Made for a Greater Song

"WHAT IF" the text FOLLOWING "ever be filled with the Holy Spirit" in Eph. 5:18 is really Paul's explanation of HOW to be filled? Namely: "Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [and instruments] and making melody with all your ♥ to the Lord...."

"WHAT IF" this kind of music-making and singing with thankFULLness from the ♥ is NOT the mere "emotional self-indulgence" some of us have been told it is -

"WHAT IF" this is at least one of the very ways God designed us to COMMUNE with him in our spirit?

"WHAT IF" I had not "received" the seed of this rebuke when I was young - that I ought not be so emotional in singing my ♥ out in praise and worship, with full abandon!

"WHAT IF" that, then, wasn't as self-focused, as all about "me" and "my" feelings; but instead was, perhaps, a child-like expression of genuine hunger and a chasing after God? Is it any wonder, then, that now being given "permission" to SING FROM MY TOES! would begin to have a total transforming effect on my ♥ AFFECTION for God?!

"WHAT IF" the "proper" and "respectful" and "reserved" and "orderly" singing that I grew to treasure as oh-so-reverent (not that there isn't a place for it, but it is only ONE FACET of making music in our ♥'s to God!) was in fact one of the means by which the enemy was stealing the revival of MY ♥, and I didn't even know it?

"WHAT IF" I was made for a GREATER song....

~ BORN AGAIN AGAIN: A Confession ~

Perhaps the most resonant theme of the past year in my life has been my prayer that the Lord would "increase my capacity" to receive more of him, to ENJOY more of him. The Lord has answered, but in such a way (as it seems to happen often) that it exposed my very small expectations, and my very over-blown sense of not only what I meant by such a request, but my own assessment of what my receiving his answer would look like. In short, what follows is my (weak) attempt at a fitting summary.


I. SOMETHING OLD

*Being Exposed ~ God uses both the sharp and powerful sword of his word and the pressure of our external circumstances to pierce even to our marrow, and his word causes us to be "laid bare before him with whom we have to do." (Hebrews 4:12-13) I heard, not long ago, that Christians are like a tube of toothpaste ~ when you squeeze them, you find out what's really inside. I've been squeezed in myriad ways, and I do not like the often rotten content that is being exposed. It is like (look back to first couple lessons from Seeking Him study) the analogy of "breaking up your fallow ground" ~ allowing the plow of God's word and Spirit to get down DEEP to the soft soil under all the hard, sunbaked exterior, and the churning and cutting and grinding and tearing that has to take place to expose the soft underside of the soil so that the word can be planted in it and GROW. If you'll forgive the mixed metaphors, nevertheless, my heart contains many uglinesses of which I have been (and still remain) largely ignorant. But thanks be to God that he is in the business of making his people holy!

*Being Emptied ~ It's not enough to realize the uglinesses in our hearts. God fully expects us to be RID of them. To put sin to death! To not yield ourselves any longer to the lusts of our flesh, but rather to be led by the Spirit. So once pierced, once churned, once exposed, we must now be emptied. But not only of sin, but also of SELF. Oh, self! You have deceived, you have usurped! But you were never meant to be God, you were meant to be in COMMUNION with and submission TO God! In him is your greatest, FULL satisfaction! Why do you buck so, o rebellious soul! But thanks be to God that he is not only able to empty us of self and sin, he does so for our good, so that we may have life to the FULL; and who else is life? "Lord, who will we go to? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that You are the Holy One of God!" (Jn. 6:68-69)

*Being Expectant ~ So in keeping with Jesus' promise that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ALL other needful things will be added (Matt. 6:31-33), in keeping with Jesus' promise that ANYone who comes to him, he will in NO way cast out (Jn. 6:37), I have a godly HOPE ~ that is, I KNOW ~ God will answer me. (Matt. 7:7-12) My "expectation" (even at that!) is far too small! But thanks be to God that he is able to do ABUNDANTLY above and beyond what I can even ask or think! (Eph. 3:14-21) He who has promised will do it!


