Get On Your Face!

"And I fell on my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple..." (Eze 43:3,4)

Never in the Scriptures when people encounter the glory of the Lord do they remain standing...

Do I remain standing to often? Do I approach God with humility in light of who He is, bringing me flat on my face!? Or do I approach God casually with a sense of entitlement? 

Yes I do...

Sure we can approach God's throne with boldness and confidence (Heb 4:16), but that boldness and confidence is that we will not be struck dead because we have been made holy and pure by the blood of the Lamb, but God is still the LORD who when truly see His glory should cause is to fall on our faces!

Don't really "feel" like falling on your face? It's a little weird right? And plus haven't we been told so many time by worship leaders that we can worship God in whatever position we want, standing or sitting, raised hands or not...

OK but I don't see evidence of this "laissez faire" attitude towards worship in Scripture... in fact I see quite the opposite, in both Old and New Testament God repeatedly giving clear instructions for how to worship Him, and I see people FALLING on their faces all over the place!

Maybe our hearts have become so casual towards God that we are not responding to His glory by falling on our faces, so maybe we need to start by choosing to fall on our faces, and then in time as we chose to humble ourselves before the glory of the LORD our hearts will follow our bodies?

But maybe not.

Maybe we need to chose to ignore our finicky feelings and take a harder look at the reality... God is the Creator of the Universe, the Alpha and Omega, He is the Great I AM...

Maybe we need to chose to join in with the praises of the four living creatures who never cease to say

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,

    who was and is and is to come!”

and as the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to Him who is seated on the throne who lives forever and ever the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
    to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
    and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev 4: 7-11).

Maybe?

Yes! We do, I do.

Perspective Changing Praise

OK first off GOOD MORNING! 

Secondly, I'm not looking trivialize anyone's very real pain and suffering. 

Now to the point do you ever feel overwhelmed, underwhelmed, or just whelmed? Are you ever angry, hurt, and frustrated? 

Confession: I am! like 90% of the time! This morning as I'm trying to "let go" of control through prayer and tears, I felt the promptings of the Holy Spirit to break open my bible and start PRAISING God with the words of the Psalms. So I did, and to be honest nothing about my circumstance has changed, but my PERSPECTIVE has! 

Now this can't be a one time thing, we need to be daily, consistently PRAISING God for who he is! And as we do our PERCPECTIVE will be transformed into one where God is King over all they earth! Amen!?

Why don't you give it a try? Now I warn you it takes time, as in reading the Psalm over and over again until the truth starts to sink into your mind and heart, transforming them! But if we are persistent and consistent I believe PRAISING God for who he is will transform our PERSPECTIVE!

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! (Psalm 47:1-9 ESV)

A Raging Fire

This morning as I was praying for my neighbourhood, I confessed to Jesus that it scares me to pray for revival in fear that he won't bring it, because I don't have the faith that he will. I prayed for the faith to pray for renewal, restoration, and revival. 

Jesus reminded me "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control". (2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV)

We have not been given the spirit of fear! But of power, love, and self-control!!! So brothers and sisters let's us fan into A RAGING FIRE the gifts he has given us, encouraging and challenging each other towards love and good works (Heb 10:4) so that we can see his might work of renewal, restoration, and revival in our world! 

Who's with me!?

It takes effort!

A real quick reflection...

This morning I was mediating in Psalm 3. I asked the question what do I fear? And what arose to the top first was rejection, being alone, and being left behind. 

The Holy Spirit impressed into my mind the truth "but I'm never alone with you Jesus" 

Me: "but you are not flesh and blood right now beside me Jesus" 

Jesus: "I know but I still can meet you where your at right now" 

Me: "really?" 

Jesus: "Oh yes!"

In reflection I wrote:

Yes here I AM

I AM here for you 

I love you with a love that never fails, it never ever ends ever.

I AM with you my dear one. I see you for all your beauty, I AM affirming you, I AM with you, I AM proud of you, I pick you, I have chosen you my dear girl, you are mine forever and ever.

I love you.

NOW this is where the quick reflection comes, after writing that I prayed

"please make this more than enough dear Jesus Amen" 

and His tender voice reassured me "I will, I will, with time, and confusing we meditation on my Truth to you." 

And that's when it clicked, something I have learns before but needed a reminder:

the Truth that will set us free will do so with continued, sustained reflection on His truth. 

We need to be reading our Bibles, but not just reading them taking the time to sit with them, to let the words of Truth sink into our minds and hearts, penetrating and transforming! 

But this does take time and consistency and effort on out part! In a "microwave" culture this can be very challenging for us! I should know! But I believe if we call out to The Holy Spirit He will help us!

So let us pray together "Jesus we need to be consistent in our prayers and reflections on your Truth, because Jesus we need you! Help us please Holy Spirit. Amen"

Oh I guess that was not so quick ;) haha 

God bless us all!

Amen

Holy Expectations

Yesterday evening my good friend asked me the question "who's excpectaions are you living under?"

This morning as I reflected on this, I felt The Lord saying to me "not Mine."

So I asked Jesus "what are your expectations of me?" 

And this what I heard, "to be holy as I AM holy. To love the LORD God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength."

I asked Jesus what does it mean to be "holy as you are holy?" And I felt the impression that it means to be set apart/different, living ourlives in light of who He is and who we He says we are!

Then to be holy as He is holy is know Him, and know ourselves in light of His grace and mercy. 

To know God is to be intimate with Him, to sit with Him, still and quietly listening to Him... 

"You are my beloved, I have chosen you, I am with you, I have made you clean, you are a new person in me, I have set you free from the clutches of sin and death!"

