Honest Responses in Tough Times

The LORD makes firm the steps
   of the one who delights in Him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
   for the LORD upholds him with His hand.

Psalm 37:23-24

This is another key verse for Summit 2, The Journey: Every Step is Praise. 

Sometimes it's hard to read a verse like this when you're in the midst of a crisis situation and actually believe what it says. So many times when troubles come we feel abandoned by God. What does God expect from us in times when we feel like we're far from being upheld with God's hand? I think He expects raw honesty. 


So often in the book of Psalms, we read David's honest words as in Psalm 69:1-3 

"Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God." 

Or my personal favorite Psalm of desperation, Psalm 35:22-23

"You have seen, O LORD; be not silent! O Lord, be not far from me! Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication, for my cause, my God and my Lord!"

Think about what David's saying in this Psalm! He's accusing God of being asleep! The Message Bible states it this way: 


"Don't you see what they're doing, God? You're not going to let them Get by with it, are you? Not going to walk off without doing something, are you?  Please get up - wake up! Tend to my case. My God, my Lord - my life is on the line."


David is saying, "Wake UP God!!! Where are You when I need You the most? Don't You understand what's going on???"


David is known as a "man after God's own heart" and yet he's questioning God vehemently in these and lots of other passages in the book of Psalms. Here's the key- God's not offended by our questions, but He wants us to trust Him for the answers. When we're going through a rough time, God has not fallen asleep on the job, He still possesses His omniscient, omnipresent powers, and He knows what's going on. What's difficult for our finite minds to comprehend is that He works infinitely on our behalf. A crisis situation today may be the moment we look back on in the future and recall as a Spiritual turning point. The point is that WE DON'T KNOW what's going on completely. But God does.


So bring on Your questions. He's big enough to handle them. Keep trudging ahead on the path, even if it seems hopeless. God surely has something amazing for you as you climb upward toward His help and His glorious presence and intervention in your life. 


Another Psalm to keep close to your heart when things are not going well is my all-time favorite: Psalm 121- A Song of Ascents. Songs (or Psalms) of Ascents are thought to be psalms that were sung by the people on the ascents (or going up) to Jerusalem to attend the three pilgrim festivals (Deuteronomy 16:16) or by the kohanim (priests) as they ascended the fifteen steps to minister at the Temple in Jerusalem. (Source: Easton's Bible Dictionary) Ascent...Summit...I think I see a connection here :) 


I'm praying that as you read Psalm 121 the peace of God will invade your life. That you will truly believe that each step of Your journey towards His heart is worth the effort. And that even when the steps take you through painful places, you still choose to praise Him. 

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

   From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

   who made heaven and earth.

 He will not let your foot be moved;

   he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

   will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

  the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

   nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

   he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

   your going out and your coming in

   from this time forth and forevermore.

He Will Direct Your Path

Make me to know Your ways, O LORD;
 teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
 for You are the God of my salvation;
 for You I wait all the day long.
Psalm 25:4-5

This is another key verse for Summit 2. If you are reading this and don't know what the Summit is, it is a quarterly worship experience at my church (Lancaster Community Church). I have the honor as Worship Director of LCC to coordinate this worship event. The first one absolutely blew me away. God revealed Himself to us in the time we spent together that night, and we responded with hearts surrendered to Him in praise. It is a moment I will never forget. Summit 2 is coming up and so I'm spending the next couple of weeks blogging about the concepts we'll be covering at our event which has the theme, The Journey: Every Step is Praise.

This Psalm took on even more meaning for me today as I was sitting at my parent's house gazing out into the woods while my boys played nearby. I saw this gorgeous flower on the edge of the woods (I've had an intense fondness for flowers as long as I can remember). The flower had dark, rich green foliage and then this burst of tiny white flowers in a globular shape at the tip of the stem. Really breathtaking (if you're into that sort of thing). I stepped off the porch and walked closer to the base of the hill so that I could get a closer look and as I came closer, I realized that there were a few more behind it, and then several more behind that cluster, and then I realized that a great majority of that section of the forest was densely dotted with these beautiful flowers. But I had to walk a ways to view the full splendor of the scene before me.

