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"Christians often pray for an ‘open heaven’. In connection with our ministry earlier this year in the US and in Holland, Jason sensed the Lord saying that the prayer that’s needed today isn’t “open up the heavens”…....but rather, “open up the earth”. (God has always been available to us; it is we who have not been open to Him.) All of us at Key of David felt strongly that significant portions of these “live” ministry times ought to be made available to the public…….and, in fact, that God had already given us the title: “Open Up the Earth”. Little did any of us realize that in the ensuing months we would learn very personally what that title was all about.
We began enlisting help, traveling to Nashville and spending money in an effort to correct the obvious mistakes and begin the laborious mixing process. But as the weeks and months wore on there was a discontent amongst us with the results of that work. As we removed the mistakes and seemingly enhanced the recordings via mixing……the anointing seemed to be ebbing away. Eventually we concluded that we preferred the raw, off-the-board recordings much more so than the edited, mixed versions.
Then the Lord brought home the lesson. In the beginning when God first ‘opened up the earth’, it was raw: no trimmed trees, no dammed rivers, no tunnels and no levies. It was just creation in the rough……man had no hand in it……and it was beautiful! Without realizing it we had for months been working to ‘close up the earth’ when what God wanted was the raw, rough ‘creation’ that arose spontaneously during those ministry times.
Sometimes excellence results by correcting mistakes and doing what is needed to perfect the product. But that is not always the case! Striving for perfection……or making things relevant does not necessarily equate with excellence. At times what’s needed is to just trust in what was done originally and allow it to stand. That is what we have now done.
As such, “Open Up the Earth” is now a collection of 2 track, off- the-board, mixed-on-site audio recordings. Then we’ve added a DVD (a first ever for Jason), which mirrors much of Disc 1 from Harrisburg, PA. Disc 2 is from Holland with certain other material added. We are not referring to this as a conventional “live” project. Rather, “Open Up the Earth” is a series of Holy Spirit-led messages and prayers, put to song, as caught on tape during these times of worship. We trust you will enjoy and be blessed by them."
- Jason Upton |
