I'm A Worshipper, No Matter The Weather

Today, I sit in my living room, looking out the window as we yet another snow storm has blown into the area - this one predicted to bring record amounts of snow to our area. Amazingly, in my lifetime I don't remember so much snow over a two month period in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I'm sure there is some weather historian out there who can prove me wrong but certainly if there has been, I don't remember it. Watching the snow pour down, the inches beginning to pile up, and coming to the realization that we will not be able to have services again this week at our church, I began to think how thankful I am that my ability to worship Jesus Christ is not contingent upon the weather.

Many people are worshippers only when they attend a church service, but when I came to know Jesus Christ, I made a lifestyle decision to be a worshipper - regardless of where I am or what day of the week it is. Coming to that decision, it gives me great joy because I experience the presence of God, not just on Sunday, but whenever I give verbalization to the decision of my heart - by extending praise and worship to the one whom I've decided to live my life for. Thus my worship is not hemmed in by a building, by a church service, and certainly not by the weather. I can choose to worship the creator of the universe, regardless of my circumstances.

One of my favorite songs that we sing at our church is called "Blessed Be Your Name." The bridge of the song refers to the words of Job when it says, "You give and take away, You give and take away - Still my heart will choose to say, Blessed be Your Name." I love this part of the song because I truly believe that my worship of Jesus is not contingent upon my circumstances but rather on my decision to LOVE HIM, regardless of the weather in my life. Another song that I love is by Clint Brown, the chorus of which says, "Lord, I praise you. Lord, I glorify your name. Lord, I praise you. Lord, I glorify your name. And if the sun says I won't rise and dark clouds fill my skies - Lord, just know that I will always give you praise. And if troubles on the way, I will always say, no matter, come what may, I'll always give you praise." I truly want that to be the cry of my heart. No matter what comes into my life - I will worship Jesus Christ FOR He alone is worthy of my honor, my praise, my thanksgiving and my devotion.

So don't let the weather get you down. Don't allow the conditions that surround us to influence how we worship the God who lives within us. Choose to be a worshipper, no matter the weather!
Until next time - I'm so thankful for all of you who read - God bless and love you all!

Jump Start. . . Your Connection To God

Have you ever gone to your car, opened the door, put your key into the ignition, turned the key and. . . NehNehNehNehNehNothing. You try again . . . and . . . Nothing. It had plenty of power the last time you drove it. It didn't even hesitate the last time you turned the key. But now for some reason, some failed level of maintenance, has now placed your power source in a faulty position. What do you do? You pull out cables and you connect those cables to a different power source, usually the battery of a different vehicle, and you JUMP START your car.

Sometimes our connection with God seems to be disconnected. Sometimes it seems that we have no power source in our relationship. Why is that? Just as in your car, more than likely a disconnect takes place when some necessary maintenance has been neglected. Jesus says that His burden is light and His yoke is easy and yet many times it doesn't seem that way. The reason is because we're trying to live our Christian lives without the source of power. Relationship with Christ has always been about vertical connection. We've got to connect to Jesus Christ, the source of power in our life, if we are to be a strong, fulfilled, growing, effective Christian. Otherwise at best, we're simply turning the ignition and there's nothing happening. The car looks good on the outside. The engine has the ability to run. But without the source of power, it's nothing more than a beautiful machine in the driveway. BUT You were created to thrive. So it's time for a JUMP START. It's time to reconnect to the source of power.

How do we connect to God? I mean He's God! What possible way can we be connected to Him? I am convinced that there is really only one way to connect with God and that is through communication with Him.

Communication with God all begins with prayer. Do you take time to talk with God every day? When you do, do you just recite your needs to Him OR do you actually give Him a chance to have a conversation? If, when you spend time in prayer, you give Him a chance to talk back, He will. Maybe it's through His Word. Maybe it's through His Spirit. Maybe it's through a prompting of things to do. Whatever it is, if you will talk to Him and let Him talk back you will suddenly discover your relationship with Him has gone to a whole new level.

Another way that we connect with God is through praise and worship. They are not equivalent but they are dependant upon one another. Worship is a lifestyle. It's a decision to show forth the value of Jesus Christ in my life. And because worship Him, not for what He's done but because of who He is, it causes me to have outward expressions of praise and thanksgiving to God. When we sing wonderful songs of praise to Him, I feel compelled to lift my hands in worship to God. Sometimes I feel compelled to express my joy with tears. Sometimes I've even compelled to dance before the Lord. I don't do any of those things to bring recognition to me but rather to show forth the praises of HIM who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Amazingly when my connection is right with God and I am linked to the source of spiritual power, Jesus Christ, my relationships around me seem to work better as well. Similarly to your car, when the battery is not functioning properly none of the electrical system seems to work as well. Lights, Radio, dash board gauges, everything just seems to be in crisis mode. BUT when the power source is properly connected, everything works like it's supposed to. The same is true in my life. When I am vertically connected (between me and God), my horizontal connections (between me and others) all seem to work properly. But when I'm in need of a JUMP START, I usually find deficiencies in my relationships with others as well.

