Above and Beyond the Noise

Praise the Lord from the earth,
    you large sea animals and all the oceans,
lightning and hail, snow and mist,
    and stormy winds that obey him,
mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
    crawling animals and birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
    princes and all rulers of the earth,
young men and women,
    old people and children.

Praise the Lord,
    because he alone is great.
    He is more wonderful than heaven and earth.

—Psalm 148: 7-13, New Century Version

When you live in the country, it’s pretty easy to climb onto the set of Psalm 148. The writer heads to the great outdoors to get perspective. And peace and quiet. Looks like a good hike or a long walk. Perhaps the world around him has gone as mad as ours. Just…walk…away for a moment and head to Reality. The steps become more labored, but the heart is pounding hard only because the vista ahead is so spectacular.  The rock he chooses for a breather is living on the edge a bit, but then that’s pretty appropriate. And in his back pocket, a dog-eared notebook. Slowly, he looks all around and above, then back all around, perhaps especially within, and passes on wisdom for the ages…

“Who made all of this? Wait, I know! Surely, nothing so magnificent just explodes onto the scene.

And yet how could there be such beauty...so constant, and yet some of it changing every minute or day as though with a swipe of a high-definition celestial paint brush?

Who does that?! Wait, I know!

Everywhere I look: Perfection—the uniqueness of every tree leaf, every flower and blade of grass, and every bird's song.

Even the trees sway in rhythm when the wind blows.

Life’s chaos and uncertainties may be pounding on the door for my attention

But here, I see only Reality once more, and true peace and security symbolized in all that You have made…’He put them in place forever and ever; He made a law that will never change.’

Isaiah was right: In quietness and trust is Your rest, indeed.

Out here, I think I finally see and understand why You loved Enoch.

You may have had very little to say about him, but what You did say was a clarion call:

A man who undertook a simple walk of quiet trust, daily communion, and joy-filled Love songs.

And that’s pretty much it?

That’s pretty much it.

I’m sure there was an overflow in there somewhere, but I guess it’s the bedrock that You’re after.

And if that’s the kind of quiet trust walk that pleases You, then I want to dial it all down to the simple essentials one more time

And be that guy.

But where was I? ...

Above all else, everywhere I look, in everything my eyes and senses take in,

I see just what I need to see most, one more time: Your faithfulness.

Even in the silence, it shouts:

‘If I AM faithful in the beauty of creation, know that I am even more faithful in working in and through every situation, and especially My beautiful creation of you.’

Help me never to take such jaw-dropping goodness for granted, but instead:

‘Let them—creation, mankind, me—praise the Name of God. It’s the only Name worth praising. His radiance exceeds anything in earth and sky...’

Wow, even my pen must be praising, because I can’t even read my own writing.

How does that happen?! Wait, I know!"....

"When I write, my perspective shifts. The mundane becomes a minefield for inspiration. My daily routine becomes an adventure, an opportunity to look for living hope where others may see none. And when I find that hope, I rejoice in the God who gave it to me. Whether I respond to beauty with a blog post, a song, or a prayer, my response is worship because I’m noticing God’s beauty and celebrating it...celebrating Him." (Ashley Abramson, Relevant Magazine)

Lifting the Weight

”An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”—Proverbs 12:25

This message may be on Heaven's loudspeaker today. Certainly, this past week. It's always good to sing, and praise, and pray, but this could be the most life-changing overflow of worship any of us does today…or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday….

Lord, we lace up our sneakers once more and seek to follow in Your footsteps, remembering this is true about You: "A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out." (Matthew 12:20). Help us, at every turn, to speak Life.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, my firm, immovable rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

ADAPTED FROM 3-16-14

'Jesus, Be My Hard Hat'

“Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up.”—1 Peter 5:8, Message

Where I work, there are certain lines you don’t cross and buildings and spaces you can’t enter without being confronted with a message like this: Hazardous work area—for your safety, hard hats must be worn at all times. Sometimes, you look around and wonder what all the fuss is about. Looks OK to me; a little loud, maybe, but nothing to get up tight about.

