The Heart of Worship Blog has been created to share the Heart of God through creative expression! We intend to uplift, encourage, and be a blessing to all!
..............."I know that where you are in your walk you are probably far removed from this place; nevertheless, I thought you'd love this song by Jonathan McReynolds "No Gray!"
This was the text that I received from my God-Son last week, and I'm thinking to myself, I still have things that I'm working my way through! I have to make the decision to Die to my flesh daily! I sometimes have situations and circumstances that are facing me and I have to choose, and choose again......LIFE! Deuteronomy 30:19 says, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you,thatI have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may Live;
The world has much to offer, and there are so many distractions, but it is up to us as to whether we will receive the blessing or the curse based on our choices. I don't know about you, but I want to be blessed beyond the curse, so I Choose Life! After looking at the lyrics to the song "No Gray" I started to think about how many of us are in this place where we feel split and divided; part of us loving God, and part of us loving the world! No man can serve two masters, we must Love one and Hate the other! We have to be white or black, with no shades of gray!
God tells us that he would rather we be Hot or Cold than lukewarm! At some point and time we have to stop straddling the fence and choose which side we are going to be on!
Are you finding yourself up one day and down the next?
Are you being influenced by the world?
Do you constantly find yourself torn between making the right and wrong decisions?
If this is you, today I encourage you to Choose Life!
Here are the lyrics to the song "NO GRAY"! I pray that you allow these words to penetrate your spirit!
Verse 1:
Lord I'm split in two
Part of me loves the world
And the other loves You
So what do I do
I wanna be saved
But I got to stay cool too
And no I'm not a fool
I know eventually I'm gonna have to choose
And really I don't wanna lose
My ticket into heaven
And a chance to be used by You
Chorus:
And if it's God that I'm after
Then I can't serve two masters
And before something happens
I got to turn it all around
Because I know
I can't just have my cake and eat it too
Cause it's real easy to stay on the fence and still do you
And it'd be cool if we could love the Lord and still go do our thing
But see it doesn't work like that
I got to be white or black
Oh ooohh
Verse 2:
Lord I've realized
when it comes to sin
You just don't compromise
It's a matter of death and life
Be weak and do wrong
Or be strong and do right
And I don't wanna keep going to church
Singing about how much You're worth
And then continue doing my dirt
Living as if I didn't care if You're hurt
Chorus:
And if it's God that I'm after
Then I can't serve two masters
And before something happens
I gotta turn it all around
Because you know
You can't just have your cake and eat it too
Cause it's real easy to stay on the fence and still do You
And it'd be cool if we could love the Lord and still go do our thing
See it doesn't work like that
You got to be white or black
Bridge:
We saint's got to
Get it together
Just got to
Get it together
And if it's God we're after
We got to pick one master
And before something happens
We better turn it all around
Because you know
You can't just have your cake and eat it too
Cause it's really easy to stay on the fence and still do you
And it'd be cool if we could love the Lord and still go do our thing
See it doesn't work like that
You got to be white or black
Cause it don't work like that
You gotta pick white or black...
No Grey, No shades of Grey, it don't work like that!
Yes I'm a proud YaYa!!!! Today was BJ or should I say Jodie's (since he's a big boy now) first day of Kindergarten! He got up this morning and ate his breakfast, washed his face, brushed his teeth, and put on his clothes just like an old man! LOL! He told his Diddy and I that yesterday was his last day being a little boy and now today he's a Big Boy! He was so ready for school!
I'm so proud of his mom, my daughter Paris, for doing such a good job with Jodie! I know that it hasn't been easy for her as a young mother, but I commend her for taking the necessary steps to being a great mom!
We want to thank Mrs. Chatman for giving Jodie such an awesome foundation at "Happy School," as well as everyone who has poured into his life from birth to now! I can't help but think about Mom today (tears)! I know she is smiling down on all of her grandchildren! She was always so proud of all our accomplishments!
