Thank You for You

 
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/06/saying-thank-you-to-our-sponsors.html

Did I finally run out of things to ask from God? ... or run out of things to thank Him for?

This afternoon, I just got my "new" salary from work, and a friend paid back a loan. So, I'm feeling *financially relieved*...

In addition, my brother just came back from his first trip outside the country, so I'm proud and happy for him, and thankful that he's back safe and doing great...

Also, I'm having a loong weekend --- four days of no school/work, which gives one much peace. Except when I remember my to-do lists (yes there's more than one)...


Interestingly, I found myself writing this to God:


==================================

Hello po Lord. ♥

Thank you po for everything.

But most of all, thank You for You

     not my money

     not my ministry

     not the (my?) _____

     not my work, studies, friends, family

Thank You for You

==================================


It's not that I've already achieved god-hood (hahaha) or even the pinnacle of human perfection. But just some thoughts:

How many times have we thanked Him (instead of asking, complaining, or rebelling)?

How many times have we thanked Him because of Who He is (instead of what He has done, or what He will do for us)?

Isn't it time we seek God's face (His very self) and not just His hand (His blessings)?


Have a great day, and God be with us all.

Start and end the week right

Does your week go something like this?

 

http://themetapicture.com/how-weekdays-pass/ 

First things first... and last. 


"Begin the first day in holy worship;
don't do any regular work on that day.
...
Conclude the seventh day in holy worship;
don't do any regular work on that day."
       --- Numbers 28:18,25 (The Message version)


"On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
...On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work."
       --- Numbers 28:18,25 (New International Version)


Is this where we got Saturday and Sunday as "week-ends"? For the ancient Israelites, one day was actually their week-end and the other the week-start. Still, I usually just see both as rest days at the end of my week, if my work even ended at all.

 http://memegenerator.net/instance/14114371

Do we do this? Worship God first, and last too, for the week? How about for the day? Perhaps if we're feeling particularly pious (or need something really bad), this could be how we start and end our year...

Let's remember our priorities. First Person first... and last.... and all throughout our days.

Worship God, not objects

Last Monday, classes in many Manila schools were suspended. Not because there was a natural disaster, nor because we wanted to extend the Christmas vacation for just one more day. Nay, it was the feast of the Black Nazarene.

This statue is the object of weekly masses and three annual processions [Wikipedia]. The January 9 procession is attended by millions, so much so that scores get injured or even killed in stampedes, and the government even took measures this year to avoid a potential terrorist attack.

Though some of my relatives are devotees of the Nazarene and are proud to have touched the statue themselves, the magnitude and cultural significance of it all hasn't really affected me until now. ("Really? Classes suspended for this? Terrorist threat?")

Which is why, I am all the more glad to see this reminder on our campus Facebook page:

 
"Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God." - Leviticus 26:1


IDOL = image, statue, object. Anything, anyone that is not God Himself.

Some people argue that they are simply "honoring" or "venerating" these reminders of God's presence. That sounds well and good. But:

(1) God Himself said, "Do not MAKE, do not SET UP."

(2) God Himself said, "Do not BOW DOWN."


Let me ask you: Why fight your way to see and touch a "reminder" of Someone who is already with you, who already saved you?


If we want to worship God, let's follow what He says. "Do not worship idols."

The best reason to celebrate (Christmas)

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”

For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.”

- from the first verses of the New Testament


Why celebrate Christmas?

Why celebrate Jesus?


Because God is with us,
and He saves His people from their sins.

Work! Worry... Worship.

The last three labels (tags) in this blog are:

Work
Worry
Worship

How funny. In that order even.

This season I am called to work. And working leads me to my old lifestyle of fussing over everything, multitasking, rushing on a caffeine high...

In other words, doing things in my own power --- being my own god, life before *the* God.

And then I worry because of the tons of problems that pile up. Or is it me who's just shrinking? And drowning? And I panic because I can't do it and I'm done for, lagot, messed up, in so much trouble...


And then...

I remember God.

I remember that it is He who started the good work *in* me, so it is *He* who will finish it.

That it is *He* who causes me to *will*, and to *act* accordingly.

That *nobody* is perfect but Him alone, and nobody can boast before Him.

That He calls me to obey, to please Him, to bless others, and to bring glory back to Him... And that this is an invitation, not to go back to workaholic Teci, but to let God be God in all aspects of my life.

Because all things are possible, through God, and only through God.


