I Am Thankful | No. 2

I AM THANKFUL FOR THAT WHICH I DO NOT UNDERSTAND

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).

When the going gets tough and confusion sets in I often want answers right away. Why would God allow this to happen to me? What is He trying to teach me? Could this be part of His plan? The questions are enough to bring confusion and despair for an over-bearing amount of time.

But God’s ways are so much higher than my ways, and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. His ways are past finding out. This truth brings so much comfort because I know that He sees the big picture and that He has a plan and design. And design indicates purpose.

If we could understand all of God’s ways, would He be big enough to handle our problems?

But God is not totally lost on us. He chooses to reveal Himself in different ways, such as His Word and through Jesus Himself.

I am thankful for that which I don’t understand because of the things in which I do, for my God is a great God, and that is something I know for sure.

Whom then shall we liken to God, or whom shall be His equal? (Is. 40:25) 

He has measured the waters in the hallow of His hand, measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure. He weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Is. 40:12) 

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable,” (Is. 40:28). 

“He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heaven by His understanding. When He utters His voice- there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries,” (Jeremiah 51:15-16). 

He gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon by night. He disturbs the sea, and its waves roar. (Jer. 31: 35) 

He placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that the sea could not pass it. (Jer. 5:22)

His greatness is so vast that no words can possibly do Him justice, and yet He is with me always (Matt. 28:20), He preserves the simple, and when I am brought low, He saves me (Psalm 116:6).

Where Were You?- Ghost Ship:

John Mark McMillan's Skeleton Bones

One of my favorite artists. 

Malachi | Blind Animals

Malachi just might be my favorite book in the bible. It is convicting and harsh. But It speaks of God's love and is a call to repentance. A call to return to the Lord of heavens armies. I'll be writing a few posts on what God has taught me through the book of Malachi. I hope you are as encouraged as I have been. If You'd like to look at other posts on Malachi, click here.

Here I am. I'm sitting in church pew singing songs that lift high the name of my God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies. I sing and I even try to sing nicely. But as the music ends and I sit listening to the pastor, I realize I never even acknowledged God that entire time. It was half-hearted and empty.

I sometimes get so used to the songs and the repetition of things that I don't give myself fully to the Lord. I don't give Him the praise and worship He deserves.

And then as the church service ends, I go home and my prayers are hardly even that and I continue about my business.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself becoming so used to the way you spend your days that your worship and prayer life do not give God the honor He deserves?

Malachi makes it pretty clear that God despises this kind of sacrificial worship.

The Lord of Heaven's Armies says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!" (Malachi 1:6)

The people wonder at how they've shown contempt and God was more than happy to answer their question.

"You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.
"Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices?'
"You have defiled them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, (Malachi 1:7-8).

In this passage God has an issue with the priests. It isn't an external issue, that they offered a blind animal, the issue was internal, a matter of the heart. The priests were not giving God their best.

This is a wake up call for you and for me. How often do we not give God our best?  They dishonored God in spite of His Fatherly care and masterly power. God was not happy about the way they showed contempt for His name. His name is His reputation or character, and the Judeans were showing how little they thought of God by giving Him worthless offerings.

"How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "and I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name  is great among the nations," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, (Malachi 1:10-11).

God is worthy of our praise. He is deserving of sacrificial worship. I will choose no longer give Him blind animals. I will choose to, instead, offer sweet incense, pure offerings and true honor from morning till night. I will choose to have a heart like David as he determined to never give unto God that which cost him nothing.

Honor the Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea, (Psalm 29:2-3). 

Original photo Via

What is a Servant?

What would happen if I began to serve others with the integrity of Jesus Christ? What if I began to lose myself in service to others? Could you imagine the effect? The love that would be spread? Oh, how the Lord has been changing my heart. I always pray for Him to break me. The reason behind this? I couldn't really tell you besides the idea that it would draw me all the more closer to Him. And do you know what happens when I pray that?

He breaks me.

He always, always breaks me when I ask Him to. Sometimes I'm like, What the- maybe I should pray for something else...?

I find, even though those have been some of the most difficult times of my life, I wouldn't have it any other way. All of those broken times in my life- every single one- continued to reveal to me just how faithful the Lord really is.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh," (Ezekiel 36: 26).

And that is what He did and continues to do in my life. I think, even now, He is breaking me without any circumstance bringing me down. Everything in my life is going pretty good, but He's still working in my life. He's been constantly reminding me what it looks like to be a servant.

It started with an image of a nurse kneeling beside a child's deathbed. Kneeling. This was her job, but she genuinely cared for this child.

Then there's the story of the good Samaritan. A man was beat, robbed and left to die on the side of the road. Both a priest and a Levite saw him but continued on, deciding they need not help him. But a Samaritan, who was traveling, and most likely had somewhere else to be, took pity on the man. He got to his knees- down to the man's level- and bandaged him up. He took on the weight of this man and lifted him onto his donkey. This man was a servant.

As servants we are warned not to do it for others to see.

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your father in heaven," (Matthew 6:1).

 It says the same thing, not only about giving to the needy, but about prayer and fasting. Hypocrites do it to be seen as righteous, but is most likely never done when they're alone. They received their reward.

"store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steel. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:20-21).

And of course there's our ultimate example: Jesus Christ. The Lord has shown us what is good. He has shown us what it means to be a servant. For our very God of the universe came, not in power or to rule over us, but as a humble servant to save us. Let us take after His example.

He has revealed to us His love and it is because of this that we should learn from Him and love our neighbors. This is what He asked us to do. We might not feel like giving love- what does that even mean? How do we even love someone. Love is not a gooey feeling. We are to serve others and put them before ourselves and the feeling of love will follow.

