His Worshipper

Anchored in the Heavenlies

2010-05-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

Anchored in the Heavenlies

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil... (Hebrews 6:19).

"Above the high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil!" I love that line from the hymn, "The Solid Rock." As my wife and I were worshiping and praying today, I sang that line several times and sensed the nearness, the presence, the assurance of God.

I was very grateful for that nearness, because, as I write this, there has been more month than money. The royalty check that I was counting on to pay the mortgage was lower than it has ever been and not nearly enough to help us get caught up financially. I have juggled bills and tried to figure out what to do, and I have been tempted to panic. Unfortunately, I am ashamed to say that I have even given in to that temptation at times.

This is not something new for me. Feast or famine seems to be the lot of this self-employed, traveling music minister. Although I must admit, we usually feast, and we never have been truly without food.

Many times, when I am in the midst of a difficult situation, I am reminded of the things I so easily share from the pulpit, "God will give you a peace that transcends your circumstances." Or, "He is faithful and even though the night gets long and dark sometimes, there has never been a night without a dawn."

I believe those things with all my heart, I really do. Still, though, sometimes they seem much easier to say than to live. Then there are mornings like this morning when I sensed so tangibly the presence of my Father God as I sang, "My anchor holds within the veil."

Jesus said "Blessed are you who have not seen and yet believe." Hebrews 11 tells us that, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

The truest demonstration of worship is when we can still trust Him even when things aren't going well. And for those of us involved in the worship ministry of our churches, how we worship when life is topsy-turvy will encourage others in their worship of God.

Do you want to hear how this financial need was met? I will tell you about it sometime. I know that it already has been met in the heavenlies, it will be manifested on earth somehow and, for now, this is all the answer I need.

Lord, I have a tendency to want quick fixes and easy answers. Forgive my lack of trust in You. When the answer is slower to come than I would like, I thank You that I still have the assurance of Your Word, Your Spirit and Your presence. Cause my heart--cause our hearts together--to believe that our citizenship really is in a higher place. Even in the midst of not seeing an easy answer, we still thank You for faith. And we don't mean merely wishful thinking, or using spirituality as an excuse to be lazy when we say the word "faith," but we thank You for the very real awareness of Your Father-heart for us. Great is Your faithfulness! Thank You that our anchor holds, strong and sure, within the veil! Amen!

Worship and Deliverance

2010-05-16T16:26:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, May 15, I sat on the front row of our local high school's auditorium and was "proud as a peacock" to watch my precious Josie Mae (age:6) participate in her dance academy's spring recital entitled, "Exodus." It was truly special and beautiful, for a real lack of better words. http://kellychristiedance.com/

Yes, I was surprised to open my worship study to find this next chapter entitled. "Worship and Deliverance: The story of Moses." I feel very inept and almost speechless in trying to eloquently and creatively summarize the magnitude of God's glory in this next chapter. At best, I'll recap the author's main points and attempt at examining just a few of the countless applications.

We'll start with Joseph. After Joseph leads in saving his people from famine, the Hebrew people "grew strong in the land." They had many children and grandchildren. (Exodus 1:7.) 400 years passed and along comes Exodus 1:9: "A new king arose who didn't know Joseph." I'll add, he didn't know Joseph or his God. So intimidated by their power and numbers, he turns the Hebrews into slaves.

Allow me to push fast forward, in full reverence, that is. My guess is that if your reading this, you can tell this story with me. So, Pharaoh's plan A, slavery, didn't diminish the Hebrews, their number's increased. Plan B: kill the newborn boys! These instructions were given to the Egyptian midwives. But these women feared the Lord and lied (which really interest me. Justified lying? Rahab lied. hmmm. well, another time.) "Those Hebrew women are stout! Their babies are born before we even get there!" And the Hebrews multiplied.
Plan C-genocide. Pharaoh decrees that all Hebrew newborn males be thrown into the Nile River. This is unthinkable but it happened. And don't forget, we'll never know how many Hebrew boys did drown. Could you imagine the horror? Well, one boy survived. (I'm forcing myself to stick to this blogs point, but oh my, the Sovereignty of God throughout this, AMAZING!) His Mother water-proofed a basket and he's found by the daughter of Pharaoh, and etc.

Moses grows up, not exactly looking like others in his house, he realizes he's not Egyptian. He murders an Egyptian taskmaster who was beating a fellow Hebrew, flees to the desert, meets Jethro, the Midian priest, works for him, and God blesses Moses with a home, a wife, a family and a calling.

I must fast forward, yet again. God calls Moses through a burning bush. Burning, but not consumed. Moses responds with three words that are pivotal to worship: "Here I am." You see Abram and Jacob had uttered these same words centuries before (Gen: 22:1 & 46:2.) Prophet Samuel and Isaiah would repeat these words centuries later. Why are three words so important? Obedience. Moses wasn't just in attendance, he was there and responded with an obedient heart.

Moses struggled with believing that God could use an ordinary man in an extraordinary way to achieve an impossible task. BTW-Unbelief is a terrible thing. It smothers the fire of vision, kills dreams, and halts the wheels of progress. Unbelief is a tool of Satan.

So Moses, age 80 & Aaron, age 83, stand before a king who truly thinks of himself to be a god. Thus, another worship war began.

