created to love Him...

Exodus 33:18 And Moses said, “Please show me Your glory.” Show Me Your glory. We sing this phrase in multiple worship songs these days. We cry out for God's glory to fall in a room. What are we asking for, really? I always want to get past the language of Christianese, which the church is full of, and make sure I understand what I'm speaking or singing...like, when we pray for a "hedge of protection" around people. Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian, has ruined this Christianese phrase for me. A hedge? Really? Is that the best we can pray for is a shrub??? Why not a stone wall or a mountain pass? What if the devil has hedge trimmers?? OH BOY! But, I digress! What is God's glory? AND, I find it interesting that Moses, who witnessed the most of God's amazing wonders in all of the Old Testament, is the one asking this. Hasn't Moses witnessed enough? What more is there? WHAT DID MOSES EXPERIENCE WITH GOD BEFORE ASKING TO SEE HIS GLORY??? *The audible voic...

 "Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is beautiful for the upright to praise Him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre. SING TO HIM A NEW SONG; play skillfully and shout for joy!"                            ~Psalm 33:1-3 For 33 years while King David ruled over Israel and Judah, he had a tent pitched to house the Ark of the Covenant, which represented God's presence in Israel. It was a place of worship, prayer, repentance, atonement, rejoicing and lamenting. David, being a musician himself, constructed the instruments that were to be used in the tent (1 Chronicles 23:5) by 4,000 musicians from the tribe of Levi. Under the instruction of 3 chief worship leaders (Asaph, Heman and Jeduthan), these musicians were to use these instruments and their voices to prophesy throughout the tent (1 Chronicles 25:1 & 6).  This was David's understanding of worship....

 Our object of worship is, of course, God. He's the Father, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. That is the One who we worship.  The One of whom it says in the Bible that He, "dwells in light unapproachable whom no man can see or has seen or can see and live" (1 Timothy 6:16, Exodus 33:20). It says that God is holy, eternal, omniscient, omnipotent and sovereign and that He has a thousand more sovereign characteristics. Any or all of these should regularly bring us to our knees in humility and awe. When writing about this sovereignty of God, A.W. Tozer says, "I cannot accept with sympathy the ideas that we go to church to soothe ourselves and calm our spirts. We do calm our spirits and there is a soothing effect in worship, but the primary object of church attendance is not to relax - it is to offer worship, which belongs to God."  David sees this God incarnated in Psalm 45 - a figure that is radiantly beautiful, romantic. Some of ...

 I rarely have time to read these days. The moment I sit down the children have radar that goes off in the core of their being telling them to come find me or wake up from their nap. That is THE moment they must have a snack..."Mom's reading??? That must mean I'm hungry!!!" Even the dog thinks that when I sit down, it MUST be because I want to play with her...and here she comes with her stuffed bunny, tail wagging with expectation. SO, I've taken up listening to audio books as an attempt to keep my brain working beyond the level of board books and Disney drama! Although, some of those board books can be pretty profound! This morning I was listening to 1 Kings while making breakfast and going about our morning routines. It was good for me to be reminded of these historical stories, some that I'd forgotten about and felt fresh. As I listened to chapter after chapter, over and over again I heard, "_________ did what was right to the Lord," or "____...

  "The surrendered heart has no more controversy with God." AW Tozer Tozer is one of my favorite worship theologians, hands down. When I read Tozer I feel like the Holy Spirit lovingly takes a 2X4 and continually whacks me in the face with it. For me, this is fun, healing, cleansing...is that weird?! Tozer brings me back to square one, the foundation. I feel like when I read his books on worship, any peripheral thoughts and tangents on worship that don't belong get swept away and I'm returned to a pure & simplistic understanding and practice of what it means to be a worshiper of Jesus.  I have long understood that worship cannot be separated from obedience to God. Our modern culture and sadly, much of the modern Western church does not teach this. Worship has become a time segment of ritual emotional song singing that leaves us unchanged, yet feeling pretty good about ourSELVES. It lacks reverence, awe and has created a current generation of people who casually ap...

