Morning Energy Affirmations By Mitesh Khatri

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So we've been all systems go in our household. The 21st of March, we're having a live worship concert at Hewidge Church in Womba. And we're recording and filming the whole night to release it as a live worship album. Well, that's exciting, isn't it? Yes. Is this your first worship album you've done or was it? Well, it's the first live worship album I will have ever recorded. I did in my teens. I was very fortunate to have a wonderful producer in Coffs Harbour where I grew up. He's still let me come into his little studio right there on Sapphire Beach and record my songs that I was writing. So I actually have quite a collection of recordings from my teens of worship music. But yeah, this will be the first live project that we've done. Amazing. So when you're recording a live worship album, my initial thought is there's a lot of things that could go wrong. I know. Don't. Harry, I'm not going to be on the wrong. But what's involved with actually organising it also, you can actually go live on the night. Yes. So what's involved is having a great husband? OK. He's great at logistics. Yes. So Tom, who's here with me today as well. He is just wonderful with all of the planning side of things and the organising. So we've been bringing together a team of videographers. We have a producer. Pete Wallace is flying up from Sydney. I recorded my last full album with him in my early 20s. And we also have a videography team. Local guys there in Tuomba led by Jake Lotta. He's an amazing videographer. And of course, we have an excellent band. I've just, I have been so blessed over the years to get to know the best of the best. And I've literally just picked up the phone and handpicked my basically my favourite team of musicians that I could dream of working with. So yeah, it's going to be such a special night. But you're right. It's audacious. It's going to be, we're going to be trusting that it will all come together. And for it to work really, really well, we need people to come. We need churches to get behind it. We want the room to be full of the voices of the church. So that's the goal. Awesome. What led you to worship? I mean, there's many parts we can go down in life. What really caused you to become a worshiper? Yeah, that is such a beautiful question. So my mum and dad, they were both radically saved. So they have amazing testimonies of their own. Both of them are first generation Christians. And both of them were saved through people being bold in their lives and sharing their faith with them. They went on to my dad actually left the military and they met in the Salvation Army Bible College. And that sparked a brand new family. So then they had my brother and they had myself and they raised us to love Jesus and to know him deeply and genuinely. And so I remember being really little and walking up and down the aisles of church and telling people they were off pitch, which is really rude of me. But I naturally gravitated toward music in the church from such a young age. And people were very kind about that. I also remember watching people leading worship and just being absolutely captivated by what was taking place. That there was something truly beyond what I could see happening in the room. And people's hearts were being one more toward Jesus. And so when I was 11 years old, I wrote my first worship song. That was the very first song that I ever wrote. And I got up at the Salvation Army church. We went to the next Sunday and the pastors welcomed me up on stage and I sang it in front of everyone. And I remember that in that moment, thinking I want to do this. I want to use the voice that I've been given and use the songwriting abilities I have in my piano playing abilities to bring people closer to Jesus through music. So that's always been the thing that makes my heart come alive. I'm just imagining you telling someone they're pitched to you. Actually, yeah, we can't move on from that. My brain is doing back here. I'm wondering if there's a live rendition. I don't do it anymore. She's not going to do that if you go live. I think they're the promised ones. And I'm thinking your dad X military into the Salvation Army. What a great Salvation Army officer you must have. Isn't that amazing? He was a sniper and yeah, the Lord totally changed his life in the most unexpected way. Yeah. It's not exactly a usable skill in the Salvation Army, isn't it? No, Jesus, he's like the chairman. It's like the lay down. Just lay it down. That's right. Lay down your weapon. No, no. But if you think of that worship and I'm just imagining you at 11 and you're standing up, you're very first song. And now we're fast-forwarding years later. But the heartbeat I imagine is very similar. Yes. Is that there's more to worship than what's happening in the room? Very much so. And that's the piece I think when you're looking at worshipers that I've always noticed is once you start to get a feel that actually this is heaven worshipping with us here on Earth. It's an open heaven. Yes. Is that what you feel when you're entering and leading people into worship? Yeah, I feel like, um, I mean, it can be both kind of because there are times when I don't feel much. And as we know, like, it's so important that we don't hinge our worship and our faith on the feelings. At the same time, I cannot deny that there are moments. And it's more often than not where I will be singing to the Lord either on my own, but particularly with the church. When I experience His presence and His peace comes, and you know, and you start to suddenly feel that joy that hang on a