II. SOMETHING NEW

*Being Encountered ~ I have spent the last several years of my life (most of which unknowingly) in a Romans 7 kind of existence. So much "striving" and "working" to be obedient, righteous, etc. And failing. And let's be honest, MOST of my "striving" and "working" was wimpy at best, and yet I would always manage to convince myself (at times) that I was really making a difference, or really succeeding, only to be confronted with new ways in which I had failed (most of which had to do with failing to convince OTHERS that I was doing right or doing good, so how much was genuinely out of my conscience, and how much was just a failing to win the approval of men?!)...But how kind of God? that he would overlook my offenses and my selfish strivings again and again, that he would even lovingly confront my pride, where in my zeal I felt "At last! I've grasped success in my walk with Christ!" only to fail so miserably, and the Lord would meet me in those moments and whisper forgiveness, lovingly redirect me, sometimes force me to repent, often TO those very "men" from whom I was seeking praise!. How kind of God that he answers our longings to know him by showing up and ministering to us with the presence of his own Spirit? Abiding with us, even comforting us as he makes us over. He may administer a sharp, piercing scalpel as he cuts out our flesh, but he does not do so without anesthetic, he does not do so without himself being the one to nurse the woundings, guard from infection, and set us right again, in SPIRIT, so that even if there must be a scar, we can point to it and confess HIS goodness in having HEALED us so completely!

*Being Enraptured ~ When he meets me in the intimacy of his Word, in the making me aware of his presence by his Spirit, and often in the context of corporate worship with other believers in Christ, I am discovering a whole new kind of euphoric sensation, replacing my former "religious" engagements which would often bear the fruit of self-loathing and condemnation, I have been given new SIGHT! and I find, as I fix my eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2), look full in his wonderful face, truly the things of this earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace! He is glorious, he is beautiful, he is extravagant in his love, he is perfect, unyielding, and yet gentle as fierce power which is capable of crushing me is nevertheless reined in so that I can touch his heart in worship. I am ashamed to confess these moments have been few and far between! Much as my spirit LONGS for these moments, I find I have only begun to realize the intimacy possible with God!...But how kind of God? that he would pursue us, that he would promise to see us in secret, to meet us in the privacy of moments of prayer, and to DELIGHT our souls with his presence? HE is the one for whom we have been made! How could we wonder that we would be enraptured by anything less? We were MADE to be WORSHIPPERS! God's glory is our great JOY!

*Being Equipped ~ So now, God willing, I am moving from Romans 7 to Romans 8 and will pursue all the FULLNESS that means for me. I am no longer a slave, but a son! (Gal. 4:1-7) Is it possible? For one born again to be born again again? If so, that is the point to which I have come. I am again an infant ~ what of knowledge? I have been a student of the word, I have loved to dig deep, but that knowledge (though it OUGHT to have produced joy!) only puffed me up! (1 Cor. 8:1-3) I heard this past week, from another preacher of God's word, that we are not called primarily to be students of God's word - though we are to be that - but we are to be WITNESSES, to testify to that which we have seen, namely JESUS! seated on the throne, high and lifted up! I have spent most of my adult life unknowingly aspiring to merely acquiring more knowledge about God. And to be sure, we ARE to love the Lord our God with all our MIND. (Matt. 22:36-40) But that is not all, and it is not even first...But how kind of God? that he does not leave us in our ignorance! My "knowledge" has increasingly obscured my own ignorance, and I am being made a child again, learning to love BEING-WITH Jesus by the power of his Spirit. This life I now live must be ever adding to our faith. Where I have possessed knowledge, I have lacked character. So now, I am requiring a new equipping. (Gal. 5:19-26, 2 Pet. 1:3-11) In some ways, learning to "do over" things I have taken for granted that I already knew. Lord, make me LISTEN! He speaks through the word of God, and I know his voice! (Jn. 10) I LOVE his voice! Not nearly so much as I ought! But thanks be to God! not nearly so much as I WILL!


God HAS answered me ~ He IS "increasing my capacity" for which I am thankful. Even though I see only the acorn, I am confident of the oak tree hiding under its tiny cap! He breaks my heart, but what he gives me in return is so absolutely incomparable. I would desire more of this "breaking" ~ it is the KINDNESS of God that leads us to repentance! ~ if it will yield more of this ENJOYING of God. Something I thought I knew, but had only barely tasted. If God can do this while we are yet in this earthly tent, HOW MUCH MORE will he give us when we come face to face with him in GLORY?

