a few weeks ago, in one of our sunday morning services, we had a guest speaker who really challenged me... the word he ministered was powerful, but there was one moment in the service that really stood out to me. he was just describing the Lord, and the words and phrases he used were so fresh and alive and new and i was so impacted and inspired hearing him.
you might be different, but i find that, for me, it's easy to get into a rut of always saying the same things to the Lord. whenever it's time to "sing a new song," i find myself singing the same things over and over... "i love You, Lord. i glorify Your Name. i say that You are worthy. You're an awesome God. You're a faithful God... hallelujah! hallelujah!"
understand, i MEAN what i'm saying... it's very genuine and very sincere... but in hearing this man of God use so many beautiful words and phrases, i was challenged to expand my praise language. to think of new things to say... or new ways to say them...or really understand what i've been saying all this time.
often we can say POWERFUL THINGS without really thinking (or maybe even knowing) what exactly we're saying... we don't take time to PONDER the POWER of our proclamations.
for example... the word "magnify." we say this a lot in worship. but do we really think about what it means? the definition is "to make great, or greater than; to amplify; to enlarge; to increase the importance of; to increase in significance; to maximize."
wow. so when we say, "i magnify You, Lord," THIS is what we're saying...
"Lord... in this moment of worship, i'm putting the focus on You. i am choosing to increase Your importance in my estimation... You are more important than the situations i'm facing right now. You're more significant than the bills. You are larger than those things. You are greater than the sickness i'm battling. i'm amplifying Your provision over my need. i'm maximizing Your power over every problem. You are bigger. You are greater. You are stronger. You are HUGE, God..."
another thing is the names of God... we often call Him Lord, God, Jesus, Master, Father, Father God, Holy, Worthy....
and again, they are all TRUE and GOOD and RIGHT...
but sometimes i need to remember that He is...
my Advocate (1 John 2:1)... i worship You today as my Advocate, Jesus! thank You for defending me from the opposition that has risen against me. thank You for representing me!
my Foundation (Isaiah 28:16)... Jesus, the winds of change and the storms of trial are blowing against me, but i can still REJOICE ("be glad, happy, jubilant, and celebrate") because You are my FOUNDATION... You are my ROCK (1 Corinthians 10:4) and You cannot be shaken... because i'm fixed on You, even I will not be shaken!!!
i want to challenge you to do the same... it'll make your praise so much more ALIVE!! involve your mind and consciously THINK about what you're saying to God when you sing a new song, or when you're just loving on Him... don't repeat the same phrases over and over simply because it's what you grew up hearing and it's just "what you say." even those phrases, take time to think through the POWER of what you're declaring.
simply saying, "dear Heavenly Father," when you start to pray...
did you hear what you just declared???
DEAR - "beloved, adored, cherished, precious, esteemed, close, intimate"
HEAVENLY - "not of this world, perfect"
FATHER - "a man who has continuous care of a child, esp. by adoption; a man who gives care and protection to someone or something"
because of the precious blood of Jesus, you now can call the Creator of stars and the Maker of galaxies your DAD!!! He's PERFECT... don't judge your Heavenly Father by your earthly experiences or human encounters. He will CONTINUOUSLY care for you, He's adopted you into His family, He'll protect You, He's intimately acquainted with you and your personality!! He's worthy of being adored and cherished and esteemed! He's a Father Who is CLOSE to you... not far off and uninvolved...
stop and THINK about the things you always say. and learn some new "love language" to tell Him!! it'll bring REVIVAL to your relationship with the Lord.
to start you off, i've copied and pasted what i've been using the past few days... i hope it helps you!
much love,
rebekah
(by the way... these are 100 different names/attributes of God (though there are more in Scripture)... if you spent just five minutes appreciating and thinking about each one, that would be almost 8 1/2 hours of praising different aspects of God!! or if you took one a day to focus on, you'd praise for about 3 months without repeating!!)
