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The Practical Proverbs

Sometimes, I find myself in a rut spiritually. I realize that what I'm lacking is something different in my devotion time. Sometimes, my devotion time is so sweet and I feel God's Presence and other times just aren't as good. God's spirit is so sweet and when I don't feel that for a day or two, instead of getting frustrated and desiring it like I should, my flesh tells me to ignore it and not to worry about it at all. What I have realized for about the last month is that instead of doing a devotion out of a book or doing some study through the Bible, I've been reading Proverbs. Before when I'd get spiritually "paralyzed", I would turn to the Psalms. Someone told me the few weeks ago that as a musician and worshiper, the Psalms are good, however, sometimes, we as musicians wear our emotions on our shoulders and the Psalms are like a gallon of gasoline to a campfire. Now, many people would say, "well, isn't that good?", yes, it is however, what happens, the campfire eventually goes down. What we need to be doing is making our fire large but keeping it there. Proverbs can be read 12 times a year and every single time you read it, it's different. Every time you read it, God does something different because of the different situations in your life. Proverbs is so practical in our worship. Many times we force emotion in order to worship, when we need wisdom. I love how Solomon refers to wisdom so many times in Proverbs. Here are some great examples:

"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." - Proverbs 4:7

"If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer." - Proverbs 9:12

Really, we as worshipers should be praying for wisdom. Without wisdom, our worship is in vein. I am a worshiper first, God's command for us is clear in his word -- we just have to read it. I believe to be an effective worshiper in a pew or on a platform, you must have wisdom.

Georgetown University Hid Religious Symbols at White House Request - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

So, I believe that there are something our President is good. I think that sometimes, his administration is doing stupid things however. This is a great example: 

Georgetown University Hid Religious Symbols at White House Request - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Does Satan Exist?

This is from a Nightline Feature from a few weeks ago.... This has nothing to do with "The Church" Series... but i thought it was interesting. There's 10 Parts of this interview/debate. Watch them all. Very Powerful. Glad Mark Driscoll said what he did and that he had a Bible. "Christians have always believe there are distinctions between the creator and creation.... Rebellion against God caused Moral Evil. Everything God made declared to be very good and all that is very bad is because of sin, which is our responsibility and Satan's"

On the opposing side, Deepak Chopra said "Satan is mythical and that healthy people, don't need Satan."

Check it out for yourself: http://abcnews.go.com/nightline/faceoff 

Humbleness

For me, over the past year of my life, I've had great opportunity. I've had great responsibility and looking back, I enjoyed it... but here's the thing, God's bringing me back to my knees, back to my core. Shaking me to my core. It is difficult for me to be super-humble, I'm an artist. When you're in the spotlight and on a platform it's difficult to stay humble, but I'm trying. 

Today, I was reading in 1 Timothy, it says, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." Wow, what a thought? to think that just because I'm young and somewhat successful, that I need to be a huge example... I am praying now for God's mercy and for him to show me humbleness. I think He's working on me... or at least I hope He is. I am a worshipper first, no matter what God sends me to or puts me through, I am His and worship Him alone.

 

The Journey

Where God leads us sometimes is amazing, where we lead ourselves sometimes is amazing. But what I've learned is there's a difference between success, tradition, even loyalty when it come to peace. God's Peace is an ultimate gift from Him. Psalm 34:14 says, "Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." Now over the past year of my life, there wasn't evil, there wasn't bad, but there wasn't peace. God says to seek peace and pursue it! So many times, if we get a glimpse of His peace, we don't pursue it. One definition of pursue is to capture. To capture God's Peace, to think that we can miss it? To think that in ourselves and in our daily routines, we miss God's Peace. I want to strive for God's peace, for God's will in my life. There's a song that says "Isn't it great, when He's 4 days late, He's still on time." God's taught me more in the past 2 weeks than I would've ever imagined. I have more peace and I am thankful for God's security... Not sure yet how He's gonna provide... but He'll provide! I must just remember that I am worshipper first. 

Love

"There is a time for risky love. There is a time for extravagant gestures. There is a time to pour out your affections on one you love. And when the time comes -- seize it, don't miss it.” - Max Lucado

So many times we take this word called "love" for granted. We love our spouse/girlfriend/special someone. We love our family. We love Food. We love Music. We love Atmospheres. We love Friends. We love Smoothie King. We love our Church. We love artwork. We love trains. We love long walks on the beach... I think you get the idea.

So many times, we take this word called "love" out of context. In the dictionary, there's two different words for love, a verb and a noun. The noun says, "strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties". The verb says, "to hold dear". Now, i think that these are both very, very good examples of "love" but let's read what God's word says,

"If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." - John 15:10

What a thought? Jesus' love for us, he says it above. Obey my Father's commands and you will remain in love. I pray everyday that I remain in my Father's commands not just for His love but because of the great guidance. I am a worshipper first, not a lover first, but I worship my God because he is Worthy, Great and Almighty to deserve the praise that He desires. I love Him and He loves me... what a great principle. Remember... Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him!

Jack