Fling Wide you Heavenly Gates!

VERSE 1:

Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar
When the people rose to sing of
Jesus Christ, the ris-en One?
VERSE 2:
Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing of
Jesus Christ, the sav-ing One
BRIDGE 1:
And we can see that, God, You're mov-ing,
A mighty river through the nations;
And young and old will turn to Je-sus.
Fling wide, you heavenly gates;
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.


CHORUS:
Open up the doors. Let the music play.
Let the streets resound with singing:
Songs that bring Your hope,
Songs that bring Your joy,
Dancers who dance upon injustice.

VERSE 3:
Do you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song,
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our broken-ness?

BRIDGE 2:
And here we see that, God, You're mov-ing;
A time of jubilee is coming,
When young and old return to Je-sus.
Fling wide, you heavenly gates;
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.


Imagine....you're in the second row. You've just heard an amazing message straight to your heart from God reaffirming everything you've been dealing with. You feel honored and humbled that the Lord has remembered your prayers and blessed you and it's already on the border of overwhelming. Your heart glows with love for your Lord and His church around the world and you're suddenly so proud and honored to be a member of this incredible family......and then you hear it...the chords start up. The volume is so loud and the drums mingle with voices so that in your brain it's you, the music, and Jesus. You feel your heart swell and you're belting it at the top of your lungs:

OPEN UP THE DOORS!
LET THE MUSIC PLAY!
LET THE STREETS RESOUND WITH SINGING!
SONGS THAT BRING YOUR HOPE, SONGS THAT BRING YOUR JOY,
DANCERS WHO DANCE UPON INJUSTICE!

And you're thinking "YES! Open the doors, let the world hear the songs of the hearts of God's children! We are young, old, foolish, wise, lovely, irritating, imperfect, striving, broken, healed...we are so beautiful and don't even know it, but the SONGS of our hearts should be blared through the loudspeakers of our lives so that the world will know our God and know that they are loved and chased after by the same Jesus.... This is what heaven looks like! The faces of His children from every race, nation, walk of life, educational level, gender, political party....

DID YOU FEEL THE DARKNESS TREMBLE
WHEN ALL THE SAINTS JOIN IN ONE SONG
AND ALL THE STREAMS FLOW AS ONE RIVER
TO WASH AWAY OUR BROKENNESS?

Jesus died so that we may all be one. ALL of us. My heart soars at the idea that some day two total strangers from opposite sides of life, different denomination, different backgrounds, different languages, will come together in love as brothers to worship the One True God that we love with no reservations and that it is THIS that will be the norm. My heart breaks that we are not even close to there yet.

How powerful we are without knowing it!
DID YOU FEEL THE DARKNESS TREMBLE
WHEN ALL THE SAINTS JOIN IN ONE SONG...

Wow. And as your heart and mind is filling deeper and deeper with these thoughts, and your voice is flowing out at the top of your lungs, you realize that your face is shiny with tears and that you couldn't stop them if you wanted to.

I will take from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

Amen, amen. God is faithful.

I am healed.