GLORY TO GOD!



~ P.S. We did complete the below "Seeking Him" series in class, but I wasn't able to keep up with the notes online. So for those who were eagerly waiting for lessons 9-12, my apologies, and perhaps I will yet be able to capture some of what was reviewed ~ it was indeed a GREAT study!

Choose Gratitude - 2 of 4 from July, 2010

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FB JULY 14, 2010
PART 2 of 4 from CHOOSE GRATITUDE

*Chapters 3-4 from Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss*

.....

Sorry for the lateness of the update. Truth be told, I forgot about the post until just this morning - has been a full week! I'll give a synopsis, here, in advance of our continuing discussion tonite, and maybe it will help "prime the pump" so to speak.

Ch. 3 gave us the story of a sinking ship, a rescuer nearly paralyzed for the rest of his life for his heroics on the night of the accident and not one of the 17 people he saved saying thanks; and we looked at the story of the 10 lepers healed, and the ONE who came back to Jesus to say thanks - not caring who heard him, not caring that he was the only one of the ten, he just found that out of the overflow of his having RECEIVED grace he now wanted only to be near to Jesus and express his thanks to him, a model of what we will be doing in eternity. And we were directed to Romans ch. 1 wherein one of the greatest rebukes against mankind, showing the horribleness of our turning away from God and the judgment that rightly brings - and at its root is, of all things, not honoring God as God or giving thanks to him. (v. 21)

We looked at 5 telltale signs of Ingratitude in our hearts:

*Unrealistic Expectations,
*Forgetting God and the blessings he's given,
*Feeling of Self-Entitlement ("I deserve...."),
*Comparison as if we're sacrificing more than others around us (and are therefore more "righteous"?!),
and
*Blindness to God's grace.

Ch. 4 gave us the example of Matthew Henry, praying after after he was robbed, expressing thanks that he had enjoyed NOT having been robbed at any time previous; and Nancy gave us 8 reasons WHY we ought to choose Gratitude.

Gratitude....
*Is a matter of obedience,
*Draws us close to the Lord (he inhabits the praises of his people!),
*Is a sure path to peace (what's stealing your peace right now? Consider Phil. 4 and the connection between rejoicing and giving thanks, and the MEANS by which God guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus),
*Is a gauge of the heart (gratitude comes from same root as gift - namely "grace" - is the heart full of grace? it will spill over in gratitude - that is, it is "grace-full" or "grateful"!),
*Is the will of God (for our hearts and lifestyle, not mere duty),
*Is the evidence of being filled with the Spirit,
*Reflects Jesus' heart,
and
*Gets us ready for heaven.

We revisited the "equation" from last week - that "Unavoidable Guilt" plus "Undeserved Grace" = "Unbridled Gratitude" (p. 35). If we are not "feeling" grateful, does this give us the right to stop giving thanks to the Lord? And if we are not "feeling" grateful, is this an indication something is genuinely wrong? Or is it ok not to "feel" like giving thanks, all the time?

We talked about this pretty heavily towards the end of our time together, concluding in short that if at the Lord's right hand there are pleasures evermore (as described in Ps. 16), and if Jesus rebuked the church at Ephesus (Revelation ch 2) for having forsaken their first love, the fact we don't FEEL "grateful" (or joyful or "in love" with the Lord, or feel "hungry" for him as our only good) indeed ought to be an indicator that something is wrong.

Perhaps we don't have a right perspective about our Guilt or we have neglected to see or receive God's Grace, or perhaps we have misunderstood what biblically "feeling" grateful should look like - whatever the case we ought to a) never cease giving thanks as it is a matter of obedience to a biblical command REGARDLESS of how we "feel," but also b) never be satisfied to NOT feel grateful - or full-of-grace - and we should ask God, as at end of Ps. 139, to search our hearts and know our thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in us - ANYTHING that might set itself up as a stronghold against the knowledge of God - and beg him to lead us to where, ultimately, HE really wants us - GRATEFUL - FULL of GRACE - dependent on him, and spilling over with grace to others so that his grace and glory AND our joy is multiplied.

The plan: to continue reading through ch. 5-7 and complete up through day 18 in the dailies in the back of the book.

....

