What is our heart of worship?

Today at Calvary Worship Center, the pastor spoke on what the church is supposed to look like.  He talked on how we are the body of Christ, and Christ is the head of the body.  An interesting quote, "The body does not dictate what the head does, but the head dictates what the body does."  But what really intrigued me was when Pastor Lonnie started talking on worship within church.  He mentioned how we can become routine worshippers or that we come to church hoping that this certain person is leading worship so we will enjoy it.  He talked on how we hope certain songs are sung at church because we really like the beat of the music.  We try to find churches that we can really get into the music.  But notice how all these statements say we.  What is the heart of worship? It seems like it's not so much about God and it has become more about us!  Does God really care about the beat of the music or about what song is sung to Him?  Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart!  Why are we so concerned about what we feel!  We should not concern ourselves with these petty issues, but get back to the heart of worship!  Worship is all about Him!!  Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty!!  May we not worry so much about the emotion that the songs provoke in us, but may we become more concerned with praising God with our everything!

Tough but Good

The job's I'm working are so perfect for me!  I get to hang out with kids all the time, and just be real!  I can just be myself and struggle through life with them!  It is challenging to get these kids to fully understand who God is when many of them have a limited knowledge of God and when all of them have seen the father modeled in a poor light.  These kids have been through so much, more than I ever have, and I don't have any experience to base my advice on, but I know God is the healer and protector, the only one who can truly bring joy everlasting!  And knowing that God cares for each of us allows me to demonstrate through my life, the joy that we can share when coming into communion with God!  God is good, all the time, and I can't wait to see Him face to face, and forever worship Him!

A Day of Love

Valentines day!! Some of you might hate it, some of you might love it!  Me? I personally somewhat enjoy it!  Sure it is super commercialized and businesses thrive off this day, but what a wonderful day to display Christ through our expression to others!  Should this occasion be held to just one day?  No, it should be a continual process, but nothing wrong with going big time once a year!
My question is, how much heart do we have to give?  Is there a limit to how much we can Love or to how much of our heart we can share?  We are built in the image of God who demonstrates the ultimate Love for us!  Think of how much we hurt God!  Wow!!  We continually lie, betray, run to something or someone else, and yet He only returns Love!  A Love that at times must discipline for our safety, or may be filled with a righteous anger, but Love all the same!  This is my desire, to Love as Christ has Loved!  I desire to have the 1 Corinthians 13 Love that keeps no records of wrong and is not easily angered, but that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres!  In the end, this is what the world is searching for, and with Christ power and strength within us, we can display this Love!  No matter how badly others may hurt us or how much others may praise us, may we display pure Love that does not envy, or boast, and is not self-seeking, but that is continually poured out for those around us!  This Love leaves us vulnerable, susceptible to hurt, and at times will break our hearts, but Christ suffered the same thing for us and continues to suffer this hurt, but it doesn't stop Him!  And with His power built in us, it does not have to stop us!  May we daily live for something greater than ourselves, and Love as Christ Jesus has Loved us!

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevere.  Love never fails."

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Destructive Thoughts

What's it like to not have a father?  To never see God's design modeled before you?  How do you break the chains that exist?  How do we stop this destructive behavior?
Speaking Truth!  Truth never fails and when we speak Truth, we challenge others to step into the roles that God designed!  The absence of father's or the existence of abusive father's, destroys young men in our society.  They never have a positive example to follow, they have a poor image of God as our father, and many times these young men do the same things their father's did because they have no other example to follow!  Our society is told so many lies about what things should look like.  Fathers model lies and tell children lies and these lies are believed.  Lies create bondage.  It's time to step up and make known the lies and proclaim Truth!  Every person is created in God's image and is equipped with gifts, talents, and a uniqueness that is AWESOME!  Let's begin proclaiming Truth in the lives of those around us, and move those lies out of the heart, replacing the lies with Truth!  For where a man's heart is, there is his treasure!  May we have a treasure built in the Truth claims of God!

Community

How aware are we of the struggles of those around us?  How well are we living in Christian community? God's design in community was to uplift one another, to know the struggles of those around us, and to make each other Holy!  I believe that our lack of knowledge of the struggles of those around us can cause others to stumble!  With the number of men struggling with pornography, how often do we put on a movie with sex scenes?  We may have caused a brother to stumble by this and our lack of intentionality caused hurt!  With the number of women struggling with eating disorders, how often do we talk about needing to lose weight, when really we look great?  This may make a sister criticize herself even more and cause her to fall deeper into this pit!  May we begin to take time to build true community in the design that God has created it!  May we think of the needs of those around us above ourselves and be careful with what we do and say!  We will often not know the struggles of those around us, so let's be careful to be jealous for God with our every move, keeping ourselves from causing a brother or sister to stumble!

The New Job

Wow!  God sure does provide!  When I finally allowed myself to fully rely upon Him for everything, the pieces started to fall into place!  This job is exactly what I wanted to do and it is so perfect for me and where I'm at in life!
Yesterday was my first day of work and Jessica, the other intern, and I brainstormed ideas we have for what we can do with the kids.  As we talked about what God has done in our lives, we found ourselves just finding ideas from our experiences!  Our focus at this point is really on group nights.  Every Thursday night we will have the kids for two hours and we will focus on guiding these kids spiritually.  We also planned out weekend activities for the kids, which I'm super excited for!
My heart has been poured out for children without fathers in their lives for years now, and God provided me with this position that tailors to my desires, passions, and heart!  God is so good, continually faithful, and marvelously spectacular!  I can't wait to share more about how God continually provides and guides! May we all rest within His arms!