, may His beauty sustain you!

Psalm 27:4 “One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.”

The Child Within the Warrior

We wake up every morning to a world that looks much different from the world we once knew as a child. Traffic,  jobs, bills, bad habits, personal insecurities, politics; they all complicate and bring an unpleasant noise to the beauty of our songs, our lives, and our ability to hear the voice of the One we love.

My heart longs for simplicity, for moments where my simple songs light up the face of my Father.  I long for a place where being held near wasn’t seen as weakness and where dancing barefoot in the grass wasn’t a waste of time. I often long for innocence of childhood; for the nostalgic things that bring a smile to my face.

I often reminisce days as a young girl when I woke up to a mom and a dad who loved each other forever, to the day when my only job was to swing and sing as the world around me simply grew more colorful as the day passed by.  Forts, dug-outs, kittens, Red Rider wagons, and baby dolls where my companions as I created a world around me inspired by the creativity of a seven year old mind.

Now at age twenty-three, as I direct the Burn in my city, I often look around me at a discouraged generation of poets, artists, musicians, and psalmists like myself who feel at loss in their effort to capture the innocence and purity of a life in love! It seems that now, places like the Burn are the only places we can find that simplicity and beauty!  In a complicated day and age where black and white merge into gray; where the ability has been lost to tell difference between solid rock and sand; where night and day meet as constant twilight; where the line between the masculinity of man and the beauty of woman is blurred…we search for something real!

Instead of a princess gown or a dirty baseball tee, we find ourselves fastening our armor tighter and standing strong on the front lines in our cities.  In the face of battle, our minds wonder back to a day when God danced all around us, to a day when being His child seemed so easy, to a day when true love was blowing kisses at the man in the moon and searching the night sky for just one trace of His face.  Yet somewhere in this bleak idea of a day long ago, we must realize that we live in the greatest hour of all humanity! We should be encouraged and know that we have something that can never be taken away from us!

There is a child within the warrior, the simple faith and the trust that our God is a big Daddy and He can make the impossible things possible!  Our God is such a big Daddy that all else seems so small when He picks us up and holds us in His arms.  We find within us the simple faith that our songs activate the armies of Heaven, our times just being with Him can literally shift and shake the foundations of nations…only a child of the King would believe that!

Living in that kind of revelation, the corrupt, the scary, and the weak things look so small in light of the purity, the beauty, and power that hope in our God brings!  The child within us is now the passionate warrior that will never back down!

Melissa Gilbreath

Don’t relent, BURN BRIGHT!

City lights swirl and plane engines roar around me launching me into disorientation as the highways blur together, spinning a web around my freedom…

Now freedom is discovered not in wide open space but in the confines of this unknown place of rest.  A kingdom is being released, a King is being wooed, a shift is taking place….

I sit quietly in a dark room, a candle, a song that floats ever so lightly to my ears…a tear falls on the seat of the chair…

I am on the mission field. I am fighting for a self-consumed giant!

Oh city of 6 million souls…I cry to have a heart for you.

I cry for you to have a heart for Him.

September 12-13th

Starts Friday at 7pm and ends Saturday at 9pm!

Trinity Vineyard Fellowship
910 Collier St. Suite 107

Fort Worth TX 76102

Dear Worshipers,

In June, a radical army of 30 passionate worshipers invaded the city of Matamoros, Mexico, to unite with the cry of the Latin American people and establish a dwelling place for the King of Kings.

Once again, THE BURN 24-7 will join with the Hispanic Community in releasing a sound that will shake the nation from their slumber with His holy fire.

This month, THE BURN DFW will partner with ReviveUS, a conference hosted by Aliento ministries, where we will be joined by key leaders in the Latin American Revival. This is not business as usual: It is a Holy Convocation of Nations coming to this great country to cry out for revival:

O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years,

In the midst of the years make it known;

In wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2

During ReviveUS, there will be a simultaneous BURN–54 hours of nonstop worship and prayer–beginning at 8am on Thursday, July 31 and ending at 4pm on Saturday, August 2.

We are calling forth modern-day Levites to take their place as watchmen on the wall in the spirit of repentance and contend for revival in our nation. Worshipers and musicians from the DFW area are invited to sign up to lead a two-hour watch.

Registration fees for ReviveUS will be waived for those who lead a BURN 24-7 watch.

Will you join us?

Invite your church, your friends, your network of radical worshipers and intercessors to take part in this epic event and the burn midnight oil with us!


JULY BURN DFW DETAILS SUMMARY:
Date: Thursday, 8am – Saturday, 4pm (Simultaneously during ReviveUS)

Location: Church of the King (North Entrance) 3838 Spur 408 (Patriot Parkway) Dallas, TX 75236.

PRE-BURN Orientation Meeting:
Saturday, July 26th, Time and Location: TBA

SIGN UP
To sign up to lead a watch, email Melissa Gilbreath at melissag@theburn247.com.

To learn more about The BURN DFW, visit www.theburn247.com.

To learn more about the ReviveUS conference, visit www.alientodelcielo.com/english.

DON’T FORGET!!!! STARTING THIS FRIDAY, May9th-May 11th, we will be having the 

BURN DFW

GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER BURN! 

Friday-8pm through Sunday-8am

36 HOURS OF NON-STOP RADICAL WORSHIP AND INTERCESSION TO CONTEND FOR CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION IN THIS CITY THAT WILL IMPACT THE NATIONS!!!!!

Lake Highlands Church  

9919 McCree Road · Dallas, TX 75238-3446

www.lakehighlandschurch.org

We are also looking for volunteers to help out with the JESUS CULTURE CONFERENCE with Bill Johnson and the crew from Redding going on a SHADY GROVE CHURCH in Grand Prairie! 

If you are interested in getting into the conference and helping out, please contact Naomi Masdon at nmasdon@hotmail.com

NEED TO FILL FINAL FOUR SLOTS ASAP!!! SATURDAY, MAY 10th

 12am-2am

6am-8am

12pm-2pm

2pm-4pm

TO SIGN UP OR FOR QUESTIONS-email me at melissag@theburn247.com 

JOIN US AND SPREAD THE WORD!