Living a Life of Worship

Do you ever go to a worship service and feel like you're just beginning to get really into it when suddenly it ends? When that happens to me I just stand there and think, "Hey worship band! I wasn't ready to stop yet! Keep going!" But I never actually say that, and they never actually keep going. It's disappointing isn't it? I'm all for listening to sermons and getting the Word of God spoken to me and explained to me, and all that is a form of worship. But the singing and the praying during songs and just seeing how God reveals Himself to me and those around me during that time just fills me with so much inspiration. I hate when those moments end because all I want to do in that moment is forever sing to my God how much I love Him and how much I cannot wait to be with Him and praising Him forever.

I have been thinking lately about different ways that people worship to experience God and thank Him for all He has done. Some worship through dance and song, some through scripture reading and analysis, some through prayer, some through art, some through sports, some through their academics, and so much more. The way I worship best is through prayer and writing (hence this blog!). I believe that God has given each and every one of us special "talents" that He made us especially unique in, and I believe that as Christians we should use those God-given talents to our best ability to offer what ever we have up to God, the One who made us. We owe Him everything we are, every breath that we breathe, so I think that the least we can do is to use who we are to worship Him.

Just imagine how incredible it will feel when the only responsibility we have is to stand and worship God all day, every day! Even if we still have to go to school, it will be a form of worship to God. Even if we still have to do homework, it will be a form of worship to God. Everything we do will be an act of worship, praising God and glorifying his name. I cannot wait to spend my every minute of the rest of eternity just giving my everything to God.

Why don't we do that here? We get glimpses of that every so often, but it doesn't stay, does it? Life "gets in the way" of us living for God. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. We make excuses for why we haven't spent time in the Word or in prayer today, and let's face it, none of those are good excuses. Everything we do should be done as an offering to God and with a heart of worship. Worship is more than just singing. Worship means to show reverence and adoration for [God]. How can you show God how much you love, revere, and adore him through the little things you do in your day?

The more we prepare our hearts here to live for God, the more people will see how much we need Him in our lives, and then we will have even more people in heaven praising and worshipping God with us for the rest of eternity. Don't you want to see that? Don't you want every loved one in your life to be with you, worshipping God, for the rest of eternity by your side?

I don't know about you, but that makes me so joyful to think about and I just cannot stop smiling! I don't do a great job of worshipping God in everything I do, but I do want to try and I want to inspire you to strive to do so as well. What better way is there to live than living to please our Creator?

Let this song inspire you as well! :)

I Can Only Imagine - MercyMe

Stomp Out the Dirt & Invite Jesus Over

God is great. Let me just get that out there! It's so overused... yet so incredibly not used enough. Would you agree with me? We say these things so easily: "God is good" or "God is with you" and all those verses we have had memorized since childhood. But how often do you sit back, really look at who God is, breathe it all in, and then let this massive grin fill your face as you truly recognize how amazing our God is? He is awesome!

It is true that God is not always that lovely-dovey God who never lets us get hurt. He does let us get hurt and he does get angry at us. Doesn't He, the God of the universe and the creator of every living thing, have a right to be angry with us when we act like complete idiots who are obsessed with sinful things and temporary gods? I think so! We should be angry at us, too!

The thing is, God told me what to do and I accepted the task. I said yes. I knew when I accepted that it was going to be tough, but I had no idea what He had in store for me. Things have been up and down and all over the place with me and God and what I see Him doing, but I know that I just need to continue to cling on to Him and ask Him to reveal to me what He wants me to see. Except, there was one itty bitty [aka: super massive] issue smack dab in the middle of my heart that was blocking my eyes from seeing what He wanted me to see and doing what He wanted me to do. I like to call this little thing "LIES".

I didn't realize it for a very long time, but there is a lot of dirt in my heart that needs to be cleaned out before I can even begin to think about trying to show other people my heart and Jesus. It took a lot of tears, a lot of my friends calling me out on things, a couple of people very hurt by my actions, a lot of prayer, a $10 concert, and a little bit of a trip through my Sea Tribe story from Senior year to get me to where I am right now. And where am I exactly? Well, I am on the road to freedom. I am on the road paved with victory and surrounded with angels who are rejoicing and cheering me on the whole time I am traveling.

You see, satan is real. And most Christians don't realize the power we have over satan when we have God, and satan uses that to his advantage. He takes us apart piece by piece, weakness by weakness. He works in the smallest details; not just the big ones. He has a pattern. I figured out one of his patterns, one of his moves that he uses on me, and I learned how to overcome that. But then he finds other ways to get to me and destroy the things that I can use to serve God. He picks on other aspects and he disguises them differently. He is a sneaky one, that devil. But God is stronger!

If you know what I am talking about, recognize that satan has a grasp on these aspects of your life and pray them away. Not only that, but pray for God to fill those spaces with Himself, so that satan may not re-enter and take away from you serving God better. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then pray that God would reveal these things to you where satan is holding on and God isn't. Either God has it, or satan has it. Choose God and cut satan off from any and every connection he could have to your life. Pray those away, yell at satan and tell him how horrible and awful he is. Tell him you hate him. Stomp your feet on the ground and squash him. And fill those now empty spaces  with Jesus. Don't let satan back in. He is stronger than we are, but God is stronger even more so than everyone and everything. If God is on our side, who can be against us?

