Archive for September, 2010

Weekly Devotion 4: The Importance of Worship


John 4:23- But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
The first thing that needs to be said about worship is that God does not need your worship. He is no less God if you worship Him than if you don’t. Worship affects you, not Him.
            To worship means to adore, obey, reverence, focus positive attention on; any action or attitude that expresses praise or love.
One of the oldest known forms of worship is kingly worship. A king would enter a room and people would bow down on one knee and kiss his hand. When we worship, we don’t always bow down in our bodies, but we are bowing in our spirit. We are taking God in our hearts and kissing His hand. Do you see how it affects you more than it does Him?
            Worship is an outward sign of what is inside your heart. When you worship, God takes notice and He blesses you. True worship is living and pure worship produced by the Holy Spirit. It is enjoying being in the very presence of God. Worship releases you to go to a higher place spiritually and allows you to interact with God on a more intimate level.
Consider the words of youth evangelist Ron Luce when he said that: “worship is an expression of your love for God. It’s similar to having a boyfriend or girlfriend you think about all the time. When you get together with that person, you talk about all the neat things you like about him or her. You are showing your adoration.”
While that may relate more to teens directly, we all know the feeling.
How do you show your adoration for God?  What does it mean to you to worship Him? Is worship just singing slow, boring songs that put you to sleep. To many people it is, but it doesn’t have to be.
            Worship is a way to connect with God. When you are worshiping Him, you are telling Him how much you love and appreciate Him. Don’t take that task lightly. Put your whole heart into worship this week. Really cry out to God as never before and just lay your heart down. Say “Lord, this is how I feel about You, and I want you to know it.”
            Don’t allow your time spent with God to be boring, being a Christian is supposed to be exciting. How many other religions do you know of that can worship a risen savior?
Spend time worshiping God this week!

DK

2010
09/27
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

Lessons in life from a dead squirrel: A Classic Tale


I used to do a blog many years ago on My Space, when it was cool and I still used it. I ended my time there shortly before I got married, as I decided it was too involved to keep a healthy relationship. However, I kept the entries from my old blog and recently found them in an old file on an old flash drive. Reading through them I thought of the journey I have been on with the Lord and the many interesting things I’ve been a part of.

Then I came across this old post. Its got nothing really to do with faith or the Christian life, yet it does. I hope you enjoy this real life story, now several years old, as much as I did when i found it again!

Lessons from a dead Squirrel:

A funny thing happened over at a friend’s house the other day. Now, let me provide a little background info as I start: she’s just about been one of my very best friends since I was old enough to have friends (I think). She was getting ready to go off to college, so I wanted to run by her place and wish her well. While there she was telling me about her great new boyfriend. Of course, I pretended to be interested in what she was saying…but guys never really listen to girls talk about themselves much. I mean, after a while its the same stuff said in different ways…

But now I’m getting off track. (Its easy to do without the aid of powerful medication that I’m no longer allowed to have. That is a joke, so you can laugh:-) So, as she was talking and I was ignoring her and watching her horses play, she started to tell me about a way she just knew her future husband was crazy in love with her. Personally, I’d stop at crazy, but then no one asked me did they.

 Anyway, I’d like to share the jist of the story with you now:
They were driving down the road into town and had stopped somewhere for something (I wasn’t paying attention at first, remember…). When they got ready to go, my friend, who I’ll call Kate (name has been changed to minimize her embarrassment at my telling this story), decided she wanted some (add your own expletive here, because this is a “G” rated blog) ice cream. Now, her dream man, who I shall call Vince (and honestly, I couldn’t tell you his real name even if I wanted to), was not in the mood for ice cream. So he said no.

They debated a few moments driving back out of town (by debated I mean yelling, name calling, crying, pouting…) and at some point something was thrown in the direction go Vince. Now he must be a nice guy, because he didn’t run off the road and kill them both.
But, Kate is a stubborn young lady. And rather impulsive, too, but that’s another blog altogether… Anyway, Kate really wants her ice cream. The same way a two year old in Toys R Us really wants Bob the Builder. So, in an act of desperate passionate outrage, she flung open the passenger door of Vince’s truck and bailed out…………going down the road.

This isn’t anything new for her. She’s jumped out of stranger things, you can be sure.

After getting to her feet, though, she began her track back to town and to the ice cream store. Now, an aside. If she’d done that to me, I’d have kept going and left her there, and she knows it, too.


But Vince is a much better man than I. He pulled over, got out and started running down the highway after her. Ah, the all compelling power of love! Let’s pause of a moment while we all get something to settle our stomachs…

Ready? Okay.

Kate, who is determined by this point that she will have her ice cream if she has to beat an old woman for the buck fifty to buy it, notices Vince coming down the road after her. Now, neither person is a track star, but Vince is a fairly able man and was easily gaining on her. (Again, if that had been me, it would have been with a weapon of some sort…)

So Kate, realizing that she can’t outrun Vince, decides to stand her ground on the road. She picks a spot that just happened to have a dead squirrel at it. This could have given new meaning to the phrase ‘over my dead body’ but then she wouldn’t have gotten her ice cream.
No, dear reader, Kate is much more imaginative than that.