We must remember that the Egyptian people were extremely religious. You name it ,and they had a god or goddess for it. Pharaoh was thought to be a manifestation of "Horus", the god of light. Pharaoh was also the central protector of "Maat", the universal ethical principle that stood for justice, order and truth. So by adhering to Pharaoh, the people were aligned with nature and with the god, Maat.

No wonder Pharaoh was so ghastly offended at Aaron's & Moses' demand from the one true God. So God declares war. He sends 10 plagues. I've often marveled at the different things God sent and how and why He chose those plagues. Don't miss this! When God assailed Egypt with the 10 plagues, He was casting the universal order of creation, the god, Maat, into chaos. Just watch:

Plague 1:
Water to blood. The Egyptians worshipped the Nile River and its god, "Napy." For a full week, every drop of water in Egypt was blood. Fish were dead, the river begin to stink, and blood was everywhere.
Pharaoh's response: a hard heart.

Plague 2:
Frogs. I've always thought this was random and yes, horrible, but frogs? God, you should've done roaches!
But God was making a mockery of "Het", the frog-headed goddess of fertility. She couldn't call off the frogs. So frogs were in the bed, in the ovens, etc. (Anyone else picturing Charlton Heston about now?)
Pharaoh's response: ok, you can go...liar. Moses prayed, the frogs die, and Pharaoh goes back on his word.

Plague 3:
Gnats. God instructs Moses to strike the dust and the dust turns to gnats, That's allot of gnats! This was an embarrassment to all who worshipped "Geb", the "god of the earth." The Egyptians gave homage to this god for the fertile soil, yet from this soil came a pestilence the Geb could not stop.

Plague 4:
Insects. Many translations say flies but this word wasn't in the original. Moses only wrote great swarms covered the land. Many scholars believe it could've been "scarabs", which were used to represent the god "Ra." Whichever they were, these insects were a humiliation to both Ra and Khepfi, god of insects.

Plague 5:
Disease in the animals. Remember, Egyptians worshiped their animals. God was scourging "Apis", the bull-deity, and several other gods that bore the head of other farm animals.

Plague 6:
Boils-painful, inflamed pustules all over their bodies. This outbreak flew in the face of both "Imhotep",the god of medicine and healing, and "Thoth" the god from whom physicians received their healing power.

Plague 7:
Hail accompanied by lightning. Killing animals and humans, destroyed homes, farms, trees, etc. And where was "Nut" the sky goddess, all this time? God proved her impotent in the face of His judgement.

Plague 8:
Locusts. If there was anything left after the insects, blood, disease, frogs, hail, it was certainly destroyed by the creatures that covered the land so much so that the ground couldn't be seen. And the god of grain, the god of vegetation, and the goddess of the harvest were silent and powerless.

Plague 9:
Darkness. God confronts "Re", the god of the sun. Ra had associations with creation, fertility, victory in war, and justice so when darkness covered the land for 3 full days, so thick you could feel it, this was an insult to the Egyptian belief system.

Plague 10:
The death of every first born son, even the animals. 4So Moses said, "Thus says the LORD: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8An all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, 'Get out, you and all the people who follow you.' And after that I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

God gives Moses instructions for the Israelites that night & at midnight, with blood over their doors, Israel would worship God together. Though every family would be in their own homes, worshipping privately, all families would be worshipping collectively at the same time.

Wow. Right? Just wow, is all I can say. You know the rest of the story.

All the gods mentioned above aren't around any longer. No one worships them. So what does this story have to teach us about worship?

God will fight for His worship. Has God ever attacked and humiliated your gods? ouch. I know, but it must be observed. Anything we love more than Him is a god and Yahweh will not share His glory. Is God at work in your life tearing down any gods? It's painful but necessary.
God will defend His worshippers. Our enemy, the devil, seeks to destroy our worship. Satan will afflict us and try to rob us of our joy and reason to praise God. But God wants to be our song.

But how do we approach God, as we seek to worship Him? Let's learn from Moses.

Moses covered his face at the burning bush. Why? because of an awestruck fear and reverential awe. Are you in awe of who He is? Shouldn't we be?

So come before Him. Worship Him. Be awestruck by His presence. Each time you are, you will be changed, because He is the one true God.

Psalm 46:10- Be still and know that He is God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

New Clothes for Easter?

2010-03-23T14:43:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! Curious about the subject line? You'll have to read till the bottom to see what I mean! (DON'T SCROLL!)

I just wanted to send out a lil encouragement to you all on taking a step this Easter season in teaching your children the holiday's meaning and message that truly is the core value system of Christianity!

Here's an easy read article from focus on the family and at the bottom you can click on "Next article in this series" and there are several in the Easter line of thought.

