worship – My Grace Untold

When Stars Become Idols

“You shall have no other gods before Me… For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”

Exodus 20:3-5

At 12 and 13, the wisdom of discernment is often not cemented by the teachings of your youth in the House of God.

I remember the young craze for my favorite idol on American Idol. Then it was just a show about singing hopefuls who longed to be stars, and eventually with the help of voters became stars.

What never occurred to me was how these aspiring musicians did receive worship and honor by the millions of audiences all over the world. They indeed were American idols.

I wonder if like me, with what you know now of the Lord, if that idea in itself, as entertaining, and supposedly harmless as it seemed, introduced an awe and reverence for something or someone else aside from God Almighty. Or is that ‘too extreme’ to consider?

Fast forward to over a decade later, the historical show may have seen its last season, but the legacy of stars being worshipped did not begin with American Idol, thus it didn’t end when the show ended either.

Before, a person was highlighted for achieving something significant, reaching a milestone in their career, or doing something heroic. Now, a star or rising star is often worshipped by the magazines and social media for irrelevant public stunts or who they are copulating with and romancing.

Everywhere you look, there is a celebrity being worshipped, hailed, and celebrated for simply breathing. The Kardashians may be the most popular reality TV stars our generation has ever seen just for being.

Friend, when did stars become idols in our eyes?

Or does it not relate to you?

I for one remember a season not too long ago when the Lord called me to be in solitude and showed me the errors of my mind.

“All hail Queen Bee!” “Long lives the King of Pop!” Yes, I loved MJ and Beyonce. I was in company with friends who greatly favored popular musicians like them. Every album had to be downloaded, whether I enjoyed the songs or not, it wasn’t about the music, it was about the star! I blogged about them, I researched about them, and even aspired to be like them.

At one point, it was my job in a social media internship to know everything new that was happening with today’s ‘celebrities’!

Do you know how much time, effort, and dedication goes into the gossip columns and celebrity news that you long to hear about each day?!!!

When friend, did that star, that thing, that job, become your idol?

I have witnessed many close to me follow the journey of one successful person after another, misplacing the inspiration they feel with a form of idolatry they don’t even realize. Somehow along the line of appreciating talent and skill in man, we forget to guard that place where we love GOD with all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul.

I believe it’s time for us to take inventory and consider our ways. I mean, a true introspection that leads to discovery.

What or whom have you been worshiping rather than God?

What or whom has been occupying your mind and heart in place of your Most High Father who calls you His beloved?

Yes, ideas and goals can be the idols too. Yes, that relationship or friendship can be the idol too.

Forgive us O Lord for not loving you as we should. Forgive us O Lord for not honoring you as we should. Forgive us O Lord for putting anything and anyone before You over and over again. Father please forgive us. Show us the error of our ways Lord. May the Lord open our eyes today, and our hearts be renewed with the right Spirit. May we begin to walk in truth and give all the honor and adoration to WHOM it belongs in Jesus name. AMEN.

WHEN IT ALL BEGAN – READ THE VERY FIRST MESSAGE HERE!

Give Thanks With Joy. And Gladness

“This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

So there it was.

That lagging feeling, that depressing aura, that gray cloud that floated above my head was my lack of joy and gladness in my thanksgiving.

I wanted joy from God, but did not first bring my thanks to Him with joy. Since I did not bring that joy with my thanksgiving to His courts, I did not have openness to receive more joy!

Often times we diligently bring our thanks and praises to God for His goodness and mercy, but we forget to bring them with gladness in our hearts.

If you observe the image above, the child is beaming with gladness.

Friend, I believe this is what we ought to present to our heavenly Father when we come before Him no matter what!

And I know that deceitful enemy is already whispering in your ear that it is not possible to ALWAYS be glad before God. But please be reminded that our Sovereign God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. Remember God’s goodness and mercy. Remember when He pulled you out of that hole you dug yourself into. Remember how much He favors you because of His love for you. How can these alone not make you beam with gladness to be serving a faithful God?!!!

It is all too easy for us to come before God with a grumbling voice about what blessing we are yet to receive. But what about the ones you are basking in right now?!

Have you forgotten the goodness of God?!

Like the Israelites while in the wilderness, have you forgotten how far God has brought you from where you used to be?!!!

Friend, how sincere is your thanksgiving if there is no gladness or joy in it? How is God to accept a sacrifice of praise if your heart has with-held the joy that should also be placed alongside your offering of praise?!

