I read this, this morning, I don’t have much to say that it doesn’t already say. I hope it causes you to Worship God.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good so that your mouth is renewed like the eagles.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, Oh my soul!”
Psalm 103:1-22

Ok,  I know I have been a little unoriginal lately and have basically been putting quotes from books on here, but this has to be put out somewhere for everyone to read.

I am reading Larry Crab’s Inside Out right now and it is rocking my world. So here is a small section from the first chapter that I think is crucial:

“Just a quick glance beneath the surface of our life makes it clear that more is going on than loving God and loving others. It requires only a moment of self reflection to realize that, no matter how much we may have already changed, we still have a long way to go. We know things are not as they should be. Something is wrong.

Ever since God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden, we have lived in an unnatural environment, a world in which we were not designed to live. We were built to enjoy a garden without weeds, relationships without friction, fellowship without distance. But something is wrong, and we know it, both within our world and within ourselves. Deep inside we sense we’re out of the nest, always ending the day in a motel room, never at home. When we’re honest, we see we handle our discomfort by keeping our distance from people, responding more to our fears than to another’s desire for love.

We wish we were better than we are, but we’re not. And that realization brings shame, a desire to hide, to avoid real contact, to present to others only that part of us we think will be well received. We want to hide the rest- not because we desire to avoid offending others with our ugly side, but because we fear their rejection. We live for the purpose of self protection, clinging to whatever brings happiness and security. The effect is a discouraging distance between ourselves and the people we long to be close to. The quality of our life diminishes.”

Well doesn’t that make you want to jump right out of bed in the morning?! As hard as some of these things are to face, its necessary if we are to be honest and real with ourselves, with God and with a lost world that needs to see that Jesus really changes people. When we go to the hard places in us and stop pretending that we are fine we create an opportunity for God to begin to transform us by his grace. If it really is Jesus that we have then we will change for it is his nature to reconcile us to God.

there are a lot of people who talk a lot about what they want to do or who they are and what they stand for. i am one of those people.

i suppose i have a desire for people to think well of me. the problem with this is that i am often an idealist, what i say isn’t really what is actual. its not that i am lying, but if i am saying one thing and i know inside me that i’m not really living and being what i say than i am self deceived. i’m sure that i have also led many to believe that i am a good person and that i have it together.

i was reminded of something the other day after reading James 1:22-24:

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.”

if there is anything that is admirable or good in me it is Jesus Christ. so there are a few things that i must remember in order that i might truly live.

1. God is in control…always…which means he does what he wants.

2. Jesus is the driving force behind everything, his life, death and resurrection completely changed history and has the power to change any life.

3. apart from Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in me, i am powerless to live life the way God intended.

4. i need the community and encouragement of the local church in order to stay on the path to God. (this is a tangible way of seeing Christ on earth)

5. the mission that Jesus began and is still accomplishing is meant to be carried on through those who he has redeemed. (this is not because he needs us but because he has   chosen us, it is our privelage.)

because i am now aware of these things, my life will never be the same. every day God is killing the parts of me which live for anything other than these things. he does this because he loves me and he desires my greatest joy. i don’t always cooperate with this process which makes it harder, however, he continues to remind me that he knows what is best and that he has been the only faithful and consistent thing from the beginning.

i will fail and people will fail me, often. the important thing is that i keep my hope in Jesus and throughout a lifetime trust and obey him, this is the key to real joy (some may call it happiness).

what i am saying here i am saying to me because i need to hear it right now.

when i was a kid i said a prayer after talking to my brother about bible stories in the old testament. i said this prayer because in my young mind at the time it sounded like a good deal, i get heaven forever and i don’t have to go to hell. many years later,when i was 18, i got tired of living for myself and feeling that life was pointless and told God that he could have it all if he would just give me Jesus and direction.

it has been 11 years (yikes!) since i said that and meant it. it has been an amazing adventure so far, one of joy and pain and peace and tension and love and struggle. i love Jesus today more than ever and am committed to his mission on this earth. i don’t say this so that you will be impressed because God isn’t, it was his plan from the beginning.

so what is it about? once a person has committed their life to Jesus what happens?

i can tell you this, the life we have been led to believe is successful by our cultures standard is not the life that Jesus calls us to. this is what i have discovered in the past 2 years and wish that i could have discovered sooner. Louie Giglio helped me a little by saying this:

“i’ve got such a small story of me and i’m living it in the middle of a massive story of You, and i’m faced with a choice. do i want to keep starring in a little bitty story of me or do i want to surrender my life and join the great big story of God?”

this is something that i have to ask every day, sometimes every hour or minute. there is a reason that God saved me and it wasn’t just so that i could go to heaven or sin less, although those are both involved. so i had to ask myself, do i really think that i am going to tell a greater story than the one that God has already been telling since before creation?

there is no easy formula, there is no 5 step book, emotional time of worship, sermon series, denominational affiliation, or church program that will align my life with Jesus’ plan. (although God’s church plays a central role in this, more on that later.)

i have found it is a life long, slow, difficult, enduring commitment to Jesus no matter what happens.

i have so much i want to say but i think God says it best in his own words:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”- 1 Peter 1:3-9

If only. these words pop up in my mind constantly and i hear them spoken frequently by those around me.

If only i had more time. If only i had more money. If only i was married. If only i was single. If only i could go to this thing, talk to this person, watch this movie, read this book

then ___ would happen and life would be better and more complete and i would be happy.

I start to long for these with only’s and i sense deep within me a desire for something that these are only symptoms of; a relationship with someone who will never leave me, who will tell me the truth, who will love me when i am unlovable, who has my ultimate good in mind.

I have this already and there is no ideal that i have dreamed up in my mind that could ever come close to it. Jesus is the ultimate reality and life in His kingdom is the life He died to bring. Since the fall of mankind in Genesis we have only been able to dream of the ideal because of the sin and darkness that separated us from God. Now that Jesus has come he is actively reconciling those who believe in him back to God. As we know Jesus more we become more real, we become alive, we become what God designed us to be.

Eternal life is not only life that doesn’t end but a quality of life that reflects the character and will of God. In the book of John, Jesus said:

“and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”- John 17:3

As i learn to trust Jesus and understand that he desires my good and that he is the key to real living i find that all things in life are working to this end; that God might receive glory and that i might receive hope and joy and love and peace and purpose.

This process of being made real is not an easy one. so…where are you at?

ok thats it. just wanted to confess that.

I watch American Idol because I am a singer and it entertains me. Wednesday night AI did an event called Idol Gives Back, it is a little cheezy but hey, anytime someone wants to give back i think its a good thing. So towards the end of the show there is a familiar song that the contestants start singing and it is no other than “Shout to the Lord” the Hillsong worship tune. Now i don’t want to be excited about this because i’m not a “i’ll take what i can get” guy. This song was written to be sung by people who are committed to Jesus as their Savior and it was written so that they could worship him through song. On the other hand if a person wants to get excited about it, go ahead, just realize this was just a song performed on a TV show, thats it.

I actually found it very odd that they would do this song but it just shows how much christian music (and worship music) has become an industry in which they realize is very marketable. It was interesting that the first night they sang it the lyrics were changed to “my shepherd, my savior”, and then the next night they sang “my Jesus, my savior”.

Was Jesus worshiped through this? Are there believers on that stage? Was anyone drawn to God because of that? What do you think?

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