When you know you're on the winning side, you feel victory during the battle. Rejoice in that victory and keep fighting to the end.

God First, Then the Calling.

There is something heavy on my heart today as I write this post, so things may be a little raw. I learn about myself and what God is trying to tell me when I write, so I'm going to take you on this journey with me, and hopefully you can be praying for me and be encouraged or gain some sort of insight from this. I'm not quite sure where it's going to go.

Early last week I felt a strong calling from God to do something. Last week and the week before that was just one of those times when all I could feel was joy from being in God's presence and really seeking Him out (it's an amazing place to be!). On Tuesday night I was at one of the evening services for Holiness Emphasis Week and Steve DeNeff was speaking (an incredible speaker, too!) and it seemed like every other thing he spoke was directed right at me. I remember turning to my roommate Charlotte and telling her, "See, this is what God was saying to me earlier this week! He's talking to me right now!" Little did I know, He wasn't going to stop there. By the end of the service, during the closing prayer, God made it clear that the entire talk was just little warm-ups and that He had something much bigger for me to hear. I think He was just making sure I was listening. I put my head down on my knee and began to pray along with Pastor DeNeff. But before I knew it, the prayer was over... and I couldn't move. God had taken over my body and told me to stay put until I accepted what He had told me to do and talked to someone about it. Talk about intense! God wanted to know if I was serious about following Him.

To keep from writing my entire recent-life story in one blog post, I will just tell you that God asked me to be prepared to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to following Him. I have gotten so comfortable in my relationship with Him to the point where it's so easy to talk about Him and all He is doing with my close friends who are easy to talk to about it all. It's fantastic and important. I'm not shooting that down at all. But He told me this: "I'm proud of you for coming as far as you have. I'm proud of you for drawing nearer to Me. Hold on to what you have there, but in addition to that, I want you to step out of that comfort zone and live for Me there, too." My initial response?

"I'm not ready."

And as soon as that thought came through my head and I said it to God, He shut it down and gave me nothing left to argue. It doesn't matter if I "feel ready"spiritually. It doesn't matter if I'm not reading my Bible enough or praying enough. All that matters when Christ calls me to do something, is that I listen to what He says, obey, and be ready to serve Him wherever He may put me. Have you ever heard the quote that says, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called"? That's what He was telling me. He said "Amelia, I have a plan to use you, and if you want me to to use you, you need to stop arguing with me because you're going to lose," and he said, "I can do this without you, but you're my child and I want to give you a chance to do what I created you to do for the kingdom." Wow. He put it on me hard that evening in Hughes Chapel as I sat there absolutely unable to move until I had this conversation with Him.

A lot happened that evening with conversations with friends about God and faith. I went to bed that night feeling so encouraged and energized. I felt that the rest of the week almost. But then I hit a wall. I let my selfishness and my humanity get it the way of God using me. The thing is though, that God's plan will still go through with or without me. It will just not include me and I won't get that wonderful chance to glorify God and love my Savior and His people the way I would have been able to.

To be honest, I am still kind of stuck in that rut of selfishness and misdirection and doubt. And this is where I would like to ask YOU to pray for me. This morning in church, Pastor Basil Hall said, "If God wants you to do something, His plan for you will not change." I want to trust that God's plan for me is as He spoke it to me (and if it's not, that He would speak clearly to me what that is). I want to trust that "he who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6, NIV)

I think that the place where I went wrong here started when I tried to go off of what God told me to do... by my own strength, ability, and knowledge. This morning I realized that I need to redirect my path. I need to look to God first, put all that I have and all that I am into seeking God and living for Him  - He is all that matters after all - and THEN Christ will guide me to that place outside of my comfort zone where He has called me to. If I try to separate my relationship with God from the calling God has placed on my life, it's not going to work out. I will only end up failing and feeling miserable in my attempts. God and my calling must be one in the same. They must wrap up in each other and then be the guiding force in my life. God first, then everything else will fall into place as He desires it to be for me.

I am elated to see what God is going to do in this situation that He has slowly shown me pieces of. I made a promise to God to obey, and I want to follow through on that! Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it." God takes our vows, or promises, very seriously and I want to show Him that I am seriously in love with Him and desire to follow Him with everything I am. Please, pray with me as I go through this. I need your encouragement and love as I seek the path God has for me.

"Don't pray that God would teach you how to love like He loves; pray that He would fill you with Himself and that He would love in and through you. Don't pray that he would teach you to have joy; pray that the living God full of joy would enter into you. Don't pray that He would teach you how to be peaceful; ask for the God of peace, the Prince of peace to infill you. Because if you try to imitate in your own strength, you will be a miserable replica. But if you allow the impartation of Jesus Christ to overtake you, suddenly it all works because it is Him imitating Himself, and He is very good at being God." -Eric Ludy