FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
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Saturday, March 24, 2007,6:15 p.m.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I've quoted a line from this article before, but was caught by the entire thing once again today. It speaks of everything that I want to shout from the rooftops over and over again (and probably have, over and over again). I know it looks long. It's completely worth the read. Dig in.
Will we survive this worship trend? Will we emerge as worshippers of God or trend followers?
I am asking God to alert my senses to what is cultural Christianity and what is biblical Christianity. This pursuit is important to me because I want this generation to grow up worshipping God with their lives, but also understanding that music, scripture, art, silence... these things are but tools that remind us that He is the Prize, not these things in and of themselves. We must be careful not to perpetuate a form of legalism, but instead teach others to worship God, not a style, a sound, a worship song, or a worship leader. I want to help teach the body of Christ not to be confused about the purpose of corporate worship. I have unfortunately heard about adults and students saying things like, "I am not going to that conference because this person is leading or this person is not leading," or "I only go to church when he or she leads." Statements like these expose not stylistic preference but heart issues. A heart in love with God does not need its favorite style of music playing to express itself to God.
The musical debate continues to rage over traditional versus contemporary. I am so tired of Satan confusing us and getting our eyes off of Jesus. When our attention is so focused on our preference, we abandon the Prize to crusade our style and it becomes idolatry, ultimately, cheating ourselves. Anytime I worship anything other than God, I cheat me. If I enjoy your response to me or my music more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy music and the emotions it makes me feel more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy a new song taking shape musically with the band more than I enjoy God, again I cheat me and miss out on the blessings and sheer joy of interacting with the Lover of my soul and the Savior of the world. I pray we will stop wasting time and start focusing our attention and affection on the One who can satisfy. (Psalm 63)
When You Experience True Worship
Worship is when you walk away and all you can think about is Him and your relationship with Him. You are not thinking about the band or the music or whether or not they did your favorite song. You are simply lost in your thoughts of Him; you are remembering what the Holy Spirit told you and taught you; you are relishing in the satisfaction of your soul because your needs have been heard and met. You have been given love and have received love; moreover, your affection has not been rejected and you are at peace. You are stirred to continue to be obedient to all He has commanded, not out of duty or obligation but because you are in love with your Creator Who loves you like no one can.
True worship results in change of your heart, of your actions, of your mind. Otherwise, we have simply sung a bunch of songs over and over like choir practice. So, either I am a singer and I go away a bit hoarse or I am a worshiper and go away different.
Longing for Genuine Worship
It is a place where I can taste God's original intention for my life to "walk in the garden in the cool of the day" with Him (Genesis 3:8), to commune with Him. In these moments He points out the lies of the world that I am believing more than His timeless promises. In these moments He is King and I am servant; His name is supreme and my name is hidden in His; He is Father and I am child. Music is not the avenue to this; the songs themselves are nothing more than servants, given by God, to remind us that it's all about Him and for Him. Genuine worship is not lifting my hands and wondering if someone is watching. It is not holding hands and swaying with my best friends. It is not even the sound of our voices. Worship is all about the posture of the heart.
Public and Private Worship Times
When I first began traveling and leading worship, a mentor/friend asked me a question that has stayed with me for the last eight years. He asked, "Jami, how is your private worship?"
I remember thinking, "Oops, wait a minute, what does he mean, exactly?" He graciously continued, noting my uneasiness and said, "You will never take a congregation publicly where you have not gone privately."
What a great, humbling teaching moment for me. Corporate worship is intended to be a time for the Body to come together and encourage one another. The early church understood this union as a must to pray for one another to remain strong against false teachings and persecution. Our public worship meetings as a Body of Christ should be an overflow of our private encounters with God. Can you imagine how great our Sunday worship times would be if we were worshipping privately all week long? We would explode when we came together. Instead, sadly, often times we are begging people to sing along. Authentic public worship is an overflow of our private time with God. How can we sing about His love replacing loneliness or His truth replacing lies if we have never experienced it personally and privately? How can we expect to worship corporately if we do not treasure Him and His words privately?
Will we survive this worship trend? Will we emerge as worshippers of God or trend followers?
