Hello, everyone!
It’s been a long while since my last update. Things have been crazy, in both the good and bad sense.
In the good sense, well, I’m gonna be conducting a worship workshop for the Youth Worship teams of another church, conducting the piano segment of a worship seminar at a Presbyterian church (need to double check which one. Some of you are wondering if their musicians are covered by insurance, I know…) and actually speaking at a church Sunday service!
Yes, I do have messages for such occasions, but I was asked to present a message that I developed specifically for people in worship ministry. That means I have to be my usual opinionated and offensive self in front of people who just might not understand what I’m about. That’s about as safe as a loaded gun in the hands of a teenager on Prozac…
In the midst of all the fun stuff, I’m also undergoing a tough season. Lots of little things have gone wrong, and trying to fix them all is very frustrating. I also face crisis in various areas of my life (thus my prolonged absence). Though I’d rather not go through all this, it is a good training season for me.
One thing that really strikes me this time is the way pressure shows us what is in our hearts. Humanistic thinking says that under-stress people say things they don’t really mean. Which can be true in a sense, but Jesus had a different view of it. He said “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
So if you are speaking words of praise even under stress, that’s because that is what you have filled your heart with during the non-crisis periods of your life. If words of anger, or exaggerations of the faults of others come out of your mouth at those times, then it shows clearly what you have placed in your heart during the rest of times.
Please, people, don’t get me wrong. I’m not sharing this with you to bring guilt. Let’s face it, even a brother-in-Christ whom I consider the epitome of Mr. Chill himself admitted he uttered a swear word in a brief moment of frustration. I am sharing this with you to remind you, “Above all else guard your heart, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
And even James said “Is any of you suffering? Let him pray.” Not gripe to our spouses, colleagues and friends. Sometimes, even just thinking how we’ll describe our problems to God is enough to restore our perspective and see our problems the way God sees them. And of course when God talks back and reminds us that he is very much greater than our problems…
So instead of “Charmed”, “Smallville” or mindless game shows, take the time to really feed your heart with good stuff, like the word of God…
Which brings me to my second topic…
When you are in the midst of crisis, you can cope with it in many ways. One that is a life-saver to me at this time is just reading the Word of God.
Were you expecting something else?
I just came across this during a sermon recently. In the parable of the prodigal son, it was recorded that the father ran to the returning son and embraced him. Interestingly enough, the Greek word used for embrace in that passage came out again in the book of Acts, when Peter was at Cornelius house. When Peter was speaking the Word of God to the people there, it said the Holy Spirit fell upon the people present. And same Greek word was used for both the father’s embrace in Luke 15 and the Holy Spirit’s embrace in Acts.
And that explains why I feel the presence of God so strongly when I am just chilling out with the Bible, reading it aloud. Especially when I’m reading to Jessiah. As I told some of you before, he doesn’t get any children’s bible kiddie stories from me. He gets Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, oftentimes in New King James Version, because that’s the version that I tend to find first when I am at home.
And he likes it. If I home he’ll ALWAYS ask me to read to him, and that is what I read. Someone just asked me if a four-year-old is capable of taking the Word of God neat. Well, Jessiah has no complaints…
While speaking the Word of God to him, the presence of God comes down. Not in the awesome sense that we sometimes experience during moments of intense worship, but in the gentle sense, like a loving father’s embrace. And in that manifest presence of God my son Jessiah falls asleep, while I am touched, encouraged and strengthened by my Father’s embrace.
Crisis periods can be difficult, not because of the weight of the crisis itself, but because they often leave us feeling very lonely. And when you feel misunderstood by siblings-in-Christ and thus can’t bear to get angry with them, that can be even worse.
So give yourself time to just speak the Word of God aloud to yourself. It feeds your heart with truth and your soul with the strength and comfort of God.
Prayer time: Pray for me that I’ll see God at this time. In the midst of breakthroughs, I need to see God as the strength of ministry and the one who empowers and enables me to serve his people. Pray also that I’ll receive greater wisdom to make core decisions for my ministry at this time. Thanks, everyone! Be blessed!
