2 Chronicles 25:2 Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, but not wholeheartedly.
I was reading my devotional a few days ago which happened to be based on 2 Chronicles 25-26. When i first saw the passage I thought, "Great, still in 2 Chronicles". As soon as I got to verse two I was already convicted. I had just beem guilty of the same thing as Amaziah. I was taking time to be in the Word but I wasn't doing it wholeheartedly. I was doing what was pleasing to the Lord but I wasn't doing it with a pure heart. I was in the Word because of the obligation. We are supposed to be in the Word, right? We are supposed to go to church, right?
How many times I get in the car on Sunday morning and think how badly I need something powerful from God. How much I desire to hear His voice and experience Him and a fresh, new way. But that is not the reason I go to church. I go out of obligation. I am not going because I love God or His people. As I sit here writing this I am listening to Natalie Grant's "The Real Me". How appropriate. God knows the real me and that is scary. He knows that all the "things" I do are not all done with a pure heart. Sometimes I do things to get attention. Sometimes I do things to gain applause. I've worked hard to develop my craft, it's ok to show off once in a while, right? It's ok to accept a pat on the back once in a while, right?
I think that is what Amaziah thought too. As long as he obeyed the law of the Lord that's all that mattered. He didn't take into account his heart and that God would rather have one deed done with a pure heart than a thousand sacrifices without.
So, I have been pretty beaten up. I have been very vocal in my opinions about the "worship" in most churches. I have voiced my opinion about the "Worship Leaders" taking the stage in churches today with their freshly whitened teeth and their tanned faces. Worship has become a gimmick used to get people into church and worship leaders are using their responsibilities as a means to showcase their talents and the abilities of their bands all the time raising their hands as an offering of praise and worship as they crack the corner of their eye to make sure the congregation is watching. I think Benny Hinn and others in the healing business would call that "Priming The Pump". They are accustomed to throwing a "fake" in every so often to pime the pump and to increase the faith of the congregation.
Anyway, when the book of my life is written, I don't want the words to be, "Allen did what was pleasing to the Lord, but not wholeheartedly". I want it to say, "Allen, loved the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind and had a deep to desire to know God as deeply as a human being possibly can this side of heaven. He read the Word not out of obligation but out of a sincere desire to know God. He was a passionate worshipper and sang and played not to showcase His talents and abilities but to lead God's people to a place of worship of a God Who was truely worthy".
Maybe that's a lot to ask.
Blessings
Allen
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Awesome Architecture
1 Chronicles 2:5
This will be a magnificent Temple because our God is an awesome God, greater than any other.
I remember back when I was in the ministry full time that I would spend hours each day praying. One of my most common prayers what that God would fill the temple with His presence. I would read the stories of the Tabernacle and find my heart longing for the Shekinah; the manifested presence of God. My desire was that God's presence would be so evident in our services that the mountains would shake and people would be forced to their faces in worship. I guess that desire wasn't all bad. There were times when I would feel like God was so close to coming and taking control of everything and then a baby would cry or somebody would leave for the bathroom or a smoke break. "How disrespectful", I thought.
I remember praying this same prayer one day and I stopped because I just couldn't pray this prayer anymore. I couldn't understand why God had neglected my prayer. I was beginning to get angry about it. This particular day I stopped praying because God interupted me. I had come to the point of exhaustion and had no more words to say. All I could do was lay across the stage in the Worship Center and remain quiet. It's funny that when you get quiet that God is the most vocal. I could hear Him saying "Boy, I answer this prayer every Sunday morning". How could I have missed that!!! God had manifested Himself and I missed it? I was astounded and outraged. I asked, "How did I miss Your presence? Am I so out of touch that I didn't even see You when you came?" He said, "Everytime my people come into this building the Temple is filled with my presence because my presence dwells in the hearts of believers". Our bodies are the Temple of God. That speaks volumes to me. These verses in 1 Chronicles are the words of Solomon. God had appointed him to build a magnificent temple in which His people could worship. Solomon so wanted to honor God that no expense was spared. The best trees, the best gold, the best silver. The Temple was a site to behold. There could be no question that this Temple was for the worship of Jehovah, the God Who created everything. The God who parted the Red Sea. The God who filled the Tabernacle in the desert. There could be no mistaking this temple for one of the temples of the pagan Gods. Even though his image was not there His presence was.