She waits until poor Vince is within range and musters all the strength she has to…kick the dead squirrel  at him!!!

What happened next I can’t say. I was listening very well by this point, but was in such shock that I missed the end of the story.

But, let me say this: Kate got her ice cream. And more that that, Vince has (since the squirrel kicking incident) apparently asked her to marry him.

Anyway, the moral of this story (if you want to call it that) is this: Just because someone kicks a dead squirrel at you doesn’t mean that they really don’t love you. They just have problems showing it!

DK
2010
09/23
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

Here’s a thought…Act like a Christian


Each Sunday night we have a worship ministry called the Upper Room that meets for 1 hour. This time of worship, prayer, and fellowship is so rich and refreshing. It takes me back to my Bible School days in the living room of one of my good friends homes, as we’d have CD worship and pray, and just wait for God to talk. He always would.

A few weeks back, He impressed something on my heart that I would like to share:

Being a Christian is supposed to mean being Christ-like. But what is that? Our definition of Christianity has become so convoluted and polluted that most people have no idea what its like to be Christ-like. Their head is so full of other peoples ideas of Christianity that they wouldn’t understand Christ-likeness if Jesus Himself stepped in front of them and smacked them in the face.

Today, Christianity has been reduced like a broth to basic religious elements

  • we go to church
  • we give to the church
  • we sing, dance, run, and lift our hands

And we actually thing THESE things are an exhibition of true Christianity.

But its not. Being a Christian isn’t about putting your butt in a seat or a check in the plate on Sunday morning. Christianity has nothing to do with how loud you can shout or how high you can lift your hands.

Christianity is Christ-likeness. Its having our lives look like Jesus’ life, and not like the life of the TV preacher, famous athlete, our momma, or sister so-and-so. Oh, being in church is important because God says so (do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together- Hebrews 10:25). Tithing is important because God tells us to bring the tithe into the storehouse (Malachi 3:10). Singing, shouting and even dancing are important because they are natural expressions and reactions of adoration for an overwhelming, Supreme God how has impacted our lives. David couldn’t help but dance and sing for joy in His presence.

However, nothing about these things makes us a Christian.

all the tee-shirts we wear, the bumper stickers we have…they don’t cut it either. A cross around your neck is no guarantee of the impact of the cross upon your heart. Christianity is about action. What did I DO today that’s like what Jesus DID?

  • whose life did I impact
  • whose heart did I encourage
  • whose thinking did I challenge
  • whose situation did I step into and bring hope?

God cares so little about your religious expressions that you’d feel embarrassed if you knew how much difference it made. Jesus said ‘The works that I do, you shall do also, and greater works that these…’ (John 14:12). The book of 1 John says ‘as He is, so are we in this world’ (1 John 4:17).

We need to readjust our mindset and stop the frivolous, fanatical religious rituals and start feeling the change of real relationship. We need to stop being church-like and start being Christ-like. We need to stop acting like Christians and start acting like Christ.

The relationship we have with Him should so changes us, so penetrate every area of desire, every dream of the future, every passion of our heart, that instead of life being about simply being close to Him that it becomes about being an imitator, a copy, a double, and a duplicate of Him. Christianity is about Christ-likeness, not people-likeness. Its about action and impact not words and going through the motions of religious expression.

But in order to be Christ-like we first have to be truly impacted by him first. We have to stop caring about what others do, think, or say and be willing to be confrontational, not just conversational. Christianity isn’t about tradition, its about truth. The truth is too many Christians are too much like the world…and that is why they aren’t making a difference AND why they aren’t seeing any difference in their lives. Its not real relationship unless there is real change in the way you talk, think and act.

So, are you Church-like or Christ-like? Who have you and who are you impacting will answer that question well. Be bold…start being like Jesus and not like the crowd.

DK

2010
09/23
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

10 Simple Rules


MercyMe has produced some great music. Power songs like I Can Only Imagine have touched people around the world deeply. But on their Ultimate Collection album, there is a fun song that is great for helping Kids learn about the 10 Commandments. I encourage you to go here to check out the song: http://www.directlyrics.com/mercy-me-ten-simple-rules-lyrics.html

Then take some time with the lyrics and talk with your kids about God’s 10 rules for us to live by. You can have all sorts of family fun with a guitar hero guitar, or even a broom in place of a guitar acting out being a family band, singing the lyrics…all the while teaching your kids the 10 Commandments. This can be great family fun, but don’t miss the opportunity to talk about each one and what it means for our lives!

DK

Here are the lyrics:

Here’s a little tune
You’ll be happy to know
Keep it close to you
Wherever you may go

God gave us ten simple rules
To get us through
A little something
Just for us to live by

So now hide them in your heart
And you will be fine

CHORUS:
And Lord said
Have no other gods but God
To worship idols just won’t do
Be careful with the way you use God’s name
And keep Sunday special too.

Honor your parents, don’t take any lives.
And when you’re old enough to marry, be true.
Do not steal or lie
Or want those things that don’t belong to you
These are ten simple rules God gave to me and you

Now the good Lord said
You better listen to me
If you follow these rules
Then they will set you free

Because I want you to live
A happy life
And help others
To be happy too

So when things go wrong
These words
Will get you through

2010
09/22
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 3,527 other followers