Lord means master. When we call him Lord, we are calling ourselves slaves.

So why then, do we call him Lord and not do what he says? I want to be willing to step forward when He tells me to. I want to make an impact in my little corner of the world. I want to be a servant.

  

Women and Leading Worship

The other day, I was put down a little. I heard that there were guys in the church that couldn't worship under a woman worship leader. I thought, is it the same for every guy? And if it were, why was I even up there leading?

And then God reminded me, like he always does, that He is in control. I opened up the book, Lioness Arising (that I've been completely lagging on reading), and He used it as a tool to get His point across to me. You see, I was struggling with the idea that I was completely worthless as a worship leader. If half the congregation couldn't worship because of me, then why don't I have someone else step up instead of me?

Lisa Bevere made a wonderfully valid point when she said,

"Why is it that whenever a gender discussion comes up, it seems to mire down into an issue of women's submission to men? If I am a leader, it is because God made me one."

And if someone wants to worship God, nothing will stop them. Not annoying lights, or a too loud base. Not an upset stomach, or a terrible guitar player. Not a cramped room, and not a woman worship leader. Worship is a lifestyle, and has a personal meaning to you and a personal way of doing so.

"Our fire does not burn on the alter of worship. Our fire resides within as we are consumed and propelled by his Spirit," (Bevere).

In the end we all have the same mission. I will continue to lead worship for as long as the Lord calls me to do so. I will do it for God and for the one's who desire to lift up praise to our God. And you have a purpose too. There will be people who discourage you, but don't lose heart, because you are empowered. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

"Do you hear the a cry and the desperate need for you to rise up as a fearless seeker of truth?" (Bevere).

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity" 1 Timothy 4:12.

I'll end this post with 1 Corinthians 11:10-12.

"Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God- that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her 'head,' her husband. The first woman came from man, true- but ever since then, every man comes from woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these 'who's first' routines."

Who are we to decide who God is and isn't capable of using. He can, and will, use anyone who is willing. So let us now work together for the furthering of his kingdom, and stop holding each other back.

Give Thanks

I've lost sight of the meaning of Thanksgiving. I think a lot of people have.
 
I've been acting like a real brat lately. My parents are divorced and that means I get two Thanksgivings. But this year I've been acting like it's all messed up. I'm going to my mom's on Thursday, and to my dad's on Friday. My dad is still making a thanksgiving meal on Thursday, and I was mad because I wouldn't be there. I was mad because I wouldn't get to eat his Thanksgiving meal.
 
Isn't that ridiculous?
 
Thanksgiving isn't about the turkey, or the mashed potatoes and gravy. It's not about the corn or the delicious green bean casserole. It never has been.
 
Originally, the pilgrims used this day to give thanks to the natives for saving their lives. They came to America so they could form a separate community in which they could worship God however they saw fit.
 
That's what it's about. Giving thanks to God and others for what they have done. It's not about me- nothing ever is. I should be giving thanks that I get to spend time with both families during this holiday.
 
"Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him." Psalm 95:2
 
I am thankful for my salvation and that God has chosen me.
 
I am thankful for my family- my niece, and my nephew- and that my step mother is still okay. I am thankful for my dad and his love for me. I am thankful for my mom and how much she believes in me, even when I don't.

I am thankful that God has saved me for my future husband, even though my patience sometimes wears thin, God has beautiful plans for me, and I am very thankful for that.

I am thankful for my amazing friends, and Pastor Brian and Pastor John Miller. The Lord has blessed our church with great leaders.

I am thankful that I get to be a part of the Becoming Girls Conference.

I am thankful for my bed and my home and my car.

There is so much more to be thankful for, and if we just take a second and think of those things, the real meaning of this day will surely come to life.

Love,

Passion: Vision Leaks

Passion.
 
It's what drives our every move. It's that step forward when you feel like you can't make it anymore. It's a hand being raised as high as it can reach. It's an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action. An interest followed by exaggerated zeal.
 
Can it be that God created in each of us a different passion that all work together for the furthering of his kingdom?
 
Ask yourself: What kind of culture, aspect, and growth are you trying to create with your life?
 
Because I don't think the question is 'How much passion do you have,' but 'What are you passionate about?'
 
For a long time my passion was music. But it wasn't just music, it was more than that. It was worship. I was a church three days a week, involving myself with the high school worship team. I had a family there and a place to belong. If I wasn't at church doing worship, I was at home practicing, singing, playing guitar.
 
And then it was gone.
 
Not the music. I could still sing and play guitar- but my passion. I started asking myself if I ever really was passionate. And now, looking back I know that I was.
 
But vision leaks. You will be so passionate about your own individual interest, and then one day you might find yourself unable to even look at the paintbrush. There's nothing wrong with you. We can't always have passion just as we can't always feel the presence of God in that all powerful, peaceful, revealing way that God sometimes chooses to gift us with. Because if we always felt God's presence, it wouldn't be as powerful as the way he does it now; waiting for the moments we need him most so that we can bask in his glorious presence and give him the praise that he deserves.
 
So remember that just because you can't feel God, doesn't mean he's not there. And just because you feel lack of passion, doesn't mean it won't return.
 
The negativity of the enemy may sometimes be overwhelming. But how do you take air out of a bottle?
 
You fill it with something else.
 
We need to continually be refilling ourselves with vision and drive. I've found that a good way of doing so is reading my bible and praying.
 
It makes one guitar strum something more than music. One brush of paint, more than a picture. One basket shot more than a game. It turns into, not what you can do, but what God has given you the ability to do and how you can offer it back up to him.
 
It turns into worship

"Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the name of the Lord out of a pure heart." 2 Timothy 2:22