I truly pray that you had a wonderful weekend and that your day is going well!~
The weather has already done a shift and most of us are in the hustle and bustle of getting our children back to school! Don't try to hide that smile, I know you're happy that they are back to school and out of the house! Oh the joys of a closed refrigerator, a little more food left in the cabinets, and a little more money in your wallet! :-)
I'm still trying to understand what happened to our summer here in the Mid-West. It has been rainy, and windy, and now chilly; I think we had summer for about three weeks!
Maybe we'll get a few more weeks of warm weather before we completely transition to Fall!
Now that I got that out I wanted to share with you a few tid bits from my worship experience on Sunday! WoW it was amazing! As a worship leader it is not often that I am sitting out from ministering; however, yesterday I didn't sing because I was working my way through a sinus infection. It took all of my strength to get ready and get to the House of God, but once I got in the presence of God I felt my strength being renewed! I had no idea what God had in store for me as I was able to soak, receive, and be ministered to!
I needed my cup to be filled again, that I may give out of my overflow!
I had been in the service for all of 20 minutes when I could feel the well of tears stirring up on the inside of me, and I began to search for tissues in an effort to maintain my mascara, eyeliner, and foundation. It was not working! As the fire of God's presence began to fill the room, it was as if I could feel the light of heaven shinning directly on my soul! I could feel the pull of gravity (the weight of His glory) pulling me downward and before I knew it I was eating the carpet!
It was the fire of God!!! I had been singing "set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain that I can't control, I want more of you God!" That is exactly what He did!
God set the fire down and in my soul and began to peel back some more layers, revealing those things in me that He desired to consume and burn in His presence! My heart had been made ready in worship, making it easy for me to say "YES!" I so love that fact that God is commited to finishing what He has started in our lives, pefecting everything that concerns us! Sometimes it takes burning up everything that's not like Him, and sometimes it requires a little tilling, pruning, and cutting away the excess fat around our hearts! Today I am so very thankful that God thought enough of me to change me and conform me into the image of His Son! Sometimes I'm unable to see me for me, but the Holy Spirit will so graciously shine the light of His presence on my soul like a mirror, then washing me of all impurities. Today I pray that you allow yourself to become vulnerable in God's presence that He may shine the light of His glory into your soul, perfecting you in every area of your life! Please join with me in praying that God will set a fire down in your soul that you can't contain or control! I pray that this song blesses you~
I can hear my mother saying, "Baby the race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but it's to the one that endures to the end!" I didn't always understand what she was trying to say, but the older I got it all began to make sense.
I would also hear her say, "slow and steady wins the race." I'm like Mom can you just tell me what you're trying to say without the parable? She would say, "honey it's not how fast you're going, but that you don't give up before the end of the race."
I began to think about the scripture in Hebrews 12 that tells us how to run our race, and shows how the pioneers, and more importantly Jesus blazed the way for us. The Message translation really breaks down this passage and says: Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
The more I looked at that verse, the more I began to see that starting the race, staying in the race, and finishing the race is not all about me, but about those that are watching and waiting on me to blaze the trail before them. Jesus was our perfect example in that He endured the cross and despised the shame for our freedom. Where would we be if Jesus would have quit or given up before going to the cross? He came into the world knowing that the goal was to redeem sinful man, and with everything that He had to endure He never took His eyes off the goal! WOW!!! What a selfless and loving God! He gave his only son Jesus, and Jesus said, "no man take my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. I am so glad that He endured the cross for you and me!"
Today I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on Jesus as you continue to run the race that is set before you! Life has an interesting way of showing up with all kinds of distractions to get us off of our course, and to throw in the towel before we get to the finish line, but we must keep on going! It is our endurance and staying power that will give us the fortitude to not just continue the race and reach our goal, but to Finish Strong!
Don't forget that fulfilling and completing your God given assignment is not all about you, but those that are divinely connected to you! What an awesome responsibility and privilege we have to pass the baton, but if we give up before we reach the next runner, we hinder the team from finishing the race. So again, Don't Give Up! You're Too Close Now!!!
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