by Ryan Montgomery | Aug 30, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
David’s Tent, Why the Name?
By Jason Hershey
David’s Tent… Where did it all begin?
For David it all began as a young boy with a bottom-of-the-barrel job – shepherding. This difficult “lot in life” didn’t phase him though. The glory of the Lord far eclipsed the fatigue or monotony of the job. He was far too impressed with the Lord to let life’s hardships hinder his worship. Harp in hand, on the hills of Bethlehem, David would make God’s heart swell with joy with every note of love from his soul!
Meanwhile, it seems God was jealous to find a home. Generations earlier in Deuteronomy 18, the children of Israel were instructed to look for the place that God desired to dwell; yet the Ark of the Covenant (a.k.a. the Ark of His Presence) had been all over the place. God had brought the tribes of Israel into their inheritance, yet the Ark of His Presence wandered to and fro, from places like Ashdod and Gath to Beth-Shemesh and Baal-Judah. King Saul’s heart soured into disobedience and God was looking for a new king. No doubt God was looking for someone who would have the nerve to make His Presence the central-most point of their his administration, without ever neglecting righteous and justice. He finds David and sends His prophet, Samuel to anoint this worshiping young shepherd and the rest is History.
David becomes king and he delivers what God had hoped for – big time. He finds the place that God desired to dwell, conquered the land from the Jebusites, and moved his palace there from Hebron. And, then came the crowning achievement of David’s life (pun intended!): David brings the Ark of the Covenant there – into Jerusalem! God is finally home!
David danced before the Lord as the procession of Levites brought the Presence of God into the place where he desired to dwell. I can only imagine the anticipation of heaven as Jerusalem finally became home for the Ark. The earth would never be the same. Jerusalem, the city of all cities, was finally founded.
David put the Ark under a tent he had pitched for it and, as an explosion of devotion, he commissioned 4,288 musicians and singers to minister to the Lord continually around the Ark, night and day. This 24/7/365 worship tent went on for the length of his reign in Jerusalem, 33 years; and it prepared the way for Solomon’s temple.
God knew that He was already central in David’s heart, and now David was making Him central in His nation also. I’ve often imagined David saying to the Lord:
“You anointed me king, but I declare You are!”
With this act of establishing a tent of worship of God in his capital city, I believe David’s heart was to have this worship tent be a perpetual coronation of the One that anointed him.
“O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.”
— David, Psalm 22:3
It’s no coincidence that these were the golden years of Israel’s history. This king with the heart of a priest did what he did as an overflow of His devotion to God. And his devotion is the inspiration behind “Davids Tent DC.” But why did David do it? Why should we? Check in with my next article: David’s Tent DC, Why Worship?
by Rebecca Montgomery | Aug 28, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
Our house of prayer and David’s Tent staff have been praying a lot into the concept of boredom lately. Why would we ever be bored when we’re in a relationship with God?? He’s the most interesting, most captivating and most creative being ever! He’s so creative he even created the world! Woah! Every time that we think we know Jesus we can catch a different glimpse of who He is, and get a deeper revelation. We could discover more about God every single day and never run out of things to find out about Him! That’s the least boring thing ever.
I posted a status about this on my personal facebook account yesterday and someone commented “Someone who is bored is not in love!” It’s a blunt statement but it rings with truth. I don’t get tired or bored of my husband even though I’m around him 24/7 for no other reason than that I’m in love! I can’t get enough of him! The same is true with Jesus. There’s always more to discover. That’s such good news!
The other aspect that we’ve been meditating on is that God never gets bored of us either. I mean think about it, God has angels and elders around his throne crying out “Holy, Holy, Holy!” for ALL OF ETERNITY and he NEVER GETS TIRED OF IT. To our boredom saturated culture that doesn’t even compute. But it’s true! We could sing him the same song of worship day and night forever and He’d never get tired of our voice because He loves us. And oh wait! We’re going to do that, for ALL OF ETERNITY! He loves to hear our voice and He loves it when we draw near to Him!
I’ve been learning the keyboard the past few months and so I’ve been worshipping a lot with it in the prayer room. My husband Ryan and I cover 2 hrs every day at Washington House of Prayer and lately we’ve been going deep in the place of worship and singing love songs to Jesus. Well, that’s fine and dandy, but I barely know any songs on the keyboard. In fact, for the past month the only song I’ve been able to play well is My Soul Sings. So I sang it. And I sang it. And I sang it. EVERY DAY. For a very long time. It’s true, I could have sang acapella or played the guitar or even just beat on a drum but I just loved worshipping on the keyboard. I kept singing the song and I started to really encounter the Lord every time I sang it. I realized personally that Jesus doesn’t get tired of my voice. Not even when I sing Him the same song over and over and over and over every day because he loves my voice and he loves my heart of worship to Him. And that just inspires me to worship Him even more!
So out of that revelation I wrote a song called Never Tired of my Voice. It’s still in the works, but I’m hoping to record it this fall. Here’s the heart of the song for you!
Never Tired of My Voice— Rebecca Montgomery 2013
Jesus you blow me away
I sing you this song every day
But you never get tired of my voice
Becca Montgomery
(Never Tired of My Voice – Copyright Rebecca Montgomery 2013)
by Rebecca Montgomery | Aug 21, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
“Release your voice” has become a common phrase around the David’s Tent office over the past couple weeks. It’s been something that the Lord has been challenging us on as a community. He’s been speaking to us that it’s time to make some noise, share what God has placed inside of us individually and stop being silent! It’s much easier sometimes to stay quiet and not share our thoughts, feelings and ideas, but God has placed inside each of us a voice that we need to use. The Lord loves to hear our voice! It’s time to stop the silence.
