Love Is On The Move

I am so in awe of what God is currently doing right before my eyes - the incredible answers to prayer and the confirmations of His Word that I've been witnessing and experiencing in such great measure. It all really started several weeks ago when God spoke to me very clearly and specifically through His Word (Isaiah 46:13 - ALIVE and ACTIVE!) and through strong impressions about things He was bringing to pass. He stirred up an increased sense of urgency in me to pray and keep praying, to expect and keep expecting, and to stand boldly and confidently on what He had revealed, because the time was drawing near. He was about to move and He desired my agreement and partnership. And more than ever before I just KNEW, expected, believed, and trusted with every part of me, even before seeing anything and against all odds, that God was working and I would be seeing it play out in ways I couldn't even imagine.

And what keeps getting me is that when God revealed His heart and spoke to me to let me in on what He was doing, it wasn't to get me to toil and labor and try to figure all of it out on my own, which is usually what I try to do. This time was different. I distinctly knew that His purpose behind the revelation was to prepare me, to stir up a greater expectation and faith in my heart and come into agreement with Him with fervent prayer. Not for me to plan and configure or make a way of my own, or to somehow insert myself in the middle...but to trust. In Him and in His way, which is PERFECT. He was going to do exactly He said - He gave me that full assurance and He wanted me to know that, believe that and be watching and waiting in hope for Him. He wanted not my work but my agreement. He was going to use me and work through me and wanted me just to be open to Him and all He wanted to do.

So ever since I've been running with that with more boldness and confidence than I ever knew I had (it's definitely Him and not me) and truly it is AMAZING what I have seen of this work so far. I can't even do it justice in describing it...all I know is that right down to the minute details God has GOT this. He is showing me and confirming it in every way, and this is only the beginning! There is so much more to come and definitely a process ahead, but as it continues I will continue to just believe Him and stand by what He has said. No matter what my eyes see at any given time or whatever obstacles arise...my God is able and I am fully persuaded that He has power to do what He has promised (Rom. 4:21). He WILL make a way. It is only by His Spirit that any of it is even possible and I am more aware of that and of my need for and dependence on Him than I've ever been.

More and more this truth in this verse speaks to and comes alive for me...

The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.

--John 6:29

It really is that simple. Not always easy, but simple. God says our work is to believe in Him - align ourselves with His heart and come into agreement with His will and His plan as He reveals in His Word. We do this largely by confessing with our mouths and believing in our hearts. This is how we were saved (Romans 10:9-10) and this is how He has chosen to continue His work in and through us and to advance His kingdom on earth - as His people confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts! This is what it means to come into agreement with Him and this act of faith is what pleases Him and what He responds to. According to our faith it is done to us (Matt. 9:29). God is not most moved by all that we do for Him but it's the faith in our hearts and our persistence in seeking Him (Heb. 11:6). Our praise and thanksgiving and confidence in Him above all else, especially when we don't yet see the answers or the outcome we might expect from our prayers (and often we are so results-focused or have such preconceived notions of what He should be doing that we lost sight of HIM, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, and miss all the things He IS showing us and the amazing ways He is moving that are so above and beyond what we expected in the first place!!), moves His heart. It moves Him to action. In response to our fervent, faith-filled prayers and heartfelt praises He moves mightily on our behalf and in our midst to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

We have to know with everything we are that our God will never fail us or let us down. He is exactly who He says He is and He is always faithful to His Word - speaking and then acting, promising and then fulfilling (Numbers 23:19). So we pray and expect with absolute joy, we call on Him in praise and thanksgiving and boldly declare all that He is because God CANNOT fail. CANNOT deny Himself or separate Himself from His Word. As we become convinced of this we will see and know that He is deserving and worthy of our undivided trust and all of our praise and gratitude even before we see the fulfillment of His promises in our lives, before our eyes in the natural. And our praise and gratitude is fueled by knowing and loving Him, the amazing God that He is, and knowing and believing in full assurance that He will fulfill His promises in His time and His way, which is ALWAYS the best and for our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28). So we give Him praise NOW and constantly, in the process, every step of the way! We give thanks and praise above all just for who He IS. Always - this is where our worship and adoration should stem from. Then we thank Him and praise Him for every move of His hand that we see and for every move that we don't because we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We wait in eagerness and expectation because we know more than anything else that He is faithful! And we partner with Him by devotion and persistence in prayer. Our agreement with God is what ushers in His will and releases His miracle-working to perform and accomplish it! God can do all things but without our prayers He won't. He doesn't need us, He is God and can do all things on His own...but He has chosen us to partner with Him and has chosen to work through us...He has given us the ministry of reconciliation! It is HIS work, ALL His doing, but He has committed the message to us. Think about how AWESOME this is:

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

--2 Corinthians 5:20

This is our job description, our identity! Christ's ambassadors through whom God makes His appeal to this lost world. The righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), gifted with the ministry of reconciliation and trusted with its message. Wow! How humbling it is, and what greater honor and privilege or what further affirmation do we need?!!

