I Want To Have A Godly Message....

I want to have a Godly message. James 3:5-9 "Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." My tongue gets me into a lot of trouble - my mouth runs about 10 minutes ahead of my brain. That's why in the past year, I have been hesitant to post a lot of the things that have been on my mind. God has had me on a roller coaster ride and I want to share my experiences with you all, in hopes that it will help someone else who is dealing with what I have been through. However, I do not want to do this in a spirit of anger or criticism, or really, in a sinful way. So over the next few weeks, with much prayer, I am going to share the story of my past year with you; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am going to share with you when God told me to move and I refused to, how He moved me. I am going to share with you the pride, the fear, and the relationships that kept me from moving. And I am going to share with you where He has placed me today. I hope you will come along for the ride, and I hope that God will use my experiences to somehow give you a clearer sight of Him, regardless of what is clouding your vision right now. I want you to see the Jesus that has revealed Himself to me. And I pray that if you don't have a true relationship with Him now, you will. Let's get this journey started.

Potato Chip Fingerprints

My guitar is sitting at home right now with a bazillion greasy potato chip fingerprints on it.

And that's okay with me.

Let me tell you how they got there. I was privileged last week to go on a mission outreach visit to a women's shelter. And I'm gonna be honest. I was scared. I have seen domestic violence in the branches of my family tree, but it was never something that affected me at home. I didn't know what to expect. And I can tell you this much - a year ago, I wouldn't have gone on the trip.

Why? A year ago, I would have judged instead of loved, I would have condemned instead of showing compassion. My preconceived notions and stereotypical narrow mindedness would have kept me in my box I built all on my own with tools given to me by narrow minded people.

But the person I am now wants to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the lost, to the hurting, to the forgotten...to carry Him into the lives of everyone I meet.

So I threw away the remaining scraps from my broken box that I have escaped from and joined my group of friends to go on this visit. We took dinner, a craft for the kids, and I took my guitar to play some songs for them. I unpacked the guitar when I got there, then stepped outside to see what was going on. One of the ladies let me know that some of the kids were strumming on it so I went back inside to check on things. There was a little boy, shorter than the guitar that was leaning in the corner, steadily strumming the open strings. I knelt down beside him and that's when I heard him singing:

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout...."

I listened intently and applauded when he was done. He looked at me and said, "I know another one".

(Steadily strumming again) "A, B, C, D, E, F, G...."

Again I listened intently and gave him applause.

This got the attention of the other kids and we spent some time talking about the guitar and how to be easy with it while playing it, and I listened to them sing like children do. After they ate their dinner, they came back over again and continued to play. Potato chips were part of the meal, and not everybody washed their hands before touching the guitar again (and I think I fall right into this category), so this is where the bazillion potato chip fingerprints came into play. And I was so caught up in the innocence of these children, it didn't even occur to me to care that their hands might be dirty.

What I saw through the eyes of my heart were women and children of all walks of life who needed help, not a hand out, but a hand up. I watched them interact with each other and saw how they had become family to each other.

And I saw a group of women sing children's worship songs with a joy in their hearts that I would love to see in the hearts of the people in our churches...that I would love to see in my own heart.

We closed with Amazing Grace. One of the verses says:

"Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;
Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home"

I have a whole new picture of grace.

I have a bazillion little greasy potato chip fingerprints on my guitar. And it doesn't bother me.

Because I also have a bazillion little greasy potato chip fingerprints on my heart.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your Amazing Grace.

It's just what's on my mind.

Inside Out

I was recently having a conversation with someone in the sanctuary of our ministry center. The ministry center is located in what used to be a Methodist church. There were red cushions on the benches in the sanctuary there that have been there for quite awhile. This person said to me that someone had taken some of the cushions home in hopes to repair or re-cover them. Some looked pretty ok to me, but some were in need of new coverings, and some had areas that needed to be repaired.


When they took the covers off of the cushions, there was nothing but dust inside.

I quickly looked at my friend and said, “I hope if you cut me open, there would be more than dust inside”.

Then it made sense.

We all have our “covers” - what we look like on the outside. Some of us work very hard to make that outside look good, and it does. Some of us have lots of “patches” - areas that need work. And some of us are worn completely out.

And if someone wanted to fix that “cover” on us, and attempted to remove it, what would they find? They break through that cover and find….

Dust.

That’s where I feel like I have been lately. Someone cut my cover off and found only dust. I have been doing “ministry” work because it is what we are supposed to do…but what I forgot was that I needed to be doing the things God has called me to do, and doing them because I love Him; not doing things that other people think God has called me to do because I fear their opinions if I say no.

Was I serving God or serving man?

Most of my “works” kept me inside the church building and had me doing nothing to bring lost souls to Christ. I sat in judgment of people I didn’t understand, instead of having compassion on them.

And saying that I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul; yet, I do not know Him. I know what other people have told me about Him, but I have not taken the time in 6 years to KNOW Him.

If you cut me open, you would find dust.

If you open the doors of most churches, you would find dust.
We have become lukewarm, and we have forgotten our first Love.

We judge others for things that God has forgiven us for. But somehow we think we are “better” than the lost. Hear me, Jesus died for all. And I was lost, and the only thing that makes me different now is I have accepted the grace and mercy that God showed me when Jesus died on the Cross for my sins.

But it doesn’t make me better than anyone else.

We have made the church a club instead of the house of God.

We have turned the sanctuary into a concert hall.

The altar has become a stage.

We go to church to be entertained instead of forgiven.

We eat and socialize, when we should be fasting and praying.

The words “prayer” and “Jesus” are almost like a foreign language.

We sit back and wait for the lost to come to us, instead of going out and sharing the Gospel with them.

I have recently been reading a book about Mother Teresa and in reading of her call to the slums of Calcutta, she reminded her superiors that we should not sit back and wait for the lost to crawl out of their holes and come searching for Jesus, that we should be crawling into their holes to them and taking Jesus with us when we go.

I am full of dust.

And I was reminded of the following song by Keith Green:

“Rushing wind, blow through this temple

Blowing out the dust within

Come and breathe Your breath upon me

For I’ve been born again

Holy Spirit I surrender; take me where You want to go

Plant me by Your living waters

Plant me deep so I can grow

Jesus, You’re the One who set my spirit free

Use me, Lord; glorify Your Holy Name through Me

Separate me from this world, Lord

Sanctify my life for You

Daily change me to Your image

Help me bear good fruit

Every day You’re drawing closer

Trials come to test my faith

But when all is said and done, Lord

It’s been worth the wait.”



I’m praying for that rushing wind to cleanse my heart.

It’s just what’s on my mind.