chill out?

Chill out, self control, calm down, don't get so excited...all phrases I have heard lately that have made me really pause and think about our passion for Christ-or maybe our lack of it.
We worship with our hands in our pockets and with distracted hearts. We walk with a mediocre step that looks a lot like the rest of the world. We pray as if we aren't sure there is a God who will answer. We sing as if the love song we once knew has faded. We serve with half our heart only half the time. We have lost our focus, our drive, our motivation, our heart, our passion, our love....
However, we play sports with all our might. Dedicate all of soul to our work. Sing in the shower with all our voice. Dance to the rhythm of the world's beat. We cheer with all we are for our college team. We shout, we raise our hands and we sing with all we are-the fight song of the Tigers or the Cocks. We stay late for work and leave church early. We cut grass til we sweat, clean til it shines and practice til it hurts-all for things of little eternal significance.
But we want to chill out when it comes to the God stuff. We want to calm down, remain in control and not get too excited. I wonder if that is what Jesus is saying as He sits beside the throne of God. "they need to chill out. They are getting too excited down there." Or maybe, "they need more self control....get those arms down!" No....I think not....I can't help but think that Jesus is looking at the Father saying....that's all they Got? I died on a cross for them, suffered the whipping post, crawled down the via dolorosa...and all I get in response to that is pew sitting, hands in pockets, hymnal holding, scripted, mediocre following, status quo walking, people pleasing worship. That's it...that's all the response I get?
I can't help but believe that Jesus is crying out....get excited...don't you see what I did? Don't calm down, lose yourself in me and show the world how awesome I am. Unleash the passion in your soul. Begin a revolution of praise for my glory that points everyone to the greatness of who I am. Don't chill out....get on fire! Turn up the intensity, be focused, intentional and purposeful. Be my reflection! Be Bright, pierce the darkness. Be Alive, bringing life into death. Be Present, so that I am seen. Be Truth, destroying the lies. Allow the Jesus inside to burst forth from the controlled and the contained.
Be transformed.....
Chill out...I don't think so. And neither does He!

ALL FOR YOU

Passion or duty?

Do you remember having Passion? Not just physical passion for someone of the opposite sex or passion for a career/job. Do you remember when you were passionate about something? For some of us it was the car we drove, a motorcycle, a sport, a musical instrument, learning or even a skill. For others of us, we were passionate about tv, video games, friends, socializing or even church.
Do you remember when you first came to Christ and there was the Passion for Him and a Passion to share Him with all you came in contact with. I can remember being in Frist Grade and Jesus entering my life. I couldn't wait to get to school and tell my teacher about Jesus in Me.
I have been pondering passion a lot lately....where has it all gone?
Somewhere we exchanged passion for duty. We stopped living and began existing. We stopped breathing and simply began to try to survive-by gasping for breath-when we could get one. We abdicated our passions for duty. And in that exchange-we lost what drives us to live. Passion.
I don't want to just survive this life. I want to truly live. I don't want to merely exist. I want to Breathe deep, feel the wind on my face and run head long down the beach towards the Father....who is longing for me to chase Him so that He can set my heart free. I don't want to exchange my passion for obligations. I want to Live out of my passions.
It is then...that the world might see something worth following....a passion not of this world, not fulfilled in earthly pleasures. A passion that doesn't feel like duty or obligation or religion. But a passion that looks like Jesus is worth truly LIVING and DYING FOR...not merely existing for.

ALL FOR YOU

ALL FOR YOU

change is in the air

I woke up at 6am on Wednesday morning. (which is a rarity for those who know me!) I tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but could not. I kept hearing the Father say come further....Come walk with me. So I quietly got up, slipped on some clothes and wondered down 4 flights of stairs, through the lobby of the hotel we were in and out onto the beach. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was rising and the breeze from the ocean was strong.
I stepped off the stairs, dragging my feet through the sand, feeling it between my toes. I quietly began to walk....with no destination in mind, except to simply walk with Jesus. I took several steps and felt my body cry out with the weariness it felt. It ached and hurt all over. I began to breathe deep, to allow the fresh ocean air to permeate my mind, my heart and my soul. It was as if God was the very air I was breathing. The deeper I breathed in, the more refreshed I began to feel. Starting to pray, I could feel the Spirit of God within me begin to direct my heart. I began to sing-out loud, praises began to ring from my heart. Tears flowed easily down my face, as worship spilled out onto the shore of Daytona Beach. The Kingdom of heaven arrived in my heart.
After my walk, I found a place on the deck that overlooked the ocean. I stood there breathing and just being still for a moment-enjoying the Sanctuary time with Jesus. It was in that moment I heard the Father say...."change". It was the only word I heard, but I knew immediately that would be the focus and the word for the day. Change was ahead, change had to happen and change was what the Father desired in me.
I meditated on that word all day. In corporate worship that morning, we talked about how Jesus EXCHANGED Himself for us and longs for us to do the same. During church devotions, Terry made a statement that said the definition of Insanity is doing what you've always done and expecting to get something different. A confirmation of the need for change. By the pool, I found conversation pouring out that surrounded the idea of risk for the Kingdom and being advocates of change. During the evening time of corporate worship, the speaker reminded us that if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten. If you want something different-change what you are doing.
It was an amazing day....from the drawing to the beach and the Father speaking to the affirmation of His Word to me all day long. Change.....I have said for years that change is the One Word you can sum up the gospel in. For Jesus came for change-not to leave us as we are. To bring light into darkness, life out of death, relationship out of religion. He came to change those who were living in sin into righteousness, to make the unholy-holy. He came so that we would not remain the same, but so that we would be constantly transforming or changing, conforming to His image. Yes, it is a process, but change must be happening. Change is proof that you are His because you are being transformed. Rejecting change is rejecting Jesus.

