Bride's Song

  Len Douglas, worship leader, musician and songwriter gave me this song to record in 2019.   Len, his wife Gail, our friend Marcia and I are an Intercessory Worship Team, Incense Rising.  We meet to worship, pray and plant God’s desires for our region through decreeing His Word and prophetic song.   Last year Len had been meditating on John 20 and Mary Magdalene’s encounter at the empty tomb on the day of resurrection.  This song is filled with a depth of emotion; of loss, then surprise and unspeakable joy.  “We seek the one we love so such, we brought the spices for a final touch. It’s an act of worship, in our own way but His love was greater and He couldn’t stay.”   Later in the song the lyric changes to, “He brought the spices for a final touch.” That resurrection morning the women came with their precious spices for Jesus.  It was their act of love that compelled them to go with their spices to the tomb that morning.  At that...

  The LORD of Hosts , Yahveh Tsebaot (Strong’s # H-6635) is the plural of tsaba which means, “an army, a company organized for war, soldiers, a mass of persons.”   It originates from the root, “to fight, to mass, to war.”  The ancient meaning is, “mustering of an army as a wall or protection.” This title is used when God sent His heavenly forces to aid His people.  This is the God of victory, who commands the angels, the hosts of heaven.  Awake to help me, and behold!   You therefore, O LORD God of hosts , the God of Israel, awake to punish, all the nations; do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors.  Psalm 59:5 The LORD of hosts leads the host of heaven in battle against the enemy of our souls.   The LORD of hosts will return with His armies as Captain of the hosts and defeat satan forever.  Worship is warfare.   When we worship our God with all our being we are agreeing with the LORD of hosts and His forces in heaven are m...

  My heart is on fire, boiling over with passion.  Bubbling up within me are these beautiful lyrics as a lovely poem to be sung for the King!  Like a River bursting its banks, I’m overflowing with words, spilling out into this sacred story.   Psalm 45:1 The Passion Translation I discovered the incredible passion of this psalm over 25 years ago walking in the misty morning on the coastline of the Olympic Peninsula.    I was on vacation with my family and got up at dawn and decided to walk the beach and talk with God.   I opened my NKJV Bible to Psalm 45 and started to read it as I walked along.   I don’t think I had ever read this Psalm before or if I did, I did not understand the depth of these words.   My heart felt like it was about to explode.   My heart became filled with words that I couldn’t seem to speak.   My silence was actually singing deep inside my soul and spirit.   When I returned to my home in New York, ...

In the Bible there are relational titles such as husband and bridegroom in reference to the LORD and Yeshua/Jesus .  The LORD refers to Himself in terms of a husband in reference to His relationship to Israel .  Yeshua alludes to Himself as the bridegroom as He preached about the coming Kingdom of God and in regards to His presence among His disciples.  We see this concept explained and elaborated on also by others writers such as Paul and John in the New Testament in reference to the Church, the bride of Messiah.   The relationship of husband and wife is the most intimate relationship there is. We see this from the very beginning of time.   And Adam said, “This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  Genesis 2:22-23 This relationship between husband and wife produces new life...

    One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus.  Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,   but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.    Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”    But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!” Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?    Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand u...

  In Luke 4:14-30 we read about Jesus returning to His home town of Nazareth.   He had just begun His ministry after being tempted in the wilderness for 40 days.   He returns to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.   Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and read from the scroll of Isaiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering if sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. The people in the synagogue were impressed by Jesus command of the scriptures and marveled at his words.   They requested a display of the miracles they heard about in Capernaum but Jesus does not respond to them as they expect.   Instead, He begins to speak the truth about the present state of things in the Israel and the crowd was enraged and tried to throw Jesus off the cliff.  What hap...

  Are there times in your life you feel like God has abandoned you?   Prayers seem to be unanswered and heaven appears to be silent.   You wonder if you can take another loss, disappointment or crisis in your life.    In the middle of it all you ask yourself, “how did I end up here?” In the book of Ruth, Naomi, Ruth’s mother- in- law finds herself in that place.   She left Bethlehem in Judah with her husband and two sons during a time of famine seeking better provision in the land of Moab.   He husband, Elimelech died and Naomi’s sons married Moab women.   After 10 years both sons died and she was left a widow with her daughter- in -laws in a foreign land.   They were her only family in Moab and being a widow in their time in history was truly a crisis.   They had no one to protect them, no means of support and were at risk of starving if they did not find others husband or family to reside with.   There is much more to Naomi’s ...