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/celebrating_the_easter_season.aspx

Another really neat idea is "Resurrection Eggs." Christy & I picked up a dozen at Family Christian Store in Gainesville last night for $13! They're plastic eggs each filled with an object that leads up to the crucifixion of Jesus. http://www.familychristian.com/shop/product.asp?ProdID=119502 We plan on making it like an advent or lent. We'll start tomorrow night and end Easter Sunday AM with the last egg. It also comes with a guide book so you know EGGxactly what to say. (i couldn't resist)

I want to share from experience: at the suggestion of a Focus on the Family article, http://www2.focusonthefamily.com/focusmagazine/spiritualheritage/A000000600.cfm

my family & I started an advent wreath this past Christmas. There's many forms out there, this one we had put in a daily devotion form. I remember being skeptical as I read the article boast, "This will become your family's most cherished Christmas traditions!" Listen, it really did. We began to really, really look forward to it. Every Christmas card we received, we'd place them by our wreath then that night in devotions, we'd pray for that family. (so if you sent us a card, you got prayed for! hehehe.) In fact, we were so skeptical, we didn't go buy THE advent wreath and official advent candles, ours was homemade. BUT, in January, while in a Christian bookstore, we were thrilled to find a beautiful advent wreath on after-Christmas clearance and we pray this will be a memorial every season to our devotion and love for the Savior.

Ok, so, all that to say-we're hoping the Lord blesses these efforts and through this season, may our children glean a deeper understanding of the cross of Jesus. I'd love to hear your feedback and/or input on how you impress your children's hearts!

p.s.-After their baptisms, early Christians wore white robes all through Easter week to indicate their new lives. Those who had already been baptized wore new clothes to symbolize their sharing a new life with Christ.

They may not come from a department store, but Christ clothes us in His righteousness. So, will you have new clothes this Easter?

Worship & Promise

2010-03-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

"Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you! So let's just praise the Lord! Right arm, left arm ..."

How many times have I sang this song and by the end your spinning and flailing every limb you've got until you plop down exhausted begging for more! Why? Why did Abraham have many sons including me & you so that we should "just praise the Lord?" I'd like to share that Abraham, who started out as Abram, enjoyed the promise of God through a way of life, worship.

Abram worshipped by obeying

These days, people often equate "worship" with the singing of songs, the raising of hands, the shouting of praises, or some other demonstration of adoration to God. But true worship begins with obedience. Without it, every song is meaningless and ceases to be worship. In fact, if we are not eager to obey what God asks of us, we are not even ready to worship. It is worship's very foundation.
When we look at Abraham, we see a man who was ready to obey, no matter what God told him to do. Leave your country. Yes, God. Sacrifice Your Son. Yes, God. If we are to worship God, we must be ready to obey.

Worship doesn't begin with a perfect vessel

And all God's people said? AMEN! Don't forget that Abraham was a two-time liar. "She's not my wife, she's my sister," twice! (Gen. 12 & 20) He was an adulterer, all to eager to at the mere suggestion, to sleep with a woman who was not his wife. And he was a doubter. He doubted God's loyalty to His promise for a son. In fact, laughed at God. "It's a terrible thing when we imagine that the Almighty needs our help. But we often do." That's what Abram & Sarai did when they plotted their own way to conceive a child. Ishmael was born of Hagar, a slave, and that baby became the father of the Arab nations and today, his descendants live in hostility with their "brothers."
BUT...God still loved Abram and God loves you too. He can make a vessel of honor if we humble ourselves and worship Him. God can take all of our weaknesses and shape us, as pottery, into something beautiful. Look at what He shaped out of Abraham: the nation of Israel? What could He shape out of you?

Worship Involves Routine

Authentic Worship requires a regular worship routine. Abraham built altars. It was his custome, his routine. We need altars too. And while it's true we can worship God anywhere, at any time, God is not impressed when we worship Him only while we're on the go. A set apart time & place for private worship where you sing, pray, praise, read His word, dance, etc. Sound unreachable for you? Does God deserve anything less?

There's More Than One Way to Worship

Abraham worshipped God by Obeying, at altars, and he also worshipped by giving a tithe. (Gen. 14:8-20)
Abraham worshipped through sacrifices, and he worshipped through complete surrender. Can we, like Abraham, meet with God at an altar? Can we give of our substance? Can we surrender our all? Isaac was Abraham's all, and yet he was willing to give him up for the love of God. Certainly we can offer God our lives to His service.

Worship begins in the presence of God

Every time Abraham was faithful to God through Worship, God made His presence knownand reaffirmed His relationship with Abraham by revealing more of Himself. Remember, God is all about relationship. As we worship Him, He will favor us with His presence, and as our relationship with Him grows, He will reveal more and more of who He is.

Worship brings reward

Abraham was blessed for his unceasing worship of the one true God. God promised him a son, a nation, a people, decendants. And He delivered. It will be the same for you. You worship through obedience, routine, tithe and surrender and God will deliver, and you will reap the promise of God.

Worship Wars

2010-02-21T15:53:00.002-05:00

Daddy: Why were you created?

Josie Mae (age 6): To glorify God.

This is called Catechism. A year ago I would've heard that word and said cata who? But I've been, and am still in, a learning process on how to pass on a real faith to my children and raise them to have authentic love for Jesus. Catechism isn't just a religious word. It basically means a method of teaching principles through questions and answers. But probably the most popular Catechisms are those of theology. I've heard 2 different speakers that I respect and follow suggest this process for teaching children so a few months ago, off I went into Catechism land. With every question and answer we've worked on, the anticipation in me has grown stronger. I'm anticipating Josie Mae asking or responding with something that will allow me to impress her heart. A week or so ago, I asked, "Why were you created?" To which she replied, "To glorify God." But there was something different this time. I could see the wheels turning and there it came: "Daddy, um, why would God want His own glory?" Inside I thought, "YES!!!!!" At last! Realizing she's waiting on an answer, I begin to stutter. "umm, umm, well, you see, Baby..etc. I knew the answer, but the challenge of packaging it for a 6 year old led me to quickly plead for the Spirit to help me.

