Love Poured Out

It seems as if I could be plagiarizing, but I am not sure what song. Oops.

Oh great God, matchless King;

Ruler over everything.

We give our hearts and our lives;

Let us dwell in Your sacrifice.

Living God, consume our souls,

Let us not our love withhold.

Focus our gaze; enlarge our hearts;

Faithful One, You will not depart.

You have come and set us free

And we’ll always dwell with thee.

You took our sin and our shame;

You are coming back again.

Hallelujah, hallelujah sin is gone and Christ’s alive!

Hallelujah, hallelujah to the One who reigns on high.

Frustrated with the "Normal Guilt"

I happened upon this blog when I was preparing to write my other blog about normal.

She tell the tale of how she and her husband didn't want to live the "normal Christian life" when they were first married, but how marriage, children, and a mortgage changed those aspirations. She continues to say that they soon realized the idol of complacency and comfort in their hearts and decided to change the trajectory of their lives. They sold their home and got involved in full time ministry.

I only skimmed through her writing, but I found the conclusion of her post and one of the comments she received intriguing.

Her conclusion (Underlines added are mine):
They [friends] are displaying the gospel, and there is nothing normal about their lives. And every time I get off the phone with her, all I want is to have nothing normal about our lives. She still bleeds God, and her life is being poured out on the neediest and the most broken. She traded entitlement for surrender, and God took her up on it.
What if heaven and God and forever became our normal?
Wouldn’t that change everything?

One of three comments the post received:
Normal.  Right.  Sometimes I would love to be normal.  Instead, I am a 59-year-old-maid who set aside career plans to care for my mother in her declining years until she passed.  Yes, I have a family, I'm guardian for a disabled brother and uncle.  Yes, I have a house...all 700 square feet of it...in need of new wiring, plumbing and a roof...and no way to pay for them.  Yes, I have a job...actually three of them, but none provide health insurance, and the combined income still leaves me well below the poverty level. Sorry to whine, but when it takes everything to just get by, "doing great things for God" just sort of flies out the window.

My heart grieves for this lady! Her "great thing" seems to have been right under her nose the whole time, but she has chosen bitterness instead.

My response to the comment:
I would like to say that whatever you are doing, when done with the right heart and attitude, can be the "great thing" God Himself has given you to do. (Ephesians 2:10 -- The works that He has prepared for you to walk in.) I struggle to answer how "normal life" can be a great thing for God, but it's not the doing that He cares about, but the relationship of love. It sounds like the Lord has given you "great things" to do in caring for your mother, brother, and uncle while working three jobs (dying to self). I hope that your heart will be comforted and the Lord will show you how He has allowed these things for His glory and your sanctification in Him.

 I was particularly moved because this is my struggle. I have two fears in life:
1) I don't want to be alone for ever. (Without my sisters in particular.)
2) I don't want to live a complacent, comfortable, un-sacrificed life. (I don't want to be "normal".)

I desire to be known for accomplishing a great task (for the Lord). I want to be one who has taken risks and started things. I want to stand up for the rights of the poor and feeble.

As displayed in this woman's blog and the reader's response, we have wrongly connected "not normal" and "heavenly focus." Our eyes are supposed to be fixed on Jesus, not the way to be the most radical. We've then said that service in the slums and/or foreign countries are the best ways to not be normal.

We as a culture, and I know that I in my own heart, need to assess and re-define "normal", "radical", "heavenly focus", and our calling in Jesus.

(Here's the quick answer:
Whatever we have to do -- do it as to Jesus!)

International Fellowship

I LOVE IT!
Not that this was always the case.

The music can be off key -- keyboardists play a variety of random notes between songs to "create the mood" while vocalists also play a variety of random notes to express their joy and love for the Lord. Whew! So many notes creates an interesting atmosphere.

But, I have learned to appreciate it. I have learned to see past the notes, to see the singers and players in a cultural as well as a "worshipful" light. They sing to the Lord, not me.

The preaching-teaching was something I had to get used to as well. We have a rotation of teaching men and they each have about 20-30 minutes to teach. Most recently we were going through the book of Revelation. Whew! We certainly went through it, but without much depth to the teaching.

