The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 9

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever." - Psalm 138:8

No matter where I go in life, Your Spirit will guide me.
Every time I find You somewhere in my life.
Always seeking, never finding, never knowing
what I'm hiding.
Your Spirit fills me in places no one else can find.
For my heart is deep with dark places - fill me!

Your Spirit guides me to places I can't see.
Have Your Spirit come back to me.
Feed our stomachs with tacos and our hearts with love.

Take me to that place, where hopes and dreams
bring us closer to You and in the end,
Your purpose will be known.

- Team Taranatron

for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7 , Part 8

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 8

Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to You. - Psalm 102:1

Here is my heart, broken and cut.
No other could mend, so I brought it to You.
Lord, hear my prayer,
though it's as silent as the night.
Take me by heart, take me by hand.
Walk with me so I'm not alone.
Mend my poor heart, that I may live.
This is my prayer.

Wake me up from my spiritual sleep,
yet give me rest in Your Name.
Please hear my prayer for this new job.

When I can't see, You still see
the big picture; You push aside everything
to spend time with me.
I'm tired and overwhelmed... there's just
so much to do. But I know that Your power
is much greater than my circumstance.
Lord, melt me and shape me into the tool
that You would have me to be.
Reopen my heart; light a flame of passion inside
that only satisfies and delights in You.

I don't know what to do;
I don't know what to say;
and I don't know how to wait patiently.
Teach me to trust You,
and to truly know Your voice.
You redeem all of my mistakes
and make them beautiful
when I entrust them to You.


for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 7

(in times of failure)

May the intensity of my longing for You be pleasing
even when we feel we don't deserve it.
The Lord sees and judges the heart, is pleased
with a heart of obedience.
When I'm feeling so low, God is even then with me.
Hold my eyes up to Your light.
Please hear my prayer for this new job.
May I remember that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
What others see as nothing You find in me something great.
even when it wasn't perfect.

- The 3 Musketeers


for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5, Part 6

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 6

I woke up today feeling that life was gray.
You are faithful despite my unfaithfulness, doubt, and confusion.
In my head, I know You are here. Sometimes my heart is not as sure -
sorry for my instability...

Your love is amazing, constant, never-changing and beautiful.
Thank You!
God of light, I want to see You through my heavy eye-lids.
Thank You for making that possible.
Even when I'm a moron, You still prove faithful!
(How do You do that?)
Let Your overflowing love pour over to others more deeply.

God, give me strength that I don't have.
Help me keep my focus on You.
Pray for me, Lord.

- God's Grace

for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 5

My heart cries out for wisdom.
I seek You and still find no joy.
Where is the path You want me to take?
Thanks for the "treasures" You have brought this week.

My body cries out for Your strength
for I am weak without Your mighty power.
Words can't describe how I feel towards You.
Your grace is enough!

Lord, if You could just speak a little louder, please...
God, I need You. I cry out for Your touch, Your love,
Your wings to come and keep me from harm.

Like a chicken with its head cut off, I run around
seeking satisfaction and fulfillment. I need You
to grab my face and show me the satisfaction I may find in You.

Why do I even bother breathing
if I don't breathe in You?
Life is death if You're not living in me.

Ps. 70:4 - "May all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You."

- The T-Birds


for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 4

"O Lord, You have searched me, and You know me." - Psalm 139:1

You Rocketh.

I can't hide from You, even when I try.
Take the anxieties from every corner of my heart
and hold me to You
so that I cannot avoid my responsibilities.

Ask me. Tell me.
I am here for You.

Lord, set my soul on fire; You are my one desire.
Let my tears fall in Your hands; let my trust be kept in You.

- B to the K2G2

for the beginning of this series, you can go here
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 3

By seeking Him wholeheartedly, we shall find peace.
How almighty is our God; how awesome His power is.
By trusting in Him, we can live this life for Him
without limitations.

Thank You, God, for my great friends
and thanks for always being there for me.
I don't really know where I'm supposed to belong.
Thank You for loving me no matter how many times I mess up.

