Friday, July 27, 2007

Undignified Worshipper

From Matt Redman's book "The Unquenchable Worshipper - Coming Back to the Heart of Worship" (published by Regal Books Copywrite @2001 Matt Redman)

This afternoon I played Matt Redman's song "Undignified." It is a captivating song that gets right to the heart of King David who danced with all his might upon bringing the ark finally back to Jerusalem. It was a public display of a heart passionate to serve God and it disturbed his wife Michal so much that their relationship was never the same, she came to despise David for his unruly public display of worship.
In the book Matt says:
"One of the Hebrew words for praise, hallal, means to be clamorously foolish or mad before the Lord. (That's where we get our word "hallelujah.") In a "reasons to be passionate" competition, the church of God should come an easy first; yet too often we find ourselves lagging way behind in this area. Isn't it time we saw a bit more holy mayhem in our worship?"
I am in agreement with Matt's opinion that we don't give all the honor and praise due our King. Let us rave and rant at sporting events and our kids games, but solemn we must stay before our glorious King? Heaven's no, let me be a fool for Christ's sake and let my praise simply magnify my adoration for all He is and has done!

Lord, my desire is to give you everything I have when it comes to my expression of worship and praising You. Let my praise be a delight to Your ears as I worship You with all my might!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Searching for God with Skin

Searching for God with skin on is sort of like looking for love in all the wrong places. Sometimes I am an emotionally charged woman with ups and downs depending…on a lot of things. It could be a hormonal thing, a crisis or just a wrong reaction to a negative response from someone. When things are out of wack in my world it would sure be a wonderful thing to just have God with skin. He could wrap His arms around me and speak words of comfort and encouragement to my spirit. But that is just it, I can’t “feel” the comfort or the healing so then I just feel very alone. I'm pretty sure most could identify!


What I need I can’t seem to find. I want my Papa because to hear Him would give me comfort. But I can’t hear His voice audibly. Of course if I did it would scare me half to death! So what am I to do? I can’t run to man, for he is just like me, weak and vulnerable and easily persuaded. Not always wise in his ways and, or given to discernment. No, I can’t go there--although many times I am so tempted to do just that! And maybe, just like me, when you have given in to what the flesh wants you in turn get burned. Instead of the hope and encouragement you were looking for, the fix becomes temporary. Leaving a hollow in your spirit.


Girls, (I am not minimizing the problem here) this is what I can choose to do. I can run to my Daddy, my Abba. The One who will never, ever let me down. The One who gives comfort to my spirit and causes me to soar once again where I belong. No, it may not be the fleshly comfort that would “feel” so welcoming but, my spirit would be ministered to and I would receive a healing touch that would alter the outlook of my situation. So I run to Him, and I crawl upon His lap that is more than roomy enough for this big girl to snuggle in and I receive his love. Here is where the healing begins.


There was a time when I truly needed a real encounter with my heavenly Father. I will let you in on a time when I learned that I wasn’t an orphan after all.
“I remember one morning when I felt so lonely and longed for an earthly father to receive comfort from. You see, I am very alone most of the time. At this time in my life, my husband and I are at different places spiritually. We aren’t always on the same page when it comes to the Lord. I tend to spiritualize things a bit more and my man is down to earth and very basic in his faith. Sometimes that makes me feel a bit alone. One morning after my husband went off to work (he is the early bird and leaves the house like clockwork every work morning at 5:05 and sometimes I sneak back to bed but other times I can have good times with the Lord when I stay up. Although it was an unusual thing to do, I heard my ‘Abba’ Father beckon me to come and crawl up on His lap and bury my head in His shoulder. I am just about sure that I looked around to make sure that no one could see me and actually it was only the animals and me home at that time.
So I did what the Lord invited me to do! I covered myself with a quilt and envisioned being in my daddy’s lap and I cried out to Him pouring my heart out to Him. I told Him how very lonely and sad I felt.
There are times when we do not get the emotional response we need from our parents or spouse and that can pull us into a down time—maybe even throwing us out of whack emotionally. But god, You are there and You hear my cries and my pain, You don’t become weary of hearing me whine and carry on. You listen and comfort me, You, the God of Jacob, hear my prayers. This is something so amazing. Had anyone been able to see me that morning and heard my weeping, they would have wondered if there was something drastically wrong with me. But, my Daddy, My Abba Father, held me close and was very attentive to my sorrows and provided me with comfort and peace. To my spirit He assured me of His love and acceptance of me—which is so what I needed at that moment. You know, it could have been PMS or feeling sorry for myself for whatever reason. But God, my God, was there for me when no else was for my husband surely would have thought I lost my mind. My God knows the heart of His girl and how she just gets lonely and sad sometimes.”
(from Worshiping in the Psalms, Psalm 84)

It indeed seems odd that this could bring the peace needed in a dire straights moment, but for me it was a true epiphany that would forever change the way I perceive my heavenly Father. Girls, guard your heart and don’t let your emotions rule, run to the right thing and you will receive the comfort that only your Daddy, your Abba, can give you. You will find healing and peace that passes all understanding and you will have the courage to go on!


Resting in His perfect peace,
~ Kimberly Dawn