I say it's time to allow God to bust open the boxes we've confined Him, to shatter our preconceived notions about who He is and how He works and the expectation of the usual and normal and to actually begin to expect crazy amazing things from Him! If His Word is true, if it is reality, if He really is the all-powerful, almighty God that His Word reveals, then we need to open our eyes and believe Him for the impossible as His Word says we should - no limits, nothing too hard - does this excite anyone else??!! This is how we should wake up every day, excited about Him and on the edge of our seats (because He is always up to something NEW - Isa. 43:18-19) and in expectation!! Our God is AMAZING and He wants to show and reveal to us AMAZING things!!!!

Look at the nations and watch, and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

--Habbakuk 1:5

Wow!!! Dwell on that. He is ALIVE...in POWER...ruling above ALL...unpredictable...inconceivable...invading our reality with the realities of His kingdom...this is why we worship Him!! We do not worship a set of rules or rituals, we don't worship a God we can control, we don't put our faith in a dead Word. God is ALIVE and MOVING and INVADING, ALL the time and we will miss Him unless we move beyond religion and lay HOLD of His forcefully advancing kingdom! (Matt 11:12) We need to get in sync with and agree with Him for what His Word says, with hearts full of faith and expectation....believing Him for the signs of His goodness and faithfulness and the confirmation of His Word ALL THE TIME. We are either going to believe He is who He says He is in His Word or we are not, but there is no half way. There's no way to be indifferent when confronted with this reality. Believe Him! And then just watch...and be utterly AMAZED...

When we know God this way we will not want to waste one moment of one day NOT diligently seeking Him, not totally desperate for His Presence or hungry to see Him move...He is doing so many amazing, out of this world things around us all the time...revealing Himself in all new and exciting ways...incredible responses to our prayers and petitions...moving on behalf of His children...we just have to open our eyes. We have to be expectant and prepared. Proclaim and stand on His truth. Pray diligently. Cry out for His heart. Depend on His Spirit. Seek His Presence. Go boldly before His throne. Be zealous in pursuit of Him! (Rom. 12:11). We won't quit and won't stop, won't settle for ordinary when our God is extraordinary in every way!!!

Oh Lord so GRIP us with Your all-consuming love and powerful, all-sufficient grace. Rock us to the very core of our being that it would be impossible to remain complacent. So shake us up for You that everything in us just aches for You and for Your Kingdom. You are always moving...You are speaking...You are drawing everything and everyone to Yourself, bringing all things into alignment with You, pouring our Your Holy Spirit, invading this earth like an unstoppable, irresistible force, filling and covering the whole earth with the knowledge of Your glory (Hab. 2:14) - and we are in agreement!!! We are on board!! Let it be done on earth as it is in Heaven! We give you praise right now for how unimaginably awesome You are, beyond our ability to even comprehend! We acknowledge that it's ALL You, it's ALL by Your Spirit, and it's Your LOVE that does everything, and we are just so humbled that You would use us, Lord, as Your hands and feet and as the home for Your Spirit to dwell. And we love you so, so much Lord! Have YOUR way! Thank you that it WILL be done as You have planned and purposed!!! Thank you that Your LOVE is so clearly on the move in my life and in the lives of so many around me...seeking and saving, redeeming and restoring...in POWER and in GRACE...all across this earth...and we just say YES, Lord. GLORY to Your HOLY Name. We praise You for Your faithfulness. We long for You. Our eyes and our hearts are open and ready and ever expectant. Our HOPE is all in You.

Love is on the move

Revealing Heaven's truth

Love is on its way and it will find you

And anyone can run

Into the arms of God

Love is on its way and it will find you

He Is Good

So I had this on my heart all day today, and maybe I'm preaching to the tinge (okay, maybe more than a tinge, but I digress) of legalism that remains in me. And I'm sure it's nothing too new. But it's such an important thing for all of us to be reminded of and it's so crucial that we grasp it as believers and followers of Jesus.

It is God's kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4). His grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions (Titus 2:11-12). Because He first loved and served us, we love and serve Him (1 Jn. 4:19). Repentance, godliness, obedience, willingness...these are not things we have to force or work for in our walk with Him but rather they are the fruits of a life lived in revelation of and ongoing response to His incredible, unchanging and never-ending kindness, grace, goodness, and love.

In all that we do...in our prayer lives, our service for Him, our love for others...if it's not fueled by and rooted in this experience of God's love and grace for us, we will eventually become frustrated, grow weary and lose heart. We are not meant to strive or be driven by guilt, fear (and by fear I'm not referring to the reverential fear of God, but things like fear of punishment, fear of disappointing God, etc.), attempts to earn His love and favor, or anything else. Those are not of God and when we embrace them we are embracing an entirely false perception and understanding of who He is, who we are in and to Him and His love for us. It's not the gospel!