I had the privilege of explaining to my daughter that if God didn't exalt Himself above all other things, and if He hadn't created her to bring Him glory, then He wouldn't be loving. For since He IS the creator and the sustainer of His creation, how could the creation glorify anything else? Why would the creation want to glorify anything else? Anything else, other than God, is void of the supernatural power and truth that God is. So if God allowed us to have a worship free for all, He wouldn't have loved us very much, cause He is ultimate satisfaction of our souls.

God knew this. Of course He did. He's God and He's the Creator. Adam & Eve were totally fulfilled until the serpent tempted Eve by stealing her faith and her contentment. Perhaps God was holding out on Eve and she would not die like God said they would-doubt. Satan was helping Eve doubt God for the first time then she began to question His integrity and His motives. Then Satan leads Eve to believe that if she ate this fruit her eyes would be open and she'd be like God-discontentment. Now Eve thinks God is holding out on her.

This war of worship was not the beginning of the battle, no, it was actually the 2nd phase. Worship War #1 was between God and Satan. Satan-the epitome of God's creation. But wickedness was found in his heart (Ezekiel 28) and Satan became jealous of God's eminence in the universe and desired to be high and exalted like God.

hmmm-noticing a pattern here?

So Worship War #1, the beginning of War, was over Satan exalting himself above the glory of God. Worship War #2-Satan vs. Man, Satan plants seeds of doubt and discontentment into Eve and paints God as a manipulating God. Eve fell for Satan's propaganda -and bowed to the idol of "self." The very idol Lucifer exalted above God and had faced the wrath of God for. The Wars continue...

Worship War #3-Cain vs. Abel. Simply put-God discerned Cain's heart and knew that his motive wasn't right in his sacrifice. Cain's motive was self exaltation. Even when offered a second chance, Cain refused. He would've rather nursed his wounds of esteem than be in right standing with God. You know the result. Murder.
Worship War #4, #5, #6, #7, and so on, still rage. The worship battles we face today are most always driven by the same self-interest that was found in Lucifer, Eve & Cain. One way or another, "I wanna do it my way" spirit is the energizer for the worship wars then and now.

An unfathomable 72 million people died in WW II. What an unbelievable cost of one man's self-exaltation. Yet the battle scars from these "worship wars" are truly innumerable. Everything changed after the fall, including man's worship. Where once it was natural and free it was now inhibited because of mankind's altered physical proximity with God.

The first 3 worship wars I've outlined above are heartbreaking but in them we see:
1. Misguided worship begins in the heart. The very first seeds of it sprouted in the heart of Satan. He couldn't bring down the Creator so he goes after the dearest thing to God's heart, His creation. He wants to plant these seeds in your heart too. Most people aren't going to be led into worshipping the devil directly, but countless souls around the world worship him indirectly when the bow to the idol of "self" just like Satan did, by trying to worship "their way." What's worse is when they enforce their way. Like Cain, innocent people are harmed in the cross-fires of worship wars.

But God is a God of 2nd chances. He gave Adam & Eve another son-Seth. They had lost both of their sons. One murdered and the other, the murder in exile. But Seth comes and is the head of the Messianic line. Through him came "the Desire of all Nations (Hag. 2:7)-Jesus Christ. We are to worship Him and Him alone, His way. May it be so. Amen.

I Come to the Garden...for a few minutes.

2010-02-14T15:41:00.000-05:00

Worship Before the Fall

     It's been said that "loneliness is the unspoken disease of the soul." But God never intended for us to experience it. He created us to enjoy relationships, because He is the God of relationships. Just think: you don't remember people's wealth or corporate achievements after their dead, you remember how they treated you. We recollect the relationship we've had with them.

     Can you imagine the relationship with God before sin? I mean, really. Complete peace with your family. Uninterrupted rest, waking to security in God's love. All day you're guided by His presence and in the evening, you return home to walk with Him just for the relationship's sake. Adam and Eve loved to be with God and God loved to be with them. They were the ONLY creation privileged to worship One in whose image they had been made. Even though the angels worship and the stars were created for it, we, humans, are the only creation made with a desire in us to worship Him.

To top it off, our first parents were given Eden to worship and dwell in. God placed them where He would also dwell, an place of unimaginable beauty and wonder. Precious stones, rivers, bountiful fruit and vegetation, it was as if God was saying, "Adam, Eve, this garden is all about you and Me." With an entire planet at their disposal, all of the world's goings on, it would have been so easy for Adam and Eve to get distracted-so much to see, so much to do, so much to be involved in...sound familiar? But in the peaceful quiet of a pristine garden, they could focus. Undistracted communion with God. They could worship, perfectly.

Principles of Worship

• God is all about relationship. Proof? Creation of man in His image. Only He can satisfy the inner craving that He has put there. When we respond to His call to relationship and worship we fulfill the purpose for which He made us.

• Where we worship matters. Worship cannot take place where noise is abundant and distractions are many. We cannot worship fruitfully where there are countless voices all vying for our attention. We'll miss His voice. We cannot worship perfectly where clock is King. God Himself must be King, and we must spend time with Him, in a place unoccupied by anything that would manipulate our worship, making it manufactured rather than a natural outflow of our love for God. We must find our own "Eden." In other words, we must get alone with God. This is when worship becomes fruitful and we're brought into the very presence of God and our relationship is deepened.