And yet, I have learned to contain my expectations and look for a depth of teaching else where -- and particularly in my own reading/study of the Bible. I have learned to appreciate the sermons (by a couple men in particular) that are challenging and Scripture-filled when we get them. I have also learned to appreciate the progress in teaching the other men (could be) making when they come up to teach. I have seen growth in the skill of our teachers.

So, why do I "LOVE IT"?

It's a picture of what Eternity with Him will be like. Men from every tribe, tongue, and nation will be gathered before Him to make a joyful NOISE before Him! We will all be singing and praising His Name and we won't all be praising in the same way. We won't all be standing still. We won't all be dancing with vigor. We won't all be lifting our hands. We won't all be sitting down. (For a time, of course, we will all be bowing before Him.)

I also LOVE different CULTURES!

The Lord is so good because He brought me to work in China, and I also get small pictures of what it's like to sing praises in the African way. (Not that all African countries worship in the same way. There's different "worship cultures" too.)

A few weeks ago a man from Kenya led the singing time. We sang in 4 or 5 different languages to represent some of the diversity in our congregation. There's two songs we sing in Swahili and I absolutely LOVE them!  One is about God being the King of Africa, and then we switch out "Africa" for the names of other locations. Another has a line, "SING! In the Af-ri-can WAY!" (Could be the same song, but I don't think it is...)

To express their worship, people sometimes come down the aisles just singing and dancing. (Last time the one who started the train was a guy from Sri Lanka.) Nobody was giving dirty looks. Nobody was "blaming them for being a distraction or trying to gain attention for themselves." (Because -- as far as it is my ability to see their hearts -- they AREN'T doing it to gain attention for themselves.)

The musicians on the stage often dance, shout, sing, and clap as well. When the Lord has given you joy -- let your joy be made known to all the people. I love that there is the freedom to sit, stand, move, raise hands, have hands at side, sing quietly, sing loudly, on key, off key, on beat, off beat, dance, remain still -- freedom in the Lord to allow the Holy Spirit to move and use you in the way He has wired you to be.

In our fellowship we have had people from over 50 countries in the last 6 months. We are a group of transitioning people made up of university students, English teachers, business people, and the like. We have (and had) people from Bolivia, Burundi, New Zealand, Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Eritrea, Congo, Coast d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, Germany, France, Tanzania, Ghana, Philippines, Korea, Japan, Canada, United States, Lebanon, Nepal, Kenya, and others I have not mentioned.

What's a thrill to my being are the conversations and interactions I have been able to have with some of these people -- representing places I have wanted to go in order to meet the people.

I asked a man from Kenya why he wanted to learn Chinese. He has a love for Kenya and wants to see it grow strong in the business world. His plan is to learn Chinese, return to Kenya, build businesses, and establish strong business relationships with China.

I spoke with a man from Uganda who was sent to China to study the organization and discipline of the Chinese military so he could go back to Uganda and help train the soldiers there.

A few weeks ago I met a girl whose dad is from India and whose mom is from Sri Lanka. We started talking, she and her boyfriend invited me for lunch, we went, and it was great. I got to hear about their lives in Tianjin as medical students who need to study in Chinese and about their home cultures.

So many people find a special fellowship in this congregation, grow in their faith, and then, after finishing their studies, go back to their home countries with a stronger faith in the Lord and His power. And their ministry to national students on the university campuses is from the Lord as well.

The man who is the "primary shepherd" for the international university students is one of the men whose preaching I look forward to. We don't agree on everything, but he has challenged me and my perspective. His love and passion for the Lord is an example and a challenge and he pours so much energy and attention into the university students. I praise the Lord for him and his faithful ministry.

I do love it.
I can't wait for the "days" when we will all be united with Him as a mass of nations -- all built together as His Body and His Temple; living stones beautifully chosen and arranged in diversity.

Psalm 29:3-4

Ascribe to the Lord, O Heavenly Beings

Ascribe to the Lord GLORY and STRENGTH.