Well, history will tell you that this temple was distroyed. Long before the presence of God had left. The Temple building would be distroyed, built back and destroyed again. The "religion" of Israel would become an object of mocking. Then another Temple of God was built. After the resurrection of Jesus the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers. We are told that we are the temple of God. The very presence of God inhabits us. There should be no mistake that our temples belong to the One True God. There should be nothing that would lead others to beleive that we belong to anyone else but the God of creation.
So what does this mean? I am under such conviction about this. I have not taken care of the temple of God. Sure I read the Bible, I only read Christian books. I go to church and even sing on the Praise Team. All the time still praying that God would fill the temple. It's hard for God to fill me when I'm full of cheesecake and Diet Coke.
My conviction is this. I must take the steps to allow God to be honored with the Temple He inhabits. Only then will the cloud rest above my head and the pillar of fire light my way.
God I want to honor You with all of my being. I want my temple to be a magnificent temple because You are an awesome God, greater then any other.
Blessings
Allen
This will be a magnificent Temple because our God is an awesome God, greater than any other.
I remember back when I was in the ministry full time that I would spend hours each day praying. One of my most common prayers what that God would fill the temple with His presence. I would read the stories of the Tabernacle and find my heart longing for the Shekinah; the manifested presence of God. My desire was that God's presence would be so evident in our services that the mountains would shake and people would be forced to their faces in worship. I guess that desire wasn't all bad. There were times when I would feel like God was so close to coming and taking control of everything and then a baby would cry or somebody would leave for the bathroom or a smoke break. "How disrespectful", I thought.
I remember praying this same prayer one day and I stopped because I just couldn't pray this prayer anymore. I couldn't understand why God had neglected my prayer. I was beginning to get angry about it. This particular day I stopped praying because God interupted me. I had come to the point of exhaustion and had no more words to say. All I could do was lay across the stage in the Worship Center and remain quiet. It's funny that when you get quiet that God is the most vocal. I could hear Him saying "Boy, I answer this prayer every Sunday morning". How could I have missed that!!! God had manifested Himself and I missed it? I was astounded and outraged. I asked, "How did I miss Your presence? Am I so out of touch that I didn't even see You when you came?" He said, "Everytime my people come into this building the Temple is filled with my presence because my presence dwells in the hearts of believers". Our bodies are the Temple of God. That speaks volumes to me. These verses in 1 Chronicles are the words of Solomon. God had appointed him to build a magnificent temple in which His people could worship. Solomon so wanted to honor God that no expense was spared. The best trees, the best gold, the best silver. The Temple was a site to behold. There could be no question that this Temple was for the worship of Jehovah, the God Who created everything. The God who parted the Red Sea. The God who filled the Tabernacle in the desert. There could be no mistaking this temple for one of the temples of the pagan Gods. Even though his image was not there His presence was.
Well, history will tell you that this temple was distroyed. Long before the presence of God had left. The Temple building would be distroyed, built back and destroyed again. The "religion" of Israel would become an object of mocking. Then another Temple of God was built. After the resurrection of Jesus the Holy Spirit came and filled the believers. We are told that we are the temple of God. The very presence of God inhabits us. There should be no mistake that our temples belong to the One True God. There should be nothing that would lead others to beleive that we belong to anyone else but the God of creation.
So what does this mean? I am under such conviction about this. I have not taken care of the temple of God. Sure I read the Bible, I only read Christian books. I go to church and even sing on the Praise Team. All the time still praying that God would fill the temple. It's hard for God to fill me when I'm full of cheesecake and Diet Coke.
My conviction is this. I must take the steps to allow God to be honored with the Temple He inhabits. Only then will the cloud rest above my head and the pillar of fire light my way.
God I want to honor You with all of my being. I want my temple to be a magnificent temple because You are an awesome God, greater then any other.
Blessings
Allen
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Shack
I just finished reading The Shack. I don't know what to say....this book is packed with so much that it is hard to take it in. For the past few weeks while I was reading the book I found myself thinking about the lessons contained in it. I don't want to give away anything but I will say this. I found that the conversations between Mack and God that went on for chapters a little monotinouse at times and found myself about to flip forward a few pages. Each time I was tempted to do so I felt that God was telling me not to skip one word of this book. As I continued to read I found almost every time that there was something powerful written within the text of what I almost skipped over.
