I had an awesome Monday last week!
Actually, my whole week was really good. And I know at least some of why this is so.
For one, the worship song, Be All I See, that Dan and the team have been doing is absolutely stuck in my heart! I mentioned it Sunday night, but it’s still there and God is showing me something!
(Unintentional Sea Glass Festival tie in!)
Just before starting to set up for church last Sunday, I was enjoying a walk on the beach with Robyn and Papa (Pastor Neal). The storms had exposed gravel on the beach which usually means a good day for finding beach glass.
I don’t know how familiar you are with beach glass, but white, green, and brown are all fairly common, but blue is much more rare.
As we walked along, the song 'Be All I See' was on my mind- my heart was happy!
We indeed had found a good bit of the usual glass when my eyes caught the blue reflection of a nice chunk of blue glass. Woo hoo! I haven’t found many blue ones in my 20+ years of living in Cayucos. Robyn is usually the one that has the sharp eyes for the blues! As we kept walking, I found another! Then another!
I was really happy, but looked at my watch and told Robyn and Neal I had to head home to load up for church- as I turned to go, Robyn called out- hey Mike! And she held up another piece of blue glass
she had found.
What’s the point?
My heart was fully engaged in enjoying God’s presence, even on a beach walk. God blessed us with material enjoyment to go along with his presence!
I was starting to get the connection!
God wants to be in on the everyday moments of our lives! We need to soak up this presence of God on a daily basis to fully live the way He intended!Worship, worship, worship! It’s not just for Sundays anymore!
Rabbit trail alert!
I’ve been a believer since I was about 19. (20 years now? Lol! More like almost double that…whoa….)
I’ve had times when I felt very close to the Lord, and others where Faith was all I had to sustain me through some dry and difficult times. I’m feeling pretty much on the mountain top just now and I want to get all I can spiritually to carry me because the rollercoaster we call life always takes twists and turns, rises and falls.
I had just turned 18 when I went into the USAF.
I had a unique period when I know God began wooing me to Himself.
The first notion was when I was in boot camp. We were given a choice to ‘march’ to church or stay in the barracks and scrub toilets…ummm that was easy!
Having been raised in Catholic church, (which I'm grateful for!) I’d kind of left church behind- I had a pretty good idea that God was up there but that was about it.
Church at boot camp was a revelation!
I went from the drudgery of boot camp to a church service highlighted by joyful songs and happy people. For the first time, I looked forward to church!
After bootcamp, I got back to normal… But a seed had been planted!
Sometime later I was alone in the barracks, in a very low empty moment. I knew there was a Gideon Bible in the desk drawer. I turned to the only scripture I knew which was Psalm 23. I read it as a prayer, and had my first real ‘God feeling’. But the feeling passed…
When I got “PCS’d” (permanent change of station) to Norton AFB in San Bernardino, I had a brief experience with Scientology- That’s a whole other rabbit trail I may go into sometime… however, they had a teaching about something they called ‘Demon Circuits’.
It was basically when you get something like a song in your head and can’t get it to stop- often times some advertising jingle or whatever. They had techniques to help to ‘get rid’ of them. You knew you were in control when you could turn those things off!
I think they got it wrong!
What if these ‘circuits’ are created by God to enrich and bless His children?
The important thing is all about what we’re playing on those ‘circuits’!
BTW- I got saved after only a few months in the Scientology thing- had to be excommunicated from Scientology! …but that’s another story!
Back to GIGO:
In the computer world, one of the first things I was taught in a Data Processing class I took in college (back before PC’s were invented- lol) was GIGO- Garbage in, garbage out.
So much of our lives, we’re bombarded by the Garbage.
Most is self-inflicted, like TV, movies, music. Culture and current events can be a source- most news we’re exposed to is bad news, right? One of my pet peeves is the news anchor with the painted on happy face telling us about the latest tragedies. I think you get my point. So much junk gets put in, it’s time we overload on good stuff! Amen!
What if we become so engaged in Worship that those songs are the ones that fill our hearts and minds?
Luke 6:43-4 , The Voice
43 Count on this: no good tree bears bad fruit, and no bad tree bears good fruit. 44 You can know a tree by the fruit it bears. You don’t find figs on a thorn bush, and you can’t pick grapes from a briar bush. 45 It’s the same with people. A person full of goodness in his heart produces good things; a person with an evil reservoir in his heart pours out evil things. The heart overflows in the words a person speaks; your words reveal what’s within your heart.
'Be All I See' wasn’t something I planned-
I was so moved by the passion of the Worship Team and the power of the words, that the Holy Spirit captivated my spirit with this simple message and tune.
And You Have Rescued me, be all I see….
Christ is enough for me…These phrases are coming to me and finding agreement in my heart!
Maybe I’m experiencing what it means to be Wrecked? If that’s what this is, I’m good with it never stopping!
All I’m doing is allowing the song to play in my heart,
I welcome it rather than trying to ignore it, really hearing the phrases repeating-
“And you have rescued me…be all I see…be all I need…" Every time I personalize the words I get this charge of energy. "Oh, How He loves us!"
In my mind, I search for promises in God’s word that go with the expressions of the song- not so much Chapter and verse, just the words:
‘I will be with you always’, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you’, ‘My grace is sufficient for you’, ‘For God so loved the World…’ My heart gets so light, my sense of His presence is raised, and here I am just going about my daily routines!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
What might those ‘higher ways and higher thoughts be?
What did guys like David, Isaiah and Paul know that we need to know (or know better?)
Just a few words from these guys :
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep the peace, a perfect peace, for all who trust in You, for those who dedicate their hearts and minds to You. The Voice
Isaiah says God does his part- keeping our hearts at perfect peace, when we do our part- trust and dedicate our hearts and minds.
I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. (Psalms 34:1-4 NKJV)
This Psalm of David burned into my heart during the darkest days imaginable- as it turns out it was one of our daughter Kimberly's favorite verses and it's inscribed on her grave, testifying of her faith.
So much of Paul's writing was written from prison cells! His words here are a compass pointing us to the will of the Father !
12 Brothers and sisters, in light of all I have shared with you about God’s mercies, I urge you to offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to God, a sacred offering that brings Him pleasure; this is your reasonable, essential worship. 2 Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete. Romans 12:1-2,The Voice (VOICE)
So, then GIGO is something very unique for the Christ follower!
God’s Spirit in God’s power out, God in, Gentleness out, God in Grace out, God in glory out, God in goodness, out God in generosity out. AMEN?
