Happy Birthday Jesus!

This is from an email I sent out a couple of years ago...

Those of you who know me pretty well know I have been fascinated with the story of Jim Elliot and the missionaries that were martyred on Jan. 8, 1956 while trying to bring the Gospel to the Auca Indians. There have been several books written by Elisabeth Elliot about this, and I highly recommend that you read them (Through the Gates of Splendor, The Shadow of the Almighty, The Journals of Jim Elliot, The Savage My Kinsman).

I just finished reading "The Shadow of the Almighty" again, and it was amazing how fresh my heart was to the message...especially here at Christmas. And it makes me even more burdened for the lost...a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how comfortable we are, and if we really know what it means to sacrifice. Think about this for a minute:

"We cuddle around the Lord's table as though it were the last coal of God's altar, and warm our hands, thinking that it will appease the wrath of the indignant Christ when He charges us with the unmet , unchallenged, untaught generation of heathen now doing their Christmas shopping. It makes me boil when I think of the power we profess and the utter impotency of our action. Believers who know one-tenth as much as we do are doing one hundred times more for God, with His blessing and our criticism. Oh, if I could write it, preach it, say it, paint it, anything at all, if only God's power would become known among us!" Jim Elliot

How comfortable are we in our world? Are we challenged to go out and minister to the lost? Or do we think someone else will do it? If we don't, we will surely answer to Christ, who we claim to love, for those souls lost because we did not speak. We're afraid to speak, to witness, for fear of offending someone, when lives are laid down every day for the Gospel...

The following quote is framed in my office, and it is one to meditate on:

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

We cannot keep our lives...we must give them so that we can bring others to know the Father that we know.

Jim Elliot followed his Savior all the way...and in witnessing to those lost, he lost his life. And in sacrificing his life, he opened a path for others to win the Aucas to Christ. And he gained Heaven and He saw the One he loved more than life face to face! I'm challenged, folks...do I want to stay stagnant and complacent, or do I want to follow my Savior all the way?

Remember the lost this Christmas...what are they really celebrating? What are you celebrating?

How I See Things...

I'm seeing things a little differently this Thanksgiving morning....

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and yes, it's time for bifocals...I was hoping that wouldn't happen until after the 40th birthday, but I handed over the debit card and paid for the new glasses I need...and I thought...be thankful...it's not that bad...at least you can still see, and so many people can't...at least you have eyes...and at least you have a job and an income and can pay for the things you need.

It's funny how we see things...especially this time of year. And my eyes have been opened more to what is going on around me, more than ever before. And I'm not talking about the eyes that wear the glasses...I'm talking about the eyes of my heart.

We see in so many different ways...on Monday night, I was driving home from the hospital with my friend whose dad had been taken to the ER - she was guiding me through the back streets of Charlottesville (I know very little about Charlottesville) and we came to a place in the road where we had two choices - straight ahead or turn. Now, this is where it gets interesting...because what I saw as "straight ahead or bear to the left (the road curved to the left)", she saw as "straight ahead or bear to the right". I asked "Which way do I go?" She said, "Keep straight". I almost went the wrong way. That's called perspective - we each have a different way of looking at a situation, and we laughed about it, and I said, "We'll be driving around all night at this rate - people will wonder where we are," and she said, "And we'll tell them it was because you don't know your right from your left".

PERSPECTIVE!

God opens the eyes of our hearts and allows us to see things His Way, when we spend time in His Word and know Him. And what's great about the people he puts in our lives is that when we aren't looking to Him for our vision, then they can point us in the right direction. And it's important to listen to each other and see where we're coming from so we know where we're going.

I am directionally challenged in many ways, but I know that I serve a God who has given me a roadmap for life, called The Bible. My earthly vision is blurred - physically, I can't see like I used to, and I can wear glasses to correct that. My spiritual vision gets blurred, too, and I have to go to my Heavenly Father for clarity. It's not about rules - it's about a relationship with a living Saviour. And I am humbled by His gift to me.

