What's in Front of You?

On speaking about “Hearing from God,” Jenn Johnson said, “Be faithful where you’re planted; build what’s in front of you.” OK, so what does being faithful have to do with hearing from God?  There are times God may ask you to do something crazy; maybe you’re at the grocery store and God says, “Go pray for that person down the aisle.” Then you begin to rationalize thinking that is probably just my mind making up crazy ideas; why would God ask me to do something so extreme and out of my comfort zone?  Or maybe God asks you to give the only $2 in your wallet to the homeless person on the corner. And again you begin to think that’s probably just my mind again. What can anyone do with $2? They probably won’t use it for anything good anyway. So maybe it wasn’t God. Maybe it was just your mind. Wouldn’t you rather have done it and it not been “from God,” than have missed an opportunity for obedience?

“There shouldn’t be a thought process between when God speaks and when we obey. When we obey, we don’t know what kind of chain reaction we’re starting.” (Jenn J.).  So let’s get to my real point. Maybe God hasn’t called you to do something so extreme and out of your comfort zone. Maybe He’s called you to “build what’s in front of you.” Maybe He’s told you to take your kid on a date night once a week, or have a family night, or take cookies to your neighbor or help your parents out around the house, or send a kind note to a co-worker. What are the everyday things that God has put right in front of you to build and be faithful in during this season?

I don’t think God asks us to do things just to see if we’ll be obedient, although that's part of it, but I think He asks us to do things to help build our faith, to build our character, so that we may grow and thrive as powerful people. Banning Liebscher has a great message about building what’s in front of you that he preaches on from Nehemiah.  He mentions that this is part of our process – building what’s in front of us. If God gave us everything we wanted before we went through a process it would probably kill us because we wouldn’t be prepared to handle the weight of a vision without character.  Banning says to “embrace the season and do it well [so] people will find you thriving in every part of the journey.” 

So what has God asked you to do? What are you called to build that is right in front of you? DO IT WELL! You never know what kind of chain reaction your small act of faithfulness/obedience will start.

 

Give it up!

Have you ever been around someone who is stressed ALL the time and found yourself becoming stressed or uptight when you’re around them? Or have you been around someone who is full of joy and found yourself feeling really happy and joyful? That’s because we all give off what we carry, whether it’s stress, frustrations, joy or peace. Kris Vallotton says, “You’ll always create the environment within you around you.” Whaaaaat?  Yeah, take that in for a minute. Whatever we are carrying around inside of us, whatever we’re allowing our minds to think about, whatever we’re holding in hearts will be released in the environment around us and everywhere we go.

We can have a huge impact on the environment around us (for better or worse) whether it’s at work, at home, at the grocery store, etc.  YOU LEAK! So what are you leaking right now? Are you leaking more stress and anxiety into a stressful situation or are you leaking love and peace? Are you leaking negativity into an already dark place or are you leaking hope and joy? Don’t let your junk leak on everyone else. Let Holy Spirit bring your junk to the surface and then leave it at the foot of the Cross.  There’s an alternative gift that Holy Spirit wants to give you for every negative thing you lay down to Him (ie. If you leave stress, you pick up the gift of peace). So give it up! Give up your junk and take a better gift! Gifts are always good…AND they’re free!

Someone told me today that I have a lot of tolerance; that’s because I’ve walked it out. I carry peace because I have chosen peace over stress when stressful situations come up. I’ve chosen peace when everything around me is turmoil. And in the place I’m at right now, I’m gaining even more tolerance because I’m choosing peace and patience in each situation that threatens my peace and patience.  I'm not saying I've "arrived," but I'm definitely moving forward in the process. Whatever difficult situation you’re facing, choose the opposite. Do it daily. Do it in every situation. Choose hope; choose love; choose joy; chose honor; choose peace. It starts with a choice. If you want to release it into the environment around you, you have to walk it out to get it within you first, and I guarantee it’ll be better than anything you give up!

HE is the goal

I think sometimes we get in the routine of home, work, school, church, etc. and at some point we think, “What the heck am I working towards?” “What is my goal here?” “What’s the point?” We can get dragged down in the every day, natural stuff that is our lives and we miss the ultimate goal of why we do what we do.