This made me think about how our journey with God plays out. We get this beautiful glimpse that propels us to continue on, and then with each step closer to Him, we see even more. We respond with adoration and thanks to each attribute He reveals and each glorious interaction with Him. This ties in so nicely with Psalm 25:4-5. So often we think that knowing God or studying the Bible is difficult, but we have to understand that He leads us each individually and at the pace that He knows is best for us. He reveals to us what needs to be revealed, when it needs revealed. He's never going to lead us into more than we can handle and we can trust His path because His understanding of the future is complete. Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path."

The most important thing to understand about the Christian journey is that He is the one guiding us and He knows where we've been, where we are, and where we are going. Externally, God leads us by His word while internally, His Spirit guides and teaches us in all situations...IF we will surrender and allow that to happen. And when we do surrender and allow Him to lead us instead of charging ahead like an insolent child, we see His beauty and glory revealed in ways that we could never experience without Him. For some of us, we're just at the start of the journey catching a glimpse of the beauty ahead while others of us are climbing into the most beautiful territory we've ever seen. Still others are hanging on, vicariously grasping the rocky precipices, holding on for dear life. But all the while, no matter what stage of the path, He is leading us. And that is all that we need to know for our journey. 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

Psalm 32:8

A Lifestyle of Sacrifice

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1

I'd like to spend the next couple weeks looking at the Core Scripture Verses guiding the theme for Summit 2- The Journey: Every Step is Praise. I would love to hear from you about what each verse means to you.

For me, this verse is the definition of Worship. In the Jewish culture, sacrifices were their means of being justified before God. After the death of Jesus, that all changed as He was the atoning sacrifice for everyone. But still, the idea of a sacrifice was fresh in the culture of that day's mind, even after Jesus' death. So Paul says- give your entire body, your whole life as a sacrifice. Lift it up to God and say, I am Yours. Take me and use me as You see fit.

This concept goes against our Western Culture mindset though, doesn't it? We are seemingly destined to be self-absorbed, self-centered, self---everything! But to live a life of worship, we have to die to our selfish desires and offer up that which costs us the most- our very lives...our will...our plans...our dreams for the future...our selves. 

Pastor Matt shared this past Sunday the story of David being offered items for a sacrificial offering in 1 Chronicles 21. Essentially, David needed to offer a sacrifice to God to atone for something he had done wrong. A man named Ornan offered to give David all he needed for the sacrifice free of charge. 

David said, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." 

For a sacrifice to truly be a sacrifice, it has to cost us something. 

It costs me nothing to sing the words during corporate worship while my mind drifts to what's for lunch.

It costs me nothing to tell someone I will be praying for them and then dismiss or forget the idea completely.

It costs me nothing to keep my Bible stored in my car for when I will need it on Sunday morning, but not bother to turn it's life giving pages during the week. 

It costs me nothing to quickly down my communion juice and bread while holding a grudge against a neighbor or not thinking about Jesus and His sacrifice for me. 

It costs me nothing (literally and figuratively) if I decide to not give my tithe because I want to buy something else in it's place...something that will surely see rot and decay in my lifetime. 

It costs me nothing to put on a happy face at church on Sunday and automatically morph into the ideal wife and mother, but then go around the rest of the week mistreating those who I cherish the most. 

Sacrificing anything for God is serious business. God deserves a personal and full response to His glory and authority in our lives. If our lives are truly lives of worship, they will also be lives of sacrifice. A lifestyle of sacrifice defines our worship, our giving, our relationships, our respect for spiritual disciplines, and our submission to those in authority over us. It does cost us to align our plans with God's plans. It takes commitment and trust to say to God, "I surrender!" It hurts to ask Him to break away the sin and strongholds that have captured you...it hurts A LOT! But to truly live lives of worship, those are the things that must happen. 