Give thanks with joy AND gladness. Rejoice in the joy of today even if the worries of yesterday don’t feel far enough. God sees all that you harbor in your heart. HE IS A GOOD GOD and faithfully provides all that you need when you need it.

So if you don’t have it, YOU DO NOT NEED IT to do what God has for you to do.

I urge you today friend to bring your thanks to God with joy so you can receive more joy.

I pray that our minds are renewed today with the wisdom of heaven to give what is due to a sovereign and merciful Father who is working all things together for our good in Jesus name. Amen.

Give Thanks With Joy

“Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.”

Psalm 100:2

The joy of the Lord is indeed my strength. I reached a new understanding of that today.

When I woke up this morning, I met the Lord with thanksgiving, as I have tried to discipline this practice into my everyday life. But I did something a little different today. Rather than turning on my worship music to lift up my spirits, I longed for silence.

Surely, I was thankful to God for yet another day, but in truth, I was also still overwhelmed from last night’s heavy thoughts.

The first two hours went by and I still felt a sluggishness I could not quite explain. Sure I had a slight cramp in my neck from my sleeping position, but it should not have been enough to have me this slow in my movements and steps.

I felt tired, weary even. My spirit felt repressed and it reflected on my physical.

It was when I laid down once again after eating, that I heard the Voice of my inner man say, “don’t sleep.”

I laid there still and perverse thoughts made their way into my mind. So I sat up.

WHAT IN THE WORD WAS GOING ON?!

This is the last leg before yet another chapter since I began my walk of radical faith with the Lord. I wanted to be full of excitement and expectation but I truly was not because of the pressing conflicts in front of me.

In a sum, I have more bills than money, as it has been since I left my job in January on God’s orders.

It is now June and as the final numbers appear declaring what I owe, I am overwhelmed with the ‘How?”…”How will this be taken care of again?”…then I remembered…

Jehovah Jireh is God my provider.”

He has been providing and He will not with-hold His mercy this time around. So that alone brings praise to my mouth.

I am thankful. I have been thankful since I heard God call me out of my filth for His own purpose early last year. But today,

I heard the spirit asking, “Have you kept the joy in your praise and thanksgiving?… Have you come before the Lord with joyful songs today and not just words of gratitude?” FINISH READING HERE

There Can Only Be One Master

“…Choose today whom you will serve…”

Joshua 24:15

In a recent heated conversation with a friend who I found fault with, I passionately (with a stern and aggressive voice) asked, “who do you want to be?!!!”

This person’s presence, whether in spirit or physically, has been prevalent in my life for almost a decade so I can say confidently that I am keen to the patterns, attitudes, behaviors, and good heart of this person.

However, the momentary discord that took place made me wonder, if my friend knew that they have grown an unhealthy and dishonoring habit of shifting from one character to another.

On one end, they would display a distinct vulnerability in the way they confessed not knowing how to relate with most people or knowing what love feels should feel like, or that they do not trust anyone in this world.

On the other hand, my friend would abruptly become nonchalant and indifferent with an air of arrogance, glorifying their own worth, and then acting as though nothing really bothered them, often appearing almost heartless sometimes.

So this time, I proclaimed my rebuke.

But also in that moment, I realized that I was not just asking my friend to choose wisdom in their becoming. Truly I was asking my friend to choose whom they will serve.

Did my friend want to serve himself? the world? or God?

As the Spirit of God would have it, our dispute was quickly settled and harmony was restored. But my questions lingered…

Friend, have you yet chosen whom you will serve? Or are you still weighing the power of God to the might of everything else?

How many masters do you serve daily?

Has your job, partner, or friendship become your master without your own knowledge?

Have you been serving these instead of the Lord your God alone?

Do you know that there can only be One master whom you ought to give all praise, honor, glory, and adoration to?

Do you know that you ought to bow down to only One master?

Do you also know that there is only One master that has the power to condemn and rebuke you?

Often times, we settle for blaming our serving of other ‘gods’ and things of this world, on the ills of society we dwell in, or the past that won’t let us go. But the Word tells me and you, that we hold the power to choose whom you will serve.

Why else would the Word ask us to choose if we did not have a choice?…

I wonder if you have allowed others to choose for you whom you will serve.

May the wisdom of God fall upon us today as we come to ourselves, the true self that we were divinely created to be, and may we seek God first in our discovery. May we once again fall to our knees and re-proclaim that God is Lord above all in Jesus name. Amen.

Living In Unending Worship

“They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD. They were to do the same in the evening.”

