Friends,

It's been a while. It's been quite a crazy summer! Lots of exciting things on the horizon, but we can't tell you about it just yet. :) We did, however, just check out Jason Upton and Sarah Reeves this past weekend! They came to our church, Man o War Church of God, here in Lexington. It was an amazing weekend for all those who came to check it out. For those of you interested, I'll give you a quick rundown of the weekend.

Jason was amazing as usual. He has a way of worshipping and teaching through his entire set that boggles my mind. He was with us Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Wonderful man. Oddly enough, what really stood out to me this weekend was his drummer, Al. Al has been with Jason for years, and, even though I saw them last year, I noticed this year that his skills on that drum set were incredible! His playing didn't dramatically improve. It was my ear actually did the improving. I even went back to talk to the sound man to see how he made Al sound so good, and it turns out that Al is just that good. No tricks. No nothing. Just a simple mixing job on the sound man's end. Incredible. That aside, if any of you have never heard of Jason Upton before, he worships and ministers on the piano, and he brings with him an eclectic band, complete with a guy on the whistles (if you don't know what those are, you'll have to listen to some of his stuff). Jason is the real deal. His sermons that I've found have changed the way that I look at myself, my life, and the world around me. He has honestly helped me really understand that I'm not out to please men. I'm out to please God alone whether I'm up leading worship or not. Amazing man. I can't say enough about him. To hear an interview with Jason, check out this link.

Sarah Reeves took the platform on Saturday night. Musically, Sarah is everything that Jason is not. Where Jason is seasoned and mellow, Sarah is new and much more driving. She signed her first contract at the age of 19, and if she stays obedient to God through all of this, I think she has a bright future ahead of her in the music scene. When she sits down to write, great songs come out, many of which will fit into congregational worship settings. As a band, they are all in their 20's and are touring the country with the songs that God has given Sarah. I'm looking forward to seeing where God takes her and her band. She has a new EP out in iTunes. Be sure to check that out through her myspace (which is linked above). If you want to hear an interview with her, be sure to check out this link.

We also had an amazing opportunity to lead worship for UK's Wildcats at Worship this past Sunday. It was an amazing time! Abbie and I had the chance to lead worship for about 350 freshmen. It truly was a blast. We're looking forward to doing more stuff with UK this year! Until next time, we pray that all of you are entering into the fall with expectations for God to do some truly amazing things in the Body of Christ here in America and throughout the entire world!

As I was listening to the book of Joshua a few weeks ago, something very interesting jumped out at me about worship, and it comes from Joshua 6:7. Now, most people wouldn't read this verse and think about worship, but I think we can learn something about worship and spiritual warfare from this verse. So, let's unpack this a bit and understand what's going on here.

As I mentioned in the last post, Joshua is calling the people of Israel to rise up in faith to walk around the city of Jericho for seven days straight. Even though they didn't see the walls fall on the first day (or the second or thirds day for that matter), Joshua and the Israelites walked around Jericho every day in faith that the Lord would do what He said He would do. What I want to focus on in this post is how they went about walking around the wall.

First, we see that the ark of the Lord went with them every day just as the Lord commanded (Josh. 6:4). The ark signifies the presence of the Lord throughout the Old Testament. We also learn that seven priests went before the ark blowing trumpets of rams' horns. God told them to do this (also found in Joshua 6:4). What is interesting is that in verse 7, Joshua adds something to God's commands. He commands armed men to advance before the ark (and probably before the priests). There could be a number of reasons for this, but my guess is that it was common in war for armed men to go before a nation's most prized possessions (I would…wouldn't you?). Joshua wasn't necessarily disobeying the Lord by putting armed men in front of the ark. He was probably following typical battle procedures. So, the battle array consisted of armed men going before the seven priests and the ark.

Keep this in mind as we turn to 2 Chronicles 20. (When's the last time you read through Chronicles? As boring as it can be it has a lot to say about worship!) King Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah (which is what the southern part of Israel was called when Israel split into two nations soon after Solomon died), was going to war with two of their enemies. The battle did not look good for Jehoshaphat, so he asked God what to do. God answered Jehoshaphat by speaking a prophecy through a Levite that was present.

This is what God said through this man: don't be discouraged or afraid because this battle is not yours to fight—it's mine (2 Chronicles 20:14-17). Jehoshaphat received this wholeheartedly and appointed singers to go before the army. This, of course, goes against all battle tactics to put an unarmed choir in the front of those who are armed and trained for battle. As a result of the praise that went forth by these singers, the Lord went before the army and set ambushes against the enemy. The enemy's entire army was destroyed, and the Israelites took three whole days to pick up all the plunder that belonged to the enemy (2 Chronicles 20:25).

