Ministry Monday: New Direction

I am sure that for each and every one of us, there will be times in our lives when God calls us to head in a different direction. The closer we draw to God, the more sensitive we will be to that calling. It has long been my desire to be obedient to that calling when it comes.

As for me and my house, we have recently come upon one of those crossroads, and I am extremely thankful for the clear voice of God during this time. For many many weeks, I cried out to God for clear direction concerning the future of our lives and ministries. I began to wonder if He would ever answer, but in the past 6 weeks, He has shone Himself to be a faithful, loving and patient Shepherd to us. In His perfect timing, He sent us His answer. Through scriptures, songs and the words of friends and mentors, God confirmed to us that He has a new direction for our lives.

Yesterday, Sunday, July 29, 2012 was our last day serving at the inner city church where we have ministered for the past year and a half. We have grown and learned so much from the experiences we had during our time there. We have sown our seed, and we pray that in the future it will bring forth a bountiful harvest.

As for our new direction, it is exciting, and it is scary at the same time. God asks for our unwavering commitment to Him and His will, no matter what it may cost us. So, we are learning to trust Him more and more and give ourselves over completely to His plan, no matter how crazy it may seem and how unworthy we are to be a part of it. In the weeks to come, we will be sharing more details about God's unraveling plan in our lives right now. We will tell you about the big steps we are taking in our ministry, Middle Man Ministries, and we will share how God is blessing and proving His faithfulness to us.

Right now, I just want to encourage you to listen to God's voice and to be sensitive to His calling. What would our world look like today if we were all willing to take big risks for God?!!

Let us continue to pray these words and mean them with all our heart...

Your Kingdom come. 

Your will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven.

Fabulous Friday Happy Song: Jesus in Disguise

This may not the typical Fabulous Friday Happy Song, but I just had to share this brand new song by Brandon Heath today. Let me tell you why it makes me happy...

This song talks about the unexplained things that happen in our lives, the things that we don't understand. The song says that those things are Jesus in disguise. What a true and lovely concept!  He pursues us subtly. He works in mysterious ways in our life. He draws us to Himself through the strangest things sometimes. We can not explain God, He is beyond our understanding and His works are beyond our understanding. He really wouldn't be God if He wasn't mysterious, inexplicable, and completely beyond us!! So, this song is certainly something to be happy about, plus it is quite a catchy tune!

Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior, you work in mysterious ways.     Isaiah 45:15 NLT

Jesus In Disguise

By Brandon Heath

Worship Wednesday: Corporate Worship and Religiousity

I have to admit that all of the Worship Wednesday posts on this blog have dealt mostly with our private, personal worship of God. There is a reason for that...I struggle with corporate worship! I know; it's a strange confession for a worship leader to make, but I have to be absolutely honest here...sometimes corporate worship disgusts me! Sometimes corporate worship makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I've just seen so much self-focused worship in the church, and even I have been guilty of it at times. If you have ever sat in a worship service and said, "I am getting nothing out of this," then you have been guilty too. I've realized that  in order for us to have a right heart towards corporate worship, we must be lifting our hearts in worship privately and we must be in tune with the Holy Spirit...walking by the Spirit daily.

A.W. Tozer says some powerful things about worship and expresses my concern and my heart's desire concerning corporate worship. Consider these excerpts from the book Tozer on Worship and Entertainment:

" A local church exists to do - corporately what each should do individually - namely, worship God. It should show forth the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, reflect back the glory of Him who shines down on us, even God, even Christ, even the Holy Ghost."

" The stark, tragic fact is that the efforts of many people to worship are unacceptable to God. Without an infusion of the Holy Spirit there can be no true worship.This is serious. It is hard for me to rest peacefully at night knowing that millions of cultured, religious people are merely carrying on church tradition and religious customs and they are not actually reaching God at all."

" In my opinion, the great single need of the moment is that lighthearted superficial religionists be struck down with a vision of God high and lifted up, with His train filling the temple. The holy art of worship seems to have passed away like the Shekinah glory from the tabernacle. As a result, we are left to or own devices and forced to make up for the lack of spontaneous worship by bringing in countless cheap and tawdry activities to hold the attention of the church people."

" It is certainly true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days - except the most important thing. We are missing the genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

  
The main problem is that we can not worship what we do not know. We have to know God to truly worship Him. We must be wrestling personally with scriptures and in prayer. I'm not just talking about reading the Bible piously so that we can check it off the list of holy, religious things to do...you will never KNOW God that way. You may be acquainted with Him, but you won't really know who He is...and thus you will be worshiping your own idea of God (an idol...a cheap imitation) and not truly worshiping God. As a church, we should be teaching people to be worshipers not just teaching them to be workers for the Lord.


Tozer says that we must be worshipers before we can be workers...

"Yes, worship of the loving God is man's whole reason for existence. That is why we are born and that is why we are born again from above.That is why we were created and that is why we have been recreated. That is why there was a genesis at the beginning, and that is why there is a regenesis, called regeneration.That is also why there is a church. The Christian church exists to worship God first of all. Everything else must come second or third or fourth or fifth..." 

" Unless we are worshipers, we are simply religious dancing mice, moving around in a circle getting nowhere...God wants worshipers first. Jesus did not redeem us to make us workers; He redeemed us to make us worshipers. And then, out of the blazing worship of our hearts springs our works."

In Acts 17: 22-30, Paul says this to the religious people of Athens:

“Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.