But in our life now and most definitely in the life to come, THE SACRIFICE WE MAKE NOW IS SO WORTH IT! 

So today, I urge YOU, as we have all seen the way that God has shown us His love and mercy, to respond with a life of sacrifice...your entire life one long response to His greatness. This is what true worship is all about. 

Why Corporate Worship is Important

The thing I love most about corporate worship time is that it gives a glimpse of what Heaven will be like. The Bible references the scene that has been going on, is going on right now, and will continue to go on in Heaven several times. 


Isaiah 6:1-4
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 


Revelation 4:6b-11

 And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures,full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

   "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
   who was and is and is to come!"
 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor 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."

It is clear from these two passages alone (and there are many more) that Heaven is a place where honor and glory are reserved and given only to God- praises are continually spoken, people are lying facedown at the thrown in awe and reverence. No distractions, no strongholds keeping us from true worship. Only us and God- He's right there in front of us! The only possible response in that situation is worship. 

If you think about the many disciplines that we as Christians adhere to (or should adhere to), like tithing, worship, service to others, fasting, solitude, study, prayer, confession...the list goes on and on... worship is the one that stands out to me as the main one that will continue in Heaven. Many of the other disciplines will cease to exist because there will not be a need for them in Heaven. But corporate worship will remain. To me, that is a clear sign that we need to embrace it now and learn as much about it as we can because it will be an eternal occupation. 

Sometimes our corporate gatherings feel a little less than heavenly though, right? And why is that? There are many reasons, but I would say chief among them is an unyielded heart. When you are really in love with someone, there is no way you can keep that silent. Everything you do is motivated by that love. You think about them day and night. You ration your time, money, belongings, your entire existence really, around the love you have for that person. The same should be said of God. If He really is your main priority, then all that we do and all that we have should be leveraged for His glory. We should reflect that passion for Him and obedience towards Him in our own lives and in our corporate gatherings. 

At our LCC Staff Retreat this past week, I posed the question- What would it be like if everyone came to church already full of God, not in need of a Sunday fill-up? What if they had been seeking Him and already worshiping Him throughout the week? The results would be incredible! People would come in to our corporate gathering already full, and the corporate worship and teaching time would then cause them to overflow. They would carry that overflow into their own spheres of influence and their adoration for God would spill out onto all they came in contact with. 

But that can only happen (and it definitely CAN happen) when we stop viewing church as a convenience store where we can get our God fill-up for the week. Our relationship with and worship of God has to be a daily process that we all choose. It is a choice- unfortunately, one of a gazillion choices. But if we make that choice, then our corporate gatherings truly will be a place where God is deservedly honored and adored. Where our hearts are set free to take on even MORE of His love- love for us and love for the world. Imagine all of the work we could achieve if we harnessed that kind of love! Imagine the deepened understanding and love of God we could have! Imagine the change we could be in our world! Imagine getting to Heaven and seeing it as a continuation of the life you lived on earth! 

But let's not just imagine it- let's do it! God has called us to live our lives for Him. All day, everyday. With or without music. Let everything we do be about Him and for Him. Amen! 

I encourage you to write down or print out the verse below and post it somewhere that you can read it every single day:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.   -Romans 12:1-2

Looking Back: Where We've Been and Where We're Headed

My sons and I watched old home videos the other day for an hour and a half. They loved seeing themselves as newborns in the hospital, their first birthday parties, and hearing themselves talk in cute baby babbles. I enjoyed it too. It seems like the time has gone really quickly, yet at the same time I can't really remember those moments as well as I'd like to-it's as if it's been forever since I've had little tiny babies in my house... It's a strange paradoxical situation.