Your grace is sufficient for me.
Your love is everlasting.
You are holy.
I give You praise, for You are good.

- The Shout Outs

for this series intro, you can go here.
Part 1, Part 2

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 2

Turn my frown upside-down.
Please heal my wounds and end my suffering.
Lord, in You I find my rest.

Help! I need somebody, not just anybody...
to quiet my eager heart and to put a skip in my step.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but Jesus
will always heal them.

Keep me safe, guide me home
and fill me with Your love.
Fill me with Your love and peace,
a kind which I have rarely known.

- The Freedom Writers

Series Intro
Part 1

The Cry of Our Hearts - Part 1

Ok, Lord, seven of us lookin' up at You.
are we ready for Your return?
I want to shout but my voice is muffled by the branches.
Autumn trees blossom green.
Find rest, o my soul, find rest in God alone.

How long do we wait to listen for Your voice?
Even though You are here with us every day,
why do I always feel alone?
How long until we realize that You are the One True God?
Reliance on God relieves anxiety.
I need You, Jesus.

The beauty that You have created is amazing, thank You!
You are truly amazing.
You know the number of stars and the hairs on my head.
You are amazing.
So I shout up to the heavens, "I need Your help!
I need a rescuer."

- By The Doors

For the beginning of this series, you can go here.
For the next post in this series, go here.

The Cry of Our Hearts - Introduction

This past week at Torch, we did something a little... well, I guess you could cliche-icly call it "out of the box." (wow, it's kind of ironic that the phrase "out of the box" could be called cliche...) :)

We brought our worship to the Lord without music. I have to say, I was a little worried about how that would go. As our friendly neighborhood worship director, I know that it's important to make sure we know the reality that music and singing are NOT the only form of worship we can bring to the Lord, and that it's good for us to experience that corporately from time to time - but I was still a little nervous.

Silly me.

You guys took a risk and brought your hearts to the Lord in a really honest way, and I know it blessed His heart - and, in that crazy cool way that worship often works, we got blessed in the process of offering our worship to Him.

Nights like that are worth a standing stone, even if it's only a virtual one. :) So here's ours: a series of posts on Chasing Jesus, offering the cry of our hearts to His. Every line of these psalms, with the exception of anything straight from God's Word, was written by one of you. Let's continue to pray them together, amen?


for the next post in this series, you can go here

Worship and Water

I love the musical worship we have at Torch. If you have ever been there, you have likely witnessed me in the back with my bass going positively nuts. But God has laid on my heart a challenge to the way that we approach worship.

Worship ≠ Music

Two things happen during musical worship; there is an emotional reaction to the music and a physical/audible expression of that emotional reaction. This is only an appropriate response when first a spiritual and cognitive surrender to God is present. It is possible to have an emotional reaction without this but this isn’t worship. You might feel really good in the middle of it, but without surrender, if I can be so bold, this is the opposite of worship; comparable to the Pharisees praying obnoxiously on the streets so that people would notice them.

Worship = The act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving oneself to God.

Let that sink in a little bit. This means that anytime you are in a place, situation, or atmosphere that facilitates worship with God and you are not giving yourself to Him, then you’re not worshiping. It doesn’t matter how many times you sing along to a “worship set” sit through a sermon or sign a tithe check because none of that is worship until you’ve given your heart to God.

In Psalm 51 David points out that burnt offerings and sacrifices aren’t what God is looking but rather a broken and contrite heart.

This definition of worship also means that anytime you give yourself to God, you’re worshiping no matter your location, circumstance or environment. And this is what we are being challenged to do.

In John chapter 4 Jesus talks about being thirsty for God, with a heart that worships in spirit and in truth. Church (Torch) should never ever be the only time that you consider yourself worshiping.

Worship is like water. You need to worship the same way you need to drink water.

Let me explain. God doesn’t have some psychological complex of needing to be patted on the back. It doesn’t lower His self-esteem when you don’t worship Him. You don’t have anything to offer God that he doesn’t already have. He doesn’t “NEED” you to worship Him.