I am asking God to alert my senses to what is cultural Christianity and what is biblical Christianity. This pursuit is important to me because I want this generation to grow up worshipping God with their lives, but also understanding that music, scripture, art, silence... these things are but tools that remind us that He is the Prize, not these things in and of themselves. We must be careful not to perpetuate a form of legalism, but instead teach others to worship God, not a style, a sound, a worship song, or a worship leader. I want to help teach the body of Christ not to be confused about the purpose of corporate worship. I have unfortunately heard about adults and students saying things like, "I am not going to that conference because this person is leading or this person is not leading," or "I only go to church when he or she leads." Statements like these expose not stylistic preference but heart issues. A heart in love with God does not need its favorite style of music playing to express itself to God.
The musical debate continues to rage over traditional versus contemporary. I am so tired of Satan confusing us and getting our eyes off of Jesus. When our attention is so focused on our preference, we abandon the Prize to crusade our style and it becomes idolatry, ultimately, cheating ourselves. Anytime I worship anything other than God, I cheat me. If I enjoy your response to me or my music more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy music and the emotions it makes me feel more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy a new song taking shape musically with the band more than I enjoy God, again I cheat me and miss out on the blessings and sheer joy of interacting with the Lover of my soul and the Savior of the world. I pray we will stop wasting time and start focusing our attention and affection on the One who can satisfy. (Psalm 63)
When You Experience True Worship
Worship is when you walk away and all you can think about is Him and your relationship with Him. You are not thinking about the band or the music or whether or not they did your favorite song. You are simply lost in your thoughts of Him; you are remembering what the Holy Spirit told you and taught you; you are relishing in the satisfaction of your soul because your needs have been heard and met. You have been given love and have received love; moreover, your affection has not been rejected and you are at peace. You are stirred to continue to be obedient to all He has commanded, not out of duty or obligation but because you are in love with your Creator Who loves you like no one can.
True worship results in change of your heart, of your actions, of your mind. Otherwise, we have simply sung a bunch of songs over and over like choir practice. So, either I am a singer and I go away a bit hoarse or I am a worshiper and go away different.
Longing for Genuine Worship
It is a place where I can taste God's original intention for my life to "walk in the garden in the cool of the day" with Him (Genesis 3:8), to commune with Him. In these moments He points out the lies of the world that I am believing more than His timeless promises. In these moments He is King and I am servant; His name is supreme and my name is hidden in His; He is Father and I am child. Music is not the avenue to this; the songs themselves are nothing more than servants, given by God, to remind us that it's all about Him and for Him. Genuine worship is not lifting my hands and wondering if someone is watching. It is not holding hands and swaying with my best friends. It is not even the sound of our voices. Worship is all about the posture of the heart.
Public and Private Worship Times
When I first began traveling and leading worship, a mentor/friend asked me a question that has stayed with me for the last eight years. He asked, "Jami, how is your private worship?"
I remember thinking, "Oops, wait a minute, what does he mean, exactly?" He graciously continued, noting my uneasiness and said, "You will never take a congregation publicly where you have not gone privately."
What a great, humbling teaching moment for me. Corporate worship is intended to be a time for the Body to come together and encourage one another. The early church understood this union as a must to pray for one another to remain strong against false teachings and persecution. Our public worship meetings as a Body of Christ should be an overflow of our private encounters with God. Can you imagine how great our Sunday worship times would be if we were worshipping privately all week long? We would explode when we came together. Instead, sadly, often times we are begging people to sing along. Authentic public worship is an overflow of our private time with God. How can we sing about His love replacing loneliness or His truth replacing lies if we have never experienced it personally and privately? How can we expect to worship corporately if we do not treasure Him and His words privately?
written by worshipper Jami Smith
Wednesday, March 21, 2007,9:57 p.m.
I CAME, I SAW, I GOT MY CAR WASHED
This is my car (oh, and, apparently, my broker):
This was my car a little earlier today:
Today, I drove my car through a car wash for the first time. Who says you can't have new experiences all the time? I had a fear of taking my car through a car wash - not for the car wash itself, but just that it is something I've never done before and didn't know how it worked. Does it seem silly that I'm rather exultant about conquering that fear? Why shouldn't I be? I was never called to be a slave to any fear, and conquering the car wash makes me wonder what other fears I have that the Lord will be faithful to walk me through to victory?
On to bigger and better....