I love watching my boys grow and change. I love looking back on days that have gone past far too quickly. It's awesome to see them learning more about God and seeing my oldest son take on the characteristics of a strong leader, while my youngest son delights in music, prayer, and helping others. They will make a formidable team someday :)

Watching those videos with them made me think about how different life is from year to year- how much we grow and change, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. God wants that for all of us. He wants us to change, to learn, to flourish and grow in Him.  God wants to see us grow in those areas, not only individually, but also within our church bodies. Ephesians 4:11-15 says,

And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped,when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I also love watching my church, Lancaster Community Church, grow and change. I think back on the journey we have taken as a worshiping community and I am humbled and awed by what God has done and is doing. He has truly been with us every step of the way, even in times of uncertainty and difficulty, He has been there. I love seeing new faces week after week and hear the stories of lives being changed, chains being broken, lives being healed, eyes being opened as Christ is revealed. God loves it. He desires it. From the Ephesians passage above, we read that He wants us to put off childish ways and to grow up into Christ, equipped and effective, and held together by His unchanging love. 

I believe that as time goes on, we're going to see even more amazing things happen at LCC. By the power of God's love and walking in the ways of His truth, we will be a source of change in our community. We will begin to be students of the Word. We will live out our calling to worship Him in all we do and with all that we are. We will contribute daily to the Kingdom work and calling that God has for us. We will not forget the orphan, the widow, and those who are oppressed. We will be the hands and feet of Jesus in our family, our workplace, our world. I can feel the change happening right now. We're going from people who hear and know the Truth, to people who LOVE and LIVE OUT the Truth.

Take some time today to think about where you are. Look back on where you've been. And then look beyond your current circumstances to the future- the beautiful prospect of what could be. Then prayerfully take some steps to make sure that a year from now, when you look back, the place you will be Spiritually leaves you awestruck and filled with praise for what God did in your life.

Who Has Inspired You Spiritually?

Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion movement and now Pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, GA has done more for my spiritual growth than he will ever know. This is a guy who thinks big. I mean REALLY big. This is a guy who loves Jesus. REALLY loves Jesus. At a time when I just wasn't quite sure what church was all about anymore in my college years, God truly worked in my life when my brother, Eric, bought a Passion CD for our family for Christmas. I fell in love with the songs right away and then began to explore the heartbeat and the organization behind the movement- and that was when we found Louie. Throughout our college years we were avid members of the Passion Movement. We once loaded up a van of friends and drove straight to Atlanta for a single evening service called "Passion on the Hill". 10 hours of driving for a 2 hour service! Totally worth it! We were at Oneday. We went to the Thirsty Conference 3 years in a row. We represented the Passion music label, sixstepsrecords. Passion was a huge part of our lives and God truly used it to form us into the worship leaders and Christ followers that we are today. 


In years when Jarrod and I were feeling called to ministry, in seasons when those ministries didn't work out  and we were feeling clueless and without a church home to anchor us, Louie was there, speaking God's truth and driving a passion for God deep into our souls. 


Last night, Louie's new church opened it's doors. Seriously, take some time to look at the pictures in the link below. Absolutely brilliant. Louie has served as an example to us about excellence in ministry, living a life of worship, living a missional life in our culture, and mostly, he has embodied what it means to really love Jesus. He has spoken into our lives for 12 years now and I pray that God blesses his new church beyond what anyone could ever imagine. I pray that Passion City Church equips and releases countless workers for the Kingdom, and that they would continue to be inspired and to inspire an intense passion for God to all they encounter. 


So inspired. So blessed. So amazed. 




http://www.passioncitychurch.com/blog/


And if you've never heard Louie teach before, or even if you have, you should listen to his messages here:


http://268media.com/passionmessagespodcast/




"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.” Isaiah 26:8
-The guiding verse of the Passion movement.

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. 


This is something I am learning slowly. I wouldn't come right out and say that I'm a Drama Queen, but I think some people would :) I like that author Beth Moore admits that she is a drama queen- "If you and I had the lives we keep asking God for, they would be so boring. If someone were reading them in a book, they would be put to sleep. This life is a place of drama. As you can imagine, I have been called a drama queen more times than a few, but I've got a drama King!" 


