Reinventing Worship

Have you ever been in church surrounded by a bunch of believers and the pastor starts his sermon and you feel like you are alone in the room with just him and he is talking just to you? That's not really the pastor, that's the holy spirit talking to you through the pastor. What if I told you that you could have that same feeling without stepping into a church or listening to another pastor again for the rest of your life?

You see you don't need all of that in order to feel close to the holy spirit. You just need to still yourself and connect. Sometimes a song speaks to you, or the wind or sometimes when you are working out you feel elevated. There are so many times that you are connecting with your Maker or have the opportunity to do so and you don't do it. Maybe you don't even realize you can, but I'm telling you that you can. You don't have to go to church and you don't have to be surrounded by a bunch of believers and you don't need a pastor who is probably as flawed as you are in order for you to connect to God. Imagine what would happen if word got out that this was possible???

I don't take many things at face value. I research things. I do my due diligence. I try to get differing opinions on things, I don't just settle for someone else's word. I want to know that I've done all I could to find the truth. The real answers. Not just what some well-meaning person thought I needed or wanted to hear or learn. I guess that's probably why I hated school so much. I just couldn't understand why in the world all that stupid stuff mattered. Math I could understand. I use math. English of course, but the rest of it? YUK!

So I guess when it comes to worship I can't just take someone's word for what I should be doing. Why should I listen to how someone else is interpreting scriptures? How do I know their interpretation is right? Its the same reason I research from a lot of different translations of the bible. I want to see how more than one person interpreted those words, not just one or two.

The bible is a book of lessons; a guide for how we should live our lives. But its not even written in English so to trust that this text was translated properly and taught properly in so many different seminary schools is dangerous. And the fact is that it is so much easier to sit in the pews of the THOUSANDS of churches in this country and do nothing but daydream and think that you've done your part or your own due diligence. I'm telling you that you are wrong.

A few years ago I posted something on Facebook about drinking. A former friend of mine responded saying he couldn't believe I was a Christian and drank and gave me about 10 scriptures that backed up his statement. So I researched them. I looked at the entire passage before and after every single passage and it was easy to see why he would jump to conclusions thinking that the bible says not to drink, but it was equally easy to see why those same passages had nothing to do with drinking at all. I responded with a very long winded dissertation pretty much telling him that gluttony too was a sin according to many of those same scriptures and he was overweight, but that was completely lost on him.

I think we need to reinvent worship. I think we need to find ways to connect to Christ regardless of where we are and I think we need to stop putting the responsibility of our salvation on another human being and simply seek out our Maker. Every day. Not just Sundays. Not just Easter and Christmas and not just when you are at your lowest point and have no where to turn. God deserves so much more than all of that. Seek out the real truth in the scriptures and don't just blindly follow along because everyone else does it. It is a much more difficult path to take, but nothing in life that is worthwhile ever comes easy. Why should this?

Faith Is All You Need

I woke up today thinking of the new doctor I'm going to call for mom. I am not fond of her current doctor at all and this one seems to really have a heart for old people. I hope they will have an opening.

Not long after having that thought I thanked God for putting me in a job where my boss is so flexible that I can take mom where I need to. I work really hard for my company. I give up a lot of holidays and weekends and I work hard. Its all I know. Its what my sweet daddy taught me and one of the perks for working hard is something much more valuable to me than money right now. Flexibility. God did that though. I didn't know 5 years ago that I would be in a situation where I would need flexibility, but God did.

This year has been rough for me. Filled with unhappiness and me not worshipping the way I love to worship, by giving back. And that makes me so sad. I miss the Lord's daily presence in my life. I miss praying to Him and spending time with Him. These are things I have control of and yet I fall short. And it takes watching an episode of Preacher's of LA for me to realize this. God is always there. Always around me. He made me realize that He missed me too at that very moment.

I love that song, I'm coming back to the heart of worship. It always makes me feel good. I'm singing it right now with my terrible voice.

So back to Jesus. Financially this has been a rough year too, but I always just give that to God because I can't sit around and worry about my finances, however I have been worried sick about my finances. I needed a new windshield, new pool pump, filter and pool sweeper and I needed my trees trimmed badly. That's $3000 gone. And I don't save for a rainy day. I just have faith that God will work it out for me. And guess what. He did it again. He worked it out for me. I had the money I needed when I needed it because He knows when I have money I will give it to someone else who needs it when He calls me to do so.

So let's recap. I've been a terrible daughter in Christ. I haven't prayed, I've missed my King. I have been consumed with work because that helps me not think of my unhappiness. And the result was that God was still here, still loving me, still walking with me and still helping me through it all. His faith in ME is more than I deserve, but I'm so thankful for it.

Sometimes we fall in life. We do. Sometimes it is so hard to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and move forward when we feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, but we must never lose sight of the One who made us because He never loses sight of us.

Lord I love you with all my heart and soul! I pray today that anyone who might find these words will find new strength because of them and choose to follow you Lord and just have faith that You will give them what they need when they need it, even if it takes 5 years for it to happen you are working things out for them this very moment. Lord that is so hard for our human minds to comprehend, but it all really comes down to faith and Lord I have faith in You! amen