I am a very passionate person and since I am a musician I guess tend to be in touch with my sensitive side. I found myself having to close the book and take time to weep uncontrollably. It is hard for me to think of God in such a personal and intimate way. Even though I have been teaching for years that God wants and desired that kind of relationship with us I always thought that excluded me. I can't imagine God referring to me and saying, "I am especially fond of that one". I suppose that this book is the first step on a journey for me. A journey that will drawy me close to God. Not a big and mighty God, even though He is big and mighty, but a real, walk with me, talk with me God. A God that I can call Papa. www.theshackbook.com
I have been trying to write a song for weeks that I can't seem to get down on paper. Sometimes the words come easy for me. Most of the time the melody comes at the same time. Each time I sit down to the piano I seem to be so clogged with what I want to say. I can't seem to get the poetic flow or the words out. I guess I could send this idea to Taylor Swift and then it wouldn't matter if it rhymed or had any poetic flow. LOL!
A few weeks ago we attended a youth service and one of the kids gave a brief testimony about his dad being away serving in Iraq. He told a story about when his dad came home after one of his deployments. He said that all the soldiers got off the plane and began to walk toward their families and out of the sea of tan he spotted his dad. He recongnized him by the way he walked. I grabbed my pen and pad and wrote down, "I know the way He walks". My impression was that in the sea of all the distractions and things that fight to gain our attention that we can cut through the maze of people and things and recognize the Father by the way He walks. Those of us who have a history of God walking close to us, taking care of us in unexplainable ways and carrying us through unimaginable circumstances know what I am saying. We know God in such a way that we can recognize His walk because we have walked with him, we know His voice because we have heard it many times before and we know the way He speak to us.
I was taking my daily walk around my neigborhood the other day and I felt God saying to me, "I started giving you the inspiration and background for this song several years ago. All of a sudden my mind was taken back to a time years ago when Patricia and I had taken a group of kids to Super WOW in Jekyll Island. I was taking a much needed walk to get a break from the stress of tending to 30 plus teenager and chaperones. One of my kids from a previous youth group that I had taught in 9th grade was serving on staff that year. She came by on her bike and said, "I thought I recognized that walk". It never even registered with me what she had just said. It always seemed that I learned so much more from my kids than they learned from me. This just reminds me that God is always weaving. He is always working toward bringing honor to Himself. Sometimes it takes years.
I still have no idea how this song will be written. I have so many thoughts. One direction is to concentrate on how our lives are to be lived in faithfulness. Our walk of faith should be recognized by those around us. The other direction is to concentrate on God's faithfulness and how our relationship with Him should such that we should be able to recognize His walk.
It is no secret that our family has had our share of trials. But as we look back over the history that we have with our loving Father that we can see Him working and weaving. Our prayer now is that we won't just see Him when we get through this time of unemployment and uncertainty but that we will see Him ON THE ROAD. That we will be able to cut through the maze of people and things and situations and circumstances and pick Him out because we know the way He walks.
Blessings
Allen
I am a very passionate person and since I am a musician I guess tend to be in touch with my sensitive side. I found myself having to close the book and take time to weep uncontrollably. It is hard for me to think of God in such a personal and intimate way. Even though I have been teaching for years that God wants and desired that kind of relationship with us I always thought that excluded me. I can't imagine God referring to me and saying, "I am especially fond of that one". I suppose that this book is the first step on a journey for me. A journey that will drawy me close to God. Not a big and mighty God, even though He is big and mighty, but a real, walk with me, talk with me God. A God that I can call Papa. www.theshackbook.com
I have been trying to write a song for weeks that I can't seem to get down on paper. Sometimes the words come easy for me. Most of the time the melody comes at the same time. Each time I sit down to the piano I seem to be so clogged with what I want to say. I can't seem to get the poetic flow or the words out. I guess I could send this idea to Taylor Swift and then it wouldn't matter if it rhymed or had any poetic flow. LOL!
A few weeks ago we attended a youth service and one of the kids gave a brief testimony about his dad being away serving in Iraq. He told a story about when his dad came home after one of his deployments. He said that all the soldiers got off the plane and began to walk toward their families and out of the sea of tan he spotted his dad. He recongnized him by the way he walked. I grabbed my pen and pad and wrote down, "I know the way He walks". My impression was that in the sea of all the distractions and things that fight to gain our attention that we can cut through the maze of people and things and recognize the Father by the way He walks. Those of us who have a history of God walking close to us, taking care of us in unexplainable ways and carrying us through unimaginable circumstances know what I am saying. We know God in such a way that we can recognize His walk because we have walked with him, we know His voice because we have heard it many times before and we know the way He speak to us.
