What Worship Means to Me

First, I thought I'd start off with the definition of Worship, according dictionary.com

Worship = reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

In essence, by this definition, Worship could be good or bad. Good being, surrendering yourself and giving God the honor and praise. Bad being, giving something of this world our honor and praise. You see, I believe worship is all about God. Worship was only created to be used on him. As Mark Batterson (Christian author and pastor) defines it, "Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right with God."

I can easily think of things that's wrong with me, as well as think of things that are right with God. It's meditating, praying, reading His word, or singing which brings worship to His name. We should be spending as much time as possible worshiping our Lord.

Worshiping is what we are called to do. I'll leave you with another Batterson quote I love, "Complainers will always find something to complain about. Worshipers will always find something to praise God about." So, which are you, a complainer or worshiper?

Father God,

First & foremost thank you so much for being a jealous God. I understand that your jealousy is so we don't worship our jobs, our cars, or our bank accounts, we need your wisdom to understand and remind us that everything is yours. Worship without you is not worship at all. True worship is reflecting on our one true Lord and Savior. Father, help us to stay free from distractions and just concentrate on ways to serve and worship you. I pray for opportunities to come into my life that will challenge me to become more dependent on you daily. I ask for your spirit to continue to direct my paths and test me. Jesus, I thank you for all that you've done for me in my life, I wouldn't be the same without you. It's in your name, Jesus, Amen.

Hope From a Water Bottle

Close your eyes and put a mental picture with the word hope. Hope can come in all shapes and sizes right? What do you picture? I'm guessing most of your mental pictures won't be the same as the next readers. Now, try this, feel God talking to you. It's even harder than picturing hope, right? Well, hopefully, this story where I saw hope and felt God will encourage you.

It was during our first annual Man Trip, on Mt. Huron in Colorado. A group of 14 God-seeking young men came together to take on challenging, yet adventurous, activities. Day one consisted of white-water rafting on the Arkansas river. What's day two's challenge you ask? Climbing to the peak of a 14,000 ft mountain. You have to be in pretty good shape to accomplish this, you can't just roll outta your La-Z-Boy one day and say you're going to climb Mt. Huron. You have to work-out, you have to eat healthy, and you have to train your body to withstand the high altitudes of Colorado. I admit, I barely did any of this stuff, so when I was looking eye-to-rock, needless to say...I felt intimidated. And as we climbed, the goal of standing on this mountain seemed more and more impossible to reach. At a slow pace the first 75% of the climb wasn't too bad, the last 25% I couldn't do by my own strength. I kept thinking of Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." God-willing, I made it to the top and felt like I accomplished something big, with God's help. On the way down is when I saw hope and felt God.

I enjoyed the view from the top longer than the rest of the group so I came back down the mountain by myself. Next thing I know 1 1/2 hours goes by where I don't see anyone, not even in my binoculars. It's fun at first, being out in God's nature with Him and the beauty of the Rockies...then I sat down for a break and realized I only had a couple ounces of water left. My camelback was dry, and I was pretty thirsty. I rationed my water for later and decided to pick up the pace.

Next thing I know, rain clouds are filling the area and thunder rolls through. Thunder is very loud when you're up in the mountains, the first time I heard it scared the crap outta me. Now I'm running down even faster just to get to the tree line, I need some cover from the rain. My water's low, I'm wet, I haven't seen anybody in over an hour, I'm worried I'm going to lose the trail, I'm EXHAUSTED, I don't have my cell phone, and I don't know how much farther until the bottom. Thoughts start creeping in my head like, am I going to get dehydrated? Am I going to get lost? Will my friends come back to find me? I kept praying for God to be with me, asking for his strength and for a sign of hope. I needed something to motivate me and take these negative thoughts outta my head. I needed to whole-heartedly believe God could save me from this. About 30 minutes after I crossed into the tree line I saw a sign hope, it was in two water bottles left behind! On the way up I had left one so I didn't have to carry it up and back down (I figured I wouldn't need it until I was coming back down anyway). I was worried that the guys ahead of me picked up my water bottle so I was shocked with excitement to see it! It refreshed my body and gave me hope to keep on, now my prayer was thanking the Lord for providing and being near to me. Shortly after I ran into 2 guys from my group that were waiting on me, praise the Lord!

Father,

Thank you for hearing our prayers, there really is nothing we can't ask for. Your power is bigger than we can understand, and we thank you for times where you use it in our lives. God help us be a people that always trusts in you, when things seem scary, tough, or even life-threatening help us know you're a God that comes with mercy and grace in perfect timing. Thank you Lord for also sending your Son, who died the death we should have died, who continues to take our place when we sin, so we look blameless in your eyes. Mold us to be more like him, help us Lord, send your spirit to be with us. Thank you for everything you've done in my life and everything you're doing Lord.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

His Name is Jehovah Nissi

It was back in an Israeliste vs Amalekite battle that God revealed himself as Jehovah Nissi. You might remember this battle because God has Moses stay in the "touchdown!" pose for them to defeat the Amalekite's. Also, this is the first time we meet Joshua, who later leads the Isrealites to the promised land. You can find the story in Exodus 17:8-16.