Which may explain why OSHA came up with three good reasons why you need to don a helmet before proceeding a step further into danger. Everything may seem safe, but there’s always the possibility that your melon could be at risk. Putting on a hard hat is wise, it’s for your own good, and it’s the only way to proceed.

Of course, OSHA didn’t come up with this idea….

Before the beginning of the beginning, God knew that we would be walking along minding our own business in a fallen world ("looks OK to me"), when out of nowhere, something tries to get into our head to cast doubt, fear, accusation, temptation, and/or deception. He knew we’d need to put on a hard hat that bears the Name above all names — the helmet of salvation — to survive.

And because we are prone to wander (or worse, prone to be overconfident), God knew we wouldn’t have to go looking for trouble, trouble would find us and try to knock us for a setback. He knew we’d need a hard hat that bears the Name above all names while at the same time wielding the Undefeated Champion’s sword of Truth and Promise.

Best of all, God apparently knew that timing and location wouldn’t always be convenient to stop everything and have a Bible study. So, He made hard hats and swords “to go,” and when saturated in the Truth of praise, their effectiveness would know no limits….

...One night while driving to the store, and minding my own business, out of nowhere came an “If God really loved you, then…” moment into my head, even while a praise song was playing in the background on the radio. Seriously? But instead of nodding in agreement with the accusation, I surprised myself by speaking in agreement with the song. I mean, why not? No one else was in the car, so there was no one to witness apparent lunacy. But then, I found my mouth simply declaring the power of the Name above all Names…and singing my own new song of crazy words, which somehow triggered a recall of scriptures (and I am horrible at memorizing, so this was miraculous in and of itself). While in the midst of it, little did I realize that this was what it looked like to put on a hard hat of salvation. I did not yell at the accusation, but I resisted by speaking praise and truth. And before I reached the store, “it” had left the car and my head. Wow, where did that all come from?!...

In “How to Worship a King,” a go-to book of in recent months, Zach Neese explains:

“We don't think about this much, but it is really rather obvious: If Satan communicates with the language of lies, and praise is the opposite of a lie, then praise can be very useful in taking down our enemy’s communication lines. Cut the lines of communication, and Satan’s strategies fall to pieces…Our valleys are, in God’s reality, opportunities for the display of His splendor in our lives. Those valleys, which were originally meant for evil by Satan, are setups for God’s love and goodness to be displayed.”

Like so many things in this Walk, it’s easy to think concepts like putting on hard hats and wielding swords are complex, requiring a seminary degree or a 10-step “how to” program.  We forget that the first ones to try this Walk thing were just regular men and women who messed up as often as they got it right. And as it was with those guys, these might be Jesus’ words of encouragement to us:

“Keep it simple. Keep at it. Trust Me. Talk to Me. Praise My Father and His Words. And before you take one step out the door in the morning, try saying something as simple as this: 'Jesus, be my hard hat.' Then stand back and watch Me move. Even in your car on the way to the store."

 “Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe." — Proverbs 28:26, NIV

That's Just (Not So) Weird

I will praise the Eternal for as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God as long as breath fills my lungs and blood flows through my veins. (Psalm 146:2, Voice)

What happens when you do just what the psalmist suggests? You know, when you don't just read along and nod but actually inhale to full capacity, and then exhale? Wait, that's just weird...except it's not. After all, the medical community seems to be in agreement that taking deep breaths and exhaling is a stress reliever, lowers blood pressure, helps you sleep better at night, and helps rid the lungs of toxins. In other words, it brings life.

The reason this exercise is so healthy is because of the One and Only who holds the patent on it.

In the perfectly beautiful garden that was Eden, God initiated His intent for intimate relationship with us by doing this:

"The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7)

When we worship, when we speak forth the life of the Word, and when we dare to do what the Word says and actually inhale as deeply as we can, we aren't just exhaling stress and unhealthy stuff but powerfully refueling our bodies, minds, and souls with the reminder that the life-giving presence of God inside us is still as supercharged and effective at this very moment as it was in Eden.

The entirety of Psalm 146 is a rock-solid reminder of all of that. What God has always done, God will always do, even right now for that point of (desperate) prayer: God defends, God feeds, God frees, God gives sight, God lifts up, God loves, God protects. 