  The Hebrew word for redeemer is gaal or goel.      Strong’s meaning (H-1350) is, “to be the next of kin, to buy back a relative’s property, marry a relative’s widow, deliver, ransom and purchase.” Then they remembered and sought earnestly for God, then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer .     Psalm 78:34-35 Job makes an amazing statement in the middle of his anguish and loss.   Job declares the coming Redeemer and not only that He will deliver mankind but He will bring a physical resurrection.   Job was a righteous man that God allowed satan to inflict.   He suffered, he was humiliated, lost everything he had and eventually God brought complete restoration. “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever!   For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and aft...

  The Hebrew word, Chalah means, “to grieve, to be rubbed worn, to entreat, travail, to be wounded and to be weak.” (H-2470, Strong’s)  Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the LORD.   “Thus, says the LORD of hosts. In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”   Zechariah 8:12 There are many Hebrew words for prayer but this word implies an intense seeking of God.   In Zechariah the nations are earnestly seeking the God of Israel; there is desperation and a great need to know Him.   There are times when we pray in desperation for God to reach into our situation and intervene.    We are rubbed worn, even grieved as we cry out to God to answer our deepest need or the deepest need of a loved one, a friend, a nation or even a stranger.   The only thing...

  What kind of sacrifice is pleasing to God?  To answer that we need to look at the root of worship. Hebrew has only one word for the worship of God and that is s hachah . (H-7812, Strong’s)   It appears over 100 times in the Old Testament scriptures.   There are other words in the Old Testament that are translated as worship but they are used in reference to worshipping other gods, not the only true God.   Shachah means, “to bow down, to depress, to prostrate oneself before God in worship and in homage.”   This word infers humility, making oneself low before God.   Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool- He is holy.   Psalm 99:5 Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.    Psalm 29:2 Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.   Psalm 95:6 Throughout scripture we see people fall on their face and worship the LORD.  ...

  As I researched the Hebrew words for commune I found that several of the Hebrew words related to speech, not unlike our word communication.   When researched further I found a word that conveyed the Hebrew idea of communion but was not necessarily translated specifically as the English word communion.   What I found interesting is that the two words have the same parent root in Hebrew and only differ by their last letter. D abar   H-1697 (Strong’s #) Dabar is a verb that means, “to speak, to commune, to say, to speak, to arrange in order, to converse.”   And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune (speak, converse) with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.    Exodus 25:22 KJV This is a Hebrew word where the ancient form is full of imagery.   The dalet   is a pictograph of a door ...

  In 2001 my life was so conflicted. The Capital Region Prayer and Healing Center had just opened in Albany, N.Y. and I was a regular member of the Monday night worship team.   I had just started working with home recording.   I had been a songwriter since I was 18 years old and this was a time in my life that exploded with new songs on a weekly basis.   I was passionately in love with Jesus and it was hard to find the balance between this passionate pursuit, my family and work life.   I was in fellowship with equally passionate individuals who were also passionately writing songs and consumed with love for Jesus. I was at a worship conference in Syracuse, NY with Jeremy Sinnott in 2000.   At the end of the conference, he asked if there was someone out there who would produce music just for the LORD, no profit, not fame, just God’s thumb print, then pick up this vision and do it.   I grabbed hold of that vision that day.   It was like a precious...

  Mark 4:35-41 This has been a difficult season 2020 and now early 2021. Not only has it been a year of dealing with COVID-19 but everything in our world seems upside down. What is good is labeled evil, what is evil is considered good. If you don’t agree with what is popular, you are canceled. Executive orders are at an all time high and freedom seems to only belong to the lawless. As an intercessor my heart was weary. Intensive prayer had been going on for over a year. I was irritable and didn’t want to hear anyone’s opinion on anything. I sat doing a jigsaw puzzle in our house by the lake. As I tried to forget about the stresses of life I just got more angry. I heard in my spirit, "get in the bottom of the boat." I knew that voice was Jesus. I tried to ignore that voice and continue to entertain my frustration but the voice came again, "get in the bottom of the boat." I knew what the LORD was showing me if I continued to entertain these negative thoughts they woul...