Love those around you today - love those that aren't around you today. And no matter how bad your circumstances seem, know you are not alone. God is there with you, and he hurts with you. When you weep, he is the one that holds you to His heart and weeps with you. Embrace that...embrace the Father. Be thankful that no matter what happens in this sin-filled world, that the God of the universe loves you and wants you to be His. And if you don't know Him through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ, get to know Him. Find a Bible believing church to attend, find someone you know who is a Christian and ask them about this man named Jesus. Email me and I will tell you what He has done for my soul! (Psalm 66:16)

"For now we see through a glass, darkly: but then face to face: know I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12

The Shadow of the Almighty

I know, two posts in one day…have had a lot on my heart.

Psalm 91 has been very special to me in recent months as I have tried to allow God to move everything out of my life that comes between me and Him - so that I am only dependent on Him for everything in my life. No more idols…

Last week, I had to get up early one morning to be at work for an in-service, so I got up at 5 a.m. (yes…five o’clock does come twice a day…) and went to read my Bible and pray. It was still completely dark outside…the stars were amazingly bright…everything was asleep…the silence was very heavy but a good heavy. I read my devotionals and then proceeded to pray, and I had an experience I don’t think I have ever had before.

As I prayed in the silence blanketed by darkness, I felt the Lord in a way I never had before. I felt like He was right there over my right shoulder, and I could feel Him breathe on my attempt to be in His presence. I was afraid to move for fear that He would go away, but I also had a fear of Him being that close…not a bad fear, but one that reminded me that He knows my heart all of the time. It was such an experience that as I sit here and write about it and as I told my friend Dana last night, words cheapen it because there are no words to adequately describe it. It was like His Shadow covered me completely.

Last night at the concert, Bart Millard, lead singer of Mercy Me, said something that brought me right back to this experience. He said that in moments like that, you are afraid to move and afraid to breathe because He is so close…my heart went back to that moment and I could feel it again.

My prayer life suffers…I don’t pray enough and I don’t spend enough time with Him. I do things with the ministry and I do things with my church, but I don’t spend enough one on one time with Him. Keith Green once said, “Don’t get so caught up in the work of the Lord that you forget the Lord of the work”.

I need to remember that.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” Psalm 91:1

Mercy ME!

Last night I went to a Mercy Me concert at TRBC (for those of you from another planet, that’s Thomas Road Baptist Church :) ) and I was amazed at some things God taught me and showed me in that amount of time.

First of all, we got there, and decided to walk around to see what was going on, and ran into one of my best friends, Dana, and her husband and some folks that came with them. What a great time catching up and then having the opportunity to worship together! Love ya, Dana!

As the concert went on, I was convicted over and over again of how selfish and judgmental I can be when I should be compassionate and prayerful, especially for the lost. As the concert went on, the Spirit of the Lord was truly in that place, and it was an awesome worship experience. But Bart Millard, the lead singer for Mercy Me reminded us that concerts are great and as he said, we get the warm and fuzzies and we hug people we don’t know…but what do we do when we leave (fast forward to the parking lot after the concert - all the warm and fuzzies were gone and you were on your own!)? How do we treat each other when times are tough, when we are living only on the Spirit that lives in us? Do we love each other like we do when we are at a worship experience, or are we all about ourselves again and have tunnel vision?

Make your life a worship experience - make every breath you breathe be about praising Him and Him alone. I was reminded again last night that everything that happens is for His Glory…even the things that we think are awful, God will use got His glory. I have seen this evidenced in two people I know who are currently battling cancer. I watch people around me moan and groan and bellyache about every ache and pain they have - then I see these two people, so dependent on Christ for His healing power, however that might come, and they never complain. I watch them continue to come to church and praise God for the lives that He has given them, being uncertain of what might come as far as their health, but certain that Jesus is in every moment that they live, and they are assured of a place in Heaven with Him.

I have quietly watched them, and quietly learned.

I have also become so aware of the lost around me in the past couple of weeks, and how urgent it is to spread the Gospel - to live what I believe and show them that there is another way - The Only Way - and that is Jesus.

Let us continue to pray for God to change us moment by moment to be more like Him - and ask Him for the boldness required to live a life that is different…that shows…that completely belongs to Him.

