Trusting God takes Action
This is an idea that I have been struggling a lot with over the past few weeks. It’s called trusting God.
A few weeks ago I made a decision that I wasn’t going to “push” anything in a few areas of my life. I said to God that I was going to leave it in his hands, and just live out my daily life hoping He would make things come into play. I don’t necessarily think this is wrong, but I may be missing something. I came across this quote on Steven Furticks blog and it really impacted me. I even tweeted about it.
“Truly trusting God involves pursuit. Action. Obedience. Involvement. Initiative. Follow through.”
That means that if we were looking for God’s blessing, we must actively be pursuing Him. As we seek Him we must look to Him for guidance. We must do our part in order for Him to do His. I guess there is a big difference between these two idea. I’m going to take this advice and actively seek God for the blessings I’m praying for.
Worship Roadtrip Day 3
Today was the third and final day of our stay in pennsylvania. First off this trip was a blast, and I’m so glad I could be apart of it. ok..
I was very happy to be woken up by Larry this time and not Krystal. What a better way to start your day! We arose and got all our stuff together and headed out. We got to church and had some bagels and doughnuts. I haven’t mentioned in the past few blogs how weird it was being in a small church. I’m not used to it, I never really have been in a small church like TFHF. But I didn’t not like it, it was just uncomfortable a bit. But I got used to it and really enjoyed the people we were with and the relationships we formed.
For worship we did several of songs we did the previous night, mostly our songs plus “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Tomlin. We also added in “How He Loves”, which is my favorite worship song. I really loved hearing the congregation sing out that song. After we did our praise set, we sat down and Larry’s Dad, or “Big pimpin” got up to speak. He gave everyone a look back at how their church was formed and the hardship they’ve overcome over the past year. It was sad to hear about everything that has went on in that church. A split between the church, sicknesses, broken marriages, and people losing their jobs has been very burdensome. But through all this, Larry spoke on how they’ve been praying for God to refresh them and renew their passion. Larry and the church leadership team was convinced that us coming down were the answer to their prayer. I wasn’t expecting that. Did God really send us to “refresh” this team? It sounds pretty wild, but I believe it as much as Larry does. They expresses so much thanks to us, and I am honored and humbled by their generosity that they shown us. After his message we did a worship set and their were some more spontaneous speaking. I really enjoyed it. After this we hung out with our friends and ate some dinner. We formed some awesome relationships with these guys and I am incredibly thankful for them. Like Mitch said in his blog, I really do believe we came for a purpose. Not only do our churchs have basically the same name, but our message is the same, and our hearts are aligned with Gods. Much that has been laying on our hearts were laying on theirs. It was God. Period. After we said our goodbyes we headed back for a long 6 hour drive back home.
One of my favorite parts about the trip was I got to spend a lot of time with Mitch. If you don’t know him, head over to his blog. He’s my drummer and best friend. He’s been blogging about this trip along with me.. so go on over to his blog and encourage him to keep it up ;)
Worship Roadtrip Day 2
So this it what went down day numero dos of our roadtrip to pennsylvania. I guess we were supposed to wake up around 7:30 or so, but we woke up to the annoying sound of krystals voice around 8:30. Once we got up and around we headed to the church. When we got there we worshipped God with a few songs while I played acoustic, and then I led a devotional. I talked about how we ultimately choose how our days go simply by turning to God in the morning. If we seek Him above all, everything will fall into place how he wants it to. I gave some examples from the past two Thursdays I’ve had that sucked majorly, but turning to God made everything work out somehow. I didn’t talk about most of what I wanted to talk about, because I left my notes back at home. I wanted to talk about how as christians we’ve almost forgotten about God’s model for repentance and righteousness. Seriously. We don’t understand that God knows that we’re going to fall short. He knows that we aren’t perfect, even though he demands perfection. Really, it’s hard to go one day without screwing up somehow. Thats why at night before we go to bed it is a good idea to reflect on the day before you and repent for the things you’ve fallen short from. When the sun arises, breathe in God’s breath of righteousness. Seek Him and enjoy being completely blameless before God. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.
After I spoke we ate an amazing breakfast. Ski eggs are AMAZING. And french toast with apples somehow in them. After breakfast we started rehearsing our songs and it somehow turned into a worship session. Sound was still kind of poor, but I was more focused on thinking about the words we were singing and asking God to consume me. Scott did a teaching after we did worship. It was about worship and it was really good. And honestly, really long. I lost him about half way through and then got back on track somehow. Following his teaching we went to DINO’s and had lunch. I had twenty of the best wings I’ve ever had. yum. Then we went back to the house and Mitch and I took a nap. I slept for about an hour, but it felt like at least 4. Then I heard that sound again that made me wake up.
Time for church again. We went and did some more rehearsing and sound checking, then Larry did a teaching. I love hearing Larry teach. He talked about how we as christians struggle with identity. He showed us today that we should not claim to be sinners saved by grace. We should not be defined by sin. We should be defined by the grace that saves us. That sound so similar but if you think about it they are completely different. Again, God knows we aren’t perfect. Only He is. But we are redeemed by His grace. That is who we are.
Then we started our worship set. We played 15 songs, which took about two hours. It was one of the longest sets I’ve ever played. We played a lot of the songs we usually play, but also did a lot of Scotts (TFHF’s worship leader.) It was a lot easier to engage in our songs, but we enjoyed playing a variety of music. I’ve never played so much Chris Tomlin songs in my life.. nor do I want to. Worship went really great and I was happy with it. It did take a lot out of me though. Following the worship night we went to Larrys familys house for a bit and then came back to the house. Time to crash!
