Pentecost weekend, what a winner! I had such a laugh this glorious weekend. First of all at 9.30am on Saturday morning I went on Premier Radio for half an hour with my good friend Sami Michael to play a couple of songs live and to have a couple played from my new EP “Give You Praise”. It was fun, Tony Miles the presenter was a laugh and really eased us along. My voice was still waking up but it managed to cope (just about)!
Then we whizzed over to the Victoria Embankment Gardens where we played a set to a good crowd at the stage there. I played guitar and sang, Sami played bass, Phil Merriman pulled out some VERY tasty lines and chords on keys, and Jon French played drums. Was such good fun, and given that we only had half a rehearsal beforehand where I just spoke to them about the songs, I’d say we did pretty well! All credit to them.
The whole day there was fantastic really and many great acts came onstage and blessed the people who were gathered. As a Christian I really felt that there was so much of the good news and so much of God’s love and presence brought to that place, it was so exciting to be a part of it!
One exciting thing was to be interviewed by a guy from winkball.com who was part of a team interviewing almost anyone and everyone at the festival – but certainly those who performed – finding out what was relevant about Christianity and especially the Holy Spirit. That was so exciting to me because they are a secular organisation but had a clear mandate to find out what was going on and why all these Christians were doing this stuff, and what the Holy Spirit meant to us! It was fantastic!
Then on Sunday morning I preached at New Life (my home church) all about the Holy Spirit, and about how prayer had been key to every revival, especially with Pentecost. I hope to get the audio or at least a link to it up here soon, as the presence of the Lord was really there and I so felt His help as I gave the word – I would say a lot of it really was to do with Him, not me!! I know people often say that and it sounds corny, but I know that within myself I felt that I did not quite have the equipment I needed, but when it came to it there was such clarity in my mind about how to go forward, and so from my experience all I can say is, He was really doing a lot of the good stuff! Praise the Lord!
God is here, He is up to stuff, He is good, and people need to hear that. Bill Johnson has said recently that the greatest vacuum in human thought is the understanding of God’s nature. Many people think He’s bad. Or out to get them. Or isn’t interested. Or is too distant to communicate with. All of these are of course merely concocted and don’t come from experience. We have found, as soon as people experience the love of God and His goodness towards them – by healing them, blessing them, speaking to them in a word of knowledge or something – that one good experience can ruin years of bad theology! The truth is, God is good, and when we experience Him, that is what we discover. That is why the Bible says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Because the truest and best means of acquiring understanding about His nature is to experience it. Hallelujah. And that is what the Holy Spirit is all about, and that is what I celebrate at this time of year, and look for more of in my every day life and in the life of the church!
Ben David Trigg 