I'm not really good with sickness for either myself or my children. I remember the first time Silas got a stomach virus when he was 2, it was like the world was literally going to end. I was devastated to see my child sick. And he was sick for a couple weeks with it- off again, on again. And to add to the troubles, I was nursing a 6 week old baby. And then Jarrod got it. And then I got it. And I still had to nurse a 6-week old baby and try to hold everyone else together. We have awesome family members who got us through that bleak couple of weeks in November of 2008, but I still can recall the negativity and despondency that gripped me firmly throughout the whole ordeal. I was pulled down into the depths of misery. But looking back, I realize that I was the one pulling. 


We want someone to blame. We want to believe that God is in control, but then that thought leads to the question, "well, if He's in control, then why does He allow me to be sick?" So then you go to the other extreme, and say that Satan is to blame. I've been struggling with this idea and I think I have a good grip, at least for now, on what's going on in the midst of illness and suffering. 


It's simple really. 
1. When Adam sinned in the garden, illness, death, and sin came into the world. Being a citizen of the natural world and a descendent of the original sinner makes me vulnerable to illness and pain. 


2. Satan wants us to be miserable, but I have a hard time believing that he's going around injecting us with germs or forcing our hands to touch a germ-ridden spot. I certainly believe he can oppress and mess with our health (Have you ever read the book of Job?) but I don't fully believe the idea that every time we get sick it's the devil out to get us. I will say though that I believe how we deal with rough times is either going to give him the victory overall, or give God the victory. Our response determines who gets the game point. 


3. God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Not a single moment goes without His stamp of approval-including moments of illness and pain.  This is a hard truth to swallow. God knows my kid has been throwing up all night. We have prayed, we have asked, we have faith that He can instantly heal. But for whatever reason, my kid couldn't even keep a couple sips of water in his body all night. So does God not care? 


4. Of course He cares. He knows what's going on at all times. He has the power to heal or not heal but He wants us to be whole and He wants us to be well. But we have to understand as humans that there is a lot going on that we don't realize and we just have to trust and stay in tune with God through prayer and His word before, during, and after hard times come. 


Beth Moore says it really well again: "If you and I are going to walk in trust, we have to set aside all those conditional elements until we can say, "God, I just trust You. I don't trust You to do what I tell You to do, in Jesus name. I'm going to choose to just trust You! I'm going to trust that even if my worst nightmare happens, You've got some purpose. There must be some huge glory at stake, things I do not understand until I see You face-to-face." We've got to know down in the depths of our hearts that God will take care of us and that even in painful situations, He must be about a huge work of glory. There must be much at stake in the heavenly realms." 


So I am coming to realize that the event, be it sickness, disaster, chaos of whatever kind, is not of primary importance. What is of primary importance is our response to the event. 


We have to come to the place where unconditional surrender and faith is our response to trials, not an unattainable idea that we wish we could grasp. We have to believe that there is a greater purpose and that our response will weigh heavily on heavenly situations and will be an authentic signal to the world that we know where our help comes from. We have to look at each situation we face and allow ourselves to experience pain and go through the hurt, but suffering and dwelling on negative feelings is truly our choice. The drama alternative is hardly worth the effort- take it from me. The alternative of releasing the outcome and resting in the peace and hope that God is in charge is so freeing. 


Though we have a good mixture of stomach bugs and impending surgery right now, I have to say it's been a great couple of days to just relax and take it easy with my family. We have laughed and laughed this morning in the midst of all the yuck and we're going to relax together today and take it easy. That doesn't happen often enough- maybe it takes getting sick to realize what a treasure we have when we're healthy. Maybe it makes us all pull together and pull closer to God. Maybe it sets us up for a more consistent prayer life- the trick is to keep the prayers flowing even when health or stability return. Maybe it's a chance for us to see God as healer, provider, and sustainer. 


Whatever the reason, I am convinced it must be a good trade for some reason and that my response is what counts. I have hope in Him and that is all the hope I need. 


Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.


Romans 5:1-5