As a worship leader I can come in with a great band and an awesome set list and have an explosive time of worship, but if God isn't the goal, if His presence isn’t the goal, I’ve missed it totally. As a teacher I can get caught up in the routine of the class schedule, dealing with the “difficult” kid, and just try to make it through another day/week/month, but if God isn’t the goal in my classroom and in the experience I bring to it, then I’ve missed the goal.

Working in a classroom this week has shown me that a lot of times (in any job really) our mindset is often to survive and get through the week. “It’ll be worth it when the paycheck comes.” Right? When the truth is, if our goal and the way we think doesn’t change, it will never really be worth the paycheck because we will simply be surviving instead of thriving like we were created to do.

My personal goal this week is to do a little less complaining, a little more encouraging, and see what happens when I invite God’s presence into every situation. What would my week look like if HE was the goal? Everything we do is an opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit and invite the presence of God into our lives. How would that change the way we look at housework, going to church, or working the same nine to five job until retirement?

One of my favorite verses, Romans 11:36 says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” It is all about Him. Jenn Johnson said, “We are called to cast a vision of who God is and who we are in Him.” What would our week look like if we actually did this?

He is always the goal!

It is NOT about you...or me

I actually typed this blog a couple days ago and the funny thing is that I’ve struggled more with all of this in the last two days than I did before I typed it…interesting how that works out.  Gotta walk it out if I want to give it out!

One thing Jenn Johnson said during a class on leading worship was that “it is not about you!” As a worship leader (or any type of leader) it is NOT ABOUT YOU. It's about who you're leading and who/what you're leading them to. As parents do we lead our kids towards empowerment, giving them choices and opportunities to clean up their messes or do we lead them towards powerlessness where they feel they have no choice or power to change their lives? As business leaders, do we lead our co-workers in honor and excellence or half-heartedness and a mentality that says, “I'm only here for a paycheck?” As worship leaders, are we leading the church into an encounter with the One who it's all about, or are we simply leading people in a great musical chorus with all the bells and whistles?

I've realized to take on the roles God has set before me that my focus cannot be ME. Although I need to be the best “me” I can be and take care of myself in order to lead well, I have to remember that everything is first and foremost about leading others into an encounter with God and His Kingdom, which obviously looks different from the church to the workplace, but it's still possible. Next, it's about loving the people I'm leading. If I don't love people, then I'm not going to value them enough to lead them anywhere.

When my focus changes to myself, I've noticed I tend to get anxious and feel that I don't have what it takes to do the tasks at hand. I'm sure many of you know that anxiety and insecurity aren't really the best examples to lead with. However, when I change my focus and turn my attention towards Daddy God and the people that He loves, my whole attitude changes. I realize my “love for God and people will supersede my gift/talent/abilities, even on bad days” (Martin Smith) and also that the omni-presence of God is an opportunity to invite Him into any and every situation that comes up while I'm leading. It's an opportunity to show others His character and nature by showing them His Kingdom values in the way I act, respond, speak, etc. When the focus is on ourselves we can feel insecure really quick, but when it's on the One who is perfect and all-powerful, we can feel empowered for the task at hand. It really just takes all the pressure off; our thinking shifts from “I have to perform in order to lead well” to “I really just need to love God and love people well.”

Live well, love well, lead well.

Let Process Begin!

So I’m on this little journey called “life” – maybe you’ve heard of it – and I know there are specific things God is speaking to me (and you) right now; the question is, “What the heck are they?!” So maybe I don’t know everything He’s speaking right now, but I can start with what I do know – Worship.

I’ve been on a journey with music my whole life from singing “The B.I.B.L.E” at church as a kid, to singing loud the boy-crazy, heart-break songs with my girlfriends in middle/high school, to going goo goo eyed for the guy that plays the guitar in college, to stepping into my own role in music with playing and singing. I’ve had this passion for singing, for making music, for bringing my own song to the Lord, and I’ve always thought that was my worship to God, my calling. But over the last year or so  I’ve realized that making music isn’t really my act of worship at all…it’s the overflow OF my worship.