minute, something's going on here that I can't really explain. Um, so I absolutely believe that, yes, when we're worshipping in the unseen realm and the spiritual realm, there are battles being won, and there are things that are shifting and changing. There are things happening in our hearts and in our minds to conform us more to being like Christ that we can't describe. And I think when we sing together and we hear each other singing, it's one of the most encouraging things that we can possibly do. So that's very much my desire with this concept is that the church will lift its voice. And I hope we'll get many denominations present within our band. I think I counted five different denominations or just in the band. And then if you go out to the production team, there's many, many more. I've always had a heart for inter-denominational unity. My music has taken me to many different churches over the years, particularly in New South Wales and here in Queensland. And so we just want the room to be full of people who love Jesus no matter where they come from. Amen. Are there any Bible verses or stories that are your go-to's to that inspire you to worship that maybe, you know, sometimes you're like, oh, and you read something in the Bible and you're like, wow, yeah, I just want to worship again. What part of the Bible really inspires you? Yeah, I love that question as well. You're good with questions and it's great. I've been lucky today. Yeah. Hitting the nail and the head. We'll pay him today. Yes. My favorite verse, if I can say that, I mean, I just think all of scripture is just God breathes and beautiful and interesting and I can't get enough of the Bible. I feel lost if I don't get up and read my Bible. So, Zephaniah 317 is the verse that comes to mind, which says, "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing." And that just took my breath away the first time I read that and really understood it. Everything started to make sense with why music? Because it's such a mysterious thing, isn't it? Like music, I mean, it's such an important part of our world, but it's also not exactly practical. It can be and I'd love to talk about that more in a minute about scripture and how we can internalize scripture through music so well. In that verse, we see a God who sings. A heavenly Father who rejoices over us with singing. I can't wait to hear that sound and I just love that as people who are created by God, we get to do something that he does back to him. And we get to reflect it back to him and give him our joy and our worship and our praise. And so I just think that verse is like a foundation. It should be a foundation for how we worship and why we do it. It's because we were first sung over. We loved because he first loved us. It says in John. And we sing because he first sang. I loved that. You just mentioned to a great point there that singing scripture is one of the most powerful things you can do. There are, we see so many scriptures that have just been translated beautifully into songs. - Yeah. - And I know them when you're in situations or trouble, it's the songs which come to mind often before the scriptures do. - Exactly. - The scripture in song that's a powerful combination. - It is, yes. It's something I'm very passionate about. And so when I'm writing a song, particularly a congregational song for the church, I'm gonna be sure that it is more full of scripture than not. - Great. - I want it to be rich in theology, rich in truth. I want it to sound beautiful. And because scripture is translated from different languages, sometimes I find I get to use my poetic abilities to move verses, to make them rhyme, to make them flow together well. Occasionally I won't have to do that. And I can just sing straight through a few verses. I love it when that happens. But for me, that really began to become an important part of my life. When I started homeschooling out, I would have stored our Evelyn. And I wanted her to learn and memorize scripture. And so I started putting scripture into melody. And one of the songs that we're doing at the concert actually started as one of those verses. And we loved it so much and we sang it so often that I thought we should make a whole song out of this. So yeah, an entire song was born amazing. - So cool. I love you, Zephaniah, the scripture as well. Because why not saying the original Hebrew in the Garden of Eden when Adam and God walked together in the Garden that God was singing to Adam. That's not the Hebrew in Fersia. And I just love that picture of God singing to us. So like you said, worships a response. - Wow, I tell you what, if I was in Toowoomba the night of this concert, I know where I would be. Here's the details of the concert when and where, what time? - Sure, so it's at the Hume Ridge Church auditorium, which is on Hume Street in Toowoomba. It's on the 21st of March, a Saturday night. We'll have a coffee van there from 5.30 pm. We love people to come early, grab a coffee and connect. And we'll be kicking off the music at 7 pm. - Awesome. - Well, I think we're in for a treat now, talking of singing over us. You're going to sing for us now. Tell us which song you're gonna sing. - Well, I actually think I should sing the one that we were just talking about. Yeah, so this song is called In Peace. And it's based on Psalm 4 verse 8. - Wow, Elizabeth Ray, we are so thrilled. Thank you for coming in and having a chat. And we're excited now to hear your singing for us. - Thank you so much, Felon Andy. Thanks for having me. (upbeat music) - Thanks for taking time to listen to this audio on demand from Vision Christian Media. To find out more about us, go to vision.org.au.