Serve the Lord

As I read my daily bible reading this morning, I had a lot of A-HA! moments, and I'd just like to share one with you...

2 Chronicles 35:3 NLT -

He issued this order to the Levites, who were to teach all Israel and who had been set apart to serve the Lord: “Put the holy Ark in the Temple that was built by Solomon son of David, the king of Israel. You no longer need to carry it back and forth on your shoulders. Now spend your time serving the Lord your God and his people Israel.

WOW! Isn't that what we are asked to do? To put down our burdens and serve the Lord? To no longer carry them back and forth?

And yet, I can't imagine these laborers...the thoughts running through their minds...what's next? The loss, the feeling of uncertainty...what does this new freedom look like? How do I do this? For how long? Every day...I simply just have to serve the Lord? And not work?

I'm reminded of these verses - they instantly popped in my head:

Psalm 25:4 NIV - 

Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.

Psalm 86:11 NIV - 

Teach me your way, Lord,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

Our identity must be so wrapped up in Christ that when He asks us to lay something down, we just simply obey.

We trust - we believe - through the struggle of finding our "what's next?"

He will guide and direct us.

Proverbs 3:6 NASB -

In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight

Lord, give me a glimpse of this vision and help me see how to walk it out step-by-step, trusting you ever more. I love you Lord, my strength.

You are a good God and I trust you...

A few weeks ago, at a concert, I heard these words come from the singer as they paused a moment to pray during their performance:

"You are a good God and I trust you. . ."

It's a simple phrase, but it has had a profound affect on me. If I've mentioned it before, I apologize, it's still gripping me. Actually, it's helping to transform me, day-by-day. Not the phrase, but the way the Holy Spirit is using it as a tool to convey truth in my life.

A simple search of the term "God is good" returns a few scriptures that back this up:

"Give thanks for the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:1

"For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving." 1 Timothy 4:4

"You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees." Psalm 119:68

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Okay, so you get the point. Or maybe now I get it. God is good!

Now the next part is the trust component. Tonight, I'm reading an article that talks about "Eve's Daddy Issues. . ." basically identifying that even girls that never had daddy issues, can blame Eve since the beginning of time for trust issues - HA! No. . .what it's saying is there's a heart issue, and any woman can have this heart issue. If you don't trust your dad, your brother, your friend, your boyfriend, or your husband. . .you ultimately don't trust your Father in heaven. TRUTH.

But here's a part of this article I really like:

"Ultimately, we're not failing to trust the men in our lives, since we've never been called to trust them (Ps. 146:3-5); we're failing to trust the One who gave them to us. 

No earthly home can be secure enough to satisfy the fears of a heart that hasn't learned that ultimately security is found in the Almighty." - Jasmin Holmes

(link to full article - http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/eves-daddy-issues-and-ours)

Anyways, I'm just fleshing this out with y'all here. I'm learning to trust God more each day. I'm learning to believe that He is ultimately for me and that He wants good to come out of my life. I imaging Him for a minute as my one man cheering section (and sometimes it feels like he's the only one). He's the fanatical fan with the KT ROCKS sweatshirt on, green afro (has to be green), purple jumpsuit yelling you can do it! HA! It's fun to imagine. The point is, He's always cheering for me, sometimes the crowd is so loud, I just can't hear him. 

He's also working on my heart, and as I lean in, as I trust Him more, He changes my perspective. He lets me know I'm awesome, I'm created in His image. I am the righteousness of Christ, I'm a crown jewel, I am in His hands, I'm a catch, I'm a blessing, People want to listen to me and be around me, I am a beautiful, I'm a co-heir in Christ, I'm saved, I'm redeemed and tonight. . .I'm blessed and humbled to call Him my Father. Thank you Lord for cheering me on and never missing a game!

Love your neighbor

This past Saturday, I had the privilege to see Jen Hatmaker speak at the Go Girl! Women's Conference at Fellowship Dallas Bible Church. While I did not take notes, therefore I can't possibly begin to redeem her entire message, the parts I did glean from it was to Love your Neighbor. Ya know, a commandment of our Lord and Savior.

Well, sounds great! Right now, I'm loving my little neighbor Kyoshi (my boyfriend's dog) as he sits next to me. Earlier today, I loved my neighbor at the coffee shop while I worked, greeting her politely and allowing her to sit next to me at the community table/lounge area. And early this morning I loved my neighbor (my housemate) by getting out the house so she could sleep (as she's been working nights). So check, done...

Not so fast lady, that's what my conscious says...and then it starts to ask these questions?

• What about your neighbors, the ones in your neighborhood?  Remember when you moved into that great little house, you prayed for them, your prayed for your city and you intentionally tried to create ways to meet them, greet them and have conversations with them?  What happened to that?
• What about the time you offered to help with your neighbors car and have your friend work on it, but you never followed through? Nor did your friend. The entire thing was counted as a blessings, and had led to a great spiritual conversation, but your lack of follow through on the car, probably did not help your testimony of your faith very much.
• What about the time you made cookies for all of them at Christmas - that one time (the first year, this will be Christmas #4 in the hood).
• What about the most recent time when your neighbor fell ill and you promised to look in on her? Maybe help with some meals, etc. . .yep, how well did that go over?

Jesus clearly stated. . . 

". . . and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31New American Standard Bible (NASB)

There is no greater commandment than these. . . whoa, maybe my life is flipped upside down? Maybe the fact that I drive to a ministry each day that focuses on sharing the Gospel across this nation, but I can't get out of my comfort zone to start checking in with and loving on my neighbors, is a big slap in the face to God?

It's been on my mind. And as I write this, I don't know how or what I'm going to do, because I really need the Lord to clear the space and make me move. I just know that he's moving, he's always moving in my life. And this week I'm overwhelmed with the ideas that keep popping into my head, am I serving Him well? Am I doing the Lord's work? Am I loving my neighbor? Am I being a fool for Christ? Am I where He wants me to be? The emotions are raging and I'm asking for His clarity, His plan for me and His confirmation on how to move for Him. Thankfully as I am fluttering about, the one thing I'm not concerned about, is that He who calls me is faithful (Romans 8:28)!

Please pray with and for me as the Lord works this all out, He's moving and He's moving me!

Identity

I scratched down some notes last night during an evening of prayer and worship. Throughout the evening we talked about many things. But one struck me, it's that we were made to be worshippers and to worship God. 

This means giving Him all credit, giving Him all praise, acknowledging Him above myself. So why don't I do that? 

I started thinking about it, and I don't do that because I worry about other things too much, I don't do it because I let other things get in the way of my worship.

It led me to think, if I am made to worship, then my identity should be in that in which I worship. This is something we all hear tossed around, "your identity should be in Christ." Sounds great, but no one discusses how do I get there?

So last night I scribbled down some notes about my thoughts on my how...

My prayer is that it will help you, and more than anything that I will dwell on worshipping the God who blesses me, who saved my life and loves me more than I can even comprehend! I pray it helps me to understand my identity.

"The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." John 17:22-23