If doing what you have always done, gets you what you have always gotten and insanity is doing what you have always done and expecting to get something different....I am wondering who many of us are insane? Change is in the air...Jesus is longing to transform us, to change us and we must not fight against that change, but embrace it. All we have to do is take a walk with Him, BREATHE deep and let Him speak. We must allow Him to draw us aside, to hear His voice and to embrace what He wants to do in each of us.

Maybe it is time for a change....in all of us! ALL FOR YOU

Running

These days my heart has been crying out for FREEDOM. And not just FREEDOM from sin, but FREEDOM from the traditions and expectations of man that seem to make my heart want to be men pleasers and instead finding FREEDOM at the cross to please God and God alone. I no longer want to be bound by the things of this world, but want to chase after HIM with all my heart.
Chase....it is a strong word that I have been using for about a year now. Chasing after Him-almost seems elusive. But that is not what I mean at all. Chasing just means that if we are running after God, He is always on the move, never stagnant or standing still. He is moving, we are following, chasing, because we don't know the way.
As I meditate on the thought of FREEDOM, the Lord continues to place things in my path that affirm that pursuit in HIM.
FREE to run.
FREE to live.
FREE to die.
FREE to sing.
FREE...is such a cool word. It brings with it the connotation of being no longer bound. As I have been seeking the face of God on this...He has reminded me that FREEDOM is why Christ died-to set us free.

I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free! Psm 119:32
Freedom comes as I run after Him and His commands. So the chasing, the running...is a GREAT thing-for it is in these things that we will be set FREE!

ALL FOR YOU

YOUR KINGDOM COME!

This week, the Lord has opened my eyes to a significant truth that I have missed all my life. It is a truth I know....but have missed, simply because I have glossed over it, never stopping to meditate upon these words to allow them to pierce my heart as they should.
The words of Jesus, spilling forth as He was teaching His disciples how to pray, were simple and yet filled with such depth.
OUR FATHER-Daddy...
Which art in Heaven, hallowed be your name-You deserve our worship....
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven....

So what are we to pray for? Jesus is instructing us to PRAY for the KINGDOM of God to be present here on earth. So how do we get the Kingdom of God in our midst? How do we see God?

We can have church. We can even have GREAT church. But these things are what man can accomplish on his own. What Jesus was instructing us to pray for was to seek to have the KINGDOM here on earth. Is this possible? If so, why are we satisfied with so much less?
In the KINGDOM, people live and don't die-for eternal life is present.
In the KINGDOM, people are saved from darkness to light.
In the KINGDOM, people are changed, healed, renewed, transformed.
In the KINGDOM, everyone matters, all ages, all races, all people groups.
In the KINGDOM, there is wholeness and unity.
In the KINGDOM, miracles take place.
In the KINGDOM, GLORY COMES DOWN and surrounds us, filling us up with HIS PRESENCE.
In the KINGDOM, people are rescued, people don't hide their sin or play religious games.
In the KINGDOM, tradition of man and liturgy are done away with in exchange for transparency and realness.
In the KINGDOM, people are full on worshippers, not content with half hearted, self contained expressions of God.
In the KINGDOM, everyone is loved.
In the KINGDOM, people get fixed.
In the KINGDOM, brokenness is beautiful and delierance happens.
In the KINGDOM, God is priority, worshipped and adored in such a way that everyone knows where our heart is-set fully on Him.
In the KINGDOM, there is fullness of joy. There is magnified fellowship, covenant and grace.
In the KINGDOM, Jesus is the only one we are worried about pleasing.
In the KINGDOM, God is the only one worshipped and everyone spends their time talking about Him.
In the KINGDOM, there is FREEDOM!

Sometimes, we desire to have church, even great church. But God is voting for KINGDOM.
Our prayer should not merely be for our church...but that the KINGDOM of heaven would come! And when the KINGDOM comes-His will IS done on earth as it is in heaven. We need to begin to pray for and expect that we have the KINGDOM-not just mere church. This life is not about what happens here, with a little Jesus thrown into it, but about the glory, the KINGDOM of heaven coming into our lives.

So we can have church, even great church. We can be religious, even very religious. But Jesus instructs us to pray for the KINGDOM of heaven to come here! Jesus votes for Heaven on earth-and so do I...

ALL FOR YOU

no power?

On Sunday, my downstairs air conditioner stopped working. We thought it might have been hit by lightening, so we called the repair service to come look at it. They told us it would be several days before they could get out there. We were not excited about the prospects of no air in July, but we had no choice. I began to pray that God would fix my air conditioner for free...money is tight and I was stressing the bill.
On Tuesday, the guy made it to the house to take a look at the air conditioner. He climbed around in the attic for awhile, confused and baffled by the problem. I finally left him to figure it out and went back to working on some things inside. A few minutes later, he came climbing out of the attic and said everything was fixed.
Confused, I asked him what the problem was. He began to explain that when the air conditioner was installed that there was a kill switch for the power installed. It looks like a light switch, but it actually kills the power so that you don't get hurt working on it. He said that sometime Sunday when we were looking for ski equipment for VBS that a box had fallen over and hit the switch, turning off the power source to the air. He showed us the switch and then left...and didn't charge us a dime. PTL!
I got to thinking about the fact that we could have had air all along, but we just had shut down the power. Wow, isn't that what we do in our walks with Jesus. We could have life and breath, power, but we choose or ignore the power source. We could have abundant life and yet we don't turn the power on that God has readily available for us. Instead, we live life in the heat of the moment-later wishing we had done differently...
I had the man show us where the power source is so that I won't live that way ever again. We know where our power source is and will make sure that it is ON at all times. What about YOU?
ALL FOR YOU