This is the gospel: Jesus came to lift the heavy and ill-fitting weights of guilt, fear, shame, and striving under a law whose righteous requirements we could never meet, to set us free from slavery to sin and everything tied to it, free from any false motive or compulsion in living for Him.

This is the gospel: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1-2).

This is the gospel: God has given us His Holy Spirit to empower us, to bring us into alignment with Him, causing all of His attributes to overflow from within us. We no longer have to work and strive to the ends of obedience, godliness, etc...we do not have to work at being perfect but instead we surrender to the perfect Spirit who lives in us. Our work is belief (Jn. 6:29)...faith and trust in HIM...surrender. Our focus is on loving Him with all that we are and have (Matt. 22:37), on seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). And as we do this we just watch Him pour out on us and fill us with all that He is! He will work in us what is pleasing to Him, it is Him who works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose (Phil. 2:13), it is Him who is conforming us ever more into His likeness, with ever-increasing glory (2 Cor. 3:18). He showers us with His perfect love and we, overwhelmed with gratitude, cannot help but react by living passionately devoted and in love with Him!!! It's all we can do!

So why do we continue to strive when He says that He has set us free from it? Why do we strive when His Word says: "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3). What are we still trying to attain? God in His infinite power has GIVEN us godliness, HIS righteousness, HIS holiness, HIS perfection...in CHRIST. So when we are in Christ, we have everything we need. And all that remains within us...the fruits of the Spirit! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Everything that is of Him. Fear, guilt, approval-seeking from the God who already and unconditionally approves of us in Christ...is completely out of place, a foreign yoke. So what causes it? Why does it still hinder us so much if the chains have been broken and we have been set free to live compelled only by His love and grace and goodness?

I want to say it's because we don't have that life-changing, world-rocking revelation and understanding of who God really is. We don't truly know His goodness. We so desperately need this revelation, the church today desperately needs it - to see Him as He is! For THEN - in seeing Him, in knowing Him - we shall be like Him!! (1 Jn. 3:2) Because the more we know and understand who God is and experience it as the reality that it is (and not just in theory)...as we are in total wonder and awe of Him we will be living radically for Him in perfect freedom and in total and complete joy as He intends. His commands, His truth and all His ways that are to bring Him glory are NOT burdensome (1 Jn. 5:4) but they lead us into joy. His glory, His praise, His exaltation = our joy and our life. And God's grace is what empowers us to follow...it is His love...it empowers repentance, godliness and obedience in our lives. In our sin and rebellion we could not do it ourselves, but now in Jesus He has made the way. And when we know God - who He is, what He's done, and His love and grace and mercy for us, we are not compelled by anything else. Sin will have absolutely NO hold on us, no draw for us, no appeal whatsoever when we want God so much more and experience Him as INFINITELY better. We will want NOTHING to stand between us, which is what sin does and why God hates it so much - sin separates us from God. It will be pure torture to experience that separation that sin brings. So we actively pursue HOLINESS because we love Him beyond all else, want to be like Him and are eternally grateful to Him and from that flows our obedience! How else could we respond to Him? As His Word says...our work is produced by faith, our labor prompted by love, and our endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:3).

What is fear, guilt, and shame anyway? It's oppressive. Of the enemy. What does God say? What are we to do?

Believe. Trust. Hope. Do not fear. Love Me, love others. Delight yourself in Me. Be still. Know that I am God. Come to Me. Rest in Me. Look to Me. Call to Me. Rely and depend upon Me. Acknowledge Me. Lean not on your own understanding but lean on Me. Surrender all to Me. Obey. Walk with Me. Give Me everything. Devote yourself to Me. Stand firm in faith. Seek My face. Listen to My voice. Rejoice in Me. Sing praise to Me. Worship Me in Spirit and truth. Be joyful. Pray. Be thankful. This is MY will for you in Christ Jesus!!!

And what does all of this in our lives? How do we get to this place? Not by striving. Not through fear or guilt or approval-seeking. No, it's God's completely unspeakable LOVE in CHRIST, which is now living and at work in us. It's vital that we truly understand His grace, His salvation...to receive it in fullness of truth...as a heart revelation...and that we fully embrace our identity in Him. We need to know (have the sobering realization of without allowing it to slip over into condemnation) the depths of our own sinfulness and rebellion and that we were once deservedly objects of wrath, but now because of God's great love and because of His mercy ALONE, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and are seated with Him in the heavenly realms!! (Eph. 2). How does this not inspire the most crazy joyful and intensely passionate life of worship??!! This is what does everything, NOT religion. A living God who is personal and intimate, NOT rules or regulations. He's after a deep, loving, dynamic relationship with us and in that our sincere willingness, NOT our begrudging submission. He is not interested in by our obedience motivated by guilt or approval-seeking, He's after our hearts. Come on, church! We are wholly redeemed, dearly loved by our Creator and Father and Savior! We are alive in Him! We no longer rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead, who raised US from the dead (2 Cor. 1:9) and to full and abundant LIFE! (Jn. 10:10)