Take the challenge today - it's time to JUMP START your relationship with Jesus Christ. Maybe you should make a goal of spending 15 minutes a day trying to share with God and allowing Him to share with you in a time of prayer. Also - the next time you are in a Church Service, don't be afraid to express yourself in worship. Do something you wouldn't normally do to let God know that He is more valuable to you than anything else - including what others might think. You'd be surprise at the surge of power you will receive AND I'm convinced that it won't be long before you're no longer just a pretty machine on the showroom floor. Instead you are in the fast lane with your pedal to the floor MOVING FORWARD into the great things that HE has prepared for you.

Until Next Time - God bless you as you JUMP START your relationship with Him! -- RP

Connected -- Are you really plugged into God?

Today, as I looked at my Facebook page, I realized that I am "connected" to a lot of people. I have nearly 800 "friends" and almost 240 blog followers . . . and yet there are a lot of times that I feel completely alone. Do you find it ironic that we are more "connected" as a society than we've ever been and yet many would admit that they struggle with feelings of loneliness? I mean we have e-mail, cell phones, home phones, work phones, e-mail on the phone, social networking sites, ichat, instant messaging, text messaging, blogs, video chats, etc. I've been amazed recently by my son's new Xbox system. He can play games on his system which is wirelessly connected to our internet service against people from all over the country. Not only can he play with them, but he now has a head set that the internet connection allows him to talk with his friends who he's playing with over the internet. I walk in and he's playing a game while talking with his friends who are playing the same game and are being represented by characters on my television screen. We are truly living in a connected world. Why then do we feel alone?

As connected as we are, we still need intimate interactions with others to feel complete. It's not enough to just get emails and text messages to feel like we belong. Rather, we need to be involved in the lives of others to shun the feelings of isolation. God created man and He understood our needs for connections - after all, His observation of Adam caused Him to realize that "It is not good that man is alone. . ." And thus He created woman, and all the men are so glad that He did.

Spiritually we are desperate for connection as well. Some people go through learning about God, hearing good messages, knowing all the stories, reading good books, listening to songs about God, even telling others about God. But at the end of the day, spiritual completeness occurs only when we are connected to God. We need intimate connection with God to discover how great He wants to be in our lives. The Bible tells us that He "will never leave us nor forsake us", so we know that God is always there. And yet there are moments that we wonder where He is. Where does the break down occur? It occurs, not because He's not there, but rather because we are not tuned in and are not aware of His presence.

Whenever I feel disconnected from God, I don't have to look very far to discover where the break down has occurred. Without fail, my lack of connection can always be rectified by working on my communication with God. When I focus on my prayer life, enjoy my time in praise and lose myself in worship, I soon will discover that the severed connection is fixed. That's why it's so important that we spend time in prayer everyday. That why our lives must be lived in worship of Jesus Christ. That why, with every opportunity, we must express ourselves in praise to our Great God. There's nothing like being connected to God.

We can have every possible connecting device but if we aren't intimately connected to those closest to us, we feel alone. Similarly we can know everything there is to know about Jesus, but if we don't maintain intimate connection with Jesus Christ, spiritually we will feel isolated, and we will not experience growth. It's time to place our focus on those things that matter most - maintaining our connection to God through prayer, praise and worship. Let's live a life of connection -- with God and with our fellow man -- and we will experience spritual growth and we will feel socially complete. Until next time - let's get connected! -- Love all of you -- RP

I Will Bless The Lord at All Times

David writes in Psalm 34 "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. . ." In order for David to have written such a verse, he must have been having a whale of a day. He must have had life by the tail and everything must have been going his way. He must have just killed Goliath, been married to the king's daughter, and heard all the ladies in town singing about his military prowess as being even greater than that of King Saul. He must have been having a great day. Because surely, if he had been having a day like many of us have had at one time or another, there is no way possible he could have written, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. . ." RIGHT? Actually - WRONG!