I was taking my daily walk around my neigborhood the other day and I felt God saying to me, "I started giving you the inspiration and background for this song several years ago. All of a sudden my mind was taken back to a time years ago when Patricia and I had taken a group of kids to Super WOW in Jekyll Island. I was taking a much needed walk to get a break from the stress of tending to 30 plus teenager and chaperones. One of my kids from a previous youth group that I had taught in 9th grade was serving on staff that year. She came by on her bike and said, "I thought I recognized that walk". It never even registered with me what she had just said. It always seemed that I learned so much more from my kids than they learned from me. This just reminds me that God is always weaving. He is always working toward bringing honor to Himself. Sometimes it takes years.
I still have no idea how this song will be written. I have so many thoughts. One direction is to concentrate on how our lives are to be lived in faithfulness. Our walk of faith should be recognized by those around us. The other direction is to concentrate on God's faithfulness and how our relationship with Him should such that we should be able to recognize His walk.
It is no secret that our family has had our share of trials. But as we look back over the history that we have with our loving Father that we can see Him working and weaving. Our prayer now is that we won't just see Him when we get through this time of unemployment and uncertainty but that we will see Him ON THE ROAD. That we will be able to cut through the maze of people and things and situations and circumstances and pick Him out because we know the way He walks.
Blessings
Allen
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
God hates our "Worship"
Amos 5-21-24 I hate all your show and pretense--the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offering. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.
WOW!
As a worship leader I didn't know how to take these words from Amos. I didn't know they existed until I was reading an article in the new Worship Leader magazine and it mentioned it. It seems that Amos and I would have been either best friends or fierce enemies. I am not a very popular person because of my views on worship. I tired long ago of the worship leaders with teeth so white they looked liked Chiclets. I became bored with singing songs about how great God was when most of the praise team were living secret lives of sin and refused to do anything about it. I got frustrated with leadership that wouldn't trust or support me. I grew impatient with pastors who looked at me like I was from another planet when I spoke of God speaking to me. It frustrated me when I was told what style to lead or what song to use or what group of people to keep happy or "minister" to. WHAT?!!! God must be so tired of us. We spend so much of our time trying to please everybody other than Him. When we finally do get a clue or have an "AHA" moment we are so burdened down with spiritual junk that the words we say and the songs we sing don't get past the top of our heads much less the ceiling.
As I said, I am not very popular. I don't believe that God only speaks to the pastor or only speak to me through His Word. I am either stupid or gulible enough to beleive that He cares enough about me that He will speak to me on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and every other day of the week. He doesn't expect me wait until I can pull over to the side of the road and get my Bible out or wait until Sunday when the pastor speaks for me to hear His voice. God speaks to me. Get over it!!
He doesn't usually speak to me through music even though music is such a big part of who I am. It is very often through His Word and also through the pastors words. But there are those times when I hear God in an almost audible way. I hear Him say, "Boy". That's what He calls me. When I hear that I know it's time to turn the radio off, pull the car over or find a quiet place so that I can listen. It's usually something like, "Boy, why are you so angry?" "Boy, why are you defeated?" "Boy, don't you know that I love you?"
Anyway, back to the words of Amos. God hates what we have done to worship. We have cheapened it and made it more about the worshippers than the object of our worship. Where do we get the idea that we are supposed to be happy with the song selection. Where do we get off putting God in a box of 20 or thirty minutes? I will not even sit in the same room with a worship leader who hasn't spent more time in prayer and personal preparation than he or she spends fixing their hair or chosing their clothes. I remember watching a worship leader singing the song, "Jesus, Lover of my soul" and thinking each time they sang, "It's all about You" their lives and actions were screaming out "It's all about me".
I too, have fallen into that trap. Being a worship leader is a very tough job. We must constantly keep ourselves in check. We must examine our motives and acitons. We must take a long look at the way we feel led to worship. Does it bring more glory and honor to God or us?
What God desires more than the music and the applause is to see His temple decorated with a mighty flood of justice and a river of righteousness.
Worship go so much further than the songs we sing. I wish God would bring a direct revelation to each member, every pastor, elder and deacon. Maybe He will.
Blessings
Allen
WOW!
As a worship leader I didn't know how to take these words from Amos. I didn't know they existed until I was reading an article in the new Worship Leader magazine and it mentioned it. It seems that Amos and I would have been either best friends or fierce enemies. I am not a very popular person because of my views on worship. I tired long ago of the worship leaders with teeth so white they looked liked Chiclets. I became bored with singing songs about how great God was when most of the praise team were living secret lives of sin and refused to do anything about it. I got frustrated with leadership that wouldn't trust or support me. I grew impatient with pastors who looked at me like I was from another planet when I spoke of God speaking to me. It frustrated me when I was told what style to lead or what song to use or what group of people to keep happy or "minister" to. WHAT?!!! God must be so tired of us. We spend so much of our time trying to please everybody other than Him. When we finally do get a clue or have an "AHA" moment we are so burdened down with spiritual junk that the words we say and the songs we sing don't get past the top of our heads much less the ceiling.