Recently I attended Bethel School of Worship in Redding, CA, which was an amazing opportunity and I got SO MUCH out of it. The problem is trying to process everything I got from school! So here’s my challenge to myself (and I’m inviting you to keep me accountable): I figure the best way for me to process all the information and revelation I received at school is for me to take one or two pages of my notes and look over them each week… and then look over them again and again until Holy Spirit shows me every aspect that He wants me to see from them. So to keep myself accountable, I’m going to blog about what I process each week. My goal is to take in every aspect of what I’ve received, learn to walk it out really well over the next year, and share my process with everyone around me. We’ll see how this goes.

So here’s what I’ve been chewing on this week from my notes:

Worship doesn’t have anything to do with music; music is just one way to express what we experience every day in relationship with God, which is where real worship begins – in the everyday. It’s being a good “me.” It’s waking up every day and saying, “I choose You, Lord.” It’s about responding in love instead of reacting out of anger, fear, or stress. It’s choosing to worship the Lord, to serve Him in literally every detail of our lives. “Yes, Lord, I’ll worship you in taking out the trash that’s overflowing that everyone else has walked by. Yes, Lord, I’ll worship you in doing the dishes after I’ve worked all day, come home and cooked, and tucked the kids into bed. Yes, Lord, I’ll worship you by choosing to love this person that just cocked an attitude with me in the grocery line. Yes, Lord, I’ll worship you in playing UNO ten times in a row with the kids. Yes, Lord, I’ll worship you in loving my spouse when their actions are on the verge of driving me nuts. Yes, Lord, I'll worship you by honoring my boss who's acting like a tool...again! I CHOOSE YOU, LORD.”

I think when we choose to say “yes” to Him in the small things, we will become the best we can possibly be, because the Perfect One will be involved in every aspect of our lives. You know that one friend you hang out with all the time whose mannerisms and sayings you take on? Same goes for when we hang out with God and invite Him into every part of our lives. When we choose to say “yes” to Him in the daily things it becomes natural to be who God has called us to be, to love well, to respond instead of react, to live a life of worship pleasing to the Father. Becoming the best “me” and the best "you" is part of our worship that will overflow into our musical worship and invite others into the presence of God. What would it look like if you were the best "you" you could be and how would that impact those in your sphere of influence?

OK, so all of that came from only one bullet in my notes (and there are pages of them) and this is only a tiny portion of what worship looks like in our lives! This may be a longer process than I thought, but I think I’m up for the challenge!

So here's to dreams...

SO,
It’s been awhile…obviously. So, I’m just going to dive into what my life looks like since Bethel and hopefully it’ll make sense when I’m done. As most of you know, I went to Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry for the 2011/2012 year and it was amazing! I began to learn who I really was in the Lord, what I was capable of as His daughter, and how to move in the giftings He’s placed inside of me. And then it was back to the “real world.” Back to, “Oh, I have to find a real job now, pay bills, learn to manage my devotional time on my own, learn how to connect with people who have real lives and busy schedules all while trying to figure out how to put into action what I learned.” Needless to say, it’s been a roller coaster figuring out life over the last year. However, it’s been good.

I’ve been learning that although God has called me to be a “connector,” it takes effort and intentionality to share our lives with each other; though it’s well worth it to see how amazing people are when we take that time to be vulnerable. I’m learning that despite my probably poor effort to have daily quality time with the Lord, He’s still faithful – lucky for me that’s just His nature. I’m learning that life includes hard work and working hard, but God’s grace is so efficient and He’s given me true friendships and dreams that far outweigh a little hard work.

