Monday Cultivation

After a full weekend of classes and powerful church services Monday morning is a good time to work on heart development. I need an honoring heart reestablishing my view of God’s supremacy, an obedient heart that is transparent with God concerning struggles, failures and desires and a thankful heart because God is deserving of great praise. I have learned that time spent cultivating that kind of heart is time well spent. No other agenda for my day matters as much as shoring up my relationship with God. Pursuit of God is and must remain as my greatest priority. My ultimate expression of honor to God is worship. It must permeate my every activity. The result will be clarity of focus. That’s good Monday morning thinking.

Finding change

Today is January 3. The ninth day of Christmas on the calendar. In the song of the twelve days, the gift on the ninth day was “Nine ladies Dancing”. This is generally thought to represent the list of nine things found in Galatians chapter 5 verse 22

“The nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) patience, 5) kindness,6) generosity, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, and 9) self-control.”

This would be a good day to keep these before me and to remember that the word fruit is singular, meaning that these all need to be present as part of the fruit. If gentleness and kindness are not there then the rest of the fruit is not palatable.

A quote from Kathleen Norris about prayer:

“I have learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you cannot imagine.”

My tendency is to pray that others will change, but I am finding more and more that the required change needs to be in me. Seeking God causes change to happen in my heart.
It is a good thing to be overwhelmed by God.

We are singing a new chorus at church that says it really well:

The more I seek you
The more I find you
The more I find you
The more I love you

I want to sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hand
Lay back against you and breathe
And feel your heartbeat

This love is so deep
It’s more than I can stand
I melt in your peace
It’s overwhelming

Being the Church

The Forward to a book I am currently reading is written by George Gallop Jr., Founding Chairman of the George H. Gallop International Institute. In the forward to the book, “Growing an Engaged Church”, he writes,

“ One of the clear signs of the times, as revealed by surveys, book sales, and other indicators, is the recent surge of interest in spiritual matters among the American people, and an intense hunger for God.”

As a pastor, I am always looking for ways to tap into that hunger. This intense hunger comes at a time when society seems to be moving away from traditional “Church” thinking and moving toward new ways of “being” the church instead of “going” to church. I have often told our people that our church ( perhaps better stated as our tribe of the church ) , happens to meet at 1146 Hyway 59. Understanding our wonderful heritage is important while we get inspired to be passionately involved in our congregations. That won’t happen by doing the same things over and over again. We need freshness. We need new ways to proclaim the time proven message of God’s love. We do not need just another program, but we must be open to ways of tapping into the God given imaginations of people around us.

The Gospel group “Mercyme” has a song that says this,

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk By your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face Is before me
I can only imagine
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do Is forever Forever worship You
I can only imagineI can only imagine
When all I will do Is forever, forever worship you

Go ahead, do some imagining today. It contains the word “image”. If we are truly created in God’s image then we have His “Imagination” in us. Let’s use it to up our spiritual intensity level.

Worship

We’ve been learning new dimensions in worship lately. The reminder that worship is not “for us” but “for God” has been helpful. I find that I need regular reminders about that. I have found that true God Centered worship was intended to be spread across the sensory spectrum. God not only wants to be heard, he wants to be felt, smelled, seen and tasted. It has been cleverly stated that true worship of God “Makes Sense”. Leonard Sweet writes that the “eye gate” and the “ear gate” are no longer enough. Truth is for the whole body. Statistically, 65 % of communication is received through channels other than words. We really are creatures of habit. It takes an awakening of the other senses to get us to the next level in our relationship with God. Go for the higher ground this fall.

“Lord, Lift me up and let me stand
By faith on Heaven’s table land
A higher plane that I have found
Lord plant my feet on higher ground”

Press toward the mark.