Breathe it all in: He may be the Ancient of Days, but God is never out of fashion and always in His prime. He is not a passive spectator to the ups and downs of our lives but is an active participant even when we don't see, feel, or sense it, giving strength and help in our time (our moment!) of need...and so much more than all of that, even.

His breath of life has no "sell by" date, and it knows no bounds for those who put their trust in Him and the Son He sent to rescue us. It's almost too much to take it all in, but staring down the idea of silliness and inhaling that occasional deep breath while worshiping can do one more thing: It can help remind us that something and Someone so incredibly good needs to be shared and not hogged...

Exhale...in continual thanks to the One who gave it all for us, and by worshiping with feet on as we go, wherever that may be...

We have nothing to give

That didn't first come from Your hands
We have nothing to offer You
Which You did not provide
Every good, perfect gift comes from
Your kind and gracious heart
And all we do is give back to You
What always has been Yours
Lord, we're breathing the breath
That You gave us to breathe
To worship You, to worship You...

(Breathing the Breath, Matt & Beth Redman)

 

 

[photo: purefitstudios.com]

Get Your Head in the Clouds

"Pursue the things over which Christ presides... Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See things from His perspective." — Colossians 3:1-2, Message

We never have to worry that becoming a person who seeks things and sets our minds on things that are Above rather than focusing on the things and issues of this world will somehow render us, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” In fact, in the upside-down economy of the Kingdom of God, it's good to know that the very opposite is reality…

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to heal a deaf and dumb man, first looked up to heaven “and said, ‘Ephphata,’ which means, ‘Be opened!’ Instantly, the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!”—Mark 7:33-35

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to speak life into his dead friend Lazarus, and as a foreshadowing of His own destiny (and ours), “looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, thank You for hearing me.’”—John 11:39-44

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to obey the ultimate calling on His life simply out of a Love relationship with the Father, “looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.”—John 17:1-5

The next time someone—especially the accuser's voice in your own head—tells you to “get your head out of the clouds,” put it right back in. Because, as Jesus modeled, it is Above where perfect power, goodness, friendship, and life have their headquarters, and when we fix our hopes there and get our perspective from there rather than the tangled mess that's right in front of us, all things are possible.

Becoming heavenly minded has nothing to do with covering our ears and looking the other way but is instead all about knowing and activating what it really means to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” into the people and situations of our lives, and to simply be ready and willing, knowing that the One who has gone before us will be coming back soon and is cheering us on until that day:
 

"You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you—I have planted you—that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting, that it may remain, abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name as presenting all that I Am, He may give it to you." (John 15:16)

  

“We can do nothing else but watch and wait, which means enthusiastically, totally taken up, deaf toward everyone and [and everything] who would make us confused with doubts, blind to every fore that comes between us and that future of [and with] God. Only one thing is of importance to us: We want to see God; we want to hear God; we want to receive God; we want to know God; we want to serve God. We want inconceivably nothing else, in any case, nothing like we want God"—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[photo:vagabondish.com]

The resurrection is not an isolated supernatural oddity proving how powerful, if apparently arbitrary, God can be when he wants to. Nor is it at all a way of showing that there is indeed a heaven awaiting us after death. It is the decisive event demonstrating that God’s kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven.
Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/710926

The resurrection is not an isolated supernatural oddity proving how powerful, if apparently arbitrary, God can be when he wants to. Nor is it at all a way of showing that there is indeed a heaven awaiting us after death. It is the decisive event demonstrating that God’s kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven.
Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/710926

 

On the Way Out the Door...

"Let your heart overflow with praise, for He is good: His faithful love endures forever" —Psalm 136:1, The Voice

It may be true that God liked the antiphonal response to the worship leader's cry so much that He hit the repeat button 26 times in this psalm just so that the point would be driven home to our often weak, doubting, exhausted hearts. After about the fourth or fifth response, though, it's tempting to say "OK, I get it already," and move on. And, also still feeling pretty much the same as you did before you started reading.

To which God might reply:

“If you want to really 'get it already,' hang out with Me for a second here. Forget about the fact that I liked to hit the repeat button 26 times and just soak on that opening phrase. Go ahead. You will find Me in those words, because I wasn’t kidding when I said ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.’ Take it all in, word by word.”