He wants you to have a heart condition of a need to worship Him. You’re the one who needs to need to worship Him. Without a thirst for Him, without a hunger for His presence, you’re going to spiritually die.

Dehydration1 is the greatest enemy to any athlete. I don’t consider myself an athlete by any standard, but it’s a good analogy so go with me on it. 50-60% of your body weight is water. Think about that, divide your weight by half and that is how much of you is made of water. Without water you wouldn’t be alive. You know you can go several days without food but only a few without water.

Dehydration1 becomes fatal after only 15% of water loss and you start to feel the effects of it after only 2%. At that point athletes have a 30% decrease in performance. That severe of a detriment looses races, I’m not talking second or third place either. I mean looses.

God prepared me for this message by pointing out a two day period when I hadn’t had any water. I seriously sat down and could not remember a single drink in something like a 48 hour period. That was stupid. I contracted a serious migraine and drinking water right away didn’t help.

In the same way when you aren’t worshiping God, even the slightest bit your spiritual health takes a major hit. Keep in mind our definition of worship.

Worship = The act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving oneself to God.

So whenever you are not wholeheartedly giving yourself to God, your spiritual health is in trouble.

All of that to say: when are you not living for God? At what point in your week are you more concerned with what’s going on or how you feel than about giving your life to God? Because it’s those things that are gonna kill you. Little by little you are spiritually dehydrating yourself.

When my little sister was four, she had a serious infection in her bladder. She was on medication and underwent lots of treatment but the doctor's primary prescription was “Drink Water”. She hated it! My mother in her loving way tried everything. Ice cold/ or luke warm/ with a straw; she even bought tons of flavored water. But my sister fought it the whole time. Such a simple thing was her cure and she fought it so hard she could have died. This particular infection was prone to spread to the blood stream and had it remained in her system for much longer the issue would have been much more severe. Now, she has been recovered for several years but still to this day has a hard time just enjoying a glass of water.

Sometimes we treat worship the same way. But you need to worship God. If your life isn’t about God then it’s not worth living.

Wherever you are in class/at work/at home, God wants you to be taking little sips all day long. Have the attitude and follow through the act of giving your every moment to God.

Isaiah 55:1-3
Psalm 42:1-2


In Christ,
Mickey

This Is Our God

On and off for the past couple of weeks, I've had that old Chris Tomlin song floating around in my head, This Is Our God. One of the things I really like about that song is that it falls under the category of songs that Paul describes this way in Ephesians 5:19-20:

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

or this way in Colossians 3:16:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

People have been singing songs since - well, forever, probably. While musical styles vary from culture to culture, there's not a music-less people anywhere in the world. Creation itself is singing God's praise, and we (as a part of God's creation) can't help it either. Oh, sure, we use music for other forms of expression as well, but it's always been a part of church culture since the church began.

Why is that? I think there's a lot of reasons, but I think one reason is that a melody can help you remember things better than you can without it. Musical intelligence, they call it. :) (I like that, but I'm biased.) :) So singing a song about God on a Sunday (or a Monday!) can help you remember the truth about who God is as the melody runs through your head later in the week. Knowing the same songs as people around you helps you remember that truth in community. That's a big piece of it, too, I think. And in some ways, songs can also help us remember other things by association - I mean, think about it - "that song" comes on the radio, and how quickly do we drift down memory lane?

Last night as I thought about the healing that God has done in my own life, and how much of it, in some ways, there still is to do - I remembered the words of a song that spoke great truth into my life at a time when I really needed to hear it. The song is called "Before You Call" and you can find the lyrics here. The words come from Isaiah 40:11 and 65:24:

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.

While they are still speaking.... I love that. Even before we cry out to God, He is already listening, and He hears all of it, even before we're done explaining... We worship a God who knows us. This is no small thing.