NAMES OF GOD
Advocate - 1 John 2:1
Almighty - Revelation 1:8
Author and Finisher of our Faith - Hebrews 12:2
Bread of Life - John 6:48
Bright and Morning Star - Revelation 22:16
Captain of The Lord's Army - Joshua 5:14
Captain of Salvation - Hebrews 2:10
Chief Shepherd - 1 Peter 5:4
Cornerstone - 1 Peter 2:6; Ephesians 2:20
Commander - Isaiah 55:4
Counselor - Isaiah 9:6
Deliverer - Romans 11:26
Desire of the Nations - Haggai 2:7
The Door - John 10:7
Emmanuel - Isaiah 7:14
Eternal Life - 1 John 5:20
Everlasting Father - Isaiah 9:6
Faithful and True - Revelations 19:11
The Faithful Witness - Revelations 1:5
First and Last - Revelation 1:17
Foundation - Isaiah 28:16
Friend of sinners - Matther 11:19
Gift of God - John 4:10
God of the whole earth - Isaiah 45:15
God with us - Matthew 1:23
Good Master - Matthew 19:16
High Priest - Hebrews 4:14
Holy One - Psalms 16:10
Our Hope - 1 Timothy 1:1
I AM - John 8:58
Judge - Acts 10:42
Lamb of God - John 1:29
Leader - Isaiah 55:4
Everlasting Light - Isaiah 60:20
Light of the world - John 8:12
The Living Bread - John 6:51
The Living Stone - 1 Peter 2:4
The Lord of All - Acts 10:36
Lord of all Lords - Revelation 17:14
The Lord, mighty in battle - Paslms 24:8
Lord God Almighty - Revelation 15:3
The Lord of Glory - James 2:1
The Lord, Strong and Mighty - Psalms 24:8
The Lord, my Redeemer - Isaiah 43:14
Master - Matthew 23:8
The Only Mediator - 1 Timothy 2:5
Messiah - John 1:41
Mighty God - Isaiah 9:6
Mighty One of Israel - Isaiah 30:29
Mighty to save - Isaiah 63:1
Most mighty - Psalms 45:3
Only wise God - Jude 1:25
Physician - Matthew 9:12
Priest - Hebrews 7:17
Prince of Life - Acts 3:15
Propitiation (our sin-offering) - 1 John 2:2
Ransom - 1 Timonthy 2:6
The Resurrection and the Life - John 11:25
Our Redemption and Righteousness - 1 Corinthians 1:30
Righteous Servant - Isaiah 53:11
Rock - 1 Corinthians 10:4
Salvation - Luke 2:30
Sanctification - 1 Corinthians 1:30
Savior - Luke 2:11
Savior of the world - 1 John 4:14
Seed of David - 2 Timothy 2:8
Servant - Isaiah 42:1
Shepherd - Mark 14:27
Shepherd and Overseer of our souls - 1 Peter 2:25
Chief Shepherd - 1 Peter 5:4
Good Shepherd - John 10:11
Great Shepherd - Hebrews 13:20
Surety (Guarantee) - Hebrews 7:22
Teacher - John 3:2
True God - 1 John 5:20
True Vine - John 15:1
The Truth - John 14:6
Unspeakable Gift - 2 Corinthians 9:15
The Way - John 14:6
Wisdom - Proverbs 8:12
Witness - Revelation 1:5
Wonderful - Isaiah 9:6
The Word - John 1:1
Word of God - Revelation 19:13
Word of Life - 1 John 1:1
Adonai-Jehovah -- The Lord our Sovereign
El-Elyon -- The Lord Most High
El-Olam -- The Everlasting God
El-Shaddai -- The God Who is Sufficient for the Needs of His People
Jehovah-Elohim -- The Eternal Creator
Jehovah-Jireh -- The Lord our Provider
Jehovah-Nissi -- The Lord our Banner
Jehovah-Rapha -- The Lord our Healer
Jehovah-Shalom -- The Lord our Peace
Jehovah-M'Kaddesh -- The Lord our Sanctifier
Jehovah-Sabaoth -- The Lord of Hosts
Jehovah-Shammah -- The Lord is Present
Jehovah-Rohi -- The Lord our Shepherd
Jehovah-Hoseenu -- The Lord our Maker
Jehovah-Eloheenu -- The Lord our God
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
the power of perspective
it's nothing new - i've heard it many times, yet i always need to be reminded when facing something big. everything is relative. if you're standing in front of a massive boulder that weighs a thousand pounds, well...it could be intimidating. and make you feel weak. and small. and insignificant. but if you're taken up to the top of mount kilimanjaro and then look at the boulder from THAT perspective...well first of all, can you even SEE the boulder from that high up? if you could, it would be a speck! a tiny dot! that huge thing that had freaked you out before is now laughable and not worth bothering over.
all it takes is a change of perspective.
to change your perspective, change your position.
"look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ...see things from His perspective."
- colossians 3:3 (the message)
look up...look up... see things from His perspective. that's powerful. and simple.
this is one of the reasons i LOVE and NEED to worship and praise God. psalm 100:2 says "...sing yourselves into His presence." (the message) on my own, looking at bills, broken relationships, sickness, hurt, confusion... well, it's the big boulder in front of me. it's a LOT of big boulders. all too big for me to do much about... all intimidating, all making me feel weak and overwhelmed.
but in the arms of Jesus...standing by the Maker of Stars, the One who just SPEAKS and worlds are formed, the One Who cures blindness with mud, the One Who defeated death itself, the One Who is Good and Goodness, the Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness (is.9:2) ... now it's different. now what was once too big is DWARFED by the shadow of Who is BIGGEST.
look up.
sing yourself into His presence.
in His presence is FULLNESS of joy.
everything changes when you see it from His perspective...
everything is relative.
what you're facing may be huge.