As I said, I am not very popular. I don't believe that God only speaks to the pastor or only speak to me through His Word. I am either stupid or gulible enough to beleive that He cares enough about me that He will speak to me on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and every other day of the week. He doesn't expect me wait until I can pull over to the side of the road and get my Bible out or wait until Sunday when the pastor speaks for me to hear His voice. God speaks to me. Get over it!!
He doesn't usually speak to me through music even though music is such a big part of who I am. It is very often through His Word and also through the pastors words. But there are those times when I hear God in an almost audible way. I hear Him say, "Boy". That's what He calls me. When I hear that I know it's time to turn the radio off, pull the car over or find a quiet place so that I can listen. It's usually something like, "Boy, why are you so angry?" "Boy, why are you defeated?" "Boy, don't you know that I love you?"
Anyway, back to the words of Amos. God hates what we have done to worship. We have cheapened it and made it more about the worshippers than the object of our worship. Where do we get the idea that we are supposed to be happy with the song selection. Where do we get off putting God in a box of 20 or thirty minutes? I will not even sit in the same room with a worship leader who hasn't spent more time in prayer and personal preparation than he or she spends fixing their hair or chosing their clothes. I remember watching a worship leader singing the song, "Jesus, Lover of my soul" and thinking each time they sang, "It's all about You" their lives and actions were screaming out "It's all about me".
I too, have fallen into that trap. Being a worship leader is a very tough job. We must constantly keep ourselves in check. We must examine our motives and acitons. We must take a long look at the way we feel led to worship. Does it bring more glory and honor to God or us?
What God desires more than the music and the applause is to see His temple decorated with a mighty flood of justice and a river of righteousness.
Worship go so much further than the songs we sing. I wish God would bring a direct revelation to each member, every pastor, elder and deacon. Maybe He will.
Blessings
Allen
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Asking the Hard Questions
"But Lord," Gideon replied, "How can I resuce Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!" Judges 6:15
I was reading my devotion for February 27th and I just happened to be in the book of Judges. I remember turning to the page and half yawning thinking "Gees! I really need something from God's Word today and here I am in Judges." I started reading at verse 1 of chapter 6 and found myself reading far past the required 8th chapter. I found myself riveted to the events of the story of Gideon. I have heard them a thousand times before but I guess this day they just seemed to hit home.
We are told so often that we should never question God. That we should just live our lives Pollyanna style and never ever question the events of our lives. Gideon started out his life as the least of his tribe and his family and ended it as one of the greatest warriors recorded in the Bible. The thing is this; he just followed God's instructions and never even had to raise a sword to fight the Mideonites. God fought on his behalf and they distroyed themselves. WOW!!!!
But that is not what struck me this day.
I had finished the reading and went back to read what the devotional had to say. What it said was that Gideon had the audacity to quesiton God. God told him that He was sending him to fight the Midianites. "Who, Me?" he asked. "Are you sure". "This is Gideon and I'm just here to hide this wheat so the Midianites won't steal it". God had other plan and we all know how the story ends. Gideon obeys, God shows up and the rest is history.
I have lots of questions these days. Patricia and I were both laid off from our jobs on February 12th. Here it is right in the middle of the toughest economic times in our lifetime and we get laid off. It's not like we can just walk right into new jobs right now. There are only about 6 million people out of work in this country. The numbers are staggering. I have lots of questions but I guess I never really thought to ask God the questions that were running around in my mind. I took Gideons approach. I decided to stop right there and then and ask God the hard questions. I really didn't expect an answer right away but before I could get the question out of my mouth I could already hear the voice of God saying, "This is for my glory".