1 Chronicles 20:30

If you asked me a year ago if I had a worship life, I would have said, “of course.” But that response would have been the biggest tale and truth ever told.

I used to be in a mental, non-spiritual state of enjoying music and displays that worshiped and glorified God. I loved the sound of praise. I loved the sounds of instruments coming together in adoration for God.

But, I was not living in unending worship.

I existed in a state that was yet to transcend into worship.

But the spirit of God is so amazing, so convicting, that when you feel the shift that elevates you to a realm that you have never been, you know the difference.

Friend, are you living in unending worship?…

Or does your worship begin and end with the worship of another? Are you content with being a witness? Or is there a yearning for more with God?

If you are anything like I once was, you have intermingled praise and worship so often that you forget to acknowledge that they are not the same thing. See, anyone can praise God. Anyone can utter the goodness of God. It’s easy to praise God for all that He is and more for what He does, but friend, have you ever had an encounter with God for yourself?

That’s worship.

When you worship, do you feel the touch of the One you worship? Do you feel His presence? His warmth? His power? His majesty? His glory? His light?……well, do you?

Because if you did, you would know to want to feel that un-explainable peace, intimacy, and confirmation ALL THE TIME!

Worship is your disciplined praise. Worship is your secret place within you between you and your Father. It is that sacred space between you and your truest Friend. Worship is that time of communion where you knock, and you see the door open in spiritual realms. Worship is the moment you choose to lift your spirit and all that you are, yet lay your burden down at the feet of the One who knows and can do all things.

Friend, true worship never ends.

The praise break at church, or on your radio, or on your music player may have a time limit, but worship is the unending praise and oneness in your spirit with God that goes on and on and on.

Your time with God, ingesting His Word, meditating in His wisdom and direction, walking by the light of His orders, quieting yourself to feel more of Him, putting Him before your plans and not the other way around, living in love… that is worship.

I’m telling you as a testimony that living in unending worship is a place you want to be, a place you yearn to be. You know it, and I know it.

You adore God. You love God. You praise God. You try like me, to honor God. But do you live in unending worship to God?

I pray for you today. I pray against every mighty thought, person, or thing in your life, or your spiritual place that dares to exalt itself above your unending worship to the Most High God. May they fall down to their knees and make way for your unending worship in Jesus name. May dry bones of the spirit come to live through your unending worship in Jesus name. May you receive a fresh dose of anointing to worship like you were created to do in Jesus name. Amen.

Less Worry, More Worship

“Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Matthew 6:27

If I were to ask you to make a list of all the things you are currently worried about, how long and unending would that list be?

But if I asked you how many times you have worshiped and devoted some quality time to God today, would the list of times match the list above?

Naturally, the many demands in our lives cause us to respond with worry and concern as we face uncertainties daily. But does the Spirit of God have a say at all in your life in how you respond to the demands before you?

If it did, you would hear it say in its unshaken and comforting voice, “less worry, more worship.”

Friend, you cannot worry and worship at the same time!

One has to trump the other. Undoubtedly, one mindset will inevitably trample the other.

If you choose worry, how is there room for true worship and intimacy with the One who can do all things?

If you choose, WHEN you choose worship, your growing faith and hope in the One who controls heaven and earth, will wipe away the worries.

How so?

Don’t you know that your worship is an act of faith in itself alone? When you come to God, commune with Him, and lay your burdens before Him in complete trust of His All-knowing Majesty, your Spirit makes room for more hope and and the overflow of Joy for what God has promised you.

Friend, worship is what fills you up when you need it the most.

Your worship is your demonstration to God that your heart is receptive of all that He is about to bless you with regardless of what the situation currently looks or feels like. There is nothing else like it.

Worship reminds you that you can access God for yourself and on your own. You can call on to a God who never slumbers and He will answer you!

When worry becomes worship, the enemy trembles at the strength of your armor.

When worry becomes worship, your brokenness becomes a breakthrough.

When worry becomes worship, the worrier in you becomes a warrior because God pours out a refreshing anointment of His strength and power on you.

Yes, it’s easier said than done, but I urge you today to worry less and worship more. God is still in control. HE never once gave the control to your circumstance, you did. And now it’s time to take it back through worship.

May God Almighty send down a refreshing reminder of His promises to you as you walk or even crawl in faith today. I pray that you are filled with a renewed strength to worship more and worry less in Jesus name. Amen.

Lord Keep My Eye On You

“Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.”

1 Chronicles 16:11

If you are like me, finding grace in the sight of God to know Him in another realm than before, has got a hold of you in ways you never imagined. But it is such an amazing hold; one that you could never be pure enough to hold onto but graceful enough to never lose.

