Worship Wednesday - one thing remains

In Jesus is the fullness...

John 1:4 is true. In Jesus is the fullness of life. Not in my boss, nor my spouse, nor my pastor. Seek Jesus. - John Paul Jackson

Worship Wednesday - Set a Fire

When we get done...

"When we get done thinking about God, He will still be bigger than we think He is." -Damon Thompson

There will never be another

"If we're both the same then one of us is unnecessary!"
 - Jimmy Evans

 As I sat on my sofa Saturday morning with tears running down my face I watched Whitney Houston's casket being carried out of the small New Hope Baptist church with her famous song, "I will always love you" playing in the background. I couldn't help but feel like the world had lost something tremendously special - a once in a lifetime voice. There will never been another Whitney! You could pick out her voice from any cluster of voices because she had a unique sound! 

Just like Whitney we each have a unique "sound". Our sound my not be expressed through singing but through whatever avenue God has gifted us. What made Whitney special is her determination not to change her "sound" for others. There were many reports about different groups saying Whitney sound to this or  that, but Whitney continue doing Whitney to her best ability. She never caved to the pressure to sound a certain way whether too white, too black, too pop, too soul, etc. When we change our "sound" to please others we lose the unique quality that only we have. This unique quality has been given to each of us by God for the enjoyment and growth of those around us. 

Depending the circle we hang around the type of pressure to conform may vary. For example, my husband and I used to go to a church that only celebrated one personality type. If you weren't loud, fun or extroverted you'd be over looked and forgotten about. The pressure to put on the accepted "face" they celebrated was very tempting, but the Holy Spirit convicted us. Why should we lose the very qualities God loves about us just to fit in with people who only celebrate clones? Each uniquely created personality and gift set is valuable in the eyes of God and our sound needs to be heard even if no one celebrates it.

When people look back on our lives they should say, "There will never be another" because there wont be! Just like Whitney is a once in a lifetime voice, so are YOU. There will never be anyone like you! The pressure to conform is everywhere. Each culture, church, school, peer group etc all come with their own pressures but to cave is to forfeit the sound God's given you to bring love, healing, wisdom and change to that very group.(I'm not talking about morals! God wants to change our character and make us people of integrity, but that's different than our personality and gifts).

Honestly, how many of the same type of person do we need? In the words of Jimmy Evans, "If we're both the same then one of us is unnecessary!"

.... just saying!! :-)

New Blog

Hey everyone! I started a new blog for my personal life. I love this blog, but it's more for devotionals and ministry stuff. From here on out my personal posts will be posted here: http://beingtransformeddaily.blogspot.com/ If you're interested follow me over there too! :-)

Love y'all

Worship Wednesday - Lifted High

How you receive...

How you receive someone determines what you receive from them - Bill Johnson

Church feels lonely because...

My mom posted this on Facebook and I thought I'd share, "Joyce Meyers made a good point this morning while teaching out of 1 Corinthians 4:4. She said “church in general feels lonely because the regular church people tend to cling to their already established friends, and they tend, without realizing, leave the new folks out. They don’t take the time to get to know the new people because they are too busy within their own circle of friends. If the new folks are slightly different, they’re shun. After awhile, the attempt of trying to fit in wears off and people feel lonely and leave the church."

So often if a lonely person says, "I'm lonely" the church will respond by self righteously quoting scripture that says, "You have to be friendly to make friends", but if you actually read the scripture in context it does not mean what they always imply that it means!

Lonely people are usually VERY friendly because they are on the hunt for more friends. It's those who have friends that are unfriendly because their cups are already full! :-)

People who have been in the same church their whole life, or are part of a church full of their family and friends may not understand how lonely church can be, but for anyone who has had to start over and join somewhere new, they know how lonely it can be and sometimes they eventually stop going to church altogether because they can't break through and get tired of trying.

Worship Wednesday - Glory

God establishes...

God establishes His abiding presence with His disciples (that's us!) directly through His word, which causes us to bear much fruit! - James Goll

Worship Wednesday - Furious