Worship. Declaring the "worth-ship" of God. Getting our eyes off ourselves and remembering who God is, both in and of Himself, and in our lives. That's what I love most about that Chris Tomlin song... it reminds me of who God is to me, to our community, to the world - it reminds me of how big a God I serve, and how worthy He is of my love and adoration. And it reminds me to go to Him, because He is who He says He is:

a refuge for the poor and a shelter from the storm - Isaiah 25:4
a father to the orphan and a healer to the broken - Psalm 68:5, Malachi 4:2
a fountain for the thirsty and a lover for the lonely - Zechariah 13:1, Isaiah 55:1, Psalm 68:6, John 3:16

and He is oh, so much more...

I was reading a couple of weeks ago in Isaiah, and these words jumped out at me:

Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? - Isaiah 50:2

The answer to that, of course, is no. He is God. Of course He can ransom us and rescue us. In fact, He has, is, and will. So let us trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on our God (Isaiah 50:10) - for as we sang together last night: He is more than enough.

Choose Life

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." - Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NLT)

This is the passage on which Mark started his message, and I've been thinking about it a lot over the past couple of days. We really do have choices - dozens, hundreds of them sometimes, every day. When Jake tells me to say "pickle bucket," do I say it just because he said to? Tall carmel latte or venti carmel apple cider? Bible study or check my email? (ouch.) Say something or keep my mouth shut? The choices vary in importance, but every choice we make (turn left or turn right at the next light?) impacts the future in ways we can't see from the present. So knowing God's word is important, and trusting Him is essential, if we want to live a good life and know that we lived a life chasing Jesus faithfully.

"And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him." - this is how Eugene Peterson paraphrases part of the verses above in the Message. This just reinforced to me the connection between obeying God and loving Him. Obedience is an act of love - even when, or even especially when, we don't understand why God is asking us to do something. It's arguably an act of love when we choose to obey when we don't want to. Especially if we do it asking God to change our hearts so that we have "the want to" to follow Him. As Mark said Monday night - it's worship to make wise choices.

Reading verses in context is something I try to do often, so I went back to the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 30 and read it. I'd encourage you, if you get a chance this week, to read Deuteronomy 27:1 - 32:13 - it's really interesting. (It's God's Word.) :) But a few verses jumped out at me from chapter 30 tonight as I read:

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it." - Deuteronomy 30:11-14

or as the Message puts it: "This commandment that I'm commanding you today isn't too much for you, it's not out of your reach. It's not on a high mountain—you don't have to get mountaineers to climb the peak and bring it down to your level and explain it before you can live it. And it's not across the ocean—you don't have to send sailors out to get it, bring it back, and then explain it before you can live it. No. The word is right here and now—as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. Just do it!"

Whatever it is that God is asking you to do, it isn't impossible. It might be hard. He never promised this race would be easy. But it is not impossible. For you, by yourself, sheer will power - nope, you probably can't do it, whatever it is. But with God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:25-26)

"The word is right here and now - as near as the tongue in your mouth, as near as the heart in your chest. JUST DO IT!!!!"

For further reflection, check out James 1:22-25, as well. May God give us the grace to make wise choices, to choose life over death, and to truly be doers of the Word. Amen.

Worship - when you feel like an alien

(HT: The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus)



Can you relate? Why or why not?

What do you do on days when this is what it feels like?

Worship - awe of Him

"Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of Him." declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty. ~Jer 2:19

I've just started reading Jeremiah this week and it is wild. Jeremiah is surrounded by a nation of corruption and rebellion to God and God tells him to stand up and be a prophet to that people. Delivering God's wrath and His desire to rebuild them.
"See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." Jer 1:10

Today I read the top verse, 2:19, and God hit me with a thought about worship. God says that it's not only evil and bitter of us, but evil and bitter for us to forsake Him. Like we were created to worship Him and when we hold that back from Him it actually destroys who we are. Our undoing is our own doing. He won't force us to worship Him, so He'll never force us to be healthy and alive and safe and fulfilled.
Maybe we feel like he should sometimes, it would seem easier. Or maybe not force us but at least ask us. But He doesn't, He does something different, He commands it. The truth is that God's presence, more than God's person, commands our worship. He will be worshipped. ("the stones will cry out." Luke 19:40) My prayer is that I'd not be offended by the command but I'd respond with "awe of Him."