So then we have a choice to make: will we choose to walk in grace and not fear? To believe that God is all He says He is and so much more? To get to know Him more and more so that this revelation becomes more and more clear and all the more glorious? This is our joy. HE is our joy. This is why we must keep our eyes fixed on Him and not ourselves...Christ's righteousness that is now our identity and not self-righteousness, which was nailed to the cross. His Word says that we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). And as such, remaining in Him, our fruit is a tree of life (Prov. 11:30).

God does it all. And when we stay fixed on Him, acknowledging all He is, exalting all He is, the life He intends for us to live, the life He died to give us is going to flow naturally, ceaselessly, effortlessly - by the power of His Spirit, not in our own strength (Zech. 4:6). We couldn't do it on our own before and we can't now. But now in Christ we can do all things (Phil. 4:13).

Sorry if I rambled on a bit. I'm just incredibly passionate about this as a recovering legalist!! And mostly I just want the whole world to know this completely amazing God whose love and grace are just unfathomable. Praying for the revelation of who He is to spread all over the earth. He is good. Inherently, above all else. He alone is good. He is ALWAYS good. He NEVER changes. What's more, because we belong to Him because He favors us He causes all of His goodness to pass in front of us and He proclaims His name in our presence (Ex. 33:19). Think about that! How AMAZING! And our lives lived in response to and in experience of this is only joy, freedom, peace, and love all-consuming. Let's rejoice in Him always just because of who He IS!!!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, "Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise." - 1 Chronicles 16:34-35

Losing Myself

I've been having such an amazing time lately rediscovering this thing called music - specifically, playing the piano. Something I've done very seriously since I was 5...almost 20 years of private lessons...highly classically trained...the main focus of all my upbringing...a huge part of who I am...played all the way through college and then stopped playing for awhile when I was working on my masters degree in music theory and just didn't have the time between all the research and paper writing (oh grad school, I do not miss you!). But what's awesome now is that I not only have the time to get back into it but I'm doing so in a totally different way and with an all new drive and passion that was missing all those years before. I always knew that God gave me a gift with music and it has always been such a deep part of me but have always wondered how He would use it, or even if He would since I got away from it for so long. I know now that He definitely intends to use it, I'm still not entirely sure how and what all that entails...but one thing I do know and it's that my piano playing and all of my musical pursuits are like everything else in my life: for Him. For worship. How I pour out in worship to Him...how He speaks to and inspires it in me...so, so much of that is through music. It's how He created me and it was no mistake, it was no waste! My musical giftings were not always for Him, since I did not always know Him (though He always knew me and He was always the author of the gifts), but He is redeeming them and redirecting them all for His purposes now as I give it all back to Him and press on to acknowledge Him! What could be more exciting or more fulfilling than that?!

So I had been pondering all of this and seeking Him for direction, and over the course of the past several weeks I got several confirmations that I was not only supposed to start playing again and explore it as a form of worship, but even to write new songs as He reveals to me. I've only been at it for several days but it's been amazing so far...His Presence has been so sweet and so strong...such holy moments. It's incredible because it's something I've always had inside of me, so it's familiar in a way but it's entirely fresh in the way that God is tapping into it and breathing His life and filling it with His Spirit. I can already tell I'll be cherishing those times of worship at the piano and am just so excited to see what God is going to stir up, all the ways He will speak and where it will all lead! Right now just soooo thankful that He is calling this out and using it to draw me even closer to Him. :) And ALL to His glory!!

I was blessed to play the piano in a wedding today, which turned out to be a wonderful and beautiful worship service. This is one of the songs we did...one of my absolute favorites!...and I can't think of a better way to describe what worshiping at the piano means for me than how the song itself puts it:

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise


Oh that I would continue to just lose myself in Your Presence, Lord, as I worship You. Holy Spirit, consume me from the inside out!

The Lost Are Found

I am increasingly awed by the anointing of the Lord's presence on the melodies we lift up to Him in worship and all the incredible ways that music gives voice to that cry of our hearts, the highest praise and deepest longing that words could never ever express…and how the power of God through music pierces to the core and taps right into our inmost being, opening us up to receive from Him and release to Him in all new ways...such a priceless gift for which I am so so thankful and definitely a passion that God has stirred up in me!

This song is just one of many examples for me where the instrumental introduction alone is speaking infinitely more than what lyrics are able to (and these are some pretty powerful lyrics!)...gets me EVERY time...just amazing. The Holy Spirit is ALL over this! Let Him speak to and reveal Himself to you. :)