Well I guess this is it. My whole life in a nutshell. Bring God glory no matter what. I remember sitting across the table from the Hubach's and hearing the news that both of us were being laid off. I had so many things I had planned to say. Even though they have taken a company that was built on the principles of honoring God first and made it into anything but that. Even though I have witnessed unfair and unethical business practices. Even though they both profess to be believers and see no wrong in the things they say or do. Even though I could shake my finger in their face and give them a dose of what was coming to them I wasn't permitted to do so. I could only hear the voice of God saying, "Honor me. Obey me and I will fight the battle for you". I did get an opportunity to tell them that I was not surprised and that I knew that God was not surprised. I told them that our church family had already been praying about our job situation and that we would be ok. Of course they looked at us like we were from Mars. They don't understand what it is to live a life of faith. To depend on God for everything. To charge into life unafraid and unashamed. To truly stand on the promises of God. God promises are true. Sure, we are about to live our lives with Unemployment as our only income. We are already blessed. We are not saddled down with debt. Our mortgage and car payments are not late and we have very little that we cannot live without. God knew all this in advance. We just moved into a new home in August and our first inclination was to buy furniture and spend a lot of money getting the things we wanted. We didn't feel a peace about that so we decided to keep the furniure we had. We love our car but it is just a car. If the time comes that we can't pay for it, we'll find something we can afford. There is nothing that we have that we cannot live without. They are just things. All across this country people are losing their homes and posessions due to the current economic state. In the vast numbers I'm sure that we are not the only believers that have found themselves in this situation. Unbelievers may say, "where is your God? If He cares so much about you then why are you sitting home looking for a job like the rest of us?
Where is He? He is right here. Walking beside us whispering to us, "It's going to be OK". "This is for my glory".
Just because we are believers does not make us immune to the things that happen in this world. It is all in our response to those situations. No matter what happens, we must honor God. We must bring Him glory. If we run around in cirlces and dress in sackcloth and ashes like the rest of the world then what difference will the world see between us and them?
We may lose it all. The repo man may come to our door and pull the car away. We may eventually get a letter from our mortgage company asking us to vacate our home. As much as I don't won't either of those to happen, I am content. I am content to live my life in accordance with God's Word. If we obey Him, He will fight for us.
Blessings
Allen
I was reading my devotion for February 27th and I just happened to be in the book of Judges. I remember turning to the page and half yawning thinking "Gees! I really need something from God's Word today and here I am in Judges." I started reading at verse 1 of chapter 6 and found myself reading far past the required 8th chapter. I found myself riveted to the events of the story of Gideon. I have heard them a thousand times before but I guess this day they just seemed to hit home.
We are told so often that we should never question God. That we should just live our lives Pollyanna style and never ever question the events of our lives. Gideon started out his life as the least of his tribe and his family and ended it as one of the greatest warriors recorded in the Bible. The thing is this; he just followed God's instructions and never even had to raise a sword to fight the Mideonites. God fought on his behalf and they distroyed themselves. WOW!!!!
But that is not what struck me this day.
I had finished the reading and went back to read what the devotional had to say. What it said was that Gideon had the audacity to quesiton God. God told him that He was sending him to fight the Midianites. "Who, Me?" he asked. "Are you sure". "This is Gideon and I'm just here to hide this wheat so the Midianites won't steal it". God had other plan and we all know how the story ends. Gideon obeys, God shows up and the rest is history.
I have lots of questions these days. Patricia and I were both laid off from our jobs on February 12th. Here it is right in the middle of the toughest economic times in our lifetime and we get laid off. It's not like we can just walk right into new jobs right now. There are only about 6 million people out of work in this country. The numbers are staggering. I have lots of questions but I guess I never really thought to ask God the questions that were running around in my mind. I took Gideons approach. I decided to stop right there and then and ask God the hard questions. I really didn't expect an answer right away but before I could get the question out of my mouth I could already hear the voice of God saying, "This is for my glory".
Well I guess this is it. My whole life in a nutshell. Bring God glory no matter what. I remember sitting across the table from the Hubach's and hearing the news that both of us were being laid off. I had so many things I had planned to say. Even though they have taken a company that was built on the principles of honoring God first and made it into anything but that. Even though I have witnessed unfair and unethical business practices. Even though they both profess to be believers and see no wrong in the things they say or do. Even though I could shake my finger in their face and give them a dose of what was coming to them I wasn't permitted to do so. I could only hear the voice of God saying, "Honor me. Obey me and I will fight the battle for you". I did get an opportunity to tell them that I was not surprised and that I knew that God was not surprised. I told them that our church family had already been praying about our job situation and that we would be ok. Of course they looked at us like we were from Mars. They don't understand what it is to live a life of faith. To depend on God for everything. To charge into life unafraid and unashamed. To truly stand on the promises of God. God promises are true. Sure, we are about to live our lives with Unemployment as our only income. We are already blessed. We are not saddled down with debt. Our mortgage and car payments are not late and we have very little that we cannot live without. God knew all this in advance. We just moved into a new home in August and our first inclination was to buy furniture and spend a lot of money getting the things we wanted. We didn't feel a peace about that so we decided to keep the furniure we had. We love our car but it is just a car. If the time comes that we can't pay for it, we'll find something we can afford. There is nothing that we have that we cannot live without. They are just things. All across this country people are losing their homes and posessions due to the current economic state. In the vast numbers I'm sure that we are not the only believers that have found themselves in this situation. Unbelievers may say, "where is your God? If He cares so much about you then why are you sitting home looking for a job like the rest of us?