Worship is where we lay all our troubles down and remember what --- Who --- is really more important. The One before Whom we and our petty little issues fade away. But it's OK. Would we rather degenerate squabbling over foolish insignificant matters, or be filled with the God of All Things?

Worship is the start of a new, deeper, fuller relationship with our God.

Let us begin. :)

Worship.

Worship takes my worries away.

Keep away from gossip. Go back to Worship.

Worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (NOT me, myself and I!)

What am I listening to? Self-glorifying music, trash talk, appeals to lust and greed and laziness... Go back to worshipping the One True God.

Yesterday I was late again for church. I've been regularly missing the part where people sing to, praise, worship, and celebrate God.

But yesterday, thankfully I stayed behind to catch the worship part in a later service. Now I know what I've been missing.


"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."


Remembering the greatness of my God,
celebrating Who He is and What He is doing,

makes living my life --- nay, the life He lent me ---
so much easier.


Have a great week, everyone. :)

Living Sacrifice: Burnin'!

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God,
to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern
what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- Romans 12:1-2


The same God who has told me in various seasons
to be still and to let go,
to keep silent and then to speak,
to rest, and then to work,
... is now telling me to BURN, SHINE, and LIVE!

Let Your will be done in my life. Amen  :)

All for God is merely reasonable

Giving God your all is not radical. It is merely reasonable.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,

in view of God’s mercy,

to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,

holy and pleasing to God —

this is your true and proper worship.

- Romans 12:1

(Thanks to Ptr. Dan for sharing :) )

Worship - worthy

I love the hard-rock worship style of Third Day especially in this song. It emphasizes and reminds me that God is Power and that He is absolutely worthy of our worship.

I especially like this video because it's a compilation of Bible verses matched with contemporary images (taken from Heartlight). Be blessed :)

Need Inspiration? :)

To "inspire" means to "guide by divine influence".

I have this small box of quotes and prayers from way back --- as in, fifteen years ago? It helped introduce me to God's Word and how to walk with faith in Him. Here they are below... hoping you would be blessed as well. :)

If you're encouraged, do pass these on! :)


Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
You display Your power among the peoples.
- Psalm 77:13-14


Whom have I in heaven but You?
And being with You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- Psalm 73:25


Oh God, touch my heart today
And cleanse me from all sin,
Put your love and joy inside
And keep it safe within
Till someone comes along
And needs my help
To lift their loads today,
Then may I reach inside my heart
and give love and joy away.
- Mildred H. Bell


My Lord and my God,
take me from all that keeps me from You.
My Lord and my God,
grant me all that leads me to You.
My Lord and my God,
take me from myself and give me completely to You.
- St. Nicholas von Flue


Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders You have done.
The things You have planed for us
no one can recount to You;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
- Psalm 40:5 or 6?


Search me, O God,
and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
- Psalm 139:23


Just for today,
What does it matter, O Lord,
if the future is dark?
To pray now for tomorrow
I am not able.
Keep my heart only for today,
give me protection today,
grant me Your light
just for today.
- St. Therese of Lisieux


Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to Thy never failing care and love,
for this life and the life to come;
knowing that Thou are doing for them better things
than we can desire or pray for.
- Book of Common Prayer


O heart of love,
I put all my trust in You;
for I fear all things from my own weakness,
but I hope for all things from Your goodness.
- Margaret Mary Alacoque


Lord, have mercy.
Restore me to liberty
and enable me to so live now
that I may answer before thee and before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring,
thy name be praised.
Amen.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer


May all who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You;
may those who love Your salvation always say,
"Let God be exalted!"
- Psalm 70:4


I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in thy words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate upon Thy promise.
- Psalm 119:147-148


As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for You,
O God.
- Psalm 42:1


Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
- Psalm 51:10


In You, O Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
Rescue me and deliver me in Your righteousness;
turn Your ear to me and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go...
- Psalm 71:1-3


Not to us, O Lord, not to us
but to Your name be the glory,
because of Your love and faithfulness.
- Psalm 115:1


Let Thy steadfast love,
O LORD,
be upon us,
even as we hope in Thee.
- Psalm 33:22


Grant us O Lord,
to pass this day in gladness and peace,
without stumbling and without stain;
that reaching the eventide victorious over all temptations,
we may praise You, the eternal God,
who are blessed, and governs all things,
world without end. Amen.
- Mozarabic Liturgy


Praise the Lord, O my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God
as long as I live.
- Psalm 146:1


