Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

What does doing the works of God mean to you?  If you are a Christian, it can mean any number of things. I have walked with the Lord long enough to realize a few things about doing His works.   I fully believe that the Lord's works are done first and foremost in our hearts.  Out of this connection, or as Oswald Chambers puts it, "comradeship," His works flow outward.   What I mean is, it is much easier to put the proverbial cart before the horse, the cart being outer good works.  The true work, what Jesus is after, lies within our hearts.  When the Lord takes up residence in our hearts, via the Person of the Holy Spirit, He comes to rule and reign there.  When we allow Him to rule in our hearts, that is how His works are accomplished through us. Now this is actually the harder work, because it is not tangible or quantifiable.  And Lord knows, we are a results-driven society! But remember, the Lord is after our hearts.  Always.  This is Scriptural (see I Samuel 16:7).  The

One day, when feeling down in the dumps, the Lord showed me the way out of my pit by giving me a very practical list.  I am sharing it with you here in case you need help out of your pit! 1. Sup with Me.  Spend quality time with with Me. 2. Trust Me!  Believe Me again. 3. Stop looking around you and look within instead.  All of the answers are there within you because I live within you. 4. Time spent with Me changes your mindset and you realize that you are welcome at My table of plenty. 5. No one and nothing is holding you back except for your skewed mindset.  You can  think new thoughts and not project the past onto the future! 6.  NO FEAR! 7. Know that your circumstances, and how others mistreat you, cannot hold you back or stop My plan for your life. 8. Speak up and speak out with My Spirit guiding you. 9. Cease striving after validation and being understood, for your worth comes from Me.  10. You can't put old wine into new wineskins where I am leading you and calling you. 11.

Think about it.  David danced wildly for the Lord in broad daylight, in public.  He was crazy about God.  His devotion for God was off the charts.  We know this not just through His glorious, raw, real, and even vindictive Psalms, but because God Himself tells us so.  David was a man after God's own heart. David wanted God. Another example of David's antics - he actually pretended to be insane!   "'So he [David] pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.  Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane!'"  I Samuel 21:13-14 David was afraid for his life because King Achish was out to get him.  People do crazy things when they think their life is at stake. Some of David's Psalms are a bit mad, too.  Boy, did he want his enemies pulverized!  And he minced no words in letting God know how he felt and how he wanted God

If I focus on people more than Jesus, then they become the center of my life.  My life is my inner life first and foremost: my thoughts, emotions, desires.  What or who am I allowing into my heart?  How do I practically guard my heart? "Halt!  You cannot enter here!" I can speak these words out loud to anyone or anything trying to overstep my boundaries.  "You are not allowed into my heart, for it is holy ground because Jesus lives there." Things that cannot abide in the same place where Jesus is: - hurt - unforgiveness - lust - pride (being "right") - fear - doubt - people's opinion of me - confusion - worry over a perceived lack of resources - fearing the future based on past experience - comparisons This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the point.   But when I let Christ rule in my heart as the center of my heart and life, I am trading the above list in for this list of rich benefits: - peace - love - joy - boldness - courage - wisdom - knowle

If you travel in Christian circles at all, you have undoubtedly heard somewhere along the line that God has a plan for your life. You may have even heard that God has a wonderful plan for your life. Only problem is, our definition of wonderful is not the same as God's. How do I know?  Experience. We're American.  So our idea of "wonderful" has been molded by idealistic dreaming - as long as you are living the American  dream, you are doing well. But is that God's idea of wonderful?  What exactly is God getting at with His plans for our lives? Our hearts. Pure and simple. He wants our hearts. The seat of life, emotions, dreams, hopes, affections, desires - these are what our hearts hold. Once our hearts belong to Christ, His plans are able to fully work in and through and for us. He has and wants good things for us because He is a good God. But if we've lived any length of time, somewhere along the way - either frequently or not - our hearts have been broken, b

We are called to love one another.  That is Jesus' command to us - Love each other as I have loved you, He said.   We can do this as a doctor, as a wife, as a mother, as a ditch digger, as a movie star, as a singer, as a high school teacher -- you catch my drift. Our job title or role factors into it zero when it comes to loving others.  We are to love people wherever we go, whatever we do.  This is Jesus' non-negotiable for us.  This is our foundational calling. Jobs comes, jobs go.  Relationships change.  Status wavers.  Careers can leave us wanting more and eventually end.   We have many assignments and roles in life - they change with the seasons or years, depending on our age or circumstances. But our main calling never changes.  Not ever.   If we're the greatest _______ (fill in the blank) who ever lived and yet have little love in our hearts, we're missing our calling. We've come to value the wrong things in life, overall.  We are impressed by the "outer

