Why I Worship

What Is Worship, Why Do We Worship, How to Worship

Squirrel!

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Have you seen this? Funny, huh?

I had to run by our local mall the other day and I went to the food court to grab a bite to eat. They have video monitors hanging from various places there and they are connected to speakers that are scattered around the area.

As I sat down to eat, I kept hearing something that reminded me of a sound check session for a second rate music concert; LOUD… then soft, LOUD… then soft again. It was quite distracting and annoying. I began to look around for what might be the cause of these awful distractions. Then I realized… “This is intentional!”

I noticed that, on the video monitors, every time the advertisement would change, the first one and a half to two seconds of the the accompanying sound would be considerably louder than the rest of the clip. This was an attempt to “get my attention.”

Our world is full of distractions; television, radio, smartphones, social media, baseball practice, soccer practice; you know, so many things that shout for attention in our daily lives. These are not inherently “bad” things, but they can be very distracting. They all fight for our focus.

1 Kings chapter 19 tells us of when Elijah found himself distracted and searching for answers in his life. In verses 11 through 14, we find God’s answer to him.

11-12 Then he was told, “Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.”
A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.
13-14 When Elijah heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face with his great cloak, went to the mouth of the cave, and stood there.
The things that “shouted the loudest” to Elijah; the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, could not give the answers he was so desperately looking for. It was only when he looked past all of those things (“When he heard the quiet voice, he muffled his face…”), that he began to get the revelation he needed for what was ahead of him.
What are the things that are shouting for your attention today? Are they keeping you from hearing what is really important? Are they keeping you from knowing what you need to know?
I encourage you today to take time to be still, find a quiet place, not just in volume but in your heart and let THE Still Small Voice of your Father speak to you.

What The World Needs Now…

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In Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19, God says to us; “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

Over the last few weeks we’ve watched our government in turmoil. Back and forth across the aisle go the accusations. Taunts of corruption, mistrust, lies, and all manner of ill will.

During this I heard church people say things like; “We just need to be united as a nation and stand for what is right!” “We need to love each other!” “We need God back in our nation!” I heard every “Christian” cliche you could imagine. FaceBook was ablaze with posts like this “Share if you believe God can save our nation.” or “Hit ‘Like’ if you believe God is still in control.” and there were soooo many more, I just don’t have time to list them all.

It seems that when things are going wrong outside the church, we have all the answers and we have no problem shouting to the world that the answer to bad government, poverty, hate, and everything else is God and His love.

This past weekend, we in the church world learned that another of our own has run into a difficult season. Everyone knows to whom and to what I refer, so I will not name names or divulge details. No need for that. But I must say, I am absolutely amazed and confounded at what ensued shortly after the news broke.

The rocks began to fly! Back and forth across media went the accusations. Taunts of corruption, mistrust, lies, and all manner of ill will.

WAIT… That sounds like… (anyone seeing a pattern here?)

The old song says “What the world needs now, Is love, sweet love, It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
What the world needs now, Is love, sweet love, No, not just for some but for everyone.”

I believe we get this so wrong sometimes. No one would argue with me that the world needs to “be loved” or know that God loves them, but I believe that what will really change the world is when the world begins to see a group of people who will not shoot their own wounded (like the world does).

Jesus said, in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Can we change the world? Yes, I believe we can, but it will only happen when we decide to lay down our offenses, hurts, differences of opinion, and differences in taste and style and begin to show the Love of God to the world, not only by Loving those outside our ranks, but by loving those within our ranks who have done us wrong or who have failed to meet certain standards.

I believe God has set a choice before us “Life or Death, Blessing or Cursing.” It’s our choice. Will we speak life or death. Will we bless or curse?

The world is waiting…

Your comments are welcomed.

The One Thing We Need… But Nobody Really Wants.

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As a christian, a husband, a father, a worship leader, and a friend, I am consistently faced with different times in my life where I find myself being broken in certain areas. I feel as if I have gotten victory in a certain area and then God points out another area that He wants to mold into something He can use for His glory.

It’s never fun. In fact, most of the time, it really hurts because the only way for Him to make something He can use out of what I have is to break what I have. You see, I want my life to be good as it is. I want what I have to be enough. I want to be able to say “I did this.” God’s desire, however, is for me to be completely broken to the point that I am not even recognizable anymore; so that when someone looks at me, they see only the ruins of “what I could do” and they can only give credit to him for what has happened in my life.

So, each day, I have a choice to make. I can put on my very best effort. I can paint myself as a beautiful piece of pottery and stand myself on the shelf for everyone to see…

And that will be exactly where I’ll stay… on the shelf.

Or I can say in my heart of hearts “Father, break me and make me into whatever you desire for me to be and then use me as you will.”

He will then take the busted ruins of our lives and make them into something useful to His purpose and for His Kingdom.

God, I want to be useful!!!!!

What say you???