God is bigger. by far.
He wins.
don't let the bully on the school playground mess with you anymore...
the Principal of the whole school is your Dad!
:)
all it takes is a change of perspective.
to change your perspective, change your position.
"look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ...see things from His perspective."
- colossians 3:3 (the message)
look up...look up... see things from His perspective. that's powerful. and simple.
this is one of the reasons i LOVE and NEED to worship and praise God. psalm 100:2 says "...sing yourselves into His presence." (the message) on my own, looking at bills, broken relationships, sickness, hurt, confusion... well, it's the big boulder in front of me. it's a LOT of big boulders. all too big for me to do much about... all intimidating, all making me feel weak and overwhelmed.
but in the arms of Jesus...standing by the Maker of Stars, the One who just SPEAKS and worlds are formed, the One Who cures blindness with mud, the One Who defeated death itself, the One Who is Good and Goodness, the Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness (is.9:2) ... now it's different. now what was once too big is DWARFED by the shadow of Who is BIGGEST.
look up.
sing yourself into His presence.
in His presence is FULLNESS of joy.
everything changes when you see it from His perspective...
everything is relative.
what you're facing may be huge.
God is bigger. by far.
He wins.
don't let the bully on the school playground mess with you anymore...
the Principal of the whole school is your Dad!
:)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
check-up
so you walk into the doctor's office, tell the receptionist you have an appointment for 2:00 p.m. she checks the book, says, "oh yes, dr. so-and-so will be with you in a moment, please have a seat." you sit, pick up the closest magazine... maybe, "medical weekly," or a 1997 copy of national geographic and pretend to read it while you wait. and wait. maybe uncomfortably, depending on the nature of your ailment. you glance around at the other patients and wonder what could be troubling them...the waiting is tense for everyone...yet everyone is here for the same reason, bound by a similar desire - to be made well.
the inevitable moment comes when the door opens, dr. so-and-so sticks his head out and says, "come in!" you enter his sterile and slightly intimidating office, glance around at the charts of various human organs, his certificates and diplomas and the display of all his other achievements and qualifications. you sit on one side of the desk, he goes to the other side and, having sat in his chair, folds his hands across the desk, looks you in the eye and asks, "so...what seems to be the problem??"
whoa. i mean, hold on.... aren't you going to have coffee, talk a bit, get to know each other first??? find out about his likes and dislikes, get to know his personality and if it gels with yours?? aren't you going to ask him to list all his medical achievements in the last 10 years???
bear in mind, you don't have what we would call, a close-knit, trust-proven-over-the-course-of-years, extremely tight relationship with this doctor. he's not your best friend. he wasn't there with the injury happened. he wasn't with you when the sickness started developing. ignoring that, he's not watched movies with you and cried with you and knows that your favorite color is brown and you don't like uji. nope...he doesn't know you at all. likewise, you don't really know him... granted, his degrees nicely framed on the wall tell you that he's had training. perhaps he was even recommended by a friend or a relative who knows him to be good at what he does. but, seriously...you don't know if he just mis-diagnosed someone twenty minutes ago. you know nothing about his medical background. you don't know how many mistakes he's made. you don't know if he's faithful to his wife, if he hugs his kids, or if he likes dogs.
still... this total and complete (yet qualified) stranger looks at you and asks, "what seems to be the problem?"
and you tell him.
you tell him about the aches. and the pains. you tell him about the sleepless nights. you tell him about the wound. when he asks you questions, you answer them. when he asks you about your family's medical history, you answer him. he might ask you some deeply personal and private things, yet you push past the discomfort of having to be very blunt with a stranger and tell him still. he might need to perform a checkup that requires you to take off some layers.... but you trust him. you comply.
why? why are you trusting him?? why put yourself on the line like that? why are you exposing things?? why are you talking about it???
i mean, why not sit down with this doctor and say, "you know, doc, if you're REALLY a good doctor and if you REALLY care about me and if you REALLY want me to be well... then i think you should just KNOW what's wrong... if you are really the doctor you say you are, then i shouldn't have to tell you... you're a professional! you've been trained!! you should be sensitive to my needs and be able to figure all of this out!!"
right? he's a doctor! he spent YEARS learning how to fix the broken things in the human body. he should know. why should you start explaining things??
and here's another thought... why should you take medicine??? especially if it's gross medicine! i mean, if it's candy-coated and you get to drink it with a milkshake... ok, maybe. but the nasty tasting stuff?? or even worse, what if you have to do something like physical therapy??? why should you go back to let them pull and stretch and cause pain??? is it really worth it?!?!
maybe it'd be better to just let the doc figure it out on his own. and only take candy medicine. and never do physio. it would definitely be more comfortable....
