“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).
Reconciliation is more than a precursor to worship.
Reconciliation is an act of worship. [click to continue…]
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When the armies of Napoleon swept over Europe, one of his generals intended to make an attack on the little town of Feldrich on the Austrian border. It was Easter, and as Napoleon’s great army maneuvered nearby, the citizens hurried together to decide whether to surrender or to attempt a defense, futile as it seemed the effort would be.
The pastor of the church remarked, “We have been counting on our own strength, and that will fail. This is the day of our Lord’s resurrection. Let us ring the bells and have service as usual, and leave the matter in God’s hands.” The council accepted his plan, and in a few minutes the bells were chiming out joy over their Lord’s resurrection.
Napoleon’s army misunderstood the meaning of the ringing bells, decided they were announcing the arrival of Austrian reinforcements, broke camp and retreated from the area as fast as possible! God honored those who worshipped the risen Christ even in the presence of possible death, and used their worship to drive away the enemy!
An old book title says it well: There’s Dynamite in Praise!
If there is any greater untapped resource than prayer among God’s people today, it is praise. [click to continue…]
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You don’t have to read through this site very long to figure out that music flavors a lot of my thinking. I often tell people that I almost always have a song on my mind, and it’s often very random. (I’d rather not tell you what song is there right now, but it does have the phrase “freakin weekend” in it).
Hey, I never said they were all spiritual.
Anyway…
Like a lot of people, I love the idea of new ways of expressing things – of what the Bible calls “singing a new song to the Lord.” And I get tired pretty quickly of rehashing the same-old same-old.
That said, there are some songs that defy time and never seem to lose their place in the hearts of people. They may not be on this week’s Billboard Top 100, but they never lose their ability to capture the imagination and connect to the soul. They’re the songs we can sing forever.
For example, my grandmother absolutely loved music. She loved to sing it, play it, and hear it. But something completely changed in her countenance when somebody started in on “Amazing Grace.” It was a song she could sing forever. [click to continue…]
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It’s a compelling image – one of thrones and rainbows and strange symbolic objects. But nothing more compelling to me than the scene of people on thrones falling down before the One who sits on THE throne, and offering their crowns… their worship.
It’s been popularized in Christian circles for centuries – best expressed in a cherished old hymn that speaks of “casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.” People commonly say that whatever reward they get – whatever crown – they’re going to lay at the feet of Jesus.
There is no way to understand the significance of this, however, until we recognize that before Jesus took His crown He wore mine. Before He received worship Himself, He bore mine. My crown… my worship. [click to continue…]
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The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” And they said many other insulting things to him (Luke 22:63-65, NIV).
Making fun.
Something we all do, to ourselves or to somebody else. Sometimes good-natured, sometimes amazingly insensitive.
But here it’s different. Here the “fun” is at the expense of the Son of God, and particularly His very nature. Verse 65 says they were blaspheming.
There is only one reason these men were able to do this – [click to continue…]
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It’s a common church house scene.
In baskets, bags, plates or boxes, churches collect money for something they call an offering.
The functional reality: congregations can’t offer what they haven’t first collected.
Same goes for individuals. [click to continue…]
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Do you think God still speaks to people through dreams?
I know a lot of people who don’t think He does that anymore because we have the Bible now. I know a lot of other people who say, “So what? The Bible we have shows God speaking to people through dreams. So if the Bible is inerrant, infallible and all that, why would it say that God gave people dreams back in the day if He’s not supposed to speak through dreams now?”
I gotta admit, that makes sense to me. But I should hasten to say that not every dream comes from God. One time I dreamed that I hauled off and slugged this British guy. I know he was British because when he prepared to slug me back he said something really ugly in a very lovely British accent.
I don’t think that dream was from God. Unless He was telling me to avoid hauling off and slugging guys from Great Britain.
But I have had dreams that I very much believe were prophetic. Like this one. And probably this one.
And I think I may have had another one last week.
I don’t know what you do with your possible alerts from the Almighty in your sleep, but I have sort of an ad hoc committee I run them by, just to test it out. Think of it as my Prophetic Testers of Supposed Dreams team (PTSD for short). [click to continue…]
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Yesterday at sunset I watched the words to a hymn materialize before my eyes. [click to continue…]
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Something happens at the end of the day when the to-do list loses its power, the however-many words we use have escaped us, and the sinks and tubs and TVs have done their duty. Life gets still. Sometimes for a fleeting moment before sleep. Sometimes, like last night for me, for a surprising length of time. Borrowing from ancient practices, I like to call these moments the Watches of the Night. Even though the body is tired, another part of you is still very awake.
It’s there, in the quiet stillness, that you can hear Him if you listen in your spirit.
It’s the same Gentle Whisperer that Elijah heard in the mouth of the cave.
He’s the Mighty to Save, who quiets your soul in the most beautiful of ways… He rejoices over you with singing.
This is no task for angels or even people. This is a visitation in love fitting only for One who can take such personal delight in you, despite your weakness or failure. And in the Watches of the Night, He Himself becomes the descant of your soul.
Listen with your heart, and in the Watches of the Night, you can hear Him lifting your soul, singing to your hope that He will come back to you again. He sings to your regrets with His stubborn love, casting them into the depths of the deepest sea. And in his delight over you, He buoys your heart to face new challenges and new opportunities for patience and endurance. [click to continue…]
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I.
If you ever wanted to write a forever kind of song
That angels or children or the big choirs sing…
If you’ve ever wanted to rhyme with the heart
Of the One who bends the rainbow
And deserves even more than your finest praise…
Then make your music with a life of passion.
Spell it out with clearly with actions of love.
Dance in the reign of King of the ages.
Promise your steadfast, immovable service,
Then hold in His beautiful power your faithfulness.
Show the whole world His symphony in you.
II.
If you ever wanted to write a together kind of song
Of friends or family or heroes or darlings…
If you’ve ever wanted to love someone else in the music,
Yet knew that your most heartfelt expressions
Were still so short of all they deserve from you… [click to continue…]
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