So what’s my dream? Well, I’m still working on it, but I know it has to do with worship – and for anyone that knows me, you probably already knew this, so be patient with me as I’m working it out! At the beginning of this year we started small groups at our church with a series of lessons called the “Chazown Experience.” Chazown means vision or purpose, as in “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). I think it’s been more eye-opening for me leading the group than those who are actually in my group. After digging through our past, looking at core values and finding our spiritual gifts, my purpose statement (in somewhat of a ramble) is: bringing freedom to others through free and transparent worship, which is the overflow of intimacy with Daddy God. I’m still (and probably will be for some time) figuring out exactly what this looks like for me personally, although I know it all starts with my personal time of ministering to God's heart and allowing Him to minister to mine. I also know part of it looks like me stepping into another level of worship – prophetic worship, singing my own songs, releasing the songs that God sings over His people…and I’m sure much more.  So where the heck do I go from here?  Well, I took a step of faith and applied for Bethel’s School of Worship, which is two weeks during the summer – an intense time of worship and training Monday through Friday morning to night for two weeks! Sounds a little scary, yet awesome at the same time. Of course God already had all this planned out and I received my acceptance letter a couple weeks ago!

So what now? Now I’m working hard to save money and raise monetary and prayer support. I’m believing the Lord for $3,000 total to cover tuition, travel, and all expenses while there. So here’s what you can do – BELIEVE WITH ME! Trust that the Lord will provide all that I’m needing financially and also open me up to be as transparent and teachable as possible during BSW; I want to get all that I can while I’m there and unlock the fullness of the dreams God has placed in my heart. So, here’s to dreams – moving forward with all the failures and successes that come with them!

England Part III – LONDON…need I say more?

OK, I’ll tell a little about our adventures in London and the surrounding areas. Good thing we were able to rest up in the midlands, because we hit the ground running in London on Friday and didn’t stop until we got on the plane Tuesday – and I loved every second!

As we arrive in London, we meet up with the police chief from one of the surrounding boroughs. Ok, you’re probably wondering why we’re meeting with the chief of police on a mission trip. Well, he happens to know and love Bethel and is connected with some of our leadership there and also wants God to rock his city; so what better way to do that than to release the Kingdom into crime scenes and those that respond to them first – the police department! So when I first heard that would be riding around in police cars and ministering in the streets of London, the first thought in my mind was me riding in a police car, us picking up a gang member and me wondering how in the world to tell a gang member sitting behind me in a police car about Jesus…awkward. It was so much better than I imagined; thank God He’s good and makes things more fun than we imagine them!

First, we go foot patrolling with a couple of officers; we really weren’t sure our boundaries in ministry during this time, or if the officers were even Christians, so we basically just loved and honored the officers as they shared the details of their daily patrols – the areas they regularly patrolled, the main crimes committed, high crime areas/times, etc. It was amazing to release God’s love into the atmosphere as they showed us around their turf and shared their lives with us! Later that evening we had the opportunity to go on first responder calls in the police vehicles…SO MUCH FUN! We paired up and joined two officers. Again, really having no idea what our boundaries were here, we ended up just sharing life with these officers and honoring/thanking them for their service and showing them the love of Jesus. So within the first five minutes of getting in the car there’s a call on the radio that a shoplifter is being held at a store; the lights go on, the sirens start screaming and we tear through the crowded streets of London…in a van. Oh yes, we were in a police van. Let’s paint a little picture – officers in front, Jay and I in the back; now the back seats were facing the back of the van…where the cage was. So first of all, we’re facing the back without a back window, which isn’t really good for someone who gets car sick easily. Second, we’re facing the cage, which means if someone gets arrested we get to stare at them all the way back to the police dept. This just gets better and better. Ok, so we’re tearing through the streets of London; I shriek with excitement and start laughing. I’m sure the officers are wondering why I think this is so fun. Anyway, by the time we get to the store I’m really car sick (and it stuck with me for the next two hours of patrolling), so I’m thankful that we got to get out and go in the store with the officers. The officers get the shoplifter, put him in the cage, and thankfully one of the officers switched places with me just to make sure the guy didn’t cause any trouble – I was grateful for the front seat and a view of the road! Long story short, the rest of the night we get to honor the officers we’re with as they share concerns, crimes, and things that affect them (make their job harder) like riots and protests. We get to stop by an abortion protest and release life and love into the atmosphere; we get to book a drunken homeless guy, stare awkwardly at him on the way to the station and try to get him to talk, and although to no avail, we get to pray with him before he’s booked for the night. All around, I’d say it was a good night!