... here's the point. we all can relate to the awkward doctor's visits. we all know how it feels to have to expose things to the doctor... we all understand why it's important, crucial even, to explain how we got the wound, how we're feeling now and what's really going on. we know that a proper diagnosis is dependent on understanding where the disease came from, how was in contracted... what caused the wound...we understand why we have to take medicine. we understand physical therapy. and surgery. we even applaud those who have really harsh stories of illnesses they battled or physical calamity they overcame. we celebrate the cancer survivors! we cheer on the car-crash victims who are having to learn to walk again! we love seeing medical miracles - tumors removed and hearts transplanted! it's amazing! it's inspiring!!!
but none of it would've ever happened if those people hadn't been totally motivated by one thing and one thing alone... they want to be well. they want to be healed. they want to be whole. they have REFUSED to let accident, injury or sickness hold them back. they have adamantly decided that, whether the accident was their fault or someone else's fault, they're gonna keep fighting! they have decided to do what needs to be done to get better.
why are we so willing to do it in the physical realm, but not in the spiritual??
why do we sit at home, sick, hurting, dying even... yet we say, "if my pastor is REALLY a man of God, he'll know what's wrong with me! the Lord will show my cell leader and give him/her a word of knowledge." why are we willing to swallow the embarrassment of having to get VERY personal with a doctor we hardly even know, yet unwilling to sit down with men and women who are DEDICATED to loving us and walking with us to say, "this is where i'm hurting...these are my symptoms... pastor, i feel pain when this area is touched... pastor, i got wounded when this happened... mentor, there's a history of marital unfaithfulness in my family and i'm seeing signs that i may struggle with it as well... pastor, i need help. pastor, i don't feel well... pastor... i'm hurting. i'm infected. i need."
why, when our pastors prescribe medicine that tastes horrible or perhaps "spiritual therapy," where we get stretched and pulled and worked hard, or maybe even surgery, where things have to be cut out and removed... why can't we trust them??
is the medicine disgusting? yes.
does the therapy HURT? yes.
is surgery frightening? yes.
why are we doing it? because we want to be healthy. because the pain of healing is better to face than the pain of dying. because, though the process may be horrible, in the end, it leaves us better than before.
"but pastors are human... fallen man... they can fail. they could tell me the wrong thing. they might hurt me. they might not get it right."
so could doctors.
it's sad. it's true. but we don't judge the whole medical community by one doctor who failed.
do you want to get better?? don't you want to be the one who BEATS that spiritual cancer that had been eating away your eternity??? don't you want to stand back up on spiritually dead legs and walk?? and RUN!?!? don't you want a heart transplant if the one you have now is dying or diseased?? aren't you sick and tired of being sick and tired???? aren't you exhausted from battling the chronic spiritual diseases???
God has set up a hospital. the church.
He's got a great medical team. the pastors.
He's got wonderful nurses. mentors. cell leaders. friends. family.
He's got amazing medicine. the process.
trust.
the inevitable moment comes when the door opens, dr. so-and-so sticks his head out and says, "come in!" you enter his sterile and slightly intimidating office, glance around at the charts of various human organs, his certificates and diplomas and the display of all his other achievements and qualifications. you sit on one side of the desk, he goes to the other side and, having sat in his chair, folds his hands across the desk, looks you in the eye and asks, "so...what seems to be the problem??"
whoa. i mean, hold on.... aren't you going to have coffee, talk a bit, get to know each other first??? find out about his likes and dislikes, get to know his personality and if it gels with yours?? aren't you going to ask him to list all his medical achievements in the last 10 years???
bear in mind, you don't have what we would call, a close-knit, trust-proven-over-the-course-of-years, extremely tight relationship with this doctor. he's not your best friend. he wasn't there with the injury happened. he wasn't with you when the sickness started developing. ignoring that, he's not watched movies with you and cried with you and knows that your favorite color is brown and you don't like uji. nope...he doesn't know you at all. likewise, you don't really know him... granted, his degrees nicely framed on the wall tell you that he's had training. perhaps he was even recommended by a friend or a relative who knows him to be good at what he does. but, seriously...you don't know if he just mis-diagnosed someone twenty minutes ago. you know nothing about his medical background. you don't know how many mistakes he's made. you don't know if he's faithful to his wife, if he hugs his kids, or if he likes dogs.