One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard:
that You, O God, are strong,
and that You, O Lord, are loving.
- Psalm 62:11-12


Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go
for to You I lift up my soul.
- Psalm 143:8


Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
- Psalm 119:105


I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
- Psalm 139:14


For You, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
- Psalm 116:8-9


You turned my wailing into dancing;
You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to You and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever.
- Psalm 30:11


Because Your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live...
- Psalm 63:3-4


Teach us to number our days aright
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
- Psalm 90:12


Thanks be to Thee,
my joy and my glory and my hope and my God.
Thanks be to Thee for Thy gifts;
but do Thou preserve them in me,
thus Thou will preserve me,
and the things Thou hast given me
will increase and be made perfect,
and I shall be with Thee:
because even that I exist is Thy gift.
- St. Augustine of Hippo


Let the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Thy sight,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
- Psalm 19:14


O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day;
I I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me.
- Sir Jacob Astley


To do Your will,
O my God,
is my desire;
Your law
is within my heart.
- Psalm 40:8


Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on me.
Break me,
melt me,
mould me,
fill me.
Spirit of the living God,
fall afresh on me.

The Katinas --- LIVE in Manila!

The Katinas have the smoothest vocals One of their albums is called "Lifestyle" because, they said, worship is more than just singing songs -- it's a lifestyle Indeed, i heard energetic island beats to solemn acapella worship. They led me to fall in love with God in a different way, like seeing a new facet of a diamond :)

i love their unique sound, too...i keep thinking of a brotherhood of crooning Gary V.'s backed up by tropical guitars and drums i've always wanted to buy their albums too (the first one or two tracks were enough to convince me!)...Only i don't really have the funds :( So color me elated when i heard they'll perform here in Manila live...for less than the price of an original CD

Watch the Katinas live on November 30, 2008, 8PM at the Araneta Coliseum:

• Patron A (Reserved Seating) PhP 1,377
• Patron B (Reserved Seating) 997
• Lower Box (Reserved Seating) 897
• Upper Box A (Reserved Seating) 747
• Upper Box B (Free Seating) 497
• General Admission (Free Seating) 247

See the poster below or http://www.beccamusic.com/ for more details ^__^ See you there!

Let's support the new 3pm Taglish VCF-QC service!

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." --- John 4:23-24

What could be more heartfelt than singing and speaking to God in one's own native tongue? :) The Filipino language being, like the people who speak it, very loving, compassionate, tender...malambing. :)




So i'm really excited about the new Taglish service. (It's not yet completely Tagalog or Filipino but it's a start! :D) Hope to see you there! :) Kitakits mga 'tol!

The Great Thanksgiving (A Prayer)

from Paul Rayner's Confluence blog :)

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

It is indeed right,
for You made us,
and before us, You made the world we inhabit,
and before the world, You made the eternal home in which, through Christ, we have a place.

All that is spectacular, all that is plain have their origin in You;
all that is lovely, all who are loving point to You as their fulfillment.
And grateful as we are for the world we know and the universe beyond our ken,
we particularly praise You, whom eternity cannot contain, for coming to earth and entering time in Jesus.

For His life which informs our living,
for His compassion which changes our hearts,
for His clear speaking which contradicts our harmless generalities,
for His disturbing presence,
His innocent suffering,
His fearless dying,
His rising to life breathing forgiveness,
we praise You and worship Him.

Here too gratitude rises, for the promise of the Holy Spirit, who even yet, even now, confronts us with Your claims and attracts us to Your goodness.

My form of worship :)

It's one of those days when i have nothing on my sked yet LOTS to do.

And i have yet to spend alone time with God...it's been a while.

But some things need to be attended to. (Namely, Gribble the Munchkin's comment on this article.)

i'm a writer and this was what i was born to do ^_^ Getting away from it is like a fish getting away from water...and in this case, it might not be me, and it might not be just one person, who will find it hard to breathe until i get to doing what i am supposed to be doing.

And so here goes. Work/Ministry/Service/Writing/Thinking/Reasoning. My form of worship; loving God and fellowmen in one sitting.

(And the real act of martyrdom i could offer up to God would be to get to my Math problem set...but i'll watch Elizabeth 2 first. ^_^)

Here's Teci logging off and hopefully doing all for the glory of God! :D

Praise-Rock!

