Journey of Worship

Posts Tagged ‘Holy Spirit’

It’s been said that our life betrays what we believe. Or that our beliefs are betrayed by our life. Either way, most, if not all, Christians say that Christ is the most important thing to them, but their living says they are more concerned with life, work, status, homes, cars, retirement plans, etc. Most aspects of life reflect a forgetting of our Maker, Redeemer, and Savior. I’m not here to tell you how a life that has Christ as the most important thing will be played out in you specifically, but to simply cause you to think.

This aspect of drift and forgetting is a common occurrence in all of our lives. The issue isn’t so much if it has happened (because it will at some point), but recognizing it and making appropriate course corrections.

The season of Lent, at its core, calls us back to God, back to basics, and back to the spiritual realities of life in Christ. Back to the things that we say we believe in. It’s a time when we can ask Christ to once again put to death sin and indifference toward God and others so that we might fulfill the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all of who we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We can once again enter fully into the joy of the Lord Who is our strength. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m starting a new (and hopefully regularly occurring) series of post that I’m calling “Quote of the Week” or “QOTW”. (Yes, I know it’s extremely original.) As I read different things, I often come across quotes that I think are worth sharing, but not necessarily something I want to write about or expand upon. So, I’m going to just post them and where I read/heard them. I hope that they are encouraging at times and challenging at times. Feel free to comment on whether you agree or disagree or if you have any thoughts. Enjoy!

This week’s quote comes from a sub-article that appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Worship Leader Magazine entitled “Pray” by Kenn Gullicksen. In his article, he quotes something said by Alan Redpath 56 years ago:

“There seems to be a tendency for many Christians to imagine that a church can be conducted and led in the same way as a business concern…but the Church of Jesus Christ can only be led in blessing and power by men who have been humbled and broken at the cross, and who, through many experiences of their own failure and nothingness, have learned an utter dependence upon God and have been taught by the Holy Spirit to lay hold of Him at the Throne of Grace.”

Harvey Mackay was waiting in line for a taxi at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie and freshly pressed black slacks, Wally the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back door. Harvey noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside — spotlessly clean.

As Wally slid behind the wheel, he said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.”

Jokingly, Harvey said, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.”

Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.”

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing Harvey his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As the taxi pulled away from the curb, Wally handed Harvey a laminated card and said, “These are the stations I get and the music they play if you’d like to listen to the radio.” As if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey the air conditioning was on and asked if the temperature was comfortable.

The driver then advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. Wally also let Harvey know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” the amazed passenger asked, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled and looked in the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru Wayne Dyer on the radio saying that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining. Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

“So I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers unfriendly and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year, I’ll probably quadruple it.”

Wally the cab driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and to start soaring like an eagle.

When I first read this story, I was immediately struck by the parallels between the cab driver’s choice in living his life and our choice in how people choose to live as Christ-followers. For some, the choice is to quack like a duck in complaining about how bad things are getting, what’s wrong with the world and society around us, and how everything is changing in life (and often in church). For others, they choose to rise above the complaining and grumbling to live a life of justice, mercy, and love in the name of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. They choose to live the abundance spiritual life Christ promises so that they can in turn point people to the living God.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31 niv)

That’s a life of worship. May we soar life eagles in the days before us.

Story via Mikey’s Funnies daily email. Subscribe here.

Mathematically, one is a cardinal whole number. In computer programming, one combined with zeroes become a binary code. Relationally, the 1970’s band Three Dog Night wants you to believe that one is the loneliest number. It can also be a very selfish number of we are only looking out for “numero uno.”

Biblically, the number “one” is pregnant with meaning. The Scripture teaches that God is one. One captures the heart of Jesus’ prayer for the church (John 17). The apostle Paul urges believers to guard the unity of the church in Ephesians 4:3. The Spirit’s emphasis on “oneness” inspires Paul to rehearse all the other “ones” that should matter to us: there is only one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.

We are unpacking the concept of “One” laid out in Ephesians 4:4-6 over the next weeks. This week we dived into the triune nature of God, one of the core distinctives of Christianity – that God is one yet three. Our desire wasn’t to explain the concept away or to answer all the questions, but to help people grasp the mystery, be okay with it, and to realize that there is more to God than we often think. And that’s one of the awesome things about God that makes me glad He’s in control.

Read the rest of this entry »

     I’ve been pondering something lately. A comment was made to me a few weeks ago that during the years of Jesus’ ministry on earth, whenever He responded to people, it was because they had come to Him.  When the people came, He met them.
     I really began to roll that around in my head and think about the implications of that truth.  We don’t read stories where Jesus is running through the streets yelling, “Come out if you want to get healed!” He never tells John, “Go round up a crowd for me, I have a story to tell.” They didn’t put up posters, “Jesus Crusade – on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee.”
     The people desiring to meet Jesus, to hear His wisdom, to be in His presence, and to receive healing came to Him.  Think about the women who had been bleeding of years, the paralyzed man and his four friends, the demon-possessed man, the blind, the weak, the lepers, Jairus and others.  The crowds gathered wherever Jesus went to hear His truth and wisdom.  Those desiring a touch from Christ came to where He was.
     Jesus didn’t force Himself on people. He didn’t make them come. And He doesn’t work that way today.
     So I began to wonder, are we missing out on the abundance of life that Jesus offers in Him because we are waiting for Him to “show up?” Have we come to the place where we believe that if we just go through the motions, Jesus will mysteriously shower Himself upon us?
     Jesus has already told us that He will never leave us.  He has told us that when we gather in His name, He is already there.  He has told us that if we ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, we will receive.  He has told us that if we ask, seek, and knock, it will be given, we will find it, and the door will be opened.
     If I want to experience the fullness of Christ in my life so that the Kingdom of God will be present through me, I have to initiate.  I have to want it.  I have to come to Jesus. As I submit to Him, He will meet me along with my hurts, my baggage, my pain, and my weary soul.
     How many times have you heard someone say after a worship gathering, “I didn’t feel the presence of the Lord today.  Jesus just wasn’t here.” Beyond the theological issues with that statement, could the reality be that we didn’t want to hear Jesus that day? That the Holy Spirit wasn’t given freedom to work and minister because we hadn’t opened our hearts and called out to Him? That we were closed?
     Can it really be that simple? Can we really experience every spiritual blessing that God has promised through Jesus? I’ll simply leave you with this statement to ponder: “draw close to God and He will draw close to you” (James 4:8).