I had the privilege of singing with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at their Music Conference.  It was glorious!  As we sang God’s praises, His glory, power, love, and peace filled the air.  His presence there was truly awesome!  I wanted to move there! But further down the road, the Lord showed me it wasn’t the choir I wanted, but Him. His Presence. The Lord led us back to hear the choir a few years later.  I thought for sure that this time, He was leading us to actually move to Brooklyn. He knew my heart and how I longed to worship Him with other like-minded worshipers. At the time, He had led us to a contemporary non-denominational church instead.  There, the worship was a mere show.  Plenty of noise, but God was nowhere to be found. I cried out “Why, Lord, why?  Why do you have us here?” But then He showed me something crucial. When we came back from our second visit to Brooklyn Tab and went to our Sunday morning “worship” service, He spoke to me right then and there, “You don’t need

Here's how it happens, pretty much step by step: We get hurt. Instead of turning to Christ, we let the hurt turn into anger. We become apathetic towards God because we are caught up in our own pain (by the way, you can choose to turn to Him instead). Christ can no longer live fully in our hearts because our hearts are full of sin (pride, anger, rebellion, bad attitudes, etc.). Our love for Christ and others grows cold. We build walls around our heart so we won't be hurt again. This is a sad list, indeed.  But there is a way out! There is a way back to God, to sanity, to health,, to the good  life.   Repent.   It's that simple. Admit to God that you messed up, that you're hurting, and that you want to feel His love again and be at peace. When He knows your heart wants to do the right thing, He will meet you right there where you're at. What a wonderful, awesome privilege we have in Christ!  He takes us back!  Every.  Time. Dear Lord, I pray that You keep me close to

My passion is spiritual growth.  I want to grow not only in the knowledge of the Lord, but in His grace and character.  This is a holy work done by His Holy Spirit in me and through me. Please note the word work  here - for it is work!  It is hard.  Why?  Because it goes against the grain of our culture, for the most part.  We stand out, or at least should, when we truly follow Jesus and His ways. We cling to our hope in Christ.  The world clings to the stock market or whatever else gives them a sense of "security."   We look for a better world to come.  The world fights like crazy to preserve this world, their earthly lives.  Note:  of course we are to be caretakers and take the best care possible of the Lord's world here and now.  But Christians know that this is not the final world. We discern good from evil and are not afraid to say so.  The world has come to call evil good and good evil (never thought I'd live to see the day!). We belong to Christ and therefore l

Christ lives in our hearts by faith once we receive Him as Lord of our lives.  So it would stand to reason that since He lives in our hearts, that if we "follow our hearts," we are following Him.  But that is not the case. Scripture tells us that the heart is deceitful above all else. (see Jeremiah 17:9 ) The heart is the seat of our emotions.  God gave us emotions as gifts.  But they are not to be trusted as gods or sources of truth and wisdom.  Emotions are ever-changing and unreliable.  No, we need more than our hearts to guide us. For truth and wisdom there is only one place to consult: God's Word.   We know that what our heart "tells" us can be the furthest thing from God's Word.  "But I feel  like this is the right thing to do."  "I am overwhelmed with emotion, so it must be God's will."   As women especially, our emotions run deep.  They can also be all over the place! That is why it is crucial to know and study God's Word.

All the laws in the world do not have the power to change the human heart. Oh there may be outward compliance, but that is no indication of what is going on in the heart. Think about wearing a mask during this pandemic.  Did you ever once feel  like wearing a mask when you went out?  Probably not.  I know I didn't.  Do we always feel  like doing what is right?  In today's world, do we even know right from wrong any more?  I mean, what the Bible calls sin has become acceptable in our society.   Only Christ can change the human heart.  And that is not done from the outside-in. When we are born again, Jesus comes to live in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  That is how He is able to change us from the inside out.   As far as I have experienced, there is no other route to genuine change.  No self-help, no striving or trying to "be good" can change the heart of the matter.  Doing the right thing outwardly can be done by just about anyone.  But the Lord is after our hear

I encourage you to worship the Lord today!  Wherever you are, whatever is happening in or around you, He is worthy of our worship.  He is the only One worthy of worship.  Play my song, "Lord, I Lift Up My Heart" and sing along.  Have a love fest with Jesus!  Lord, I Lift Up My Heart We were created to worship God.  So when we don't, we're not living in our true identity or greatest purpose.  Worshiping, or giving our highest attention to, anything or anyone else leaves us empty and is futile. But when we worship the Lord, He is glorified and we are filled with His love. It is a beautiful thing when done from the heart. So take just three minutes right now and sing along and worship Jesus!  You will feel better.  Promise!