still... this total and complete (yet qualified) stranger looks at you and asks, "what seems to be the problem?"
and you tell him.
you tell him about the aches. and the pains. you tell him about the sleepless nights. you tell him about the wound. when he asks you questions, you answer them. when he asks you about your family's medical history, you answer him. he might ask you some deeply personal and private things, yet you push past the discomfort of having to be very blunt with a stranger and tell him still. he might need to perform a checkup that requires you to take off some layers.... but you trust him. you comply.
why? why are you trusting him?? why put yourself on the line like that? why are you exposing things?? why are you talking about it???
i mean, why not sit down with this doctor and say, "you know, doc, if you're REALLY a good doctor and if you REALLY care about me and if you REALLY want me to be well... then i think you should just KNOW what's wrong... if you are really the doctor you say you are, then i shouldn't have to tell you... you're a professional! you've been trained!! you should be sensitive to my needs and be able to figure all of this out!!"
right? he's a doctor! he spent YEARS learning how to fix the broken things in the human body. he should know. why should you start explaining things??
and here's another thought... why should you take medicine??? especially if it's gross medicine! i mean, if it's candy-coated and you get to drink it with a milkshake... ok, maybe. but the nasty tasting stuff?? or even worse, what if you have to do something like physical therapy??? why should you go back to let them pull and stretch and cause pain??? is it really worth it?!?!
maybe it'd be better to just let the doc figure it out on his own. and only take candy medicine. and never do physio. it would definitely be more comfortable....
... here's the point. we all can relate to the awkward doctor's visits. we all know how it feels to have to expose things to the doctor... we all understand why it's important, crucial even, to explain how we got the wound, how we're feeling now and what's really going on. we know that a proper diagnosis is dependent on understanding where the disease came from, how was in contracted... what caused the wound...we understand why we have to take medicine. we understand physical therapy. and surgery. we even applaud those who have really harsh stories of illnesses they battled or physical calamity they overcame. we celebrate the cancer survivors! we cheer on the car-crash victims who are having to learn to walk again! we love seeing medical miracles - tumors removed and hearts transplanted! it's amazing! it's inspiring!!!
but none of it would've ever happened if those people hadn't been totally motivated by one thing and one thing alone... they want to be well. they want to be healed. they want to be whole. they have REFUSED to let accident, injury or sickness hold them back. they have adamantly decided that, whether the accident was their fault or someone else's fault, they're gonna keep fighting! they have decided to do what needs to be done to get better.
why are we so willing to do it in the physical realm, but not in the spiritual??
why do we sit at home, sick, hurting, dying even... yet we say, "if my pastor is REALLY a man of God, he'll know what's wrong with me! the Lord will show my cell leader and give him/her a word of knowledge." why are we willing to swallow the embarrassment of having to get VERY personal with a doctor we hardly even know, yet unwilling to sit down with men and women who are DEDICATED to loving us and walking with us to say, "this is where i'm hurting...these are my symptoms... pastor, i feel pain when this area is touched... pastor, i got wounded when this happened... mentor, there's a history of marital unfaithfulness in my family and i'm seeing signs that i may struggle with it as well... pastor, i need help. pastor, i don't feel well... pastor... i'm hurting. i'm infected. i need."
why, when our pastors prescribe medicine that tastes horrible or perhaps "spiritual therapy," where we get stretched and pulled and worked hard, or maybe even surgery, where things have to be cut out and removed... why can't we trust them??
is the medicine disgusting? yes.
does the therapy HURT? yes.
is surgery frightening? yes.
why are we doing it? because we want to be healthy. because the pain of healing is better to face than the pain of dying. because, though the process may be horrible, in the end, it leaves us better than before.
"but pastors are human... fallen man... they can fail. they could tell me the wrong thing. they might hurt me. they might not get it right."
so could doctors.
it's sad. it's true. but we don't judge the whole medical community by one doctor who failed.
do you want to get better?? don't you want to be the one who BEATS that spiritual cancer that had been eating away your eternity??? don't you want to stand back up on spiritually dead legs and walk?? and RUN!?!? don't you want a heart transplant if the one you have now is dying or diseased?? aren't you sick and tired of being sick and tired???? aren't you exhausted from battling the chronic spiritual diseases???
God has set up a hospital. the church.
He's got a great medical team. the pastors.
He's got wonderful nurses. mentors. cell leaders. friends. family.
He's got amazing medicine. the process.
trust.
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