God is Relentless

*This post was originally created May 22nd, 2025

On April 6th, while sitting in service and listening to the sermon, I heard God telling me that I needed to pick up my guitar and get back into worship.  I have never considered myself a guitar player as much as someone who played with the guitar.  My knowledge base is minimal, and my technique is, let's say, elementary.  Nonetheless, God was clear, and I wrote it down in my journal.  Admittedly, I did not pick up the guitar right away after that.  I did, however, start singing a bit more and began working on voice training again.  Singing was my passion for much of my life, and worship was one of the things that drew me closer to God, so this is what I initially focused on.  I would shortly learn that God was serious about not just worship, but specifically the guitar.

                I had only shared what I had heard from God with one other person, so I was stunned when I got a text from a different friend on May 10th saying, "I hope you're ready to sing and play guitar."  Neither of us had much time to text at that moment, so we agreed to have a phone call a couple of days later to discuss what she meant.  The phone call didn't happen because life was busy, as usual, so on Tuesday, May 13th, she ended up inviting me over, and I spent the evening with her and her husband discussing a ministry God was calling them to start.   I won't go into detail because that's their story to tell, but they said to me that they knew I was supposed to be a part of it, and it would require me to brush up on my guitar and vocal skills.

                The couple of weeks before this, I had a worship song that had taken up occupancy in my head.  The song Holy Forever was constantly playing in the background of my mind, no matter what I was doing throughout the day.  I decided to add it to my morning playlist as the first song each day because it felt as if God was trying to get my attention.  On the Sunday prior to meeting up with my friends, I was listening to it on the way to church, and I felt as if I were going to hear it somewhere else, and that it would somehow be significant.  I thought maybe I would hear it at church, although that would be unlikely because it is a little bit older than what our church typically includes in a worship set.  When Holy Forever was not played during worship, I figured I had misheard.

                I consider myself a practical and logical person, and as such, I often need multiple confirmations from God to be clear that what I am hearing is Him.  Well, that is precisely what he did.  The night I visited with my friends, my friend's husband pulled out his phone and said, "This is what I feel worship should be like."  When the song began playing, I realized it was Holy Forever.  In that moment, the Spirit shook me so hard that I was honestly at a loss for words for a minute or so.  Those who know me know that this is not a common occurrence.  I shared with them how, over the past couple of weeks, that song had been at the forefront of all the time I spent with God.

At one point that evening, I asked my friend how long it had been since they felt God told them to move forward with this.  She told me it was about six weeks before.  I was meeting with them on May 13th, and God had told me to pick up my guitar again on April 6th, which was just a little less than six weeks prior.  God, you are so amazing.  The story is powerful enough, even if it ended here, but God had more in store.

                The following week, much to my surprise, my friend's husband visited my church for the first time in many years.  During worship, I was focused on giving Him praise and a bit lost in His presence when I suddenly realized they had started playing Holy Forever.  As I mentioned before, this was outside of the typical window of time for songs played during our worship sets.  Additionally, our pastor felt compelled to come forward during the song to share a scripture passage.  This was not typical for him to interrupt worship in this way.  He stood before the congregation and shared that the best all-encompassing word he could think of to describe God is the word "Holy".  He then proceeded to read Revelation 4.

1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings[a] and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created.”

                What a fantastic visual of what worship around the throne of God looks like!

                It is often easy to dismiss something as just a fleeting thought or as a mere coincidence.  Thankfully, God is faithful.  This journey began when God instructed me on how to prepare for what He was sending my way, as He told me to pick up my guitar again. He then placed Holy Forever before me constantly, and later told me I would hear it again elsewhere. It would be significant, then my friend reaching out about a ministry they are being called to start that I would be using those very skills for, then my friend's husband playing that exact song, then finding out the timing of when they first felt this ministry was moving forward lining up with when God told me to pick up the guitar, then our worship team playing that song on the very day my friend's husband was there, and finally, our pastor feeling led to interrupt worship to share the scriptures emphasizing what worship around the throne looks like.

                The fact that I just gave you the world's longest run-on sentence shows just how many points of confirmation God offered over the past seven weeks.  Obviously, He is determined that I understand this is not a coincidence or something that just crossed my mind.  He has a plan for me and wants me to be prepared.

                I am so thankful for the way that God has been speaking to me.  I ask that you pray for the ministry as it moves forward, and encourage you to spend time with God so that you may hear what He has for you.  Be blessed.