America's Music
PLUGGING IN TO MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD
By BEN RATLIFF
Published: November 7, 2007
The New York Times

With the lyrics projected on an overhead screen, a rock band performs for Harbor, the 30-to-55 age group, during Saturday evening services at High Desert Church in Victorville, Calif. Photograph by Jim Wilson/ NYTimes

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — Mike Day, singer and guitarist, gathered his rock band around him.

Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, he bent his shaved head. “God,” he said, “I hope these songs we sing will be much more than the music. I know it’s so difficult at times when we’re thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?”

A few minutes later the band broke into three songs of slightly funky, distorted rock with heaving choruses, and the room sang along: 1,500 or so congregants of High Desert Church here, where Mr. Day, 33, is a worship director. This was Sunday night worship for the young-adult subset of the church’s congregation, but it was also very much a rock show, one that has helped create a vibrant social world in this otherwise quiet desert town.

There has been enormous growth in the evangelical Protestant movement in America over the last 25 years, and bands in large, modern, nondenominational churches — some would say megachurches — like this one, 90 miles northeast of Los Angeles, now provide one of the major ways that Americans hear live music.

The house bands that play every weekend in High Desert Church — there are a dozen or so — scavenge some of their musical style from the radio and television. They reflect popular taste, though with lyrics about the power of God, not teenage turmoil.

They are not aiming for commercial success. Church-based Christian rock — often referred to as C.C.M., for contemporary Christian music — does not exist primarily to compete in mainstream culture; it exists first to bring together a community.

“When you start a church,” said Tom Mercer, 52, the senior pastor, “you don’t decide who you’re going to reach and then pick a music style. You pick a music style, and that determines who’s going to come.”

High Desert Church has a sprawling concrete campus that includes a lavish auditorium, a gym, classrooms and office space for its 70 employees. Once a traditional Baptist church, it moved toward nondenominational and evangelical Christianity in the mid-1990s and experienced steep growth. Now more than 8,000 people attend services here at least twice a month.

A number of factors encouraged the church’s expansion, Mr. Mercer and others say. For one thing, there are more people in Victorville to receive the gospel: since the early 1990s the region has been experiencing a population surge, as city dwellers have moved north from Los Angeles County, seeking lower real estate costs.

For another, in 1993 the church hired Jeff Crandall, the drummer for a Christian punk band called the Altar Boys, as its music director.

Mr. Crandall, 46, spent more than a decade crossing the country in vans, playing in churches, nightclubs and high school gyms, fighting the battle for a more progressive and aggressive worship music. “I knew that the future, even in the early ’80s, was with bands in churches,” he said. “I liked hymns as a kid, but I just didn’t see myself waving my arms and directing them. I’ve always been one of those guys who tries to figure his own way.”


A Band for Every Age Group

What he did was to pack the church with rock ’n’ roll. He organized a rotation of bands, so the volunteering musicians — drawn from the largely commuter population of Victorville and its surrounding towns — would not exhaust themselves by playing to multiple services. And then he let them play, loudly.

High Desert Church holds three different large services over the weekend for three different age groups, with music tailored to each audience: Seven (so named for the number’s positive associations in the Bible), the 18-to-30-year-old set that made up Mr. Day’s audience; Harbor, the 30-to-55 group; and Classic, for people 55 and over. The church also maintains even more bands for services at the junior high, high school and elementary school levels. Each band carefully calibrates its sound toward the pop culture disposition of the target age group.

Young people and future generations are in fact the fixation of High Desert Church, which has already broken ground on building a children’s ministry complex called Pointe Discovery, a $20 million project financed entirely by worshiper donations. “If I ask God’s people to give me $20 million,” Mr. Mercer said during an interview in his corner office, “when I stand before God someday, I don’t want to hear him say, ‘Dude, you wasted a ton of my money.’ I want him to say, ‘You did a good job.’ My definition of a good job is that it will impact people until Christ comes back.”


‘Hey God’

Praise-rock is at the heart of that impact. The teenagers and young adults at High Desert — those who haven’t been attending services since birth — tend to say they joined the church for the teaching and the community, and stayed because of the bands. But some are clearly more enthusiastic about the music itself.

“I started out in Harbor, but I moved to Seven because I liked the music more,” said Tony Cherco, 32, a recent arrival to the church who would not have been out of place in the East Village: he wore a long beard and large rings in his earlobes. “Between Pastor Tom and the music of Seven, I was like, yes!”

