Last Sunday I went to Holy Trinity Brompton for the seven o’clock service. The service was good – the worship was excellent. I found myself crying through the song “Guardian” by Ben Cantelon.
The service was by David Ingall and based around Isaiah 43: 1 – 7 .
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cushand Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”
Although the main body of the sermon was a hard message at times to swallow – I somehow found incredibly refreshing and encouraging. I think I have just honed in on those words that I have highlighted such, ”you are mine”, “I love you”, ”do not be afraid I am with you”.
Sometimes I wonder if perhaps I am weak and not strong – if I am relying on 2000 year old words of scripture to keep my spirits up. I simply do not know. I have not quite managed to read any more of Isaiah but perhaps I should do – instead of falling alseep on the Tube! I get the tingling feeling that there is a message of hope to be found within those pages.
At the end of the service I went for prayer. Although I had many worries, I could not think of any one thing that I wanted prayer for so I asked the lady to just pray as she felt led. Now I cannot really remember what she said but I do remember her saying that God understands why I am doing what I am doing. God says that it is not my fault. God will be with me always. A little confusing and I am not sure that I really understood all of it but it somehow made me feel like at least the week could be started afresh.
I was reminded of the fact that I used to go for prayer on a 'regular basis'. I am not sure why that stopped. I even used to keep a record of this in my e-mail account. I opened one of these e-mails last week - written in 2011. This is what it said:
"Remember you went to HTB on 24th August and somebody prayed for you
Said that God was singing over you and delighted in you"
Not sure what to make about it now a year on and life very different.
