Celebration Update October 2012

How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of your countenance (Psalm 89:15).

We are preparing for our seventh and final Celebration in Wales! Just recently the Lord has been bringing back to my heart many things that Hespoke to me in 2007. It is as if He is showing me that to complete the worship intercession in Wales that we call Celebration for the Nations we need to come back to the beginning but, maybe after these years of journey together, with a fuller understanding.

One thing that the Lord showed me at the beginning of the journey was the Hebrew word teruwah. It can mean trumpet blast or a loud shout. It is a call to war and it is a cry of joy. Sometimes in the Scriptures it is the Lord who sounds the teruwah and sometimes it is His people.

I believe we are in the time when we need to tune our hearts to hear the teruwah of the Lord. He is calling us to battle and calling us to joy! There is more and more turmoil in the nations. We know that there will be wars and rumours of wars, earthquakes, famines, persecution for believers, lawlessness, false prophets (see Matthew 24).

The psalm I opened this letter with says literally, How blessed are the people who know the teruwah teruwah! O LORD they walk in the light of your countenance (your face).

Those who have ears tuned to the war cry and the joy cry of the Lord walk so closely with Him that the light of His face shines on them.

Jesus is the Lord of Hosts! He is our Commander. He is the One Joshua saw before he fought the battle of Jericho. He is the one who put the cry (the teruwah) in the people so that the walls of the city came tumbling down! He is the One who protected His people when Balaam tried to curse them. Balaam had to recognise:

The LORD their God is with them, the teruwah of the King is among them (Numbers 23:21).

I believe the teruwah of the King is among us! He shouts with joy over us, and he leads us into battle. His weapons are not of this world. His greatest weapon is His very Presence, and He is LOVE. That is why joy and battle go together in the Kingdom of God. The greater the battle, the greater the revelation of His love.

Will we hear the battle cry? In our daily lives there are battles to win with the LOVE
of God, as we walk in the light of His face.

Spring up O well!
This is our teruwah! The Lord has put it on our hearts to sing to the well that our forefather’s dug by their faith and perseverance, (Numbers 21:16-18). Many lives have already been changed! Young people are continuing to get saved in Llanelli. Just recently we received a lovely testimony from Hyonho the bass player in Revival Korea, we want to share part of it with you:

First of all, I'd like to tell you how Celebration has led my life.
I joined in Celebration in 2007 as an individual participant.
As you shared your vision about singing, I followed you and sang and sang.
It was the first time to experience this sort of worship, even to a point that I just wished Jesus would come back now. As things always are, I was sad that it had to end. But my heart beat when I heard that we were going to have Celebration for 7 years.

After Celebration in 2007, I joined Revival Korea as their bassist.

After Celebration in 2008 in Wales, I joined the London outreach team which was led by missionary Hoon Jong Lee. We went around various parts of London and did street worship. It was then that I found it very meaningful to sing songs on the street.....

Although I was already a musician, I had only sung in a church choir. But I realized that God had also given me the gift to compose songs.

Before I left for the 2009 Celebration, I decided that I will sing the songs I composed on the streets of London. I moved along with Revival Korea to London after Celebration in Wales. At that time, you came along, too. But my decision to perform on the streets of London was put off due to lack of courage and in the end I gave up. But on the way back to the accommodation after worship at the London Immanuel church, a missionary came up to me.

The missionary said, "Are you hesitating to do something? Jesus told me to tell you not to be afraid and jump with courage even though you may feel anxious since you cannot see what is under the cliff because of the fog. Jesus is waiting to hold you up with his arms opened wide."

After I had heard this I got my courage and sang in Trafalgar Square and in front of a subway station for 2 days. The reason I could sing with so much courage was because I was thinking how pleased God would be with this street worship. After I got back to Korea, I decided to sing on the streets and for a whole year I worshipped alone on the Korean streets.

I moved locations in various town centers and universities. I was so pleased to communicate with people of this world in songs. Whenever I had a concert, I felt I was connecting with the audience—heart-to-heart—just as if I were having a conversation with them at a table...
When I returned to Korea, I was inspired to create a band. So I created this band, "The band walking on the street" - Gilband in a short term - with my friends.
You can check us out on Facebook - www.facebook.com/gilband.
So until now I have been working with these two groups, Revival Korea and Gilband.

Preparing for 2000 worshippers
We don’t know how many will come to our 7th Celebration but we have to prepare, so we feel we should work to 2000. Pray with us for the right people. The heart is far more important than the numbers. Please pray for the right worship teams too. We are talking to local schools and colleges about accommodation/land to put tents (that will be less boggy than the field the tents were on in 2007!). Please pray for favour.

We cannot yet make any firm order on the Marquee etc as we need to be able to put a deposit down. Please pray with us for funds! In the last Celebration we asked people to partner with us in finance. As Mary offered that jar of costly perfume; so we can offer our jars to the Lord to enable the multitudes to worship Him. If you can give a one off or monthly gift, no matter how small, it will make a difference to the whole. Details will be at the end of this letter.

Volunteers
Praise God that Momin has now got her visa. Jeemin, Esther and Youngkyu are still waiting for theirs. Pray each one gets here in God’s perfect time. Praise God for Jacqui, Nicola, Christiane, Vas, Qday and others who are already helping us prepare.

New Offices
Celebration has outgrown the space that we could give it in the Nations International Centre, and we were wondering how we were going to fit all the volunteers into our small offices!! Praise God that Nic Lewis (a local business woman who has also led worship the last two years) offered the top floor of her offices for the year. We are in the midst of moving computers etc now to her lovely space overlooking North Dock!

We journey together and with our Lord in the midst! As we sing to the well, He will give us water, for ourselves, for those around and for the many yet to hear the good news.

Keep worshipping in spirit and truth,

Love in Christ, Gail for the Celebration Team

Bank Account Information
Celebration for the Nations
NatWest
Sort Code: 55 70 37 Account Number: 81093918
IBAN: GB88NWBK55703781093918 (these last two numbers needed if you are transferring funds from BIC: NWBKGB2L another country)