To generalize, the music tailored to the Seven service is modern rock, with a modicum of wired aggressiveness. (In its sets before and after the pastor’s sermon, the band does play some adaptations of hymns, including a power-chord version of the doxology. It was arranged by the worship minister Matt Coulombe to approximate the droning, locomotive style of the secular New York rock band Secret Machines, one of his favorite groups.)

The music for Harbor, meanwhile, resembles U2 from about 1985, while the Classic crowd gets a softer and more acoustic sound, like the West Coast folk-rock of the 1970s.

For the children, in both their Sunday school classes and youth group events, the music is pop-punk. The idea is to keep their attention with high energy, then to slide gradually toward contemplation.

On a Saturday afternoon in October a group for the junior high contingent, called Power Surge, which included four guitarists and two bassists, played in the church gym, rehearsing a version of the Jason Wallis song “Hey God.” Fifteen girls performed choreographed hand motions to the music, which sounded like pious Ramones:

Hey, hey, hey, God I love you

Hey, hey, hey, God I need you

I know there’s not anything you can’t do

I know there’s nothing you won’t see me through

Hey God!

These bands don’t need to take all their cues from secular rock. Since the ’70s there have been Christian versions of all kinds of genres, from folk-rock to metal to punk. But the music heard at this church descends more directly from other Christian music.

The fountainheads are artists like Lincoln Brewster, a singer, guitarist and songwriter who began as a touring rock guitarist in the mid-’90s and later became music minister at several churches, before starting his own recording career. His highly melodic songs, as well as those by other Christian-rock artists like Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman, are performed here in nearly constant rotation.

Then there is Air One, a national FM radio network with 164 stations that serves as an index of the current Christian-rock movement and provides a playlist for many of the bands here. For the most part the groups at High Desert Church don’t write their own songs; they are high-functioning garage bands, playing cover versions. But they operate in a large, modern auditorium with top-quality sound, lights and video operated by young volunteers; there are smoke machines and overhead screens that announce the title of each song and its lyrics.


Staying Humble

Still, showmanship has its limits in praise-rock music. The musicians don’t want to distract themselves, or their audiences, from the higher purpose of serving God; in interviews they talked about not exuding rock-star charisma but instead remaining humble. “We’re not up there to have people say, ‘Wow, what an amazing band,’” Mr. Day said. His goal, he explained, was to play with excellence but to remain “transparent.”

“There’s a constant tension,” he continued, “between the audience and the people on the stage, all thinking, ‘O.K., music is a great tool, but the ultimate purpose is worship.’ And riding that tension is tough.”

The congregants also tend to respond fairly chastely. A performance at a Seven service may look like a rock show, with the audience dressed as fashionably as the band, but in some ways it represents an inversion of one.

The tall, solemn bassist Zac Foster, 15, played twice over the weekend: with the in-house high school praise band Fuel on Saturday, and with the Sunday morning junior high group as well. He has a six-string bass and a guitar strap with a large white cross on the front. And he is adamant about the idea of music as merely a means to an end.

“It’s structured, and we play well, but we’re still allowed to worship,” he said with a serious face. “Worship comes first. Music just falls into place.”

Bobby Stolp, 39, a drummer in several different bands here, agreed. “It’s all about the heart of worship,” he said. “God can enjoy a distorted guitar as well as a clean guitar. Especially when you’re playing it for him.”

the storyteller's daughter =)

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen." --- Romans 1:25

i knock.

"Ei, um, God? Do you have a minute?"

"Always." There's that serene, quiet confidence in the voice i have come to know so well, the voice that called forth the stars and the seas into being, and now lives in my heart as well.

"i'd just like to say," i started as i casually strolled through the squeaky clean ivory floor in mucky tattered sandals to get closer to Him, "that they were right all along. You *do* make better stories than we can ever think of."

"Of course." He looked at me. "But we both know that already, right?"

"Yes, i mean, sure i already know that, *theoretically*. Because You're *God* and all, and i'd even be more surprised if it wasn't like that...
But it's reality now. i mean, it's all becoming true --- *Your* story. And it wins hands down over mine. And, in the past i've already seen that, but...not like *this*. Not as much as now. *This* is too much. And this is all just the *beginning*.
Anyway, it's too much. It's too, toooooo good.
And i'd just like to say thanks."

i smiled. He smiled.

"Well, is that all you came to say?"

"Of course not. i mean, yeah, that's all i came to say, but i'm not finished. i'm not going anywhere just yet."

"But what about the story that I'm giving you to live out?"

