A CUP OF COLD WATER

DAY THREE -THURSDAY 1 JUNE 2023. 

This day was dedicated to Worship His Majesty, King Jesus (WHMKJ), a worship event which takes place annually in Jerusalem. WHMKJ is a worship altar that started with small beginnings in New York, USA in 2000. As at today, this worship altar has been raised in Lagos, Port Harcourt, London, Berlin, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Barbados, Jerusalem and New York. The convener of the worship altar is Pastor Elsie Obed, Founder of Lilies International Christian Outreach. Her ministry is based at The King’s Temple, 36, Franklin Avenue, Hewlett, New York, 11557, USA. Pastor Elsie has a heart for pure authentic worship of God and she invites like-minded worship ministers and instrumentalists from around the world to the annual WHMKJ event. From 2008 to 2015, I had the privilege of being a part of WHMKJ, New York, and I was blessed every time, and WHMKJ Jerusalem 2023 was no exception! 

From 12-2pm and before the WHMKJ event, Pastor Elsie held the scheduled first of the month meeting for the month of June 2023 with the theme: Progressive Excellence. She encouraged us to apply excellence in all we do, noting that excellence has no finish line. She said that what we do must exceed conventional expectations because of a love for loveliness and eternally noble thoughts. We must hunger for the Presence of God, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, be praise oriented and pray for the grace of progressive excellence (2 Corinthians 3:18; Deuteronomy 33: 12, 18-23 and Exodus 34:5-6). It was an awesome time.

The WHMKJ event took place at the Jerusalem Center for Peace and Truth and lasted five hours, from 3-8pm. The worship kicked-off with Bro. Emmanuel Johnson on the trumpet as we sang the theme song ‘Majesty, Worship His Majesty’. Then the Lilies International Christian Outreach (LICO) Band, a group of anointed worship ministers and instrumentalists led us in vibrant praise and worship with familiar and anointed songs. Pastor Elsie, a worshipper of God, also took her turn in leading us into singing love songs to our King Jesus. Afy Douglas, a Nigerian worship leader and the writer of the popular worship song, ‘Saviour’, performed it live and we all erupted in praise. Aaron T Aaron, a UK based worship minister led us in anointed praise and the final worship leader for the event was the popular Pastor Nathaniel Bassey, Nigerian based Worship minister and Trumpeter, who lead us in worship with his well-known and anointed songs. There were times of spontaneous praise with impromptu sessions on the saxophone, trumpet and drums, and the worship was interspersed with testimonies, blowing of the shofar, prayers, declarations and prophecies. The finale saw all the worship ministers and instrumentalists together leading us in worship. It was an awesome time and an unforgettable experience. The names of the LICO Band worship ministers are Glacia, Juliet, Grace and Abigail. Michael Dada was on the keyboard, Emerson on the guitar, Emmanuel on the guitar/trumpet, Chinedu on the saxophone and Afy Douglas played the drums.

At the end of WHMKJ, Pastor Elsie gave a testimony of how she came to know one of the ladies in the meeting. She recalled that the first time she came to raise the WHMKJ altar in Jerusalem, it was her first time to the country and she knew nobody. She said that at breakfast one morning at the King David hotel, she asked that the WHMKJ banner be displayed and it was after they displayed it that the lady, called Karen, approached her asking if she was connected with the program. Karen went further to explain to Pastor Elsie that she had been instructed by God to go and stay in the King David hotel and look out for something with the letter ‘W’ on it. So on seeing the banner for WHMKJ, Karen knew that she was to be a part of the program and to help Pastor Elsie, and she has been doing that since then. What a testimony of divine arrangements!

Also, Thursday 1 June was the birthday of my sister’s husband, Lee Murden. We sang the happy birthday song and rejoiced with him. Pastor Elsie brought the worship event to a close and that ended an amazing and blessed time in the Presence of God at WHMKJ Jerusalem 2023.