Where is He? He is right here. Walking beside us whispering to us, "It's going to be OK". "This is for my glory".
Just because we are believers does not make us immune to the things that happen in this world. It is all in our response to those situations. No matter what happens, we must honor God. We must bring Him glory. If we run around in cirlces and dress in sackcloth and ashes like the rest of the world then what difference will the world see between us and them?
We may lose it all. The repo man may come to our door and pull the car away. We may eventually get a letter from our mortgage company asking us to vacate our home. As much as I don't won't either of those to happen, I am content. I am content to live my life in accordance with God's Word. If we obey Him, He will fight for us.
Blessings
Allen
Thursday, January 29, 2009
God is My Shelter
Psalm 91:1-2 "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him."
So my sister, Kathy, who I never see because she decided to abandoned her family to move to Marietta with her husband, was in town for a few days.
I don't do well this time of year because of my Seasonal Depressive Disorder (yeah, it really does exist) so I was really needing my big sister. I had been sitting at work thinking how bad I hate it here and how difficult it seems that my life has been. It had been raining for days and I was just about to take visit to the gun store and come back and take care of some the splinters in my saddle here at work. That probably wouldn't have made me feel any better but anyway I was just thinking about it. Suddenly my cell phone rings and it's Kathy, she's in town and is coming by work to see me. I was so excited!! I was crying before I even got off the phone with her. I don't think that I do a really good job of masking my emotions but even when I try, she can always see right through the boloney.
So, she comes by and comes in my office and after the sermon she gives me for feeling down in the dumps, she prays with me and Tricia. Then she wants to meet the people that I work with. For any of you who think you might ever "mess" with me, let me give you fair warning; I have not just one big sister but three. Two of them will agree with whatever arguement you have with me and join in on the stoning. Not Kathy, she will beat the living crap out of you for messing with her little brother. The story is told of how when she and Vickie were little that a couple of bullies tried to attack Vickie. Kathey caught one of them by the hair and commenced to beat the living crap out of her. They were all best friends after that. That is a philosophy I still hold to today; make sure all your friends are people that you have beat the skittles out of at one time or the other. There is one other philosophy about always hanging around people who are uglier than you but that is for another post.
Anyway, back to the sermon. Kathy shared a passage of scripture with us from Psalm 91 and it has been such a comfort to me and Patricia in the past few weeks. "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest"......Those are words to live by. I guess I haven't been doing a good job of living in the shelter of the Most High because I have done everything but rest the past few weeks. My job has been aweful, our finances are in the toilet, I'm still fat....I'm pretty discontent in every area of my life. So I've been having to do a lot of repenting and praying. I still haven't gotten to the resting part though. It does seem that I am calmer. I was able to have a pretty decent conversation with God the other day without turning into a weeping pile of humanity. I still don't sleep much and the knot is still in my stomach every day I have to come to this place of employment. Verse two really conficts me, it says "he is my God, and I trust Him". Its really hard for me to trust. There's lots of reasons for that. I posted this Psalm on my wall and I make myself read it several times a day. Hopefully it will sink in to this very thick head(and heart) of mine.
Blessings
Allen
So my sister, Kathy, who I never see because she decided to abandoned her family to move to Marietta with her husband, was in town for a few days.
I don't do well this time of year because of my Seasonal Depressive Disorder (yeah, it really does exist) so I was really needing my big sister. I had been sitting at work thinking how bad I hate it here and how difficult it seems that my life has been. It had been raining for days and I was just about to take visit to the gun store and come back and take care of some the splinters in my saddle here at work. That probably wouldn't have made me feel any better but anyway I was just thinking about it. Suddenly my cell phone rings and it's Kathy, she's in town and is coming by work to see me. I was so excited!! I was crying before I even got off the phone with her. I don't think that I do a really good job of masking my emotions but even when I try, she can always see right through the boloney.