The application of this concept has looked different for everybody on our staff. For some it means literally speaking louder throughout their day, for others it means that they step out with a prophetic chorus in the prayer room and for me–it’s looked like writing. I’ve known for awhile now that the Lord has called me to be a writer but I never actually did anything about it. I never really wrote anything. I would feel paralyzed when I got to the point of starting to write and for some reason I couldn’t actually do it. Even though I knew it was what I was called to. This was so frustrating for me, as you can probably imagine! How was I supposed to move past it and actually become a writer? Well, the Lord has his ways. :) This blog actually has been one of the ways that the Lord has gotten me to write! It’s been a great method to get me to sit down and formulate my thoughts onto paper. I’ve found my ability to write more freely has increased since I began to regularly write about something–anything! But the real breakthrough happened for me one day in the prayer room.
One afternoon in 0ur 24/7 prayer room the Father showed me that I was believing lies about my voice. Lies such as “I don’t have any good ideas,” and “Even if I do, no one will want to read what I have to say.” As he revealed the lies to me I began to repent and ask the Lord’s forgiveness. And let me just say, there is SO MUCH freedom in repentance! The next thing I knew I was standing on top of a chair in the prayer room declaring in a loud voice “I HAVE A VOICE! I AM A WRITER! I HAVE GREAT IDEAS!” And in that moment, I got my breakthrough! Last night for the first time in a long time, I sat down and wrote something just for fun. It was just a fun little essay and may not have seemed like a big deal to most, but to me it was a huge breakthrough! Thanks, Jesus! :) It’s one more step for me in releasing my voice! I won’t be silent anymore! This girl is going to write!
I challenge you to release your voice and step out in faith. Now is the time to let our voices be heard!
Join us this fall as we raise our voices in worship at the White House Ellipse. September 24- November 5.
Becca
by Rebecca Montgomery | Aug 14, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
Today our staff had a prayer meeting specifically for David’s Tent. We just spent about an hour and a half waiting on the Lord, asking Him for vision and language for the tent this fall. What’s the specific call for this year? What does he want to do through our time there? It’s all about worship, it’s all because he’s worthy, but beyond that what does the Lord want to release through the tent? What are some strategic ways for us to pray? All these are questions we were asking the Lord, and He was answering!
It was a really encouraging time of corporate unity in prayer. Honestly, it was just a really fun prayer meeting too! I left so excited for David’s Tent to start this fall! It’s 41 days away and I just can’t wait. The Holy Spirit is stirring up such joy in my heart. I know you’re probably anxious to hear what the Lord was speaking to us today, but you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer. :) We’re still praying as a staff and solidifying specific language to what the Lord is speaking. Soon we’ll be releasing new videos and blogs calling people to come this fall, so keep a look out! Please keep us in your prayers, and seek the Lord with us for His heart for David’s Tent this fall. It’s going to be amazing, because Jesus is amazing and it’s all about Him. May He be glorified in every single second of worship this fall!
Becca
PS. 40 days of 24/7 or 1,000 hrs of worship is 3,600,000 seconds. In case you wondering. :)
by Rebecca Montgomery | Aug 10, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
Lexi, our booking manager, has already booked over a quarter of the total slots for David’s Tent DC this fall! She’s been doing an amazing job getting people plugged in and scheduled to lead worship. She’s already booked over 130 of the 500 2 hr time slots and more and more emails keep coming in every day! People are coming from literally all across the nation to worship!
Last fall we saw this too, as people from all 50 states came to worship and 166 different bands led worship. We had expressions that ranged from gospel choirs, to punk rock, to hymn-sings to latino bi-lingual worship and so many more! That right there is to me one of the most amazing testimonies of David’s Tent. Last fall’s event possessed a unity that I’d never seen before. If the response that we’ve gotten this year already is any indicator, this fall is going to match, if not far surpass, last year in the wide variety of styles, peoples and denominations that are gathering together to sing Jesus a 40 day love song. I consider myself so privileged to be able to be there all 40 days and hear people’s hearts being poured out to the Lord day after day, hour after hour, in so many different sounds and ways. I wish I could explain to you how amazing it is but no amount of words could do it justice. You’ll just have to come and see!
<enter shameless plug here> If you want to lead worship during one or more of the 2 hr worship slots send Lexi the booking genius an email at: worship@davidstentdc.org. We still have spots available, but move quick and send us an email! They’re dwindling fast. If you aren’t a worship leader, come anyways! We’d love to worship with you at the tent this fall. </end shameless plug>
See you this fall,
Becca
by Rebecca Montgomery | Aug 7, 2013 | 24/7 worship, house of prayer, News Update
This week has been a bit of an unusual one here at the David’s Tent office. Most of our staff and students are in Lancaster, PA attending a Circuit Riders school and absolutely seeing their lives and the region forever changed! The rest of us are manning the 24/7 prayer room and continuing preparations for David’s Tent this fall. The smallness of our group has meant that we’re each pulling long hours in the prayer room ministering to the Lord, but it’s so worth it. Every time I’m in there I seem to go so much deeper into the Father’s heart and I know it’s the same for the rest of our staff too.
My time this afternoon in the prayer room was especially rich. I really felt the Lord challenging me with the question of where my emotional “barometer” is set. What’s my default emotion? Is it joy? Gratitude? Am I defaulting to the place of faith, or one of fear? It was a really good question for me to ponder. I realized it’s time to set the barometer a little higher in the place of joy, faith, love and gratitude! I want to set a new normal in my life of abundant joy and unstoppable faith. It’s times likes these in the prayer room that are so refreshing and sustaining.
I’m excited for the rest of our staff to come back, but there’s been something so sweet about these days going after the Lord with just a handful of people. There’s just nothing quite like it.
Becca