Choose Gratitude - 1 of 4 from July, 2010

First of Four sessions:

A few of us got together for the first of our chats over the book, "Choosing Gratitude" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, this past Wed. [1st Wed. in July] It was a fun, refreshing time to get to know each other, to pray together, and to compare highlighted passages from our readings in the Intro thru ch.2.

Here is a summary of some of the high points as we look forward to our next get-together:

Importance of Gratitude

*opening quote to intro by William Law gives having a thankful spirit credit for (at least) 3 things:
1) working miracles,
2) healing with a word, and
3) turning all that it touches into happiness.

(could it be true that gratitude is that tranforming?)

*we need to be "ceaselessly vigilant" or we get swept up in our own emotional frenzy, a world of self-focus, characterized by worry, complaining, resenting, discontentment - our "natural bent" is "toward doubt, negativity, discouragement, and anxiety," and a tendency to become "bitter, prickly and sour." (What a list of symptoms!)

*All of these things are able to be kept in check when we practice the discipline of giving thanks to God. Gratitude = "life preserver even in the most turbulent waters" but "doesn't come without effort and intentionality."

*Nancy says, Gratitude is "a choice that requires constantly renewing my mind with the truth of God's Word, setting my heart to savor God and His gifts, and disciplining my tongue to speak words that reflect His goodness and grace - until a grateful spirit becomes my reflexive response response to all of life." (First reaction) "A grateful child of God can't help but be a joyful, peaceful, radiant person." (p.17)

From Discussion questions: "We rarely think the source of our problems is tied to our lack of gratitude." Q: Is gratitude essential or non-essential for every Christian? (p. 22-23)

*what is the difference between a kind of universal, Hallmark card kind of "grateful feeling" and Christian gratitude? True Gratitude MUST have a Person as its object. (p. 36) "...True thankfulness requires a 'you' to say 'Thank you' to." (!)

*"Gratitude is a lifestyle. A hard-fought, grace-infused, biblical lifestyle. And though there's a sense in which anyone can be thankful - for God has extended His common grace to all - the true glory and the transforming power of gratitude are reserved for those who know and acknowledge the Giver of every good gift and who are recipients of His redeeming grace." (p. 29)

In ch. 2 we see that "charis" is the root Greek word for "gratitude" and itself means "grace" - similarly, "charis" is the root also for "gift" - and the word "eucharist" which is a word to describe the sacrament of the Lord's supper, taking of the bread and wine together in remembrance of him, literally means "a giving of thanks."

*Guilt + Grace = Gratitude

*So GRACE GIVES and so produces a GRACE-FULL response = GRATITUDE. We cannot worship without being grateful, or "grace-filled."

*Similarly, "Grace begets giving." (p. 40) Nancy takes us through 2 Cor. 8-9 as one example, where we see that the "grace-full" response is to give generously/sacrificially, which produces more gratitude which in turn produces even more "grace-full" giving, and so forth. So Nancy likens God-given grace to the rain cycle - bottom of page 41. "Much the same way as water comes down from the sky, replenishing the earth, then returning to the air in evaporated moisture, Christian [uniquely Christian!] gratitude keeps God's grace churning in full circle...and leaving who knows how many fruits and flowers and refreshed lives in its trail of glory."

*So God's grace poured out on us produces a grace-full - or grateful (or worshipful and praising!) - response which causes us to pour out graciously to others which in turn produces a grace-full response in them, and turns back to praise to the Lord....beautiful.

*"Imagine the impact in a world characterized by isolation, selfishness, and fractured relationships, if we were to adorn the gospel we profess to believe, with a culture of mutual care, concern, generosity, and sacrifice. The truth we proclaim would become believable. And God would be glorified." (p. 43)

From discussion:

*The equation is pretty "simple" - guilt + grace = gratitude. So if we are NOT grateful, we either haven't really appreciated how guilty we are (how in NEED of grace we are), or we haven't received grace (or haven't realized the kind of grace we've received!).

*Application - examine ourselves! where are we characterized by ingratitude, or by the symptoms listed off at the beginning of the book? have we not realized our sinfulness? our dependence on God? or have we perhaps not repented and received his grace? or having received his grace have we perhaps allowed the enemy to steal our joy?