"That can wait. There are more important things to do."

And i throw myself into His waiting arms.

"That's My girl," He whispered. "Me pinagmanahan." ["You got that from --- your Father."]


:)

nothing else matters (or, it's not a condition, just a side effect!)

It's not a condition; it's an effect :)

(And only a side effect at that!)

The Verse of the Day over at BibleGateway is this:

Delight yourself in the LORD
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
--- Psalm 37:4

:) i love that psalm :)

And that verse is often given as a cause-effect thing: "If you really want something, want the Lord first."

Which is hard, like having a genie in front of you, saying that before you wish for something, wish for something else.

Kinda like this other verse that many of us have been singing since we were kids:

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. --- Matthew 6:33

But i've been a Christian long enough to know the following:

1. Putting God first is what we're supposed to do anyway. (Y' know, like, let God be God!)
2. God is goodness itself; where He is, all good things are too.
3. When God is your center, bad/evil/suffering doesn't really matter.
4. When God is your center, all other good things don't really matter too.

Wow. Am i surprised that these words are coming out from me! Ms. Prodigal Hedonist to the Max!

You see, dear readers, God just told me something. (Well, isn't this week just full of surprises!)

Which is a really, really GOOD thing.

And my soul rejoices in what is to happen, that thing which is good in itself...

But all the more, i rejoice in God Himself. :)

It's like, the more He really brings on the blessings, the more i realize that i don't need them anyway...the more i realize that they're not the things that make me happy, and they can all vanish for all i care.


Dear dear God,
thank You for helping me realize
that nothing else matters.

:)

my soul sings: September 21 2007 =)

oh, dear God,
i don't want to be vengeful =(
please take that away from me
help me speak Your Truth in complete and utter love

for they aren't saved yet.


God, i believe in Your ultimate grace
and in Your ultimate justice

i do not know You completely
but from what You reveal to me in the Bible
and in our walk together

i find it easier to trust You, every day.

to throw myself in Your arms

to fall down at Your feet

to bury my face in Your robes
and hug You real tight
and fill my senses with You
Your aroma
(eyes closed)
Your warmth, strong and secure
Your voice, deep yet light
=)


"My child,

the old has gone,
the new has come."

Hallelujah!
Blessed be the name of the LORD

for He took away my shame
and replaced it with His righteousness

He washed away my sins with His blood
and i have become as white as snow
even more glorious than when He first created me

for i shall see the face of my God and live
for He has given me a pure heart, and a holy soul
an eternal inheritance, a divine birthright

Father, all good things come from You
Where else can i go?
You and only You have the words of eternal life.


it is a joy to honor You
it is a pleasure to worship You
it is a privilege to know You.


=)

autumn rains :)

"Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.” - Joel 2:23

The Biblegateway Verse of the Day could not have been more timely. :)

Right now i am in autumn...a little wiser, a little more sober...a little more somber?

But aware of God's goodness and grace, now more than ever.

For God not only tolerated my awful shameful ways, but lifted me up so i can really, truly be free. At the cost of His own life.

He has sent me abundant showers. Last night, as the waters poured down from the heavens, my heart was pouring out towards His.


"Once again i thank You,
Once again i pour out my life..."
--- Once Again, by Fusebox


i am glad, and i rejoice in the LORD my God.


:)

i was made to love...YOU!

MADE TO LOVE
by TobyMac



The dream is fading, now i'm staring at the door
I know its over cause my feet have hit the cold floor
Check my reflection, I ain't feelin' what I see
It's no mystery
Whatever happened to a passion I could live for
What became of the flame that made me feel more
And when did I forget that...

I was made to love You
I was made to find You
I was made just for You
Made to adore You
I was made to love
And be loved by You
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And You said You'd keep me
Never would You leave me
I was made to love
And be loved by You

The dream's alive with my eyes opened wide
Back in the ring You've got me swinging for the grand prize
I feel the haters spittin' vapors on my dreams
But I still believe
I'm reachin' out, reachin' up, reachin' over
I feel a breeze cover me called Jehovah
And daddy I'm on my way
'Cause I was made to love...

I was made to love You
I was made to find You
I was made just for You
Made to adore You
I was made to love
And be loved by You
You were here before me
You were waiting on me
And You said You'd keep me
Never would You leave me
I was made to love
And be loved by You

Anything I would give up for You (nanananana)
Everything, I'd give it all away (nanananana)

I was made to love You
I was made to adore You
Made just for You