Going digital with Journaling
If you know anything about me, you probably know that I love to journal. Everyday for the past 2 years or so I’ve written down my thoughts, feelings, songs, prayers, and emotions onto paper. Sometimes they find their way onto this blog. For some reason doing this clears my brain from all the mess of things that are in there. Simply put: journaling organizes my unorganized mind. If you haven’t journaled before, or don’t do it much, I’d highly recommend it. I’m not sure how things would be if I didn’t have a stack of journals with all my thoughts in them.
I never thought I’d be able to put the pen down. But for 2009 I am going to try something new. I’m putting down my pen and paper and moving my journaling onto the computer. Lately my love for journaling has went down hill. It’s seemed a lot more like a task then a way to get my emotions out. I hope that somehow this will fix it. It’s something new, and maybe it will freshen up my perspective on things. I think I even type faster than I write anyways. Also this will go quite well while I do YouVersion’s bible reading plan. Since I bring chico around with me most of the day anyway, this will be a lot more convenient. We’re going to be best friends.
So I’m curious. Do you journal? Have you tried using technology to journal instead of using pen and paper?
heartsupport
- One of every eight Americans has a significant problem with alcohol or drugs, with 40 percent of the group having a “dual diagnosis,” or concurrent mental/nervous disorder
- More than 70% of men from 18 to 34 visit a pornographic site in a typical month.
- 28% those admitting to sexual addiction are women.
- In 2005 there was 420,000 emergency department visits for self-inflicted injury.
- In that same year there were 32,439 suicides.
- They can’t even come up with statistics for eating disorders because most people hide this problem.
Obviously these things are huge problems. The goal of this post isn’t to get you depressed but to make you aware. People you know that seem fine may be struggling with these things. People you love and care for could be hiding this from everyone. Maybe people in your youth group hide these problems so they don’t sacrifice their image.
You may have noticed the heartsupport logo on the left hand side of my page. This is an online community devoted to help teens recooperate from these type of things. If you know of someone who is struggling in these area’s, please send them this link. It had video’s, testimony’s, and real people who are counselors and are experienced in helping these people.
putting urgency over importance
Mark Batterson blogged yesterday about something that I really struggle with. I struggle with growing in several areas at once. We often let one thing prioritize over the rest. It’s true though that somethings do matter more, but we must both weigh and balance urgency and importance. We work on what matters at the moment, but we leave an importance aspect on the back burner. And I’m not talking just spiritually, but in all aspects of your life.
Figure out what matters now,
Figure out what is seriously lacking,
and tackle them both.
No Worries
So often do we get into circumstances where we worry. We worry that we won’t be able to afford something, that we won’t succeed in what we want to do, or that we aren’t good enough. Or we worry that people we love would get saved. These are definitely things to be concerned with, but not to worry. Worrying and fearing is not of the Lord. This constant “what if, oh my” thinking does not make anything better, if not it makes it worse. God wants us to hope, He wants us to seek. Do not fret over your desires but be prayerful Trust God in that He has everything under control and planned out. The bible says that if we “seek first the kingdom of God”, all our needs will be met. Not only your needs, but what you desire that is aligned with the will of God. Psalm 37.4 says “Delight Yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Never forget that you are of the saints, that God wants you to be blessed. So whatever is on your mind right now, may it be something financial, or what school you want to go to, or maybe a family member. Whatever it may be, offer it to the Lord. Do not worry because it is in the hands of God. Put Your faith and trust in Him and watch His perfect will work itself out.
Play along!
Lets have some fun and get to know each other!
Pull out your ipod, open up itunes, or whatever and put it on shuffle mode. Type out the first 10 songs that come up and comment them here. No cheating.. no one will judge you I promise. Actually I take that promise back..
- Awesome- Gary Humble
- Faithful- Brooke Fraser
- Can’t Stop- Leeland
- Now That You’re Near- Hillsong United
- I Could Sing of Your Love Forever- Delirious?
- You Alone are God- Hillsong
- You Might Have Noticed- The Academy Is…
- For All Who Are To Come Hillsong United
- Everlasting God- Lincoln Brewster
- Adonai- Hillsong
HT:
Vicky Beeching,
Emprise34
Memorizing Scripture
One of the things I feel like I have been lacking in is memorizing scripture. There is so much power in God’s word, and if we speak what it says I believe it has even more power. Ever since starting I have found that I can use what I’ve learned in prayer. This is what I have been committing to memory so far:
Matthew 6.33- “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things should be added to You.
Matthew 10.34- “Do not think that I came to bring peace on Earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
Matthew 18.20- “For where two or more are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Psalms 34.8- “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see how good God is. Blessed are you who run to Him.”
Philippians’s 2.12- “..work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Colossians 3.14- “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Romans 8.1- “Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Joel 2.32- “..whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Psalm 30.5- “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
1 Timothy 3.12- “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
Galations 1.10- “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
What scripture have you memorized that you find yourself using? Feel free to suggest some!
I swear I didn’t die
Wow I haven’t posted anything that matters in a while. My last two posts were mobile, wow I’m lame. Here’s the latest update on all things me.
New band! About five weeks ago we started a band called Red Letter Statement. It is a few members of our worship band put together. We played our first show for the C4 battle of the bands, and it went very well. We’ve put together about 6 songs so far and we’re writing some more. We’re looking to record with Jesse Sprinkle in the late winter/spring.
Check us out [add us!] on:
Last Wednesday I got the opportunity to share a message with the junior high [Fuse] group of Overflow. It was my first time speaking at church. I spoke on the topic of worship. It went pretty well, really showed me what I have to work on.
Worship has been really good lately, new things to come in later posts!