Who Is Your Paul?

Who Is Your Paul?

I was driving to a meeting a couple of months ago and I heard a sermon on the radio by Chip Ingram (www.lote.org - Life On The Edge) that really made me think. It was actually a teaching series, and I caught in on the day I needed to hear it (funny how God does that). His topic was “Who Is Your Paul?”.

He went on to talk about Paul and his conversion experience, and the passion with which Paul served Christ - no compromise, and no matter what his circumstances, he was content. Then he asked, “Who is your Paul”? Who is that person that is your spiritual mentor, the one you go to when you need guidance and instruction, no matter how hard it is to hear what they have to say. Who in your life serves Christ with the passion of Paul, and who is content wherever they might be in life. Who is my Paul? One person came to mind, and even though she is about 200 miles away from me, she remains my Paul, my mentor (even though I don‘t think I‘ve ever told her that), and my friend. And the coolest thing about it is that I have watched her grow in the 16 years I have known her, and she stands before me today a stronger person, even though I didn‘t think she could get any stronger. I have watched her and her family deal with illness and financial struggles, and they have remained faithful to God and He has blessed them through it all - He has given her a ministry now that He has prepared her for over many years and in ways she didn’t even realize. I don’t think that she even realizes how many lives she has touched. She took me into her home and into her heart when I didn’t even know I needed her…and now she remains in my heart and I know God has used her to teach me how to not only love others, but most importantly, to love God and not be afraid of Him, but to be willing to lay my heart out before Him in complete honesty and receive His mercy, grace and forgiveness. Now I see other young women come to her and seek her guidance and her knowledge, and I know she will continue to point them to the face of God.

He went on after that to ask another question: “Who is your Barnabas (your encourager)?”. Well, that one popped in my mind immediately as well. This is a person that no matter what is going on with her, she always encourages me. Although she also has many Paul tendencies and uses them when necessary, she always points me to the bright side of things, especially when I don’t think there is a bright side. This is also someone who has had many struggles, and remains honest about who she is. And I have never seen her that she didn’t have a smile on her face, and I have never talked to her in person or on the phone that she has not laughed. When I see her sing, her face shines with the light of the Father. She enjoys life to the fullest, and I can learn a lot from that. I like people with a heartfelt laugh and an open spirit…and when I need encouragement, she is my Barnabas.

There was a third question - “Who is your Timothy?”. Timothy came to Paul to be instructed…so who has God placed in my life to be my Timothy? That one hurt a little bit, because although I realized in a second who it was, I wanted to run as far and as fast as I could away from them. Why? Because they remind me a lot of me…some of the struggles I have had and things I haven’t been ready to share with someone new. But you know what? I know God can use my experiences to help this person…because I have been where they are and I can show them how powerful our God is. So I’m open now to that challenge…

But I’m gonna need my Paul to instruct me and my Barnabas to encourage me!

And I’m gonna need to continually seek God’s face through prayer and study of His Word.

I give these examples to challenge you to think about who these people are in your life…and most importantly, to really think about who your Timothy is…they are watching you even if you want to run away…so stand strong in your faith, take them to the Word of God, and most importantly, continue to point them to the face of God.

Things that amaze me!

THINGS THAT AMAZE ME


Have you ever sat down and thought about things that amaze you - things that don’t seem like they should make sense or even work, but they do? Here are a couple of things that amaze me:

- Technology and time zones: computers, email, cell phones, all those things. It just blows my mind that I was sitting at dinner Sunday night and I got a text message from my friend in Australia. I was ending my Sunday and he was just beginning his Monday…in Australia, they are 14 hours ahead of us - so when it’s still today here, it’s already tomorrow there. He sent me a text this morning and was on his way to bed while I was on my way to work.


- The Memory: It amazes me what the mind can remember and forget…what memories stick and what things go away never to be retrieved. It amazes me that I write songs and then have to look at the words when I sing in public, yet Saturday I put on a record album I hadn’t
listened to in at least 10 years and remembered every word on it (it was a live album and I even remembered the talking parts!). What did you say…what’s a record album?