So, she comes by and comes in my office and after the sermon she gives me for feeling down in the dumps, she prays with me and Tricia. Then she wants to meet the people that I work with. For any of you who think you might ever "mess" with me, let me give you fair warning; I have not just one big sister but three. Two of them will agree with whatever arguement you have with me and join in on the stoning. Not Kathy, she will beat the living crap out of you for messing with her little brother. The story is told of how when she and Vickie were little that a couple of bullies tried to attack Vickie. Kathey caught one of them by the hair and commenced to beat the living crap out of her. They were all best friends after that. That is a philosophy I still hold to today; make sure all your friends are people that you have beat the skittles out of at one time or the other. There is one other philosophy about always hanging around people who are uglier than you but that is for another post.
Anyway, back to the sermon. Kathy shared a passage of scripture with us from Psalm 91 and it has been such a comfort to me and Patricia in the past few weeks. "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest"......Those are words to live by. I guess I haven't been doing a good job of living in the shelter of the Most High because I have done everything but rest the past few weeks. My job has been aweful, our finances are in the toilet, I'm still fat....I'm pretty discontent in every area of my life. So I've been having to do a lot of repenting and praying. I still haven't gotten to the resting part though. It does seem that I am calmer. I was able to have a pretty decent conversation with God the other day without turning into a weeping pile of humanity. I still don't sleep much and the knot is still in my stomach every day I have to come to this place of employment. Verse two really conficts me, it says "he is my God, and I trust Him". Its really hard for me to trust. There's lots of reasons for that. I posted this Psalm on my wall and I make myself read it several times a day. Hopefully it will sink in to this very thick head(and heart) of mine.
Blessings
Allen
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wild Goose Chase
My friend Billy gave me a book a couple of weeks ago called "Wild Goose Chase". Sounds weird I know but, in a nutshell, it's about finding adventure in Pursuing God. It's taken me on many hills and valleys and at times I have to just put the book down and pray. I don't take enough chances in my spiritual life. I seem to live very safely. Sure, I get on a spiritual tangent every once in a while. I always speak out during Sunday School or Bible Study and take over the class whenever possible. But as far as my own spiritual journey I have been nestled in the safety of home. I never really go out on a limb anymore. When I was leading worship and leading choir I was one more radical human being. I would litererally do anything that God led me to do. So much that at times I would find myself apologizing after the service. I would feel embarrased when I thought back to the service. The choir, the congregation and the pastor always seemed to enjoy it when I "lost control" and "danced" across the stage. Where is that person? Where is the man that was so passionate about worship. I long to be lost. Lost in the presence of God. It is there and only there that I am truely found and free.
I feel an ergency these days. The shape of the economy, the pending Presidential election, the condition of the church. All these things lead me to believe that it is time.......Time to get your affairs in order.
Every Prophecy teacher has a different opinion about the sequence of events. I don't profess to be a prophet. I just know that God is stirring me up spiritually.
It's scary how little the every day Christian knows about the end times. And how they get this look of panic on their faces when they realize that prophecy is unfolding before our eyes. I tend to believe that God's people will be saved from the judgement of the Tribulation. Others I know would disagree. I just have to trust God and look at the history. Noah and his family were saved from the judgement of the flood. Lot and his family were saved from the distruction of Sodom. God's people are always given a way of escape from judgement. I can't believe that God would allow us to suffer the horrors of the Tribulation. Not that we don't deserve it. It would certainly weed out the goats in our midst. But God very seldom gives us what we deserve. If God dealt out judgement for all the evil we did or punished us every time we failed to live up to the standard we would all be in a mess.
It is time, I believe, to get our afairs in order. It is time for the awakening!!
Blessings
Allen
I feel an ergency these days. The shape of the economy, the pending Presidential election, the condition of the church. All these things lead me to believe that it is time.......Time to get your affairs in order.
Every Prophecy teacher has a different opinion about the sequence of events. I don't profess to be a prophet. I just know that God is stirring me up spiritually.
It's scary how little the every day Christian knows about the end times. And how they get this look of panic on their faces when they realize that prophecy is unfolding before our eyes. I tend to believe that God's people will be saved from the judgement of the Tribulation. Others I know would disagree. I just have to trust God and look at the history. Noah and his family were saved from the judgement of the flood. Lot and his family were saved from the distruction of Sodom. God's people are always given a way of escape from judgement. I can't believe that God would allow us to suffer the horrors of the Tribulation. Not that we don't deserve it. It would certainly weed out the goats in our midst. But God very seldom gives us what we deserve. If God dealt out judgement for all the evil we did or punished us every time we failed to live up to the standard we would all be in a mess.
It is time, I believe, to get our afairs in order. It is time for the awakening!!
Blessings
Allen
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