“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NAS

Godspeed is an old spoken blessing that confers protection, provision and the peace of God on friends when the way ahead was not at all clear. There is a beautiful conversation between God and Moses in Exodus. The Lord is directing Moses where to lead the people. He is assuring him that He will send angels to guard them. Moses humbly interrupts God, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.’ In His great compassion God promises, ‘My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest.’

Then Moses says the most extraordinary thing: ‘Show me Your glory!’ It is a glorious thing, not just to know the will of God, but to experience His presence going with us. Moses wanted the glory of God to confirm their going out. Beloved, so should we.

These are harsh and troubled times. If we are to do God’s work and do it in His way we cannot do it without the gracious and empowering presence of God. There is only one place to find His glory and His presence, by humbling ourselves before Him, and giving Him preeminence in all we do. It is not OUR kingdom being established in the earth, but His.

The best I can give to those the Lord brings to us is how to get into the presence of God on their own. To experience Him in prayer, in worship. He will never leave them as they serve Him. Whenever I am asked to train new worship leaders, after spending just a bit of time on the practicalities, I have us take up our instruments and worship God together. Inevitably the presence of God falls because He is faithful to show Himself to those who hunger and thirst for Him. For the uninitiated it can be an amazing experience. Tears, laughter, a sense of wonder. We do not come out of the presence of God the way we went in. We receive an empowering that makes all other things seem so very small.

I have seen those worship leaders from that point on lead in a new way. Bold, holy, humbled and empowered. Not a lesson that is taught but rather, an impartation.

We all need ‘Godspeed’ as we go. We pray Godspeed on each and every one of you; that you know the fullness of His glory and the abiding peace of His presence wherever you go.

~ Debbie Ecker