Next - on to Maidenhead. Saturday, I had to walk through the streets of London and make my way to the tube, AKA the subway. At first I was going to do this by myself, but luckily my host dad walked with me and carried my luggage. I was super grateful because that was a heavy duffel bag! Anyway, first experience on the tube was good, aside from almost falling over when it came to a stop. Then we split into a couple of student-led teams and parted ways again. My group had the super awesome opportunity to go to Windsor and see the Queen’s crib. She was at home too, but sadly we didn’t see her out walking the dog or anything. The castle was so extraordinary and the detail was astounding. Words can’t describe it; even the pictures don’t do it justice. We had an amazing tour inside the castle walls! Sadly we couldn’t take pictures inside due to preserving the antiques. Guess you’ll just have to visit some day. After viewing the castle we’re kind of standing around outside getting our plans together, and one of our hosts looks at me and says, “There’s a very famous person behind you.” Thinking it was probably a British actor that I didn’t know, I turn around, and it’s Simon Cowell! Too shocked and trying to get my camera out, I look back and think, “I should have shouted a prophetic word to him!” Now that would have been awesome! Anyway, that was just a little treat on our already amazing trip.

 

After our castle tour we get to minister at a couple of different churches. That night we ministered to a church in Maidenhead, with most of the people there being students of “Big Year” (I think that’s the name), which is a school of supernatural ministry similar to Bethel, but on a smaller scale. Needless to say that was an amazing night. And then Sunday morning, I went with a team to Slough and ministered there as well. I just want to summarize a couple of cool things during our ministry time. I’ve felt like one of my breakthroughs and best part of this trip was being able to step out and move in the prophetic. After a little practice in the first two part of our trip, I’m feeling pretty safe and bold by this point. So I just start challenging myself and trying something different. I usually get pictures in my mind or impressions of what God wants to say to people. Sometimes I feel like I’m making these words up because I say the first thing that pops into my head, but the best part about it is they were always right – God uses inspired thought more than we think, so quit second guessing yourself! Anyway, Saturday night, I get up to say something, and a wave of the Holy Spirit comes over me.  It was like nothing I’ve ever felt before; it was super strong and I felt like I was going to fall over and I just started laughing. After a couple of minutes I gained my composure. Side note: before I stood up to speak, I felt like a girl had been highlighted to me, so I asked the Lord to highlight something about her. I felt like her watch stood out to me. OK, so I've gained my composure enough to speak now. So I prophesied over the girl that was highlighted to me based on her watch and it totally lined up! How crazy is that!? And that’s not even the best part. I led worship that night and had several people tell me I needed to meet their worship leader, who was young, yet amazing.  I had heard tons of things about her before we even got to church that night. Well the girl I prophesied over was the worship leader! So that was amazing that I could release God’s word over her and also bless her with any anointing I carry concerning worship. Needless to say, that was a great night! The next day of ministry was similar. Small group in a school gym, worship, speaking, and then ministry time. Being bold again, I had a few items that my host mom gave me from her “prophetic box” - items that you’d get from a store like the Dollar Tree. Anyway, I had three items – a little clock, a James Bond figurine car (an Astin Martin), and a water bottle. As I held them, I felt like God highlighted three people to me, so I went up to the first person having no idea what I’m about to say. So I start to talk and at first I’m thinking, “This is so off, this doesn’t make any sense to this woman,” but after a minute I see a tear run down her cheek, and I’m like, “YES! God totally does speak to me and is speaking through this cheap little clock!” Isn’t He good!?! Anyway, I go to the other two people and just speak what I feel, and then my other two team members kind of feed of that and release God’s word over these people as well and it was amazing! Aside from stepping out in the prophetic, my favorite part about this trip was that our team really worked as a team! We honored God’s gift in each other, fed off of each other’s strengths and moved in each others weaknesses. SO GOOD!!!

This was pretty much the highlight of my trip. We had one more night of ministry Sunday night, and then “London Fun Day” on Monday before we left on Tuesday. Amazing times of ministry, seeing God move, seeing myself step out in His grace, seeing people healed and set free, with a little bit of shopping and sight-seeing. Now THAT’S  a good trip!