Goodness And Mercy!

Goodness and mercy shall follow you!

Psalm 23:6”Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

When Hillsong worship leader Darlene Joyce Zschech, walked on the stage, she brought along with her loads of screams, shouts, noise, whistling sounds and huge excitement among the Indian crowd, the joy was incredible; she has been performing in Hyderabad (the city where I live) for the past three days. She instantly started to perform oblivious to the delightful uproar around her!

My children, worship leaders themselves in our Shiloh Revival Church, were hugely excited about Darlene performing in the city of Hyderabad; preparations to attend the music concert started a week before the event. My husband and I, tucked away all our inconveniences, work and determined ourselves to go with them, it took an hour and half to reach the venue of the concert, after strenuous navigation in the busy hours of evening. Excitement was all over the faces of my two children: Shalina and Joshua!

The moment Darlene walked on the stage, my children vanished in the crowd, to go closer to the stage , dance and worship. As I sat there, looking at the mega event and the love the crowd had for a woman who wrote the song ‘Shout to the Lord’, I was amazed at the grace of God that she carried in her life. It was oozing out like a flood! While there were huge plethora of Christian singers today, how is that Darlene had become an international star and the word ‘hillsong’ has become a craze among the youth??? The answer was in the testimony that Darlene shared with the crowd: At the age of fifteen she had accepted the Lord as her savior and there was no turning back after that! Are you listening? When as a teenager, she was apart from both of her parents, she found the Comforter! No wonder the words in her song ‘my comfort’ has touched millions of souls!

Hey friend, your success is not in your shrewd strategy, astute planning of prayer seminar, your anointing is not based on your Biblical knowledge (though it is necessary) your success is not based on who you are but on who He is! Give Him a shout of praise! He deserves it! He is worthy! A young boy, who was a new convert, with music knowledge and fire for God came to see me one day and said, ‘sister, I want to go to Australia and get trained at Hillsong, please pray for the funds.’ He was on his knees when he said that, I asked him a simple question, ‘do you read the Bible every day since now that you have met your Savior, he dodged my question and said, ‘while at school, I was teased for being an average student hence I have an aversion towards reading.’ Did you hear that? People want fame without pain! Each time, Darlene sits to write a song, she would grab her Bible close to her, she said. The key is there – in HIS presence - and not in any institution!

The reason she had a huge fan base and has become a Christian celebrity is because she made a commitment to be in Christ since the age of 15! Darlene had become the darling of Christ! Did not God promise, ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever?’

Rewards would follow when you follow Him whole-heartedly!