Sometimes the wonder of Jesus Christ wells up in me so strongly I want to cartwheel and weep at the same time.
Does that ever happen to you?
It wasn’t until the gospel of Jesus entirely captured my mind and conquered my Pharisaical heart that I began to understand fighting lies with praise.
It wasn’t until the lavish, freeing love of God filled in the cracks of my lack did I begin to comprehend the strength and hope to be found.
It wasn’t until I wholeheartedly believed in the perfect guidance, and constant companionship, of Holy Spirit that I discovered peace in the unknown and uncertain.
Worship of God is the rope to pull you from anxiety’s enveloping quicksand.
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Awe of Him alone will breathe new life into the battleground of your insides.
Praising God in the midst of fire and drought (and worldly craziness)… this is what will change everything.
But let’s be honest, sometimes worship is far from enthusiastic singing, but simply recognizing His presence with us in our sadness or fear.
The answer to my constant lack is receiving and believing Him to be for me what I can’t be on my own.
His power dissolves our weakness.
His love evaporates our loneliness.
His mercy conquers our shame.
His glory battles our complacency.
His Truth clears up our confusion.
His salvation rescues our soul.
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It’s not us being better, trying harder, digging our heels into self-sufficiency… it’s always more of Him.
Turn your attention from the crisis, from the disappointment or confusion, and for a minute celebrate God. The more you look at Him, the quicker the problem will shrink to its correct size.
Worship is how we give Him space to fill our senses, to consume our thoughts, to capture our hearts.
John Calvin says, “There is nothing that Satan so much endeavours to accomplish as to bring on mists with the view of obscuring Christ.”
The basics of our faith are these: believe Jesus to be your beautiful Lord and Savior and, by His great grace, live with God from that day forward. Maybe you believe this to be true, but have never received, never claimed for yourself, what Jesus purchased for you.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. Ephesians 1:7-10 MSG
When we receive His gospel, all of God is available to us. Because of Jesus, He is 100% for you, meaning your greatest joy and help is always more of Him. This also means He can continually be making us more like Jesus, producing Holy Spirit’s fruit in our lives, and making us brighter Light-bearers. Invite Him into your every thought and emotion. He will joyfully and lovingly come in and shake everything up, for the glorious better.
I’m still learning this, clumsily and forgetfully, but it’s transforming me. He deserves my all, and the only way I can do that is to ask Him to be my all.
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