There’s one thing that amazes me more than anything…and that’s God’s grace. You ask most people to define grace and they have a hard time answering it. It’s hard to put into words for most people. But it wasn’t hard for God to put into words…look in the Bible at all of the references to God’s grace.


Have you ever thought that there is one word that can define grace? That word is Jesus. God’s love for us doesn’t seem like it should make sense - that He loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die so that we might not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). We were destined for Hell, and God sent His very best from Heaven so we might live our lives for Him while here, and live with Him eternally when our earthly lives are over. The Mercer Dictionary of the Bible defines grace as “the sheer, self-giving love of God toward suffering and sinful humanity. It has no cause outside the love of God Himself; it is not dependent on any merit or worth in the recipient. The Hebrew root of the word translated ‘grace‘ means ‘to bend down to‘, suggesting a loving parent bending over a suffering child, or a good Samaritan bending over a wounded man on the Jericho Road“.


God’s grace came to us in the form of Jesus Christ dying on the Cross “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). Who understood grace more than Paul? Christ died for Paul while Paul was still in his sin of persecuting and killing Christians. Paul called himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And Paul suffered for his faith, but was able to say:
“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Grace doesn’t seem like it should make sense - a perfect God sending His perfect Son to die for a sinful world. But it works. I deserve Hell, but God has given me Heaven through His Son…through His amazing grace.


Don’t forget His sacrifice for our sins…don’t forget to live in His grace…and don’t forget to extend His grace to others.


“Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Romans 5:20


Don’t forget to love each other.
Be God’s
Melissa

How Long Does It Take?

This is a long posting…

How long does it take us to get it?

It takes me awhile. I’m hard headed (or as a good friend of mine says, strong-willed).
But when I get it, I get it…

For the past few emails, you have heard me talk about pride and lessons learned…and it’s easy to sit at a computer screen and say a lesson is learned. It’s easy to hide behind the keyboard and empty words, which is what I so often do. What matters, as someone older and wiser in the Lord has told me time after time, is those words leaping off the page and showing in my life. And they haven’t been…I mean what I say, but I haven’t believed it.

Three years ago next month, I got saved after running from God. Two years ago I started the music ministry after running from God. He has found me, yet I still try to keep running. And you know what? I’m tired. God has truly been cleansing my heart of lots of things - things that are ugly and I don’t like it one bit. I fight it tooth and nail. But God has told me the condition of my heart (The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart , I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings - Jeremiah 17:9-10) and He knows me better than I know myself. He made me - and He knows me.

When the music ministry started, I asked God to make my heart the heart of a minister. I’m here to tell you, you better make sure you really want what you pray for - because God is serious. So, God started working on my heart…He had to heal me of bitterness and anger towards others. And I fell many times…but God put people in my life to show me His Ways, and to be there for me to help me back up again.

But again, my heart needed more purging. And I continued to grow and learn, but still harbored many of these feelings in my heart. My dependence went where it didn’t need to be…I began learning this lesson when we did the “Quieting The Noisy Soul” (www.quietanoisysoul.com) at my church (www.ridgecrest-baptist.com). I learned that my behaviors were rooted in my unbelief - not believing that God is enough for me. And in my heart, even though I was listening and learning from the study, I held on tighter to the things that caused my soul to be noisy - and I did not believe that there was nothing I could do to make God love me any more, and nothing I could do to make Him love me any less. Even through the end of the study, I thought I had let go, but my heart was holding on tight out of fear - and the fear came from unbelief. This has been a struggle for me my whole life, but God is showing me where I am wrong.

I love my brothers and sisters in Christ - I thank Him everyday for the people He has given me, to love and support me, and to pray for me and with me. But I made a huge mistake. I placed my dependence in the people God had put in my life instead of God Himself. And in putting that dependence in the wrong place, I put those people in a place they didn’t need to be. And I put pressures and expectations on them that they didn’t deserve - my heart was being selfish. I did things to make sure I got my way. And that caused stress and tension that didn’t need to be there…and that caused NOISE. Did God create that for me? Not at all - I did it myself. See the pattern? I didn’t, but I do now…I didn’t even see it for what it really was until today. And when it hit me as hard as it did, it made me sick. I listened to everything people had to say to me…but today I understood that listening and hearing are two different things. You listen with your ears. You hear with your heart.