• Worship brings multiplication. We don't know how long God allowed man to live in the garden. But we do know creation multiplied in the garden. And there will be multiplication in our personal Eden as well. Psalm 16:11 says "there is fullness of joy" and as we experience it, we will praise God. God responds to our praise by giving us multiplied joy, over and over as we worship.

God's specific design and purpose for our lives, individually and collectively, is worshipping Him. "If we do not honor this purpose," wrote Tozer, "our lives will degenerate into shallow, selfish, humanistic pursuits." Even though see through a glass darkly (I Cor 13:12), we must pursue to worship God as best we can.

     May the clocks, appointments, ipods, TV's, after school activities, and even Christian or church programs become strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

His Worshipper

2010-02-07T16:12:00.003-05:00

His Worshipper...I must make these words more than an email auto-signature. You see, "His Worshipper" has already been determined as my purpose. Yours too.

I'd like to start a new chapter in blog-land dedicated to a journey of Biblical Worship. I don't think there are words that could convey how uninviting and non-compelling the music style war is. Oh I've fought them before! Vigorously! Even then, I felt in my spirit that I wasn't spot on. I've been brought to a place in my life where I'm moving past a culture style, church preference, even what sounds good to me, even...melodic music itself. I'm ready to explore Biblical Worship.

Admittedly, it would be foolish to press into Biblical Worship alone or unguided. I'm reading a book entitled, "Called to Worship" by Vernon Whaley. I'm sure I'll miss some quotation marks so understand that if you read something profound here, it's probably from him! I'd never try to claim it as my own. My intent here is to share w/ you my family in the faith insights then application regarding Biblical Worship.

In the Beginning

I've always been really intrigued by the account of creation. I mean, really. It mesmerizes me. But I have left it in a nice little box called "Creation". As I begin this book, the author begins in the beginning and wow. Here's a sampling:
"As God began to present the plot of his eternal story in the first book of the Bible, a strategy called revelation was unveiled: God initiated the task revealing Himself through Creation. He gave an eyewitness account of the event of the ages and opened the windows of heaven to reveal His glory, character, love, and wisdom so that we can know Him. Why? Our instinctive response in knowing God personally is worship. And worship is His strategic plan for all creation."

Worship Principles:

• The wonder of God demands our worship of Him. God is God. Supreme. He was not created. He was the cause, we, the effect. He wills and dwells where He chooses and He chose to dwell with man. Our response: worship.

• The work of God demands our Worship of Him. His work in Creation in beyond our comprehension. It's His work. He said, "let there be light," bringing the universe from darkness to illumination. His redemptive plan does the same for us. From darkness to light. His work. Unmerited favor.

• The wisdom of God demands our worship of Him. Every leaf on a tree, petal on a flower, every caterpillar that turns to a butterfly...Sovereign Wisdom. Yet these creations’s end is to magnify its Creator. Only humanity's end is to dwell with our Creator and be His children. When you "get" this, you'll praise Him.

• The wishes of God demand our worship of Him. "Let Us make man (Gen. 1:26) But Why? Because He wanted to. "The whole import and substance of the Bible teaches us that the God who does not need any thing nevertheless desires the adoration and worship of His created children." A.W. Tozer

My thoughts in summary: the church (Christians) may have never been so caught up in "Worship Wars" then we are today. Never have we been so divided that ministers now seek to divide the body to ensure that everyone's flesh preference is met. Genesis 1:2 tells us that God's Spirit was moving over the water. The earth was formless and void, God was moving. God was in motion. Even in the darkness, God was making His presence known. While we cannot see God's Spirit, we can sense His presence. And just as His Spirit moved across the waters, I rest worshipfully that He is moving and carrying out His plan. He's NOT waiting for us to get it right, AMEN! He moves, He reveals, He stirs, and He is God. And me, well I'm...
His Worshipper.

Week 7-Using Our Tools Wisely

2009-10-12T10:08:00.003-04:00

Day 1-It's Not About Style

Today's thoughts are great and true. Truthfully, it's a truth that is only accepted after the individual has embraced a mindset of servant hood and humility. Our writer very appropriately put this subject directly after week 6 which was all on Leadership and went in depth on truths like:
(summary on week 6) Are we Ministers through Music? Is Ministry what we do or is it who we are? / Recognition isn't required! The very nature of our "business" is help people fall in love with God and ONLY God. / The Law of God's Elevation. What comes down in through humility will go up through Christ-like exaltation. Because we were created for God's glory, glorifying Him brings us the most fulfillment possible. The challenge is releasing our definition and terms of what that exaltation and His glory in us looks like. For many it's suffering, loss, hardships, etc. His glory is revealed when His grace is sufficient. /Earning God's privilege to lead. Those who should sing are those who are called. Those who would sing are those with passion. Those who could sing are those with discipline and those who get to sing are those with integrity. / The Discipline of Difficulties. If you haven't been tested by fire, you do not know who you are, you cannot be a leader.