And as you do, even while looking at the clock and realizing that you really should be getting out the door soon, the conversation continues, as a son to his Father and a Father to His child…

“Well to be honest, this seems pretty redundant here; what am I missing?”

“OK, check out that fourth word. Endures. I want you to know without a shadow of a doubt that 'endures' doesn’t mean what you think it means at all. I am not reluctantly, sighing-ly putting up with your imperfect walk. I love cheering you on, 24/7! And when I say My Love endures to you, it means that, no matter how many times or how badly you trip up, or how lousy any particular day may be going for you, the power quality of that Love that is beyond your wildest dreams continues to exist in its same high octane goodness without wavering. Ever.

“Look, I know you’ve got to get on the road to work, but I want you to know one more thing that will be fuel for your day: One of the reasons I hit that repeat button 26 times is because there are no pages, no books, no libraries big enough that can contain the definitions of enduring Love I have for you. For starters: My Love never quits. My love alone is never fleeting and is always faithful, always loyal. My lovingkindness toward you is an endless supply of graciousness, mercy, and compassion, if you will just open your hand and receive it. Most of all, My Love is in My Son, who I gave for you so we could be talking like this. And not only that, My enduring Love toward you breaks through every cloudy day, screaming headline, and whispered joy-sucking accusation. ‘God is Love’ is who I Am, and there is nothing syrupy or boring or redundant about any of that. There is a reason that everyone seems to be singing that song lately about My goodness.

"Speaking of that, just one more thing: Don’t let the words stay on the page. The real power behind Me hitting that repeat button 26 times is not so much in the repetition itself, but in the declaration that will come from your heart and lips. Go ahead, do it. Crank up your iTunes in the car, and turn up the bass to the max. Let it out. It will change your perspective on a lot of things today, change your misconceptions about Me, and it will change you. Here, try this one on as you're heading out the door…

"O God, my heart is steadfast, in the confidence of faith; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image… For Your mercy and lovingkindness are great and high as the heavens. Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!”—Psalm 108:1, 4 Amplified

"Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right with God."--Mark Batterson

Seasoning with Royalty

“In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back.”—Philip Yancey, “The Jesus I Never Knew”

 

While others crossed to the other side of the street, Jesus walked up to the tax collector’s booth and, in spite of its symbol of oppression and dishonesty, He looked into the eyes of a guy named Matt, loved him, invited him on an adventure he couldn’t have ever imagined or would live to regret, and even hung out with him and his ungodly friends for dinner.

The letters to the churches in the New Testament say a lot about having nothing to do with certain kinds of people and situations, but almost all of those are in the context of so-called fellow believers who are not living like they were rescued from the pits of hell or invited to live out the most practical, fantastic, holy romance with the God of the universe.

It is because God wants us to step into our identity as royalty, His sons and daughters, and to step away from distractions and things that would taint our faith so we can carry on the family heritage of being salt and light wherever our day takes us. Not merely in the comfy confines of our circle of church friends, but in the Master’s footsteps, out there at the tax collector’s booths of the world. The mission field, after all, isn’t just overseas. It’s also right there on Main Street.

And it can start with some pretty simple but underutilized things:

• Instead of crossing to the other side of the street, showing courtesy, patience, and a smile to the person at the checkout who may be stressed about a lot of things and just grateful to have a job to help make ends meet.

• Being unafraid to buy a high-octane coffee known by a sketchy-sounding name and quietly praying blessing on the person who poured it.

• Tipping, and doing so extravagantly.

• Saying thank you more often.

• Seeing the shocked and amazed expression when you add, “Have a great morning.”

In fact, Lord, help us to be a lot more like these guys: [CLICK ME.]

No, this is not the "four spiritual laws," but it does look a lot like the first step of how Jesus approached a guy named Matt. And much more than just being nice, cultivating the practice of putting prayer behind it all can be the supernatural spark that one day, even today, prompts someone we may never see again to hear, to receive, to accept an invitation to an adventure they couldn’t have ever imagined or would live to regret.

"Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him." — Ephesians 5:1-2, Living