Now let us live in light of this Truth! We have been made new by the work Jesus Christ did on the cross, we have been set free from sinning and from the ways that bring death! 

We now get to live our lives in freedom, freedom to love, freedom to give, freedom to serve, freedom to share, freedom to dance and run with Jesus! 

Let us go out today and love as He has loved us, by the power of His Spirit that dwells within you and me, love genrously, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength...

Be holy as He has made you holy.

Some Sort Of, Not Really Connected Thoughts

This morning I have been reflecting on a couple things, they are somewhat what related but not entirely. They came to me as I was listening (if you have never tried to listen to the bible, I recommend it, its a great way to listen to the stories of the Bible, it's like story time when you were a kid!) to the end of the story of David. Warning just because I had the thoughts when I was listening to the stories, does not mean they are related to the stories, this is not an exegetical paper, just some of my ponderings...

The LORD God is gather us to Himself, like a hen gathers her chicks under her wing. no matter how many times we screw up, run away from him, and not matter how big, messy and ugly are mistakes and rebellion are, God is actively, lovingly, and patiently gather us to Himself.

Why?

Because He is our Father, our Maker, as a mother loves her young, even more so does our heavenly Father love us with a never ending and perfect love. He looks upon us with grace and mercy because he knows we are weak, that we are broken, and in need of His grace and mercy everyday, all day!

I don't need approval
or affection.
I don't need money
or nice things,
I don't need beauty
or health.
I don't need an education
or experiences.
I don't need success
or achievements.
I don't need fun
or pleasure.
I don't need family
or friends.

I get a little nervous making this list. Before you freak out, I'm not saying all these things aren't good, I am only reflecting on the idea that if all these things were stripped away from me, how would I feel? I know that even when I have only partially lost one or maybe two of these things I have been thrown into a tail spin! Questioning God and his goodness, losing my sense of identity...

This got me thinking that although God often blesses us many of these things and more, I have put my trust, identity, love, time, energy, worship, and faith into some of these things...
my trust, identity, love, time, energy, worship, and faith should be in God, as He is really truly the one One I need at the end of the day.

I can know this in theory, but living it out is turning out to be quite the challenge. So my question to you is how do we not just put God at the top of our to do/need list, but rather how do we have God be our entire list, how do we have God not just be the most important in our lives, but have him be our lives, how do we live with God as the center, living out of his truth, love, grace, and mercy?

As I have been reading and reflecting on the stories of David I have been encouraged by a broken, messy, passionate seeker after God, who no matter what he was doing or not doing, he was "dealing" with God, he was praying, praising, worshiping, crying, wrestling, singing, dancing, getting angry... David was by no means perfect, he is not a model for us, he is a mirror, he reflects to us our own humanity, he is shows us what it means to be a human who is seeking after God's own heart in a broken, messy world...

I warned you, not really connected, kind of scattered thoughts...

What can you take home?

God LOVES you because he is your Father, that's it nothing you can do about it, you are LOVED by your Father God and he's not going to stop because of anything you do or don't do, and he's not going to love you more because of anything you do or don't do.

Maria is needing things more than God (maybe you are too?) and she's not entirely sure what to do about this, other than looking into the mirror of David and learning from his "dealings" with God. Get real, get honest, deal with God, no matter where your at, no matter what you have done or not done, deal with God, pray, praise, worship, cry, wrestle, sing, dance, get angry...

Just do it! Deal with God! because he is your Father who loves you and he is full of grace and mercy...

Get Over Yourself

Do you ever feel as if you are wandering around in life aimlessly without purpose, just trying to keep it together, jumping through the hoops of school, job, family and friends? Sure every once in while you get the glimpse of something more, someone greater, you see the vision for a better way, and you participate in the something greater, the bigger the better, the right and true. But then it fades, the glory dissipates and no longer can you see the majesty of the castle instead you are back in the desolate forest. 

Is this just me? 

I don't think it is.

Why are you here? What is the meaning of life? What are you doing with your life? What is the point of all this?

Jesus.

To him be all the glory and majesty forever and ever amen.

Many of you are not going to like this answer, not just because it's a "Sunday school answer" but because it's not a self help to do list, it's not about you, because guess what it's not about us! None of it! It's not about you and me, it's all about Jesus, He alone is worthy of all the glory and majesty. 

And this is our problem, hey I'm talking to myself here, we think life is all about us, what we should do, who we should be, me me me me... It's tough really really tough because as I have said before we can't seem to get away from ourselves, we go to bed with ourselves and we wake up with ourselves, I even meet myself in my dreams! And our self obsessed, self fulfillment, self seeking, self gratification, self centered culture only perpetuates the problem!

Oh who will save us from ourselves!?

Jesus.

Even as I prayed this morning, I came to the rude realization that my prayers were mostly centered around me!

What can we do!? Is there any hope? 

Yes, I believe there is. Pray the Psalms.

I just read Answering God: The Psalms As Tools for Prayer by Eugene H. Peterson. I want to encourage anyone who wants to pray themselves out of selfishness to read this book. But for those who do not have the time or the desire to read it I will give two recommendations: 
1. Get a prayer partner that you meet with regularly to pray, learning to pray in community
2. Start praying the Psalms, nothing fancy, just do it! Read one a day over and over again until all the worlds have sunken into your mind and heart, then pick up a pen and paper and let the words of your soul flow from that place of deep prayer, don't censor them, just let them flow...

Start right now...


Psalm 57

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
    he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

My soul is in the midst of lions;
    I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
    whose tongues are sharp swords.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

They set a net for my steps;
    my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way,
    but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
My heart is steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
    Awake, my glory!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!