Friday, August 30, 2013

five minute worship?

today the challenge from a fellow blogger to write on worship for five minutes.
perfect. worship is my passion.
also perfect since I am in the middle of organizing and planning the School Of Worship for City Gat Lancaster!
so my heart is very full with what is worship.
what have we made worship?
it is really those songs we sing?
is it really those sold out concerts from world renown worship leaders?
is it really what happens for 20 minutes before a brief message on sunday?
I am thinking....
not.
worship when first mentioned in the word with Abraham was all about posture.
for Mary, it was all about waste.
when was the last time I postured myself to waste time on God?
worship was first mentioned when Abraham said, I and the lad will go yonder and worship.
up til that point, worship wasn't even mentioned.
how did they worship?
they laid down.
they wasted some time, just being face down in the dirt.
how would that look if on a typical worship set at our churches, we poured out rocks and dirt and said "ok, time to worship! lay face down!"
yet, maybe that is what is needed.
there wasn't any music involved at all.
in fact David said he had to train his musicians how to worship.
wouldn't that imply that they already knew how to music..but not worship?
he had to take the music out and teach them to worship
then we come to mary.
how wasteful to drop all that perfume on someones feet.
for her, it was her whole life. all her wages in one bottle.
the 'church' or crowd even yelled..this is disgusting, a waste..we could have made money on that little alabaster box !!
ohh..my friend..
worship is costly.
and it is all about waste.
wasting my precious time on him
wasting my wants and desires to do things, and to just drop at his feet.
what some call waste, I call want.
I want to waste it all on him
this is worship
no music
no band
no lights, lazers or fog machines
just waste
me, poured out
how about we take these next five minutes and waste it on Jesus
stop.
drop.
and waste.
 
 
 
 
 

Friday, August 16, 2013

stewing..

God woke me up this morning with the word, steward. I know that in our Christian lingo, we understand that to steward something is to manage it, or to take care of. So if I am stewarding my finances, I am managing the money God has provided for me. In the Bible, it tells us that people were stewards, or that they were in charge of certain aspects of helping the owner.

But I felt like and feel like God has given us a huge responsibility as stewards, not only with finances, but with everything.
We are to steward our family, our jobs, our friends, our relationships, our time with God. If I do not steward my time wisely, I will always be wasting time.

So then I started to break down the word. To get more meaning. Stew. ard. Stew. ing. Stew.
I started to get a deeper revelation of what it looks like to stew things.

Here was my thought: If I am making a stew, I put raw things into a huge pot and cook for a really long time right? If I tried to eat the stew uncooked, raw...I would probably get sick. Stew takes time. A really long time. To get that perfect blend or flavors. Seasoning and softness. So put this into our daily lives. How am I stewing my time with Jesus. With friends. Do I expect it all to be great before it has had time to stew?

Stay with me here. Think about it. Do I put the same stew(ing)ard time into my relationship with God, with Jesus, with His word, or am I living the fast food mentality? Am I letting His word stew in me, letting the fire produce the amazing fragrance and aroma and the softness and tenderness ? Am I stew(ing)ard my friendships ? Am I letting them take the time that is needed for the fullness of flavor ? Or am I throwing it all in the pot, turning up the heat and expecting it to be good. That will only burn it and ruin it. I have had many friendships that turned out this way. Too much fire, too much heat, and it ruins it. Stewing takes time, lots of time. It takes the right amount of constant heat, or seasonings. You know what I mean.
Are you beginning to get a different picture of stewarding?
I am. I am now thinking of my devotion time, my study time, am I letting it stew or rushing it? My friendship, am I letting them stew overtime...letting the heat bring out the best of flavor. My family, My God, My relationship, its all about time, stewing, letting the fire or heat produce the best possible result.
My friends, it is time to make stew.




Tuesday, August 6, 2013

depths and heights

I had a dream the other day.
It was either a dream or a vision and I was either in body or spirit,
I do not know.
But this is what I do know.
It changed me. Confirming my hearts desire.
I was at City Gate Prayer Room, doing something I don't often do.
I was soaking. Just laying on the floor listening to worship. True worship.
I would say that I experienced worship in Spirit and Truth as I lay still.
Sometimes worship isn't all about shouts and dancing, its about stillness and quiet.
So I was laying there and I began to see the ocean.
Like the picture above, I was swimming in the beauty of the ocean.
seeing everything. It was clear and beautiful.
I saw all kinds of life. Fish. Sharks. Coral.
I saw the light coming through. And the water was so clear!
I could see for miles in every direction.
Everywhere I looked, I could see.
In every direction I saw light and life.
I felt light and lift.
I felt safe and loved.
Even with sharks swimming around, I wasn't worried or scared.
I was just swimming or more like floating all around.
Then I saw this dark circle.
I wasn't afraid of the dark circle because I knew it was part of the ocean.
It was calling out to me, to go deeper.
I felt like I was to go deeper into the depth of the ocean
where you can't see. The part that biologist talk about. Where we don't know what is there.
The deepest part where light doesn't get to, but there is still life down there.
I swam or floated towards the dark circle. Well, the circle wasn't dark, it was what was beyond the circle.
I knew if I went through, I would not know what was there.
Here in the ocean, I was safe because I could see.
Through the circle, I knew I wouldn't be able to see if a shark was next to me.
But, it was alluring me to come.
I knew I had to swim through.
As I approached, I felt the tension in myself. I actually felt the moment of panic before
the "here we go".
I didn't even have time to react or respond before my head went through, and I literally felt
that feeling of a roller coaster ride?
That drop you get when the coaster goes sailing down the big first hill?
Into the dark I went, woosh.
I looked around and saw I was in this dark place, but it wasn't dark like I though the depth of the ocean would be.
there was light there...little lights all around.
I wasn't in the ocean depths like I thought.
 I was in the cosmos.
Going down into the depth of the ocean, had actually brought me to the heights of the Cosmos.
"Come up here" ran through my mind. "Come up here so I can show you the mysteries."
All of a sudden I knew.
In my prayer to go deeper, God was taking me higher.
As I wanted to know the depths of God, His Word, Love and Life,
He took me high !
It is like the ocean and the cosmos connected in that moment, and as I went down in my swimming,
God took me upward to the cosmos.
The depth and the heights connect.
The deeper we go, the higher He takes us.
What a beautiful revelation.
When we give up the safety of what we know, God takes us to where He knows.
the depths become the heights.
I am forever changed.