Just as Joshua sent armed men before the ark when the walked around the walls of Jericho, Jehoshaphat sent unarmed singers in front of the armed warriors as they went into battle. So, what can we learn from all this? We, as Christians, do not fight against flesh and blood. Our war is not against other people. Our war is with principalities, powers, and rulers in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 6:12). If we truly believe this, then we must realize that our praise and worship functions in spiritual battles in the same way that our armed warriors function in physical battles.

If you are feeling depressed, worship. The devil hates it. If you are fighting off attacks of confusion and doubt, worship. His light will drive that darkness away. If you are fighting big spiritual battles for your church or in your region, worship corporately! It empowers God to move. He will fight our battles for us. We must understand that worshiping Him empowers Him to move in our lives in ways that we never thought imaginable.

I was listening to the book of Joshua last week using The Word of Promise, and the Lord was really using the story of the fall of Jericho to teach me some things.

The lesson that we'll talk about in this post is the power of persistent prayer. In Joshua 6:2, the Lord tells Joshua that He has given Jericho into Joshua's hand—even its king and the best warriors the city had to offer. Jacob and his army would defeat the entire city. However, there were some stipulations. They were to march around the city for 6 days, and on the seventh they were to march around the city seven times, blast the trumpets, and let out the loudest shout they could muster.

The Lord had already given them the city (check out verse 2 again), but they needed to walk that out in faith. They had to live by what the Lord told them and not what they saw in front of them (2 Corinthians 5:7). And they had to endure the scoffing of the rest of the city for what they did day in and day out without any immediate results.

So, if the Lord has promised us something that hasn't happened just yet (this promise can be through His Word or through Him speaking directly to you), then we need to keep marching around our wall declaring victory in the name of Jesus. Too often we fall short of what God has for us because we live by what we see and not by faith. And yet, what God is calling all of us to do is walk by His Word and not our own natural eyes.

So what happens to Joshua and the rest of Israel? Most of you know the story. They did what God told them to do. On the seventh day, they let out a loud shout, and the walls came tumbling down. What things has God promised to you that you haven't received just yet? Do you need to be healed physically? Do you need to be healed emotionally? Is there someone in your family that doesn't know Jesus personally? Has the Holy Spirit been calling you to do something that seems utterly impossible? Well, I have news for you. Jesus wants all those things for your life. He wants you to be healed physically and emotionally. He wants each and every person to know Him personally. And He wants you to walk out and do everything that He has called you to do.

So, what are we to do? Get in the Word. Seek Him with prayer and fasting. Find out what God's will really is. Then, find some people to march with you (Joshua didn't march alone) and declare God's victory over Satan's biggest strongholds in your life. Life will change dramatically. And don't take my word for it. Take His.

The Lord just showed this to me the other night, and I wanted to share it with all of you. I've been battling with not being abole to find much excitement and freshness in my guitar playing recently. This is nothing new. What usually happens is that I want to then learn how to play the piano (because that would obviously solve all my problems). And here is what the Lord told me:

'Your heart means much more to me than the form.'
'When you get tired of the form and want to change it, check your heart.'

I run into dry seasons as a musician and as a worshipper. Some of those seasons may be simply the ups and downs of this life, but I know that my spiritual sloppiness is what usually gets me into those dry seasons.

So, here's the pattern that usually ensues that gets me to my dry spot:
For some reason or another (it's always different), I stop seeking the Lord with all my heart. My worship is then one of the first things to dry up. I then find myself caught up in idolatry as I try to find other ways to fill up this void that has formed within my spirit. And once we're caught up in idolatry, that opens the door wide for religion to enter.

Religion gets us to get our focus off of our relationship with God and onto our own idols. It gets us to focus on our actions instead of our heart. This is why God hated the Israelites' sacrifices in some of the minor prophets. He wanted their hearts, but all they gave him were their money and burnt offerings. And this is exactly why I find myself wanting to play the piano when I get into a dry spot. I want to change my form. But the Lord wants me to change my heart.

So, take a minute to check your heart. Are you caught up in forms instead of the heart of our Father? Are you using a religious form as a crutch in your spiritual life? Order is good, but we don't use this to propel us into the heart of the Father, then it's just dead religion. I don't want religion. I want a passionate relationship with my Father that drives me deeper into His presence. And I want that for all of you.