God speaks through status updates?!?!?!?

It’s been like a puzzle recently when God has spoken to me. He’s given me the pieces, not in order, but one at a time. And as soon as I process one and store it to the back of my mind another piece is given to me. They don’t fit at first but within the next couple of days the Lord will speak and the third piece will come in joining the other two that didn’t fit. This is something that the Lord has been doing in my life for months, and it has been surrounded with its fair share of doubt and continual processing …. So please feel free to comment.

 

You know how you have those days that you want to share a nugget of scripture but you don’t want to seem to cookie cutter, but in all honesty it is something the Lord reveled to you and so you share anyway. Via the third person phrase tool know as the “facebook status update”. [Just as a side note status updates can become addicting to read especially if you are a people watcher or just plain nosy!] So I was just being nosy day and a friend from Nashville had Psalm 32 on her status update. So curiosity got the best of me, and thus the first piece of the puzzle was given to me

 

Psalm 32:8-9 (New Living Translation)

 

“8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
      I will advise you and watch over you.
 9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule
      that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

 

Ok, so the Lord is just reassuring me of what was driven through my skull, and body for that fact, that He is in control (see note: “no other explination”). What really stood out to me was verse nine and that the reason I was experiencing this “dry” time was because I had to be led around with a bridle in my mouth. God was showing me where He wanted me to go, but I was fitting the guidance! And as we all know that if you jerk on a chain enough times the dog will submit and follow. Think about it though… if you are walking your Dog on a leash it is only for his safety, not because you are mean, but because you care for the well being of the animal. God is walking me down this road of life and I stop and sniff a fire hydrant sometimes. If it’s not where He wants me then a little “tug” is administered to correct my path. Eventually, if the dog is smart, it will begin to walk beside its owner with no struggle on guidance whatsoever! God also used a quote posted on the status of Dwayne Morris that really closes this thought out “The most miserable people are genuine believers who continue to live life without a true, day-to-day relationship with Jesus.”

 

So after processing all that I was listening to a sermon by Perry noble, and said something that just put death grip on my cranium was said. This quote wasn’t the focus of his sermon but it kind of was. He was telling the story of how New Spring began…. And it was all issued on a challenge by and older gentleman who asked him “what would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you wouldn’t fail?”…. Without hesitation in my mind I answered Music! Playing, worshiping, recording, and doing anything with music to glorify The Lord….. but a 26 year old who desires to have a family one day and support a wife cant “survive” on the norm of what is musicians pay (which in some cases is non existent). Am I being real or is it me doubting the Lord? I mean my common sense tells me that a musicians pay isn’t that of even a guy miserable in a cubical somewhere! I know God has called me to be a “musicianary”[music + missionary] but I’m a drummer, I read a rhythm line! But it’s something I would try, without a shadow of a doubt, if I knew I wouldn’t fail….. That’s when the second half of what Perry said clicked this gentleman said... “You’re a fool if you don’t do it!”

 

 

-------[SIGH]-------

 

So knowing who holds the Leash guiding me down the best pathway for my life why do I still fight walking right beside my master???? Why do I doubt if He has placed this passion my heart??? Will I ever be content if I sale God short by being that Guy in the cubical???  I could bring Him glory there, but is that really the “best pathway” for my life????

 

 

Ya know, it’s interesting how more pleasant a walk is when the Dog understands that the best place is beside the One leading him!

AGAIN!!!! REALLY!!!!

(This is a “sister post” to last weeks blog)

Ok, this is getting real humorous! I had the opportunity to play for a most excellent group of musicians at Hope Point church. The Lord blessed me with an encouraging time of worship as I was playing. As we finished I went through my normal routine to get to a seat. As the pastor finished his prayer, and began to open his sermon, I kid you not; he began speaking about the 15^th chapter of John!!!!!! REALLY!!!  YOU CAN’T PLAN THIS! I admit I laughed, but then corrected my self with the thought “maybe, just maybe something will be taught to me that will iron out my frustration with this verse.”