But the thing is, as life goes on and you start to see things from this new dimension, you realize just how lost you have been when your focus was on other things or other people than God alone. If not for grace…

As more time passes and trials and tests arise, it gets even harder and even more necessary to keep your eyes on God.

The world is so busy. Everything is moving all around us in such a fast pace, that we long to catch a breath but wouldn’t dare in fear of missing something. We get distracted.

We get distracted by the weights of our pending bills, sick loved ones, discomforting relationships, demanding careers, confused missions of purpose, and ultimately how fast time is passing. We hope and pray that we are still on track for destiny.

How easy is it to be side-tracked by the many distresses of this world?

It’s one thing to miss the beauty in this world, but it’s another to miss God altogether. And I wonder if the enemy is using your very own flesh to tempt you away from the courts of glory by taking your eyes off of God.

So many of us, in our worry have not only lost sight of purpose, but have lost sight of the Most High.

Friend, how do you keep from losing sight of purpose? How do you keep from losing hope of what is greater? How do you keep the faith and the strength? Is your eye still on God?

Do you still look to Him to counsel you through your chaos and confusion? Do you still look to Him to do what appears impossible? Do you still look to Him because He is able? Do you still look to Him to speak into your life choices? Do you still look to Him to fix what is broken? Do you still look to Him to make a way? Do you still look to Him to examine your ways? Do you still look to Him to be the judge? Do you still look to God to do what only He can do?

IS. YOUR. EYE. ON. GOD?

There is no other way, none, whatsoever than to keep your eye on the One who is still in control.

You do still believe that don’t you? You do still know that He who never sleeps, is still in control?

No matter what it looks like, no matter what it feels like, or what it even seems like, I urge you today to keep your eye on God. I pray for you, for me, that our merciful Father who knows all and sees all will grant us the faith we need to keep our eyes on Him. As we make our way to destiny, may we never lose sight of His greatness and glory in Jesus name. Amen.

Altar Of Excuses

“Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.”

Job 37:19

I have always believed that as long as there is breath, there ought to be praise. In the blessed words of Psalm 150 vs 6,

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”

Have you praised God today?

I am sure many of us thank God absent-mindedly when we find that parking spot we were hoping and silently praying for, or when a news of discomfort turns around, or when we encounter a near-harmful situation but walk out of it untouched and unscathed. We say ‘thank God.’

For many years I personally thought that thanking God in those random times for his unconditional favors, should suffice for praising Him who gave us new life and salvation from the wrath of sin and death.

Admittedly, I was misguided.

Have you ever been misguided? Do you feel misguided even now?

Friend, I urge you to seek guidance from the One who is aware of the dreams you only thought you’ve lost and the hope you’ve been fighting tooth and nail to keep.

There are so many reasons, well excuses really, that we come up with that keeps a distance between us and the full glory of God.

Whether it be the “lack of trust in churches,” or “the lack of trust in preachers,” or the belief that “religion is a business,” or “the fact that the bible has been revised,” or “there are many religions,” or “I don’t believe you need to go to church to worship,” or “I have a busy life,” or simply, “I don’t know what to believe in anymore,” an altar of excuses have been built.

And that altar is worshiped daily as we try to navigate our way through life as though we orchestrated our life’s plan and God is just a powerful witness who is called on to intervene from time to time.

Lord help me, I’m still counting mine. What are your excuses? Or what is your great excuse?

Is your faith, hope, strength, and courage as good as they will ever get? Is your worship as powerful as it can ever be?

Have you committed to God? Your mind, your body, your soul, all of your heart?! Or are you saving some of it for a world that is only but a vapor?

What altar have you built overtime, adding more and more reasons daily to keep you from getting closer to God? Or do you really believe that you are close enough to your Maker? Have you received all of your blessings from the King of kings? Is your cup running over yet? Or are you settling for the cup half full?

How tall and mighty does the altar have to be before you realize it is even there?!…

May the altar of excuses shatter by the powerful name of God. May the Spirit use our own hands to tear down that altar piece by piece, brick by brick, layer by layer, in Jesus name.

I pray over our spirits today, yours and mine, that the Lord renew our minds, hearts, and souls like never before to yearn and thirst for Him alone. May God fill our mouths with praise, our hands with strength to lift His name up, and our thoughts with the wisdom of his divine counsel. May God’s altar of grace and mercy be the only one we worship in Jesus name. Amen.