This was my car a little earlier today:
Today, I drove my car through a car wash for the first time. Who says you can't have new experiences all the time? I had a fear of taking my car through a car wash - not for the car wash itself, but just that it is something I've never done before and didn't know how it worked. Does it seem silly that I'm rather exultant about conquering that fear? Why shouldn't I be? I was never called to be a slave to any fear, and conquering the car wash makes me wonder what other fears I have that the Lord will be faithful to walk me through to victory?
On to bigger and better....
Wednesday, March 14, 2007,8:39 p.m.
THE GNOME
My sister-in-law sent me this picture in an e-mail with its only words being the subject line that read "gnome."
I thought I would laugh myself sick.....
And one for the cuteness factor.....
She's really excited about her pink shoes.
I'm so proud....
(This is my niece, Eliana, for anyone who hasn't seen pictures before.)
I thought I would laugh myself sick.....
And one for the cuteness factor.....
She's really excited about her pink shoes.
I'm so proud....
(This is my niece, Eliana, for anyone who hasn't seen pictures before.)
Labels: Eliana
Saturday, March 10, 2007,10:49 a.m.
CHOOSE FREEDOM
Goodness! Hard to believe that I haven't been in this space for almost two weeks! Disgraceful....
I read something this morning that I've heard many times through my life, but seeing it in print made me think about it again today. It is this:
IT IS BETTER TO ASK FORGIVENESS THAN PERMISSION.
May I be bold? I frankly think that this statement is, well, trash.
It is not better to ask forgiveness rather than ask permission. That statement itself implies willful deceipt. Perhaps this statement is spoken by someone with a desire to do something where they know that permission will be denied. Added to that, perhaps this person is quite secure in the knowledge that when all is said and done, forgiveness will be extended.
Paul himself addresses this concept in Romans 6. "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (Romans 6:15) In other words, shall we go ahead and do what we want just because we know we will be forgiven? What nonsense! What an abuse of the grace that God, in His infinite love for us, has extended!
More even than just the utter insult to God's grace this concept supplies, Paul goes on to make it clear that these kind of decisions will only lead us back into a life of slavery - the life from which our salvation has set us free. "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
We have a choice. Either choice involves slavery, but to which would you rather be a slave? Sin, and all the eternal conequences that it affords? Or obedience to the Most High God, and all the blessings that it promises? I hope we all choose the latter, and have the opportunity to feel that Paul is speaking directly to us when he says, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:17-18)
Ironically, choosing obedience - what many in the world think is chaining ourselves to religion and actually losing any sense of personal freedom, is actually the only true way to experience true freedom.
"I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 3:19-23)
I choose freedom. I choose holiness. I choose eternal life. Sometimes I must choose them daily or hourly, time and time again. But true freedom is what I want.
What do you want?
I read something this morning that I've heard many times through my life, but seeing it in print made me think about it again today. It is this:
IT IS BETTER TO ASK FORGIVENESS THAN PERMISSION.
May I be bold? I frankly think that this statement is, well, trash.
It is not better to ask forgiveness rather than ask permission. That statement itself implies willful deceipt. Perhaps this statement is spoken by someone with a desire to do something where they know that permission will be denied. Added to that, perhaps this person is quite secure in the knowledge that when all is said and done, forgiveness will be extended.
Paul himself addresses this concept in Romans 6. "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" (Romans 6:15) In other words, shall we go ahead and do what we want just because we know we will be forgiven? What nonsense! What an abuse of the grace that God, in His infinite love for us, has extended!
More even than just the utter insult to God's grace this concept supplies, Paul goes on to make it clear that these kind of decisions will only lead us back into a life of slavery - the life from which our salvation has set us free. "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16)
We have a choice. Either choice involves slavery, but to which would you rather be a slave? Sin, and all the eternal conequences that it affords? Or obedience to the Most High God, and all the blessings that it promises? I hope we all choose the latter, and have the opportunity to feel that Paul is speaking directly to us when he says, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." (Romans 6:17-18)
Ironically, choosing obedience - what many in the world think is chaining ourselves to religion and actually losing any sense of personal freedom, is actually the only true way to experience true freedom.
"I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 3:19-23)
I choose freedom. I choose holiness. I choose eternal life. Sometimes I must choose them daily or hourly, time and time again. But true freedom is what I want.
What do you want?