One Big God

I've been reading through the book of Acts in which it describes the history of the events that happened after the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to Heaven of Jesus Christ among those of His followers who remained faithful in speaking about Jesus mission and message. In chapter 4 (I've been camping here for a bit recently) I was stopped today at verse 24. It's random because the verse is simply the beginning words of a prayer from the apostles after a confrontation between Peter & John and the religious council.

Acts 4:24 (ESV)

24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices p together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, q who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them,

It's so simple but, it just made me stop and think...

When is the last time I opened a prayer to my God with that type of reverence and respect?

They open with calling God their:

"Sovereign" (i.e. in complete control - having ultimate authority)

"Lord" (i.e. not just a friend or a guy they talk to when they want something but, their LORD the one they have dedicated their every breath to)

Imagine what it would look like if we lived like we believed that God was really our Sovereign Lord. Wow.

Not only is their Sovereign Lord but He made the Heaven, Earth, Sea, and EVERYTHING IN THEM.

Tonight go out and look at the stars if you can see them where you are. Just gaze. Try and count them. It's pretty overwhelming. Our God made that. He made it so we could look up and see the magnitude of just how big He is and how small we are. (Go to http://crazylovebook.com/ click on "Videos" then "The Awe Factor Of God" video to see just how far up those heavens go.)

Look at a globe. Find your country. Your State. Your County/City. Your Street. How small is that in comparison to the entire Earth. Think of all the people that inhabit our planet. God created them and loved them.

Think of the sea. When I think of the sea I think of shows like Deadliest Catch and Whale Wars and Planet Earth. Shows that take us to the most dangerous, and most beautiful waters on our planet. The oceans and seas are so full of life that sometimes seems more "alien" to us that anything in the heavens could seem. God created that. To show us the depths of His creativity and majesty.

Point is. God's a big God. Even though He's big. He loves us. That's beautiful and amazing.

It's a joint prayer "they lifted their voices together to God and said," it's not just one person praying, but all of them with their hearts and souls as one (Acts 4:32). We should come together as one body, the church, unified and saying, singing, dancing, living, working, serving, exhorting, praying, - worshiping this one big God. In all we do in all we say, think, and breathe, we should be giving "glory to God forever" because He is our Sovereign Lord who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything in them.

Glory to God

Glory to God

Glory to God forever

Take my life and let it be all for You and for Your glory

Take my life and let it be Yours.

- Fee

Pedal Boards, Giftings, Talents, & The Body Of Christ

So I know this might sound really cheesy but, last night I felt like I was worshipping God by packing up my pedal board.... God reminded me of some beautiful truths. Let me explain.

Last night I had the privilege of leading worship for the Prayer Service Kick-Off for Living Proof our High School ministry. It was a small group that came to pray but, pray we did. It was awesome.

So I normally use my pedal board set up with my acoustic as well as my electric because I like my Boss DD-6 looping feature and some Boss Super Chorus effects etc along with my CryBaby Wah make for a really rich sound. Well last night I didn't end up using any of that. We had run everything through the system and then literally seconds before we started decided to go "unplugged" more than we already were since we were a small group. It was awesome and the best choice for the moment. After all was said and done I quietly walked up on stage and began to unplug my cables and pack up my board. I began to think of all the little intricate circuitry that is involved to make each of my pedals work they way they are supposed to. How each linking cable from one pedal bridges the gap to the next so they can work together in a family unit to create one sound.

All of this reminded me of the Church. God has created each of us with individual giftings and talents in order to worship him effectively with our lives. Each of these individual gift/talent groups when combined with the gift/talent groupings of others create the Church in unison as it's supposed to be. The Church then can create "one sound" or "one love" to give to the Father and to show to the world around.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the church in Ephesus. In chapter 4 verse 11-13a Paul begins "And Christ gave gift to people - he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God's people. Christ gave those gifts to prepare God's holy people for the work of serving to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God." In my pedal board some pedals are made to create distortion and sustain. Some are created to add delay or looping effects, some for chorus and flanger, and some for funky wah sounds. The point is while each of these are amazing on their own. They can be so much better when combined with one another working to the goal of creating one sound.

I just stopped for a moment and looked down at my board and said a prayer to our God thanking Him for the gift/talent mix He has given me. I also prayed I would never misuse this mix for my own glory.

I closed the lid and locked the latches on my board and my prayer with the help of a friend and then packed up my guitar... (that's another blog.... not really) and went to spend some time at the prayer stations set up around the room. God did some working in my heart for our ministry last night. He made real in my heart some things that had been real in my head but, weren't making the connection.

The room is open from 7am-5pm all week till Friday for prayer. I'm planning on spending more time in prayer over our ministry there. God speak to me in the little things. Show me You in the margins of life. Continue to break my heart for what breaks Yours.

You can see pictures from the Prayer Service here. Living Proof Prayer Service

The Furious Longing Of God | Pt.2

Luke 11:1-4 NCV - ¹ One time Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his followers said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his followers."² Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, may your name always be kept holy. May your kingdom come. ³ Give us the food we need for each day. ⁴ Forgive us for our sins, because we forgive everyone who has done wrong to us. And do not cause us to be tempted.'