I'll hit on a couple points that I feel are important to me. First, Moses couldn't do it on his own. A simple request from God right? "Hey Moses, if you hold your hands and staff high, I will keep the Israelites winning." But this isn't easy (go ahead, try it for 5 minutes). Moses needed others, he needed one person on each side of him to help hold his arms up. Guess what, we are NO different. When it's time to fight battles in our lives, we need the same things Moses had.

1) Communication with God (pray)

2) Friends on each side.

3) Utter trust in the Lord.

4) Staff, just kidding you shouldn't need a staff.

Second, the Lord tells Moses to write this story down on a scroll. Why? Well, so Moses, Joshua, Aaron, and all the other Israelites would remember that God saved them in the fight against the Amalekites. Joshua's skills, Moses leadership qualities, and the hand-to-hand combat guys, didn't win this war by themselves, the Lord simply provided for his people.

I think the Lord told me to start this blog to write down stories in my life that clearly had his hand at work. I believe he did, and for the same reasons he commanded Moses to. You see, we should write down these personal stories in detail, right after they happen, so we don't forget. So we don't forget how Jehovah Nissi can come in and beat the "Amalekites" of our 2009 lives.

What battle may you be in right now? What battle did the Lord just win for you last week? Last month? Last year? If you have written these down, re-read them and be reminded of how God pulled you through...in His timing.

My last post was a cry out to God to heal my nephew, Hudson. I wanted to be selfish and say, do it now...do it today Lord. But I stayed humble (for the most part) and asked for it to be done in His timing. Six days after Hudson was born, he was released from the hospital and cleared to go home. Praise the Lord! The Lord is My Banner! I want to always be reminded of this time in my life where God provided and healed, so I'm writing it down. Make sure you "make the time" to do the same.

Dear Lord, Jehovah Nissi,

Thank you for being a God of compassion, healing, and providing. It's because you LOVE us that you fight our battles. Father, I ask that we always remember what you do for us. If that means start a blog, buy a notebook, or create a photo album have the Spirit help and direct us to that place. I thank you for this old story that has new meaning to me. It's neat that something this old can still be applied today, and it's because your hand was in it. God, will you use this blog to reach others? Will you help readers know that we can't fight battles on our own, that you want to fight them for us, we just need to trust you and ask for you to come into our lives. Jesus, we thank you for sacrificing your life and living out a perfect example of how we should live today.

It's in your name I always pray Jesus,

Amen

His Name is Hudson Asher

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I'm super excited. I could stand on a mountain and scream with joy. Why? The newest member of my family was born last Friday, May 29th, 2009. It's my third nephew from my older sister, Kristi, and his name is Hudson Asher. So why mixed feelings? Hudson has been in baby intensive care since the day of his birth. He for some reason didn't get a good cry out when he was first delivered, which doesn't clear his lungs of all the placenta stuff.

Basically, life's throwing him a curve ball and he doesn't even know what baseball is yet. I'm so full of emotion, that sometimes I think my body is confused on how it should feel. Jokes aren't as funny anymore and sports don't matter as much, I just think about my baby nephew Hudson all day. He's with my sister and family in Kansas City so I haven't even met him yet, but I have a strong urge to just run there by foot if I had to and hold him. I want to tell him everything will be alright. Is it okay if I trust God but still weep at the thought of something happening Hudson? I'm scared the answer is "no", then at least I know I need some help.

I'm taking Friday off from work and setting all my personal things aside, nothing is more important to me than family, so I'm going to KC this weekend to serve and love them.

I want this blog be a source of inspiration to myself and others when we read it, so at the end of every entry I will connect with God through prayer.

Dear Father,

I pray that you would use me on this trip to KC, however I can help. I ask that you open my eyes to situations that needs someone to step-up and instill some courage in me to follow your lead. God I already feel how emotionally tough this will be for me, the thought of something bad happening to my 3 day old nephew moves me to tears. I ask that you help give me strength and that you remind me to lift my fears up to you. I ask these same things for Kristi, Joe, Grandma Mary, Dad, Amy, Bennett, Weston, Lindsey, Lauren and all the family involved. God make us humble and always ask for help when we need it. We love you so much, I totally trust you and your plan. I'm grateful that you are in control and I'm not, my life would be very messed up if it were the other way around. Father, I ask that you be with me tomorrow and the rest of this week leading up to Kansas City. Going to work is going to be tough for me, when all I can think about is wanting to be with family. Thank you for your love, your Son, and your spirit. Thank you for your compassion.

In Jesus Name I pray,

Amen

On the outside of my hard copy journal I have on my desk it has this bible verse:

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strenth. They will soar on wings like eagles.

Isaiah 40:31

What a great verse from God today. I prayed for strength, and he showed me this verse 30 seconds later. He is faithful, we should be too.