A man found a cocoon in his office. He set the cocoon on a shelf and waited for it to hatch. After a day or so, nothing had happened and the man grew impatient. He took a razor blade and
slit the cocoon ever so carefully. Sure enough, within a few minutes, out came a beautiful Emperor Moth. As it spread its gorgeous wings, the gentleman waited for it to fly high into the air. But instead, the moth wandered over to the ledge and dropped off onto the floor. Distraught, he asked an entomologist why his prized moth couldn't’t fly. The insect expert explained that when the man slit the cocoon, he deprived the moth of the very struggle it needed to build strength in its wings. In fact, the expert said, the moth would never fly.

So, after week 6 and all it's probing truth, we approach the ever-brewing subject of style. I love our writer's Biblical observation: Worship throughout the Bible doesn't follow a standard of style, new songs or old. You find it all: lament, rejoicing, dancing, silence, knees to the earth, standing, lying in bed, creatures around the throne, creation, Old songs (Jeremiah 6:16) and new songs (Psalm 96:1). The only current theme through it all is the focus of the worship, the theme of the song. It is God and God alone. For His is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever, amen!

Week 6, Day 2

2009-10-06T15:58:00.002-04:00

Recognition Is Not Required

1 Peter 5:6a- "So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God..."

There's a really interesting point today regarding recognition for the Worship Leader. List the Prophets and Preachers in the Bible. Then besides their names, list the Worship Leaders from the Bible. A bit different, uh? Why?

"The more recognition and popularity we as musicians and worship leaders are showered with, the more difficult it is for us to point starry-eyed people from us to the Father. By the very nature of our "business," we must help people fall in love with God and only God."

What are three reasons you could come up with today, to tell someone as to why they should lift Jesus higher than yourself? Will you use one of them today?

Week 6-Qualities of Leadership

2009-10-06T15:39:00.004-04:00

Day One: Ministers Through Music

Today was such a goodie! "We may impress people from distance, but we'll only impact them as they see our lives up close."

How do you see yourself: as a musician who is a Christian or a Christian who is a musician? The way we answer that question will determine how we approach music throughout our lives.

Four levels of Effectiveness:
Level One: The Song Leader. This person wants to show up, sing/play then leave. "It's better to have 10 people who are sold on music ministry than 100 who are just showing up."
Level Two: Music Director. They know how to sing or what to play and have a focus on excellence and their organization is great. They tend to forget or lose sight of why they're doing it.
Level Three: Minister of Music. Committed to excellence and pleasing God. However, their ministry is limited to the church stage.
Level Four: Minister through Music. They still desire the excellence of level 2 and see the blessing musical praise can beto God and others! However, Level 4 realize that our music is not the minister, we are the ministers. God didn't ordain the music to bless Him and others, but ordained us to serve Him. And we have a responsibility to serve whether we're making music or not.

"Ministry is more about who we are than about something we do."

Week 4-5

2009-10-02T09:41:00.006-04:00

It's been a while for the blog post! I'd like to give a short review of weeks 4-5.
Week 4-Hearing God's Voice
"We must learn to look below the surface of what we can see and hear with our physical senses. We must discern what God is up to." This requires us to be saved, sensitive and surrendered. Perhaps you are saved but sensitive? Surrendered? Jesus said, you who have ears, let him hear. Jesus knew everyone he spoke to had physical ears, but he knew not everyone was listening.

Are you?

Why listen to God? Let's answer that by developing our crisis mind-set.

Desperation for God. This desperation will come when we see our true state of urgent need of Him.
Determined to hear from God. Do we want to hear from God or do we HAVE to?
Decided that God would speak. God's move and power isn't just a hope or a wish, it's a waited upon response to our plea. It's not presumption, it's faith. It's not a matter of if; it's only a matter of when.

The Characteristics of God's Voice-is it Familiar? Personal? Simple and Clear? Loving?

God's Words:

are consistent with the Bible
may conflict with human wisdom
may clash with our fleshly nature
will challenge our faith
will require courage

Fine-Tuning our ears:

Practice Listening
Focus our thoughts
Respond to every impulse from the Holy Spirit

In week 4, we have spiraled up. We have developed a closer relationship with the Holy Spirit. We have learned that we're His sheep that can hear His voice. We learned that as worship leaders we MUST hear from God. And we learned to fine-tune our spiritual hearing ears to more easily hear from the Lord.
WHY? Because our goal every day is to connect with Almighty God.