For Your Name and Your Renown

I've been thinking about the words to Salvation Is Here this afternoon, especially the second verse:

Hear the sound of the generations
Making loud their freedom song
All in all that the world might know your Name
We're gonna be alright*

I pray a lot of the same things, well, a lot, at Torch - and that's actually pretty intentional (and why is a topic for a later post) - and one of the things you'll hear me pray a lot is that God's Name would be made famous in our lives, and that the stuff He does in our lives at Torch will send us to the ends of the earth for the sake of His glory. It's a prayer that echoes a song Christy Nockels sang that I can't for the life of me remember any line to except "and see the greatness of His renown." (If anyone knows what song that is, please tell me; it's driving me nuts!)

It also echoes Isaiah 28:6 - "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your laws, we wait for You; Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

What does the verse say we're doing? "Walking in the way of Your laws" - or, to put it more simply - we're worshiping God.

Why? Because "Your Name and renown are the desire of our hearts." We want people to know this God we worship - and the way we tell them is by worshiping.

Kind of puts a new twist on evangelism, doesn't it?

Look again at the lyrics to Salvation Is Here --

Hear the sound of the generations
Making loud their freedom song

How do we make loud our freedom song? Well, one way is by singing at the top of our lungs at Torch - but another is by living our lives in such a way that our freedom in Christ is demonstrated to those around us...

all in all, that the world might know Your Name...

And THAT is the point.

Worship and evangelism are inextricably entwined. People see our worship (whether at church or by our lives lived in devotion to Him) and they can't miss the reality of God's presence. As we make His name famous in our lives, He'll live up to His reputation as the God who saves, and the lost will be able to join us in singing "Salvation is here, and He lives in me."

And together, we will all be able to say in truth - "we're gonna be alright."


*Salvation is Here -- words and music by Joel Houston -- © 2004 Hillsong Publishing

The Worship Corner - Spirit and Truth

The third definition of the word "corner" in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary is "a private, secret, or remote place" as in "a quiet corner of New England." I like that. I'm from New England, did you know that? (The accent comes out pretty strong when I'm super-excited or really mad about something.) About three weeks from now, there will be a spot on the Massachusetts turnpike as you're heading east where you will come around a corner, and you won't have even realized you were in the mountains until you see the view. There's a sheer drop on the far side of the guardrail, and all you'll be able to see beyond it are the glorious fall colors, and a few church steeples. It's breathtaking, and it feels like it goes on forever - both the view and the turn - and you'll be sorry when you're past it. You'll just want to stop and rest there for a minute, and soak it all in. (There is a spot to stop, but you'll need to know where to look for it.)

This is what I want our experience of worship to be. I don't always get a chance to say everything I'd like to about worship when I'm leading, but this is our chance to go a little deeper, and it is my hope that we will grow as a worshiping community as a result of these conversations. I want us to know how to stop and catch the view - to find that quiet, secret, and remote place where we can truly encounter God in a way that takes our breath away.

The Bible has a lot to say about worship. Check out this conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. There's a lot we could say about this passage, but I want to focus on a few specific verses: John 4:23-24.

Jesus says to the woman: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

I love how the Message puts it: "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

Those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship...

So here's our first discussion topic: How does this work itself out practically for you? What does it mean to come before God simply and honestly yourself?

In context, Jesus is answering the woman's question about place: she wants to know, where's the right place to worship? Essentially He tells her, "it doesn't matter nearly as much as you think it does. You can worship anywhere, anytime. It's your heart that matters."

John Wesley says in his comments on verse 24 that worshiping in spirit and truth means we bring everything into God's presence - "all our tempers, thoughts, words, and actions." (The word "tempers" here means emotions.) It means that no matter how we feel, or what we've done, we recognize that God is worthy of our worship, and we worship Him - with everything we've got.

So what does that look like?