David, what are you doing? I'm pretending as if I've gone mad. What? Why would you do such a thing? I mean you're frothing at the mouth and beating your head against a wall and talking to yourself. You are the next king of Israel - and you're appearing before King Achish, the monarch at Gath. Why would you do such a thing? (Time for Evangelist Creativity - or story-telling if you like) Well, David must have said - Let me tell you a story. You see, I was sent to deliver some cheese and some bread to my brothers who were serving in the kings army. When I got there - I discovered that the army was afraid and the king was terrified and nobody was standing up for the name of our great God. So I did - I killed a giant of a man named Goliath. I cut his head off and I killed his brothers too. My celebrity status as a military giant gave me credibility with the people and power with the king -- BUT they meant nothing to God - He already knew my name and knew that the King's time was short. It wasn't long until the King who had applauded me was now trying to kill me. And after barely escaping the edge of his javelin throw for the umpteenth time, I figured it'd be safer on the road -- until at which time God chose to call me back home. So we've been living in caves, out in the middle of fields, whereever we could find cover and shelter. We've been hunted, sought for, chased, and surely would have died were it not for the protecting hand of our great God. One day we were so hungry, that we stopped by the temple and the priest gave me bread from the table inside the holy place and allowed my men to have food. Realizing we were in trouble, I led my men quickly to this town called Gath. But King Achish wants to kill me because he sees me as a threat - so rather than die at his hand and my destiny be squashed - I think it might be necessary for me to act like I have rabies - so I think that's what I'll do. And so even though it's been pretty lousy of late - I remember a time not so long ago when I killed a bear and I killed a lion. I remember a time not so long ago when the prophet Samuel came to my house and poured oil on my head and told my Daddy that I was going to be the next king of Israel. It may seem like a pipe dream considering all we've been through but I remember. Although, things are rough right now, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed beggin for bread so, while you may think I've lost my mind - and King Achish is going to send me away rather than kill me because he thinks that there is something wrong with me - forgive me, but I think I need to write a song. . .

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears." (Now go read the rest of Psalm 34 for your self - it's a cool song when you know the background.)

So is it possible to, as David says, bless the Lord at all times? Can His praise CONTINUALLY be in our mouth? In good times? In bad times? In glad times? In sad times? In good weather? In the midst of the storm? When life has treated you great? When all hell has broken loose in your home? Can we say, as Job said, standing in the face of all the evil that had befallen him on his fateful day, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, Naked I came into this world and Naked I'm gonna go -- Blessed be the name of the Lord." Can you say as David did - "I will bless the LORD at all times. . ."

It's easy to bless and to praise God in the midst of a sunshiney day. But boy, when the wind starts to blow, the thunder rolls, the lightning strikes, the rain beats all around us, it certainly is much tougher to stand and say - Blessed be the name of the Lord. I met a new friend a little over a month ago. We were looking for a new home and he was the agent showing one to us. As we met, we began to talk and share things, we discovered that we had something in common. We both are absolutely crazy about Jesus Christ. I am confident that I met my new friend, Chad, by divine appointment. For you see 15 minutes before we met, he had received a phone call from his wife who was letting him know that she had just been diagnosed with cancer. After he showed me the house, we exchanged information and he sent me an email. He told me that he could feel the presence of the Lord around my family and God had told him to have me pray. He shared with me his families dilemna and His confidence that God was able. A month later, we've continued to pray and believe God for His very best in the life of Chad and Terry. We've asked God to heal Terry and we believe that He is going to do something amazing there. Today, I received an email and to be honest in my flesh I wanted to be down. The doctor has set up a chemo and radiation plan and it doesn't seem at this point that God has done what we asked. But as I read the report and I read his wife's response, my whole attitude changed. Chad and Terry, in faith, said, we don't understand but we know that it will work together for the good and that if nothing else good had come from this, there were some people who had started coming to church to be with Terry during this ordeal. They chose to Bless God no matter what. They chose to take on the spirit of David - and have praise continually in their mouth. You see, they've come to the conclusion that whether he answers with a "YAY" or a "NAY" - He is still God and His name is worthy to be praised.

And so - I will bless the LORD at ALL TIMES - His praise shall CONTINUALLY be in my mouth. Am I in a storm? Yep! Has everything worked out the way I thought it would or should? Nope! But regardless of how things are - I'm gonna bless the LORD. God is good - God is great - God is worthy - God is love - God gives me hope - God protects my family - God is ABLE - God knows my end from my beginning - He knows the plans He has for me - He knew what I would face today LONG BEFORE I got to this place and He who began a good work in me WILL see it through to the day of it's completion.

Are you facing a battle right now? It's ok to admit it. But in the midst of the battle, why don't you take a moment and give credit to the one who gives you strength to fight on? Why don't you take a moment and honor the one who clothed you in spiritual armor so that you could withstand the fight of the enemy? Why don't you, right now, offer thanksgiving and praise to the one who gives you the ability to stand when everything around is sinking sand? Why don't you just take a moment and give some worship to the one who is worthy of all? In case you're confused - His name is Jesus - there is none like Him. He can build a highway in the dessert, walk on top of crashing waves, ride on the wind, breath life into those things that are dead - and today He is able to do more in your situation in a moment than you could do by investing a lifetime. Why not take David at his word - and say - "I will bless the LORD at all times."

Love all of you - thanks for continuing to read with me on this journey - God bless - Until next time - RP