A Worship Template

Is there a worship template? As in, is there a certain way to worship?

God knows we argue enough among ourselves, touting this way over that, acting like we have inside knowledge but others might not. I can reasonably guess this is not too pleasing to God.

1 Chronicles 9:13 might hold an insight: The priests [were] skilled and seasoned servants in the work of worshiping God.

We become skilled and seasoned at something by careful learning and exceeding practice.

Worshiping God is called work so it requires time and effort.

So--I need to put time and effort into the careful learning and exceeding practice of worshiping God.

He sent a book to help us out, though we generally do everything but read it for ourselves.

You know, if all else fails, read the directions.

But let's take a stab at putting this all together:  the Book says the Way is Jesus. Through Him we get to God so that we can put in time and effort to learn carefully and practice exceedingly at creating a relationship with the Person who is the only one worthy of our worship.

I think the template is our personal, different-from-each-other's, private time spent getting to know God in a true, heartfelt, back-and-forth relationship.

Is there a worship template? Yes, the one you are activating--or not--each day. How beautiful if we could, in the eyes of God, become skilled and seasoned in the work of worshiping Him.

From the Archives: What is Courage Exactly?

Courage may simply be devoting ourselves to a helpful (not hurtful) cause and inviting God to join us along the way. The strength of character, the wisdom, the way to proceed are all illuminated along the path of never giving up, i.e., devoting ourselves to the cause.

Think of whatever you have accomplished in your life that was/is a single-minded pursuit: rearing children, getting out of debt, converting vision into reality, establishing something new, improving an existing venue, making widgets. Did you know at the beginning what you know now? Can you point to courage gained along the way by simply never giving up?

Whatever the cause/endeavor, it seems courage is what happens when we apply the devotion of our heart. God, when invited, can take care of the length and breadth of the mission.

So...want courage? Choose your helpful cause, apply your devotion one day at a time, invite God into the mix, and watch a beautiful thing happen.

(From October 14, 2011)

God is Hidden Where?

Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron, You led your people like a flock of sheep (Psalm 77, MSG).

God did the leading but He chose to be hidden in the hands of His followers, who by following, became His leaders.

Leaders must be followers of the right thing before their hands can become God's hiding place.

Even then, these leaders are followers still.

The learning is in the following and the bending of that ever-present willfulness that would tell us that we are, in fact, the leader.

It is incredibly humbling to think God might choose human hands from which to lead and in which to hide. It is a staggering thought, really.

At the very least, we lead ourselves. If I am called to lead myself or anyone else, I only want to do it by following the right lead. May our hands welcome God on His terms so every sheep knows His love and grace.

Teaching to Love...and to Hate

We are, sometimes unwittingly, teachers of the human heart.

In the movie, Stepmom, Julia Roberts is the girlfriend of Ed Harris and potential stepmom of his two kids with his ex-wife, Susan Sarandon. Roberts, as Isabel, is fresh and fun and funny, and it is no secret that Sarandon, as Jackie Harrison, detests the thought of her in her children's lives. Young Ben (Harrison) is captivated by Isabel but loves his mommy even more.

Ben Harrison:  Mommy?
Jackie Harrison:  What, sweetie?
Ben Harrison:  If you want me to hate her I will.

Doesn't that stop you cold in your tracks? Isn't that exactly what we do? We teach others how to feel about someone by our own posture, our own interpretation of that person.

But wait--before you think you should change something, it is worth noting that God created us to interact with people, knowing our hearts would teach and influence the hearts of others.

That process warns us about dangerous people and helps us keep our families safe.
That process teaches our babies about unconditional love when we offer it.
That process helps us receive the unconditional love of God.

Us:  God?
God:  What, my child?
Us:  If you want me to love that person, will you show both of us truth and freedom, for those seem to be your "birth parents" of love?

We are teachers of the human heart. Do the work of searching out truth and freedom in relationships so that love can be the fruit.

Trust the Motivator

For years, I worked with high school students in the context of wanting them to know that Jesus could be a best friend, a confidante, someone they could trust.

Two with whom I worked closely had a dating relationship. I once asked them why they chose to not be sexually active. Their answer startled me, "Because you trust us not to."

Trust--a motivator?

This morning I read 1 Chronicles 5: God answered their prayers because they trusted him.

Trust--a motivator? Even for God?

Do we work harder for, draw closer to, listen carefully to, enjoy the company of people we trust?

When people break our trust, is work required to regain it?

If we are willing to negotiate, work for and recover trust with people, wonder why we choose so often to not trust God.

If He is motivated by my trust in Him to consider my prayers, I'm going to include trust in Him as a part of my daily regimen. That trust is surely my motivator.

A Different Kind of Sleep Aid

Sleep is a big deal.

It keeps us out of trouble for hours a day--you know, gives God a kind of break from all the ridiculous things we find to think and do in a day.

It stops a day and allows reset for tomorrow so we get a fresh start, a second chance.

It restores our body. I read once that older people may have less true dementia than often diagnosed, as the underlying problem is actually too little restorative sleep.

It gives parents a much-needed break from the rigors of rearing children.

But what about sleeplessness? That is the problem. Many, many people have difficulty sleeping. We spend countless dollars on sleep aids, hoping for that quiet, deep, uninterrupted sleep that often eludes us.

My brother, an internist, has become a sleep specialist. Doctors and researchers spend years learning to evaluate our sleep patterns to help us find that ever-elusive sleep.

So I smile at Psalm 63:6--If I'm sleepless at midnight, I spend the hours in grateful reflection.

Hours? Hmm, sounds like our sleeplessness doesn't cause God to miss a beat. He says oh yeah, by the way, those hours would be a great time to reflect upon Me.

Not your typical sleep aid, but then again, when has God ever shown Himself to fit into our "typical" anything.

I wish you restorative sleep but if it is not yours to have on a given night, I wish you extraordinary time with God.

It Is The Brokenness That Stands

It is the strangest beauty.

A person, broken by addiction or pain or tragedy or life-altering sin, suffers and strays and seems hopelessly far from freedom and then, either little by little or all at once finds breakthrough and release and...Christ.

Inch by inch he, or she, stays free, one moment at a time, then a day, then many days strung together like twinkle lights shining in their once dark world.

Is it that set of lights that warms God's heart the most? The life that was once nearly as broken as Christ's body on the cross and now set free with the same love available to every one of us.

But wait, do we realize that each of us is as broken as the person we imagined in the second line? If not by our outward circumstances, our thoughts are broken with envy, smoldering grudges, boredom and discontent.

We can't escape the brokenness. But we can become part of that strangest beauty. We can surrender even our thoughts to this love that frees, that stood broken Itself on a wooden cross.

When we see ourselves truly aligned with that very brokenness, we somehow become aligned with true freedom.

It is the strangest beauty.