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Connie Staples

What we'll be singing up there

It say's in Revelation 14 they sung a new song, the song of the redeemed. Only the redeemed can sing this song. It's so spontaneous it has to come from your heart. When you get your heart right and you're right with Him, you're not two you're one with God. He said, "Father, give them the Glory that we had in the beginning," and He doesn't do things by half measures. I can see the hand of God in Henri and my life right from the beginning, even in our wedding hymn; it was, "Step by step to the Glory Land". I can remember the first song God gave me, at the Assemblies of God in Mansfield. I was 17, in a missionary meeting, just born again. I can remember being changed then and seeing everything through different eyes. I had such a desire for meetings. They sang a chorus, "Everybody should know….., I have such a wonderful Saviour that everybody should know". It got me, it was so real to my heart. I wept in those meetings. It was before Henri's time. I didn't meet Him until I was 18. I had such a desire for God! We used to get a few together people at our home around the piano

connie.gifWhen He anointed Henri and me, and when He had filled us, that song spontaneously broke out no matter where we were or whatever our circumstances were, He was there. There's a chorus we used to sing, "We'll sing in the morning the songs of salvation, We'll sing in the noontide the songs of His love, And when we arrive at the end of our journey, We'll sing the songs of Zion in the Courts Above".

When we first went out Henri couldn't use his gift. We had tried to stay within the denominations, but they wouldn't let him use his gift. They wouldn't let him play his accordion. "You're not to play choruses, you're not to shout and praise God", they said. Henri told them, "That's me finished". So out we came. He said, "I shall not die, I shall live and declare the Glory of God". There was just the two of us, and after that all the people at the church cut us off dead, but it didn't bother us at all. Henri said, "The Lord's not given me all this joy, and charged me inside for nothing". He said, "If I have no joy I can't witness". So he came out and witnessed to his customers. He went to pray for several people and they were healed. A chap, one of our customers, with a broken arm was healed, healed instantly. It scared him to death. He couldn't believe he was healed. So Henri said, "It's Sunday night, I'm going on Mansfield Market to see what's going on". There were three other groups having open airs there. Henri listened to all them. He said, "We need something here. We are coming here next week. I'll bring my accordion and get my staff to fix a loud speaker on my car". So we got a mike fixed up and we got there and the police came round, and said, "What are you doing?" Henri said, "We going to have an open air". The police said, "You can have between 9 and 10pm". Before we started they used to have to have six Black Marias on that market. There was so much fighting because drink was in the miners. The language, you could cut the air with it. We got going that Sunday night and they pressed so close to us you could hardly pull an accordion out. It wasn't long after we got singing that God's power came down in a wonderful way. The beauty of it was that the choruses we were singing at that time seemed to come from all round the world. People would come and visit and bring a new chorus and it would take off. We would get anointed. When we sang them, people would pick them up so easily, because the rhythm and the anointing was helping them. We only had to sing them twice and they were singing. It was lovely to hear them all singing with us in the Market. The folk said, "Don't go home yet, Henri", but the police said, "I'm sorry, my lad, the pubs are complaining. Their customers are dropping their pints and coming out here to listen. We can't allow that". Henri replied, "All right I'll definitely finish at 10 p.m." The police said, "I don't know what it is, but we only have to bring one Black Maria down here now. We hardly see any trouble. I don't know what it is. You come with a few choruses and a few hymns. You've cleaned the Market up". It was the Spirit of God taking over and the miners would say, "We we're singing all these down the pits the other night, Henri, and it was grand". To me that's the reality of the baptism of the fire.

On a September night a couple two miles away, George Robinson and his wife, were sitting in their back garden. He said, "We sat there and it was just like a bit of heaven". I remember the day when I prayed, I said, "Lord I just don't want to sing", I said, "Lord, I want you to give me a voice to wake the dead". And He did. That night, for those two, it was the means of their salvation that night. Henri used to say, "The singing is our secret weapon, They don't realise it's anointed of God. They'll never be the same again if they're listening". An old Salvation army man used to come on the Market listening, and when we'd finished the meeting there were crowds. They wanted to talk to us. That's why we took Betty and Roy and the young folk that started to gather round us, and we used to stand witnessing to all the folk. Sometimes we didn't get home until one o'clock in the morning, talking to folk about the Lord, getting them saved and healed. This old man was a lovely Salvationist. He said, "Henri, bye, this is real. I've been in the Salvation Army all my life, but I've never felt so happy as when I come and stand here. This is my church out here". He said to Henri, "I want you to pray for me. When I don't come here, I'm lonely. Will you pray for a nice wife a Christian?" Henri prayed there and then and a couple of weeks after that he came up smiling with a lady on his arm! He says, "He's done it, Henri. He's found her for me", and they were just an exact match and they both had the joy of the Lord.

The Jamaicans started to come along about this time. They naturally got with the rhythm and they were so blessed when they first came to the Glory meetings. It started with Linnet at an open-air in Nottingham Market. It was at the time of the first influx of Jamaicans coming over to Britain to live. They couldn't find any fellowship that they could go with. We were at the open-air and suddenly Linnet came to the front of the crowd. We were singing and she started to dance. The power of God just fell on her right there in the open-air. She said, "I've never done this before. It's wonderful, this is," She couldn't keep still. After the open-air we went to a meeting in Nottingham, we'd been asked to minister there and there were about seven or eight other Jamaicans there. Two of the elders, who were against the joy, sat on the front seat, very serious and ready to walk out. Suddenly there were about two or three Jamaicans coming down the aisle, dancing, just lost. One of them was dancing on her heals and suddenly she just sat on one of the elders knees. He couldn't move. She was rather large, and she started to lift up her voice and Henri went with it, and it set the place going. Woof!!!! God just took over, and nobody could stop it! God uses the joy in people. It manifests itself. It's not a show, it's reality, and you can't argue with it when God does it.

After that Henri insisted that people should stand up and be themselves, and speak from their experience. Henri used to say, "If you witness to truth that brings forth truth. It's in you". It's like with children. You can do things for them, but it's useless until you get them to do it for themselves. A true witness delivers souls. One day lived as a lion, is better than years as a dumb sheep. It dawned on Henri that they enjoyed the meeting, enjoyed the singing, and thought that was all we had. They thought we didn't believe the Bible because we weren't always reading it in meetings, but what was coming out of people was the living word. It was God that touched and changed people in the meetings and that made them read the Bible, where before they weren't bothering, leaving it to the preacher, sitting there like robots. This Gospel has to be spread, communicated to others. When you're born of the Spirit you've got to learn to live after the Spirit and that takes time. The old has to be purged out that the new might be manifest. When the vision's right and it's in harmony with God, it's wonderful! This is our vision and we won't be satisfied until, 'The whole world is filled with His Glory'. I believe it's coming to pass today. Religion is a cover up. The religious man will try to sew up the veil between us and God, that Jesus rent. The religious men couldn't believe their eyes, when God tore it down from top to bottom right before their very eyes in the temple that day. That's why in places they've tried to copy the Glory Way but it doesn't work. They daren't trust God for the full liberty. Let's believe God and walk with Him in these the last days and stand for this mighty move of His Spirit that He is bringing to this country.

Bless your Bride, Lord. Get them ready.

Connie Staples

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