I hope you dance!

It is my privilege to work with several good and generous people who give hours to the food pantry ministry of Faith Discovery Church. Yesterday, feeling silly, I did a little dance proclaiming “I have a song in my heart!”  One of my friends joked - “Well, it’s not in your feet!”  That is so very true.  I cannot find a nicely coordinated way to move in anything resembling an actual dance, but I wish I could. But, I ‘dance’ anyway, when I feel joyful. Many years ago I thought that a class might help me so I enrolled Bev and I in one that met an evening each week. The instructor did her best to convince me that the only thing standing between me and real dancing was self-consciousness. Bev had a great time. I never did master the steps! 

Do you dance? The question is not about your physical grace or rhythm.
The real issue is do you allow yourself to feel and express joy, giving genuine thanks to God for life and the blessings He gives?

It is so easy to see only the pain in life which is real, to take note of what is ‘not right,’ which is common in our broken world, and yet to miss the small graces that find us each day- a beautiful sunset, a child’s giggle, a friend’s encouragement, or a song that touches our soul.  In those moments, I hope you dance!  Let your soul be free before Him!

Others may not dance with you, nor may they even appreciate your joy in the Lord.  David, the shepherd king of Israel, was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to the Tabernacle. It was the symbolic dwelling of God among His people and the event was celebrated with joy. Overcome with his emotions the king started to dance in the street. He was not just tapping his toe with the music. The Bible says "David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly tunic." (2 Samuel 6:14, NLT)  Forgetting his position and his pride he was leaping, dancing, and shouting the praises of God. His wife found his enthusiasm embarrassing, disgusting evecn. "Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart." (2 Samuel 6:16, NIV)   

Coming to his palace, David expected she would share his joy. Instead, he found contempt poured over him like acid, as she spat the words - "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

Ah, friend, allow yourself to feel joy. Thank God for Who He is, for the blessings with which he has graced your life. Dance if you feel like it!  Many will not appreciate the joy, criticizing you for your joy in the Lord.  But, if we spend too much time looking around  for encouragement  we will cease to love God as we could. Instead of dancing for His applause we will become slaves of the opinions of others.

Oh, I am not making an excuse for selfish expressions to impress others or that become a distraction. Joy is not an excuse to ignore the needs of others by doing your own thing. In balance we remember that Jesus told us that our best expressions of love and prayer would be private. He pointed to the public piety of the Pharisees and sternly warned against making prayer and worship into a performance designed to impress others. Heaven falls silent when we start to dance for the crowd!  Never the less, when we are lost in His love, when we release ourselves to the Spirit of God: our songs, our choices, our prayers may well appear to be foolish, childish expressions. 

When the critics sneer, we remind ourselves that is God we serve and we ask, "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Galatians 1:10, NIV)  The blessings and approval of the Holy Spirit are enough. When David’s wife mocked his joyful worship that led to his dancing in the street, he told her: "It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." (2 Samuel 6:20-22, NIV)

So- dance, cry, sing, serve, love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Remember - He is Lord of the exuberant dance as well as the quiet reverence.  I hope you dance!

Here is the word from the Word.

"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!" (Psalm 30:11-12, NLT)

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(Video of this blog at this link)

House Of The Lord

 

We worship the God who was

We worship the God who is

We worship the God who evermore will be

He opened the prison doors

He parted the raging sea

My God He holds the victory yeah

 

There’s joy in the house of the Lord

There’s joy in the house of the Lord today

And we won’t be quiet

We shout out Your praise

There’s joy in the house of the Lord

Our God is surely in this place

And we won’t be quiet

We shout out Your praise

 

We sing to the God who heals

We sing to the God who saves

We sing to the God who always makes a way

'Cause He hung up on that cross

Then He rose up from that grave

My God’s still rolling stones away

 

('Cause) We were the beggars

Now we’re royalty

We were the prisoners

Now we’re running free

We are forgiven accepted

Redeemed by His grace

Let the house of the Lord sing praise

 

There is joy in this house oh yeah

There is joy there is joy

And we won't be quiet

We're gonna shout out Your praise

 

We shout out Your praise

There is joy in this house

There is joy in this house today

We shout out Your praise

We shout out Your praise

 

Jonathan Smith | Phil Wickham

© 2020 Be Essential Songs; Cashagamble Jet Music; Phil Wickham Music; Simply Global Songs

CCLI License # 810055

What would you do differently?

Last Sunday afternoon, in a conversation with my nephew, Justin asked questions about our family history and my life. Near the end of our talk he asked, “What would you do differently if you could?”  It did not take a great deal of thought to answer his question. As I mused about a cross-roads moment in my life, now decades past, I told him how maturity has changed my perspective, how I now understand those choices and what  I might have done in a different way!  We all have those kinds of memories, don’t we?  We wonder what might have been if we had taken the other side of that fork in the road of life.

Here is what I also know -
God is the Restorer, the Healer,
One who is able to take the messes we make
and use them for His glory.  

What should we do with yesterday’s mistakes and sins? 

We need to confess our part honestly to God, and where approprate, to others.
When we own our choices, without excuse or attempts to justify ourselves, coming to Jesus in humility, we find His arms open, His love without limits. John says that “He is faithful to forgive… to cleanse us.”  What a wonderful assurance we can know that God forgives. The ancient preacher, Micah, asks - "Where is another God like you, who pardons the sins of the survivors among his people? You cannot stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing mercy. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!" (Micah 7:18-19, NLT)

We need to make things right wherever possible and appropriate.
Wise counsel can help us see where we need to go to another and offer restitution. A sincere apology can go a long way to heal a soul wound that happened as a result of our choice. Jesus taught us not to to paper over our sins with pious words. He said “if you are standing before the altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God." (Matthew 5:23-24, NLT)  

We can face the future without the need to wallow in regret!
Like Paul, my focus is not what was, but what is and what will be! My prayer is that God will show me how to live today as I advance toward tomorrow- be it here on earth or in His heaven!  In his early years as a Pharisee named Saul, he hated Believers in Christ and worked to destroy the Gospel message and those who followed Jesus.

But God, in amazing grace, met him on the road to Damascus. Saul believed that day and was changed. The transformation was so profound, he even took a new name! Had he lived in perpetual regret, he might have faded into obscurity, making tents in some Roman town, sorrowful 'til death for his persecution of those who loved the Lord. Or, he might have settled down to pastor the church in Ephesus, where his message met with great success and tried to hold onto a moment of triumph.

But, he did neither of those things. Why? He tells us. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14, NIV) He knew what he was called to do and kept at it – faithfully. He left the sins in the grace of God, celebrated the triumphs, and anticipated the glorious future.

We cannot try to erase the past or to rewrite history nor are we wise if we allow nostalgia take us hostage.  Today is full of opportunities that God provides, so when we awaken let us say - "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24, NIV)  

In our youth we tend to live too much in the future.
As we age, we are tempted more and more to live in the past.

God works in the present! He is the Lord of this day.

Are your eyes open to what the Spirit is doing today?

I leave you with this word from the Word, Jesus’ appeal to his friends to see what God was doing right now. “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest." (John 4:34-35, NIV)

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(Video of this blog at this link)

 

All The Way My Saviour Leads Me

 All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside
Can I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my Guide
Heav'nly peace divinest comfort
Here by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know whate'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All the way my Savior leads me
O the fullness of His love
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father's house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages

Jesus led me all the way
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

Fanny Jane Crosby © Words: Public Domain