Week 5-Essentials of Effective Worship Services

Prayer-"every work of God can be traced to some kneeling form." -Dwight L. Moody
What if the entrance exam to the Choir loft each week was, "are you hearing from Heaven"? Prayer puts our focus where it belongs. "God can only bless people who are in tune...with Him and with one another. That is why we begin every choir practice with a season of prayer...The choir's ability to minister can never be better than their spiritual tone." -Carol Cymbala (Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir)
Prayer sensitizes us to God's voice. Prayer gets results.
Planned Spontaneity-We plan out distractions and plan in both flow and freedom to obey whatever God tells us to do. Are we ready for our planned song or music set to be interrupted for God to do something else? Maybe as a Choir member your reply is, "sure!" But are you ready for Him to do the same in your day today?
Pliableness-Our willingness to be flexible. This comes down to trust. Trusting God even when we don't understand Him. Whether in a spontaneous worship moment in Church or in your week. Either God is Sovereign or He's not. To be pliable means to be bendable, workable and moldable.
Power in the Spirit-Jim Cymbala, pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City, writes,“Our attempt at ministry will be an absolute exercise in futility if we are not
expecting and experiencing divine help through the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is not enough to teach and preach about the Spirit. We must experience him
personally in new depths, or we will accomplish little. Without the Holy Spirit
there is no quickening of the Scripture. Worship is hollow. Preaching is mechanical,
never piercing the heart.” If in Luke 3:21-4:19 Jesus needed the power of my Spirit to be effective in ministry, how much more must you have the Holy Spirit anointing your life?
Adrian Rogers writes, “In my estimation, the cause of Christ has been hurt far more by Christians who were carnal and not Spirit filled than by Christians who were drunk.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is really more about getting unfilled with ourselves.
Here are the simple steps necessary to ensure we remain filled with him.
(1) We must completely surrender every room and closet of our heart’s home.
Well has it been said, “If he’s not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all.” (2) Then we
invite him to come and fill us up with only himself. (3) To continue being filled,
we must daily claim his filling and continually surrender afresh to his voice and
direction.
Pastoral Direction-Before we can have the blessings of God on our music ministry—or any other ministry, for that matter—we must acknowledge and submit to the authorities
God has placed above us. (See Hebrews 13:17.)
Please read 1 Peter 5:5. Notice what our attitude should be.
1 Peter 5:5-In the same way, you younger men must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for "God opposes the proud but favors the humble."

The most fruitful day for me was day 5 of week 4: Expecting to Hear, pg 71-73. The exercise with Psalm 23 was amazing. WOW-God's Word IS alive. Can I beg you all to do this before Sunday? please?
Love ya Choir! O, here's a video for you. After the Psalm 23 exercise, I was reminded of this song I sang in High School Choir. It's SO different than what we sing in church, but I still LOVE it. Even though it may not be your style, I'd ask you to just listen and meditate on the passage.

FBCLB Homecoming 2009

2009-09-28T16:23:00.001-04:00

Week 2-Understanding Praise

2009-09-11T11:09:00.005-04:00

Day 1-Praise is Inevitable. In the "My daily praise" section we're instructed to read Revelation 5 and even make up a tune when the verses express a song. If I can be honest, I feel like this could be an easy "opt-out" for most of us. Make up a tune? How silly? What if someone hears me? Let me urge you to read Revelation 5 as truth, and that scene is happening right now, and one day, you'll be in the scene as well! Don't lose the Heavenly perception of God and the praise He's due. He's far more more worthy than our minds could imagine, so go on, sing to Him.

Day 2-Perfect Praise. This is so convicting. Perfect Praise emerges from a worshipful heart, happens when we approach Him trusting, humble and in total dependence, like children, and Perfect Praise happens when we depend on God to initiate and perfect our praise. WOW! So it's our responsibility to have a pure heart, child-like approach, but ultimately, we must depend on God to put the praise in us. Is our praise of our own mustering and manipulation of emotion? Or is God birthing praise from the Spirit of God in you?
Day 3-Ways to Praise. Eight expressions of praise starting with the visible: kneeling, dancing and raising hands. I love how I'm learning real definitions through this study. Like when 2 Chronicles 20:18 says they worshipped the Lord, the word worship is the Hebrew word "shachaw", which means to bow down, reverence, fall down, stoop and crouch. "Yadah", the Hebrew word in Nehemiah 8:5-6 & II Chronicles 20:21b. Yadah is praise and thanks to God by lifting your hands, throwing out your hands! When the singers went 1st before the enemy is II Chron, they not only were singing, but they were lifting their hands, NOT in surrender to the enemy, but in praise to God! WOW! That could be a good southern gospel song right there!
Day 4-Vocal Praise. If you're redeemed, say so! Shout! Sing! Speak it! I think you'll experience a break through in your visible and vocal praise when its not up to you to come up with it. When it's praise that God initiates in your spirit, you'll say so, you'll have to.
Day 5-Audible Praise. I can't help but be drawn back to this point. Praise in inward-out. Look over the 8 expressions of praise: kneeling, dancing, raising hands, shouting, singing, speaking, playing an instrument and clapping. If these expressions are far removed from your real day to day life, then you must return to Day 2 of this week. God must work something in you. Don't let this week's study pass you by. It's absolutely essential.

Expression literally means: "indication of feeling, spirit, character, etc., as on the face, in the voice, or in artistic execution." An expression is secondary to the source from which it comes. In other words, you can't express gratitude to someone if you're not grateful. And if you do, they usually can tell you're not sincere. You can't express love to someone you don't love. You can't express praise to God if praise isn't in you. Is your heart worshipful? Are you coming to God in trust, dependence and humility? Are you seeking for God to put the praise in your heart?
Psalm 51:15-"O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise."

Week 1, Day 5-True Worship Changes Us

2009-09-08T10:22:00.009-04:00

This video below is the song that the Lord has put in my heart lately. It's over 400 years old, but the words are like a salve or ointment to my heart and soul. I do believe that songs can bear an anointing from God and I believe this one does. My mind and heart has been very anxious for months now and this song rings in my heart continuously and is a calming truth from God's comforting spirit. I can't help but rest in His Sovereign love and truly I am changed when I worship Him. Thank You, Jesus.
Psalm 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. 26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

Week 1, Day 4-Lifting Up Thanksgiving and Praise

2009-09-04T11:02:00.005-04:00

For what it's worth, I want you to know that I haven't read ahead and done the devotions before you. I wanted to learn together. So, each day, I read and am confronted just like you are. I love how day by day, the foundation is being built for great truth and learning to take place. PLEASE don't miss it by rushing through or waiting until Saturday or Sunday afternoon right before Choir practice to read through the previous week's material. You will miss it if that's the case.