I don't know about you, but this passage certainly prompts me to search out my heart and see if I have been worshiping any idols or any false notions of God...or myself and my own works for that matter! I desire for our churches to truly worship God. I desire to leave behind my personal feeling and opinions on Sunday morning and enter into fellowship with God alongside other believers who desire to do the same. Ultimately, I long for the renewal and revival of corporate worship. We need to encourage and spur one another on towards true worship of God. We need to point each other to Him, instead of pointing fingers at one another! We need to encourage each other to worship...not to perform empty worthless acts of service!


Tozer says...

" I am looking for the fellowship of the burning heart - for men and women of all generations everywhere who love the Savior until adoration becomes the music of their soul until they don't have to be fooled with and entertained and amused."

Oh how I hunger for that!! God help me to do everything I do for you out of an overflow of love and adoration! Help me to be a good private worshiper and a good corporate worshiper!

Fabulous Friday Happy Song: Under My Feet

For those of you who may be new to the blog or who just don't remember, the Fabulous Friday Happy Song was a post that I created to share songs that are extremely positive and upbeat, songs that make me laugh or dance around or tap my toes. Anyhow, they are just happy songs...you can't help being happy when you hear them. You can go to the very first Fabulous Friday Happy Song post by clicking here.

For a couple of weeks now, I have been meaning to post this song as the Happy Song. It has been such a victory chant for me. So, here it is, today's Fabulous Friday Happy Song...

Start dancing around...

Under My Feet

By Bluetree

Feeling Fabulous Friday: New Vision & Counting the Cost

There has been significant revelation over the past week as to God's plan for our family, and I am trying to take it all in...to soak it all up and understand the changes that the Lord is prompting us to make. One thing is abundantly clear, He is forming us as His disciples and ministers of the Gospel and He is moving us out of comfortable misery into miserable comfort (so to speak). In other words, He keeps asking us to take chances, to risk, to give up comfort and security, and as we have been doing that, we have felt an inconceivable freedom and joy begin to wash over us.

I know now that great things are right around the corner.We are rounding the bend, and the way is being made clear. This is not merely positive thinking. God has been speaking to us quite clearly through Scriptures, songs, friends, and mentors. The pieces of the puzzle are beginning to come together.

Last week, I was inspired to write a poem. I wasn't really trying to write or create anything, but these words came to me in my time of worship and prayer on Tuesday. I see them now as a foreshadowing of the events of this past week. This is my commitment...my covenant with God:

The Way

By: Lauren King

When the way is dark

And the path is foggy still

No I will not turn aside

I will not forsake Thy will

When the road is rocky 

And the hill too steep to climb

I will resign myself to Your strength

And conquer in Your time

When the way is smooth and straight

And the horizon bright and clear

I will offer thanks for Your matchless grace

And Your presence ever near

No matter where the road may lead

Through mountain high or valley low

I will always praise Your glorious name

And follow where e'er You go 

I know this post as been rather vague, and I will share more details about the changes that are coming in our ministry, but I just wanted to acknowledge that after a long period of what seemed like God hiding His face from us, we are beginning to see His hand working in a mighty way in our life. We are also very aware that giving in to His will and His way for our life and ministry will not come without a price. So, as one of my new favorite worship songs says, we've "counted up the cost," and He is worth it!

The Cost

By: Rend Collective Experiment

God’s way is perfect.
    All the Lord’s promises prove true.
    He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
For who is God except the Lord?
    Who but our God is a solid rock?
God arms me with strength,
    and he makes my way perfect.
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
    enabling me to stand on mountain heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
    he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.
You have given me your shield of victory.
    Your right hand supports me;
    your help has made me great.
You have made a wide path for my feet
    to keep them from slipping.


Psalm 18:30-36

And I will lead the blind

    in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

    I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

     the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

    and I do not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16

Worship Wednesday: Holding On

I don't have a lot to say today. It has taken all of my strength these last couple of days to be in a right spirit before the Lord and everyone else. It's definitely been a struggle. However, I do want to share one of my favorite Psalms and a worship song that I have kept going back to these last few days.

Psalm 103 is full of such wonderful, comforting truths, and it is a good way to get your heart focused on worshiping the Lord. It has been a balm to my weary soul many times, and today is no exception.

Psalm 103

A psalm of David.

1 Let all that I am praise the Lord;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2 Let all that I am praise the Lord;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3 He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4 He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5 He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

6 The Lord gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7 He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

9 He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

10 He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

11 For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

12 He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

13 The Lord is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

14 For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

15 Our days on earth are like grass;

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

16 The wind blows, and we are gone—

as though we had never been here.

17 But the love of the Lord remains forever

with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children’s children

18 of those who are faithful to his covenant,

of those who obey his commandments!

19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne;

from there he rules over everything.

20 Praise the Lord, you angels,

you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

listening for each of his commands.

21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels

who serve him and do his will!

22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,

everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

How comforting to know that He understands our weaknesses and does not deal harshly with us! What a good, loving, and gentle God He is!

This is the worship song that I have had on repeat for the last couple of days. It is a great reminder to hold on to the fact that our God is in control and that we can live and rest in the freedom that that truth brings.

Rest

By Bluetree

Be still in the presence of the Lord,

    and wait patiently for him to act.

Don’t worry about evil people who prosper

    or fret about their wicked schemes.

Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent,

    and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever.

They will not be disgraced in hard times;

    even in famine they will have more than enough.

The Lord directs the steps of the godly.

    He delights in every detail of their lives.

Though they stumble, they will never fall,

    for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Once I was young, and now I am old.

    Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned

    or their children begging for bread.

Psalm 37: 7, 18-19, 23-25 NLT