 

Here are some of the notes that I took during the sermon. I have to warn you, my note taking skills are a little strange!

____________________________________________________________________

Prayer-

 

“Whether we like it or not, asking is the power of the kingdom”

 

John 15:7

 

-         Have prayer more than food.

-         “if we fail with prayer we fail everywhere”

-         Plan more to pray more than I have

-         Absorb your life with Christ, then ask anything you want

-         Christ listens to those who have true union with Him

 

[Grasp verse 7 and tie it back to verse 5]

 

-         prayer is declaring our present need with God having the future answer

 

Example: a Fish stranded on a beach unable to get to water. The fish is left to die flopping around on the sand, and this fish’s need to be in water for life support is apparently important. The fish flops around fighting for life until a uncontrollable force, which is a wave, comes and carries it back to the water.

 

-         The wave washes the answer in!

-         Only he who realizes he is truly helpless can truly pray

-         Verse 7 is talking about things I cannot do but what God can give.

 

Jimmy, how many things did Jesus say that He didn’t mean?

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

I am hesitant about doing this but I want to share my journal entry from last night as I was processing this information

 

 

“I look at the strongest points in my walk over the past 12 years, and the strongest times are those that are helplessly immersed in prayer.  Sometimes the prayers were vain, and I praise you Lord for not letting me have my way, but I was in constant prayer for strength no matter the situation. I feasted on communication with you Lord so that I may survive emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. “Only he who is helpless can truly pray”. I’m to prideful to admit helplessness! It’s not a “mans” character to admit that he’s weak and unable…… I’m completely helpless because nothing I can do, under my strength can save me from the toll that sin has brought on my life! I am unable to save myself from eternal separation from you Lord! I am a totally helpless man!! So that being the base of all my helplessness I have nothing to stand on but the love and resurrection of you Lord!! I pray because I am helpless without you Lord! “absorb your life with Christ, then ask anything you want”… and it will be given to you!”

 

 

Finally! This “song” has a resolved ending, and it just doesn’t end! The chords have progressed and brought an ending that makes sense to the musician!….(music frame of though)

 

I heard it through the grapevine?

John 15: 1-17

(Please take time to read the linked passage.... it will help... also take time to comment on my facebook wall) 

 

Ok, I think I actually get it after 12 years of being a Christian. When God places scripture before you repeatedly He actually wants you to take time out and soak it in. Once again I've see this passage a thousand times and I have meditated on it as well. So I actually took time to observe what a Gardner does to maintain a vineyard.(yeah I know he's talking about wine ..... but get over it!) I'm a visual learner so that really helped to understand that pruning is the removal of that which is not needed and of what hinders the plant from producing more fruit for the next years crop. 

 

Pruning hurts!!! Let me be the first to tell you it hurts physically, and emotionally!! You don't understand why. When it happens you kick and scream and even completely abandon any effort towards the relationship that you have with Christ.  If a grapevine is like every other plant the pruning leaves. These scars will always be present on the plant, but the plant becomes stronger the day that the useless limb is removed.  We may not like what is pruned out from our lives at the time, but God knows that we are more effective and more fruitful when this process takes place.  For the Gardner pruning is a constant thing. When the season ends He takes and removes what has not produced fruit so that the vine will be more fruitful. 

 

I've wrestled with the seventh verse of this passage sooooo much!!!!  I remain in Him but I try to place Him on my schedule.  I shouldn't remain in Him just to get the things that I want. I should remain in Him because it brings the greatest glory to His name. But God will truly give me what I want???? It's a struggle not to run away with this verse in my mind with the temptations of American culture. We are permitted and denied physical things because it places us in the exact place that God sees fit for us to give Him the most glory.  I know for a fact that if I had the income of Donald Trump it would be very hard for me to walk as closely to the Lord. We're promised exactly what we need, but Christ did say He'll give us what we want??? do you understand my frustration?