Worship is giving back to God what He first gave to us.  Worship is giving back to Him the song He first sang into us.  When my kids want to buy me a gift for Christmas, they ask me for money. They take my money and buy me a gift with my own money and give it back to me. The word for “worship” used in the Bible is the word, “proskuneo.” It means to bow down, to get low. Worship is the great returning to what we were meant to be. Think about this: We came from dust. In the beginning, God reached down to our level and picked up dirt and then pulled us to His level and kissed us with life. Worship is us, getting down on the dirt to what we were made from and He’s there waiting to meet us. Worship is the romance God created in the Garden. It’s returning to His face.  Our worship echoes into eternity. Have you ever thought about Mary’s (of Bethany) worship? She was the first worship leader of the New covenant…actually her worship started before the new covenant. Re...

I'm sitting in Starbucks today trying to get some work done. My intention was to sit down and write down my weekly worship musing to email out to my church family. But then this song came on and I've had it on repeat for about 45 minutes. I can't even write. I feel like my skin is coming unglued and any minute I'm going to do a glory run around the cafe screaming the name of Jesus. I have so many things swirling around me that feel...just wrong and broken. The enemy is so loud and unleashed. He's forgotten his rightful defeated place. This song is healing to my spirit and motivation for my stubborn heart to say, "Hell? NO! Get back and lay down at His feet where you belong." So, for my weekly worship musing this week, Redeemer family, speak Jesus. Oh, and be prepared to sing this song on Sunday. He is the name above all names!

If you are a part of any kind of ‘modern’ worship service (we are going to say that modern includes an actual drum kit, real live sub woofers, and any kind of creative elements via screens, lighting, etc), those words from Elisabeth Elliot may make you stop and think a minute. We could take that a step further and dare I say, question what you do as a leader of musical worship times. These words capture so much of my heart and focus as a worshiper and a leader of worship.  There are moments when we as ‘planners’ of those times can become so focused on finding that moment, even planning that moment, making sure our sets have a perfect flow, dialing in a particular setting, that we negate the fact that while all of those things are good, they are not the final dictation of how a congregation will receive a worship time. Why? True worship is not an experience. It’s not a once a week feeling or a twice a week meeting. John 4:24 says: ‘God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in t...

 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him"...Psalm 37:7 When I was pregnant with our daughter, Ellie, I strongly craved Mountain Dew. I would've mowed down a puppy some days if that was what it took to get one! I stayed away from caffeine during my pregnancy with her, but the craving never stopped! I craved Mountain Dew because I knew it truly existed. I had experienced it before- cold, sweet, fizzy. I wasn't craving something that wasn't real or I had never tried. Because I've known it, my body desired it.  God is drawn by hunger. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:6). We were made to hunger and be satisfied. To hunger means that there is something more to be experienced that will bring that satisfaction. This is one truth that assures me that God is real. If I'm hungry for Him, just like the Mountain Dew, He must exist or else my hunger for Him wouldn't exist. He alone...

I want to know Christ and Christ crucified. Christ and Christ crucified is the perfect display of submission to the sovereignty of God. It's more than that. But right now the sovereignty of God, His supreme and ultimate power displayed over, in & through my life is where my head is fixed. If He has supreme and ultimate power, then I have very little on my own, if any, as I submit my life to Him. He is the Master Artist, Creator and Upholder of this earth and all its inhabitants.  My girls LOVE art - drawing, painting, creating, cutting, nail polish - any form of adding color and imagination to their world. Often my 4 year old will hand me a picture she's designed with pride and fulfillment in her eyes. She's so excited when she shows off her finished product. Sometimes I've made the mistake to say something like, "Oh, Ellie! That is such a beautiful butterfly! WOW!"  To which she'll respond with eyes rolling, "Mom, that's me and Daddy riding o...