It’s been a long while since my last update. Things have been crazy, in both the good and bad sense.
In the good sense, well, I’m gonna be conducting a worship workshop for the Youth Worship teams of another church, conducting the piano segment of a worship seminar at a Presbyterian church (need to double check which one. Some of you are wondering if their musicians are covered by insurance, I know…) and actually speaking at a church Sunday service!
Yes, I do have messages for such occasions, but I was asked to present a message that I developed specifically for people in worship ministry. That means I have to be my usual opinionated and offensive self in front of people who just might not understand what I’m about. That’s about as safe as a loaded gun in the hands of a teenager on Prozac…
In the midst of all the fun stuff, I’m also undergoing a tough season. Lots of little things have gone wrong, and trying to fix them all is very frustrating. I also face crisis in various areas of my life (thus my prolonged absence). Though I’d rather not go through all this, it is a good training season for me.
One thing that really strikes me this time is the way pressure shows us what is in our hearts. Humanistic thinking says that under-stress people say things they don’t really mean. Which can be true in a sense, but Jesus had a different view of it. He said “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
So if you are speaking words of praise even under stress, that’s because that is what you have filled your heart with during the non-crisis periods of your life. If words of anger, or exaggerations of the faults of others come out of your mouth at those times, then it shows clearly what you have placed in your heart during the rest of times.
Please, people, don’t get me wrong. I’m not sharing this with you to bring guilt. Let’s face it, even a brother-in-Christ whom I consider the epitome of Mr. Chill himself admitted he uttered a swear word in a brief moment of frustration. I am sharing this with you to remind you, “Above all else guard your heart, for out of it spring the issues of life.”
And even James said “Is any of you suffering? Let him pray.” Not gripe to our spouses, colleagues and friends. Sometimes, even just thinking how we’ll describe our problems to God is enough to restore our perspective and see our problems the way God sees them. And of course when God talks back and reminds us that he is very much greater than our problems…
So instead of “Charmed”, “Smallville” or mindless game shows, take the time to really feed your heart with good stuff, like the word of God…
Which brings me to my second topic…
When you are in the midst of crisis, you can cope with it in many ways. One that is a life-saver to me at this time is just reading the Word of God.
Were you expecting something else?
I just came across this during a sermon recently. In the parable of the prodigal son, it was recorded that the father ran to the returning son and embraced him. Interestingly enough, the Greek word used for embrace in that passage came out again in the book of Acts, when Peter was at Cornelius house. When Peter was speaking the Word of God to the people there, it said the Holy Spirit fell upon the people present. And same Greek word was used for both the father’s embrace in Luke 15 and the Holy Spirit’s embrace in Acts.
And that explains why I feel the presence of God so strongly when I am just chilling out with the Bible, reading it aloud. Especially when I’m reading to Jessiah. As I told some of you before, he doesn’t get any children’s bible kiddie stories from me. He gets Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, oftentimes in New King James Version, because that’s the version that I tend to find first when I am at home.
And he likes it. If I home he’ll ALWAYS ask me to read to him, and that is what I read. Someone just asked me if a four-year-old is capable of taking the Word of God neat. Well, Jessiah has no complaints…
While speaking the Word of God to him, the presence of God comes down. Not in the awesome sense that we sometimes experience during moments of intense worship, but in the gentle sense, like a loving father’s embrace. And in that manifest presence of God my son Jessiah falls asleep, while I am touched, encouraged and strengthened by my Father’s embrace.
Crisis periods can be difficult, not because of the weight of the crisis itself, but because they often leave us feeling very lonely. And when you feel misunderstood by siblings-in-Christ and thus can’t bear to get angry with them, that can be even worse.
So give yourself time to just speak the Word of God aloud to yourself. It feeds your heart with truth and your soul with the strength and comfort of God.
Prayer time: Pray for me that I’ll see God at this time. In the midst of breakthroughs, I need to see God as the strength of ministry and the one who empowers and enables me to serve his people. Pray also that I’ll receive greater wisdom to make core decisions for my ministry at this time. Thanks, everyone! Be blessed!
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