 

 

I really think I could write a small book about trying to hash out the words of this passage.  I desire so many things but God has withheld some of them for this season in my life because I am most effective without them (but it would sure be nice)...... and as of right now He has seen fit for me to be a single, 26 year old, semester missionary, that has a part time job at a music store....... May the Lord receive the most glory!

 

Delight: not the stuff that's almost a dessert

You know how you can hear something twenty million times and it can totally sounds different to the next time you hear it? Out of nowhere the emphasis lands a little differently on a word and all the sudden the scripture pops off the page and comes alive! A little bell goes off in your head and the signal travels to you vocal chords and you respond with a resounding "oh, now I get it". It’s situations like this that seem to be the greatest proof that the word of God is living and active. 

 

The other night I was listening to a friend share his heart with a group of college kids and he was using the 37th psalm within his sermon. This rephrasing took place for me within the fourth verse......

 

" 4 Take delight in the Lord,
      and he will give you your heart’s desires."

 

Simple ... I know ... and I've herd it a thousand times (or 20,000,001) ...... but I want to walk you through the process that went through my head......

 

I first composed a mental definition of the word delight. I'm not talking about the whip cream dessert of your third cousins that you have to choke down at thanksgiving. To delight!!!! To take joy .... A father delights in spending time with his kids after a long week....I, a lover of music, delight in hearing various arrangements from every walk of musician. Bob Ross delighted in painting happy trees, but words take a different meaning when you actually see the physical definition.....

 

 

Delight- a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment

So you can say I delight in playing drums...... I know others my call it something else but ….. we are going to hold those comments for later!

"take a high degree of pleasure in the Lord" 

Enjoy the time that He uses to speak to you....watching a sunset???? Seriously, if you haven’t done it in a while …. Just go out in your yard on a clear night and lie down in the grass and look up, turn your radio off in the car, sit quietly in a room in an upright chair.  God really does use those times to speak to us. Do it and just let your thoughts roll. God will use that time to clear your head so that He can get your mind focused on Him. So that the delight can take place in Living your life for the cause of Christ.... take delight in moment that your whole world is pulled out from under you because of a death, break up or whatever.... BECAUSE THE TOMB IS STILL EMPTY!! ..... and if you need more motivation for this "delight" ..... Romans 8:38-39!

The real words jumped off the page when I heard the second half of that verse …. And honestly I've come to doubt it(as a result of things that have happened in my life) 

"and he will give you your hearts desires" 

I've always looked at this verse like ...."ok, God I'm delighting in you .... now .... give me what I want!"  

This thought is wrong on so many levels, but it boils down to me trying to manipulate the creator of the universe to get what I want...... I wasn't about God's glory! This mindset was about achieving the agenda of Jimmy.  

But when I heard this verse last Thursday night..........the phrasing suddenly changed, the emphasis fell on the words a little differently....... "Delight in me Jimmy! Take pleasure in the time we spend together, when you do something for me, and when you bring Glory to my name. Don't worry about everything else..... I know the desires you have in your heart, but I want to GIVE you the Desires of your heart......Take joy in me Jimmy." 

I suddenly began to see mental pictures of situations where I wanted to give something to someone.A rose to a girl, a cup of coffee to a friend, or a plate of food to someone who needed it. My memory was rattled to remember my first Power wheel..... I wanted nothing more!!! and I flipped out when I got it, but I was too young to see the delight in my parents eyes when the sheet was pulled off of the red three wheeler! Yeah three wheels.... that’s how we rolled in the 80's..... I wanted to give, just like my parents wanted to give.... because when the situation of giving took place it gave the "giver" such delight and joy!!!!!

God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, but not by us pitching a fit like a little brat! I got that power-wheel when my parents saw fit for me to have it! Not when I wanted it, but when they wanted to me to have it! They wouldn't tolerate me demanding it, but they saw fit to give it!!!!!...... The hardest thing about this truth.... is patience, but in any situation that I've had to wait ...... it's always been better in the end! It's not good to look to the desired end of the journey.... because what God may want you to learn could possibly be in the next footstep!!!

 

 

 

Psalm 37:4

“Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires”