Ability vs. Availability

I help coach my son's Sixth Grade football team, the Gators.  We are having a blast together this year.  At practice tonight, our coach, Todd Vestal, was talking to the players at the end of practice and he shared something so simple, yet profound.  Todd said, "God does not need our ability.  God needs our availability."  I have heard this phrase before, but tonight, it struck me to the core.

What does this mean that "God does not need my ability?"  Let us take a look what I have to offer the Lord.  Come on, now?  Look at all the things I do for you God?  I have a daily quiet time, pray with my kids and lead by the best example I can, I even wash the dishes after dinner, sometimes!  I even work at a church and have surrendered my life to You in ministry.  Aren't you proud of me?  Look at me, God! 

WOW, is this ever a HUGE misconception in the Christian life.  God does not need me.  Let me say that again.  GOD DOES NOT NEED ME!  All he needs for me to do is to be available to Him and allow Him to work anything and everything He desires through my life.  This is not accomplished by my ability, but only through my availability.

Matthew 16:24-26 says it like this.  Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

What a concept.  To rely totally on Jesus and not ourselves to find truth and purpose.  Such a RADICAL concept, especially in the culture we live in today.  So, realize that God loves you just the way you are and desires to have your availability, not your ability.  Die to who you are and live for Christ today. 

 

Power of Prayer

I have the opportunity to go to Lima, Peru in October for a Medial Mission Trip with Buckner.  I have been asked to serve as the Chaplain for the trip and lead worship for the group going.  It is going to be a blast.

Here is a letter I wrote my team.  I ask you to join me and pray for us as we prepare for our trip.

Many of us are in the middle of getting kids settled into the new school schedule, morning the fact that summer is over, yet getting excited about the fall opportunities that are coming our way.  We have family, work, activities and more to do each and every day.  It is a busy time, and before we know it, it will be October 20th!  So...

I would like to encourage us as a team to not let the trip "slip up" on us and forget to begin preparing TODAY for the trip.  I know Cynthia has given us a list of things to physically be thinking about to prepare, but I am talking about SPIRITUAL PREPARATION for the trip.

How can we prepare spiritually for a trip like the one we are going to take? PRAY

It all begins with prayer.  Pray daily for God to prepare your heart for what he wants to do in and through you on this trip.  I am challenged by the prayer of James...James 5:15-17 - "And the prayer
offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years."  There is POWER when we pray to God in FAITH.  Yes, we are going to be using our hands and feet to deliver the message of Jesus on the trip, but today, let us lift our hands and bow to our knees and pray.

Here is a great song that speaks to preparing our hearts for the trip.

"Surrender" by Marc James
I'm giving You my heart, all that is within
I lay it all down for the sake of You, my King
I'm giving You my dreams, I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life
And I surrender - All to You, ALL TO YOU

Grieving

"Ask the Lord to help you grieve for what grieves him."  Jim Denison. 

There is no side stepping this direct prayer to the Lord.  If I am going to walk in faith today, then I must be sensitive to the need around me as Christ is sensitive to the needs of others.  Question...what grieves the Lord?  Answer...Sin and disobedience

Well, I know as I grow older, I am becoming more sensitive to the younger generations God is raising up, especially since I have my first born child that is about to be 13 years old.  I set my DVR to record the MTV Music Awards that aired last week and finally got around to watching it last night.  I went to bed sad and grieving.  I talked to my wife about it and made the comment to her, "I can only imagine how sad or God is with this culture."  What a night of self gratification, self promotion and senseless arrogance.  Between the outlandish language in the songs to the sexual driven content of the night, I was just sad, and I know that our Savior is sad also.  I think this is what it means to grieve for what grieves the Lord.  But this is only one aspect that I am facing.

What about the ignoring God in our lives and not making Him known in your every day life?  What about going through the motions with your family and not leading them as a Godly husband and taking a stand for truth and righteousness?  What about knowing what God is telling you to do and disobeying him and doing what we want to do?  Guilty as charged.  We have all been there.

So, take the challenge with me today and ask this question..."Ask the Lord to help you grieve for what grieves him."

James 4:8-10 - Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Are You Prepared?

As a worship leader, what are the elements or steps you take as you prepare for a morning worship set or any other time to sing out or play your instrument or lead?  Being present and available is important...rehearsal time...song choice...understanding the purpose for which you are leading worship on this occasion...who you are leading...how to move from one song to the next and so on.  It can become extremely overwhelming once you take a step back and look at the entire process, UNLESS you are prepared.  How can we as worship leaders accomplish such a huge task?  By being prepared.

How do we prepare as worship leaders.  It begins with you humbling yourself and asking God to speak to your heart.  It begins with you getting out of the way and asking God to reveal himself to you.  We have no idea what God is going to do in and through you as a worship leader, so in preparing, we simply ask God to show us, reveal to us and to lead us as we prepare.  I was reading a daily blog today by Jim Denison.  Here is a great example of how we are worship leaders are encouraged to prepare.  "A great evangelist was asked how revival begins.  His answer: Go home, draw a circle around yourself, and pray until everything inside that circle is right with God.  When it is, revival will be upon us."  It all begins with us first being still before God first, not choosing the perfect song, or the coolest song, or the greatest transition to lead people.  No, it begins with a humble heart.

When was the last time you took time to draw a circle around yourself and prayed to God?  We are so consumed with planning that we can easily forget to be still before the Lord.  Psalm 46:9-11 says, "He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."  Let us not get the cart before the horse, as my parents would tell me.  Pray, seek God and allow Him to take the initiative with your life.  Then we will be prepared as worship leaders.

Are You Thirsty?

Are you thirsty?  

It is suggested that we should consume close to eight 16oz. bottles of water a day.  That is a lot of water.  When we overexert ourselves through running, exercising or playing sports, we can become thirsty very quickly.  Our body longs for a drink of water.  It is a necessity for us to get water inside our bodies or we feel like we are going to pass out, and sometimes we do!  Ouch!

What happens when we are thirsty and consume water then return to running or exercising?  Obviously, we become thirsty again.  In other words, we receive a temporary fulfillment or satisfaction, then we become thirsty again.  

As I was reading John 4 and the story of Jesus (a Jew) meeting a Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.  She was thirsty and going to the well to fetch water, but her life was changed forever when she met the Savior who shared with her these words...

John 4:13-15 - Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Notice the response from the Samaritan woman?  Hear the urgency in her voice?  She is demanding to have a drink of water that was different from what she would receive from the well.  She was longing for eternal living water - eternal life!  She was dehydrated and suffering for something more than a temporary fulfillment or satisfaction.  She was worn down from filling her life with hopeless love and relationships.  She wanted something more satisfying and He was standing right in front of her!  

Today, Jesus is standing in front of you.  Are you thirsty?  Are you seeking temporary satisfaction and trying to take a drink from life that only satisfies for a moment?  Let me introduce you to Living Water - Jesus will always satisfy.  Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)