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11.15.2012

Heart-Rending Worship.

No, I don't really know what all I'm going to write about.
Looking back over my journal,
I realize that it's been a very long time since I blogged.

God has shown me so so much since then.

None of this will be revelations for any of you, most likely,
but I just wanted to get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper.

Worship.
Worship can come from a heart that is overflowing with love and contentment;
because life is good. 
But worship doesn't always come naturally like that.
The hardest time to worship, the time when it feels like the last thing you can do is worship,
is when your heart is broken, when the world seems to be caving in, when things happen that you don't understand.
That's when worship is the most beautiful; 
when your heart is going through the fire, and you are just clinging; 
clinging desperately to the hope of Jesus. 
That's when you have to make a choice to worship; when everything inside you hurts.
You choose to worship because you know that there is Someone out there that knows better than you;
Someone out there who understands everything that you don't. 
Someone who has a reason for everything He does even when it doesn't make any sense at all.
You worship because that's the only thing you can do.

"Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! 
    Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness..."

"You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

Only in His presence is there fullness of joy.
Fullness of joy, even in the midst of things we can't comprehend.
Because only when we are at our wits end; only when we are out of our own answers; only when
we are completely and utterly helpless, can we truly accept His help.
and when we seek Him with our whole heart,
 we hear His answers, and we ask Him to whisper peace.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you,
 that in me you may have peace.
 In the world you will have tribulation. 
But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Living by Example.

How can I see a need and ask God
LET THEM SEE YOUR LOVE. SHOW THEM YOUR POWER,
when He quietly asks me why I'm not doing the same?

How could I ask Him to shine His light on peoples' lives when 
I'm not willing to be that light?

I know that God doesn't revolve around me;
waiting on me to make decisions.
But isn't that a cop-out?

Isn't asking God to do something He's called me, and every child of His to do,
 a little ridiculous?

"Jesus, please show them your love, somehow, through someone else, 
because I am just too busy. I don't feel like it. Work wonders through someone else."

That's not living a Jesus-follower life.

Somewhere, somehow, my prayers need to be lived out.
Not just said to God right before I fall asleep, 
but lived every day to the brim.

                              "Therefore HE SAID THAT HE WOULD DESTROY THEM,
 HAD NOT MOSES HIS CHOSEN ONE STOOD BEFORE HIM IN THE BREACH,
                                to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them."

That's living your prayers out. 
That's the kind of life that I want to live;
being willing for God to use me like that, 
to bring before His throne people that He's laid on my heart, 
to "stand before Him in the breach" for their lives, 
and to not give up until I see results. 

Who has God called you to stand in the breach for?

Gratitude list #472: OH DEATH WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY?



- Christina.