Today, this Biblical principle of Thanksgiving and Praise isn't a shallow or simple truth. Just like in the devo's example of a life situation that took the couple by storm, they were faced, like we all are, with life circumstances out of their control and to be thankful in them? Impossible, it seems! The truth of I Thess 5:18 is the key: be thankful IN the circumstance, not because of them. The only way this will be is if you have an "upward" focus on the Sovereignty of God and take refuge in Him.

Look at this played out in one of my favorite passages:
Lamentations 3:
16 He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. 17 Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 I cry out, “My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the Lord is lost!” 19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. 20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23 Great is his faithfulness;his mercies begin afresh each morning. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”

Week 1, Day 3-Worship in All Directions

2009-09-03T12:44:00.008-04:00

Upward, Inward, Outward: Click on the Devotion's Title Above! This will link you to a short video from the Youth Choir Camp I took our Middle Schoolers to and the evangelist, Derwin Gray, taught us this concept: Upward, Inward, Outward!

There's not too much I can add here. This is where the rubber is starting to meet the road, where this devotion goes from casual to convicting and compelling.

I'm eager to get into upward! But I confess, too often I do find myself trying to keep worship one direction, upward. This is the first clue that the very definition of my worship is off, right? As we read in our text, our outward relations are a outflow of our worship to God. ouch for sure! When I'm crossed, disagreed with, challenged or questioned, what's my reaction like? Is it flesh that conflict coincides with or is it a Spirit-filled Worshipper? Well, I've confessed! Now it's someone Else's turn!

Week 1, Day 2-"Created for His Praise"

2009-09-01T16:55:00.007-04:00

Created For His Praise? When I read the passage for today, I was somewhat detached from the excitement you hear in Paul's writing. vs. 3 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ." Then, after reading it a second time, now with a heart focus rather than an academic focus, the Lord opened my eyes to observe the source of Paul's joy and excitement. Notice how every mention of "us", meaning you and me, there's a direct link or connection to God/Jesus or something only He can do. This was humbling and thrilling. vs 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
So, if you can find "us" in the grand picture of creation, you find God making the way for us to be there. No wonder Paul was so excited and said, "did this so we would praise and glorify him."

Truly, we were created to praise God. You can find yourself mentioned in scripture! You're spoken and accounted for because God put you there by His fore-thought, love and grace. Do you put yourself out of it? Do you work against your created purpose of praise? "Our future doesn't depend on our faithfulness but on His, who saved us by grace in order that we might show His glories forevermore."

Week 1, Day 1

2009-09-01T11:58:00.005-04:00

First Day and it's already sparked my inner man to action. I shouldn't say "it", rather, the Word of God.
I've read II Chronicles 20:1-30 many times actually several time over the last year. It started with a publication I used to receive for Worship Leaders that included an article on this passage. Some of you probably remember me referring to it. When I read the instruction to read the passage, truthfully, I almost opted out, because of my familiarity with it. I'm so glad I didn't bypass this part. His Word isn't like a movie or something that since you've seen it a few times, you can skip it. Why? Because the Word of God is the only...thing, for lack of better a term, that's a tangible, real, object that has a real and true supernatural power. So all that to say, don't be like me and think you could skip the scripture reading when it's familiar.

vs18 of our passage today says: "Then King Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord."

"According to Strong's Concordance, the word worship here means 'to bow down, prostrate oneself before a superior in homage, before God in worship.'" -Pure Praise Devotional, pg 13.
If we aren't surrendering to Him as Lord, not just acknowledging that He is Lord, but surrendering ourselves to His lordship in us is a prostrate type way, then our worship isn't Biblical.

The challenge is to put worship or what we think of it under the scope of a Biblical worldview and be honest with ourselves. Perhaps we've drifted from this Biblical worship. Perhaps? Nah, most assuredly we have.

In the section, "My daily praise", the question is posed, "How has God recently shown Himself gracious, merciful, or powerful in your life?" (pg 14) It would be very easy to run right through these words and give them little consideration because of our Christian vernacular. Please don't. Take each word and write it in the provided section on pg 14 of your workbook, and describe how God has shown Himself each as each of those ways: Gracious, Merciful and Powerful. This will be a great way to begin this study.

Love ya Choir-Let me hear back from you all on any of these thoughts. YAY-we're bloggers!

Pure Praise Study Begins

2009-08-24T14:21:00.005-04:00

Dear Choir-

Isn't this exciting? It is to me. I've purposed in my heart to be a learner and hopefully lead to learn as well. This video is just an introduction from the author. I pray you'll be ready this Sunday to discuss week one of the study. Please go by the welcome station and pick up your notebook if you haven't yet. This blog will be a great way for us to share throughout the week what the Lord is teaching you through the study. It is designed for you to post your thoughts, etc so please take advantage and may the body BE the body and admonish one another. See you all Sunday at 4:00-special time for Kick-off!