Ascribe to the Lord the GLORY due His Name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

--In the clothing of holiness.

Set apart. Consecrated.

Living Sacrifice.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders,

The Lord over many waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful.

2) the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.

3) physical strength and force exerted by something or someone: the power of the storm.

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 

1) impressive stateliness, dignity, or beauty: experience the majesty of the Rockies.

Ascribe to the Lord, O Heavenly Beings. (command)

Ascribe to the Lord GLORY and STRENGTH. (command)

Ascribe to the Lord the GLORY due His Name; (command)

worship the Lord in the SPLENDOR of HOLINESS. (command)

“Ascribing” is also a type of call to worship – we are attributing to Him certain characteristics. Bringing GLORY to His Name because we are declaring our delight and love for Him and Who He is.

Four times we are commanded.

We are even told WHAT to ascribe – glory and strength.

We are even told how we may come – in the SPLENDOR of holiness.

And, HALLEUJAH, how do we get these garments of splendor?

I cannot make them myself – only through the death and resurrection of Jesus ad the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. THEN we will be presented blameless before Him – in our garments of holy splendor.

Now, we fight and press on for those garments.

Now we stand in the complete work of Christ – fixing our eyes on Jesus; setting our minds on Heavenly things; presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to Him. (Hebrews 11; Colossians 3; Romans 8)

The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

The GOD of GLORY THUNDERS,

The Lord, over many waters.

Repetition to make a point.

Review.

Pictures of Genesis 1:2 come to my mind.

How can a voice be “hovering” (so to speak) over the waters?

“Hovering” brings to mind a picture of thickness.

I love that phrase, “the God of glory THUNDERS.”

Wouldn’t you love to hear that delightfully horrifying sound?

A sound that strengthens you but shakes you to the core of your being – the ultimate adrenaline rush.

I can’t wait to hear His Voice and not just the shadows of it in our thunder.

Maybe that’s why we, as a people are drawn to the sights and sounds of the storms and the waters.

Truth be told, I like the ocean waters so much that I get a little teary-eyed when I think about their absence in the new earth. (Of course, whatever is there will be MUCH better and I will laugh at myself for being so silly.)

Perhaps, because the voice of the Lord thunders and sounds like rushing waters, maybe the need for the ocean’s waves is gone.

Maybe the sounds of the seraphim and cherubim and the four living creatures and the elders will scatter away in “lost dreams” the sounds of the ocean.

How is a voice “full of majesty”?

I looked it up and my computer dictionary had a good sentence, “Experience the majesty of the Rockies.”

Breath-taking and overwhelming is the voice of the Lord.

A voice that is foreshadowed by all the created things I love: oceans, mountains, and thunderstorms.

Ascribe to the Lord the glory DUE His Name.

Forever is not enough.

Praise Him

“The primary business I must attend to every day is to fellowship with the Lord. The first concern is not how much I might serve the Lord, but how my inner man might be nourished.” (The Autobiography of George Muller 138)

“Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining.” (Exodus 34:34-35)

“Heaven will be hard and bright, and the winds will be strong. You will have the body and the eyes and the purified, well-aged soul to bear it. We will remake this world with blistered hands. […] When we have eyes that can stare into the sun, eyes that only squint for the Shekinah… ” (italics mine; Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl 154)

He has convicted my soul with the reality that I am a selfish beast. I don’t LOVE people; I use them. I don’t LOVE Him above all, only when it’s convenient and/or necessary.

But I want that to change. I want to love Him (and others) more, more, and MORE. And part of this must be seen in my actions.

Are you ready for not just Heaven, but the NEW WORLD?! Are you ready to labor in His Presence and to see His Face?

He is in control of all things and because of Him all things exist.

God is holy.

God requires me to be holy.

And so, I must be.

How GREAT and AWESOME is He.

May He save many more people from their wretched state.

May He bring many people to KNOW Him and to LOVE Him.

May hearts be turned to repentance!

May we have ears and eyes to see and know.

Only by the grace of God.

GRACE! – Let it flood down.