Reading through Brennan's chapter on "our Father" has been a truly settling experience this morning. Once again there's not a whole lot of "new" material here but such good truth to be reminded of. In the chapter Brennan focuses on prayer. Specifically how Jesus taught His disciples to pray, beginning with "our Father", or "Abba".

"Abba means in literal English: daddy, papa, my own dear father." "Pagan philosophers such as Aristotle arrived at the existence of God via human reason and referred to Him in vague, impersonal terms: the uncaused cause, the immovable mover. The prophets of Israel revealed the God of abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in a warmer, more compassionate manner. But only Jesus reveled to an astonished Jewish community that God is truly Father."

Brennan uses this beginning notion of "our Father" to ask the question "Is your own personal prayer life characterized by the simplicity, childlike candor, boundless trust, and easy familiarity of a little one crawling up in Daddy's lap?" There is a beautiful calm in know and loving God as our Father.

There are so many horrible stories of "fathers" who haven't lived up to their Godly example. So many who have hurt in more ways that I care to elaborate on here or imagine those they were charged to care for. If God is our Abba, our Father, then the greatest single act of rebellion against his character would be for a father to not act like one. To not offer the love his family needs and deserves. I'm so sorry for any of you who have experienced that type of a man. I do not understand nor have I experienced that. But, know that Abba loves you. You belong to Him. He welcomes you with open arms into a sweet embrace of his furious love for you.

For the next few days I will be doing as Brennan instructs. Maybe you should to. Find a chair. Sit quietly with palms turned up and pray with the rhythm of your breathing, "Abba, (as you inhale) I belong to You (as you exhale)".

It's so necessary to remember these truths.

Blessings.

Fasting | Pt. 2

FASTING

There's not to much more I can actually say about fasting, within the context I will be experiencing it, than I wrote about yesterday. There are different kinds of fasts from food. There's a Daniel fast in which one only eats vegetables and water for a time. There's a lemon & honey fast in which the participate can boil water and make a lemon/honey tea to drink if energy is feeling low. These are both called "partial food fasts". A true fast which I wrote on earlier means to abstain from food for a certain period of time with the purpose of replacing that time with prayer. Today I will be replacing a different meal with a time of prayer.

THE EXPERIENCE

"So this is morning. It's when I spend the most time thinking about what I'm giving up."

- Jack's Mannequin

This morning I woke up about 6:45 to pray. I decided breakfast would be the meal for me to fast. I wanted to know what it felt like to start my day with a time of fasting. I'm again fasting and praying for our student ministries department and staff for wisdom and discernment into where God would have us move in the coming months to make what we do more effective for the Kingdom. I'm fasting for our students that those who don't know Jesus Christ as personal Savior would come to know him. I'm praying that our current students would invite their unsaved friends to church so they can have an opportunity for us to share Christ with them. I'm praying for my fellow pastors and staff: Tom, Jeremy, Aaron, Aaron, Jordan, Brian, Stephen, Jason, Tammy, Lynsey, and Caiti. I'm praying for protection for their integrity. I'm praying that God will keep them close to His heart. I'm pray that God will guide each one of them into a greater understanding of who He is in order than they can communicate that truth and live it out among their families and friends. I'm praying for them to have lasting relationships with the students in their focus groups. I'm praying for them to be surrounded with and feel the love of God on an entirely new level. We need clarity.

I will say that this morning is much harder than lunch yesterday to fast. I'm really tired. I keep getting distracted thinking about coffee and falling asleep. It's takes a much harder effort for me to wake up early and fast than it does for me later in the day. This is something to keep in mind for more lengthy fasts, it's good to know that mornings will be harder. They're also more beautiful. I've been watching the sun come higher and higher in the sky as I've been praying. I've watched it bring color and life to the creation below it. I pray that God will bring the same color and life to our student ministries department. I pray that He will give us a fresh wind and fire of His Holy Spirit and that we would move forward without inhibitions.

Blessings.

Living In The Waiting.

I feel like right now I'm living in the waiting. It's that space between moments. The space before something needing to happen. When I was a little kid my Mom taught me about prayer and how God answers through me wanting a puppy. I wanted a puppy bad. So I prayed and prayed for a puppy and a puppy never seemed to come. Mom taught me that God answers our prayers with either a "Yes|Right Now" "Maybe|Wait For It" or "No|This Is Not What Is Best For You". She told me that God was probably answering for my puppy "Maybe|Wait For It". My job was continue praying and asking God and wait on Him. A few weeks later I got a puppy. I call this "living in the waiting". It's the hardest place to be in my opinion. Just waiting on God. Praying in faith for Him to do something and take care of you like He says He will do... and then waiting on him. I'm stuck in the middle of the waiting. I'm trying my best to persevere through it but, it's getting hard. My Mom calls these times "a crisis of belief". For those who don't know my Mom has been the largest consistent spiritual influence in my life. It's almost like I'm at the point of breaking. I'm at the point of being stretched so thin... It's just hard. Do I still believe and trust in God's promises? Yes. It's just easier to say "God has something better coming up for you." Than to live in the waiting for that to happen. 

"God grant me the strength to rest in You. I lift my hands and cry, "How long till Your voice speaks clearly? How long till Your arms envelope me?" I cry, "Be my strength when I am weak." Oh Lord, have mercy on me... mercy on me please.""

- The Glorious Unseen: Tonight The Stars Speak