Today my heart finally got what my ears had been listening to. I said with my mouth that I understood, and I did to a point, but today I passed understanding. I came face to face with my sinfulness. And it hurt more than I think anything ever has…and I poured it out to God. I know that struggles will still come, but my dependence needs to be on God. He gives us friends and family to support us and love us and pray for us, but our dependence needs to be on Him. I hate who I have been, but I know I have to depend on God to show me who He wants me to become. I need to let everyone in my life off the hook (off my hook) and love them for what God has given them to me for…but not put them in a place they don’t belong and create so much tension…and noise…and sinfulness.

This past weekend, I went on a spiritual retreat. I had the blessing of house-sitting for some new Christian friends, and I took the opportunity to spend some time in the Word. God led me to Psalm 121 and spent some time in there studying what those verses mean. God opened my eyes to the need for dependence on Him…as I sat on the front porch early that Saturday morning, I saw the beauty in God’s creation…the sun that had just made it over the mountain to wake up the day, and the mist that blanketed the trees reminded me of how close God is to us each day. It reminded me of something I wrote awhile back…that we should be so close to Him that every time we breathe, we say His name…Jesus. The notes in my KJV say that this Psalm “fits well against the backdrop of a pilgrimage for it is concerned with the uncertainties one faces on such a journey”. My help comes from the Lord - in my journey, my help comes from the Lord. My faith, my hope, my belief, and my strength comes from the Lord.

Philippians 4:11-13 says: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased , and I know how to abound: every where and in all things am I instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me”.
I know now where my help comes from…where my strength comes from…where my hope comes from. I know where I have been wrong…and now I see it. So many things can get in the way - we put so many things in the way. But He is the source of everything we need. And now I more than get it - I believe it.

I am a Christian today not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity to me, but because there were people willing to be nuts and bolts - Rich Mullins.

Be God’s,
Melissa

God's Heart

One day back in the winter, I was really going through a phase of truly believing that there is nothing I could do to make God love me more and nothing I could do to make God love me less...I could not get my head or my heart around that....

When I went out to the car to go to work one morning, this was on my car window...the frost had formed into a heart...to me, this was one of those things that God uses to remind you that His love is true, and real, and permanent.

I believe that now...and I pray you believe it too.

More to come about the weekend retreat...need to have more time to write...hope all is well with everyone!

Be God's,

Melissa

The Weekend

Thanks to Kirsten for signing up and leaving a message!
You mentioned the CD project - those of you who know me know that this has been a desire of my heart, not to have a CD for my own glory, but to have an avenue of offering the songs that God has given me to others...so that these songs may touch their hearts as God has moved my heart to write them. As of right now, I have almost completed my "studio" at home...and instead of going through a commercial process, I have been praying about doing an independent project and am looking at purchasing the needed equipment. So, this is committed to prayer and I know God will lead in the right direction.
As I head towards the weekend, I am looking forward to my spiritual retreat - a weekend alone with God for prayer, study, and meditation. I have longed to do this, and through God's planning, He has given me the opportunity to spend some time alone with Him.
When I return, I hope to make a longer post and explain more about the ministry and where things might be headed. Until then...
Be God's,
Melissa

Hi!! Welcome to my blog wow that sounds weird sounds like "what all the kids are doing now".

I had been trying to update through email and through my website, but that got kind of cumbersome so I thought I'd try this route and now I can send out emails about new posts

I'm excited about Jesus I'm excited about His amazing love and I want to share that with everyone so welcome to my thoughts those who know me know that my brain is a scary place to be

Please check out the ministry website at http://www.melissamorrisministries.com/ and let me know what you think my calendar is on there and I am available to come to your church or organization to share my songs and testimony

Bye for now and remember, Be God's
Melissa