There’s something about that manipulation.

This past Sunday John Fischer from New Life Vineyard, Cape Town was preaching at our church.

There were a few things he mentioned which really resonated with me. I’ve been pondering / meditating on them since then.

One of the things he said was that sometimes he has to “manipulate” himself into God’s presence.
He was referring to doing things or exposing himself to things which he knows draw him into God’s presence.

This was an interesting spin on “practicing the presence of God.”

It got me thinking…
There are tons of scriptures which speak about seeking the Lord and desiring more of Him.

Manipulation is a word with a bad connotation, but the way he used the word had a good connotation.

I am human and I can sometimes live my life far from God. We are a forgetful people. I can easily live in a forgetful state, but if I know how to “manipulate” myself into the presence of God then I need to do that. If that’s what it takes…Do it!

There are a few songs which take me into the presence of God everytime I hear them. There are certain songs which I sing that have that same effect on me. There are certain places I go to which draw me to God. These things act as triggers in my life, triggers into God’s presence. So what John was saying was that we should use those triggers to seek the Lord.

Now, just to clarify, as a worship leader I am very aware of the negative effect manipulation can have on a congregation. I’m very careful not to manipulate people or hype people up into feeling something which isn’t authentic. Manipulation in that sense, in my opinion, is a form of witchcraft.

What I’m speaking about here is not that negative manipulation, but rather a way of finding those keys in my life, keys which unlock the doors of my heart and mind, keys which help me access God more freely.

I am desperate for more of God.
I want to earnestly seek the Father in my life. (Psalm 63:1)

Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.”

I’m sure I’ll do some more thinking on this, but for now I’m looking for those triggers in my life and the triggers I find I will use.

There’s something about that order…

If ignorance is bliss does that mean denial is as well?

I haven’t blogged in ages because I just haven’t wanted to really face stuff. I’m not even sure if that makes any sense.

I feel like I’ve just wanted to live in my own little bubble of a world and not face myself. Hiding seemed easier and safer than processing.

How ridiculous is that?

Life has been incredibly busy over the last couple of months and honestly my life has felt rather chaotic and in a state of disorder.

The funny thing is I’ve been completely happy over the last while. Content even.
Although I’ve felt this way I feel like I’ve been a bit stagnant. I haven’t wanted to process anything very much.
Ignorance (or fake ignorance) is bliss for a while, but it’s good to face life and process it.

Balance is something I’m striving for at the moment. I’m dying for order to be restored in my life. I’m working towards that.

Things just seem to flow better out of a state of order. There is peace in this.

I want to live, love, process, be creative in and be present to LIFE.

It’s all about balance.

Living on the pleasant mountain…

I have now officially moved out of my folks spot again…and I am LOVING it.

I’m sharing a wonderful house with two lovely ladies and three weeks in I feel completely at home and content. I am incredibly blessed.

Yesterday afternoon I got home after work (and giving a guitar lesson) and decided that because it was such a beautiful day I may as well go for a walk and enjoy the sunshine.

I’m so glad I did.

There are many people I know who live here in Mount Pleasant, Port Elizabeth. This neighbourhood is buzzing with life and community.

I took a lovely stroll around the neighbourhood and decided to pop in at my friend, Nicole’s spot. (She lives about 6 streets away.) We sat around chatting and drinking tea for about an hour until it started getting dark. With the darkness looming I decided I had better make my way home, because -after all- no matter how safe I feel in this suburb I’d best remember that I am still living in South Africa and ’tis not a wise idea to be walking around in the dark by myself. Hee hee.

I look forward to many an afternoon just like this one in the very near future.

Day 10 of 40 in the Psalms

Today’s readings are Psalms 10, 50, 90 and 130.

I read Psalm 130 and it filled me with such hope and joy.

In The Message verse 7 and 8 says:

“O Israel, wait and watch for God—
with God’s arrival comes love,
with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel,
buy back Israel from captivity to sin.”

I love how God has woven His plan together.

The Old Testament story points to Jesus and God’s plan of redemption.

How amazing that hundreds of years before Jesus came to earth as a man people were already speaking of Him, writing of Him and waiting for Him.

Today I am thankful for God’s plan. I am thankful that through Jesus He has bought back all that was stolen by the enemy.

Day 9 of 40 in the Psalms

Today’s readings are Psalms 9, 49, 89 and 129.

I found Psalm 49 to be such an interesting Psalm.

When I looked at the commentary in my Bible concerning this Psalm it said, “Ps 49 is a wisdom word concerning rich fools who proudly rely on their great wealth and on themselves to assure their welfare and security in the world.”

Wow. Quite a harsh word for what is supposed to be a book of praise songs to God. hee hee. Kidding !;) I promise I know this book is not just a book of happy songs. What I’ve loved about this book is that these songs are genuine. They’re not sugar-coated, they hold true emotions and expressions.

Back to this Psalm…

Individualism in society is an ugly thing. It’s all about me and my wealth and my life and my problems. Happiness at the expense of others if needs be.

We’ve heard many a time that money can’t buy happiness. Most people claim to believe this, but do they live their lives in this way?

Obviously I’m not saying that having wealth, success and nice possessions is bad. Of course it’s not, but when our worth and security are in material things, then we’re in trouble. When all we want is more, more, more, then nothing will ever satisfy.

Any way, I could surely say much more but I won’t.

Basically this Psalm just reminded me that my life is in God’s hands. I cannot do anything to save myself. Only Christ can save me. My security is in Him alone.

Day 8 of 40 in the Psalms

Still going strong on the Psalms readings. Loving it.

I’ve been so bad at actually blogging my thoughts, so I’ll be doing the past 3 days in a row right now.

Day 8′s readings were Psalms 8, 48, 88 and 128.

Psalm 8 was without a doubt my favourite on this day.

Verse 3-4 says:

^“3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?”

These verses immediately reminded me of the hymn, How Great Thou Art.

“O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!”

This hymn was written in 1886 by a Swedish man named Carl Boberg.

I absolutely love this hymn, but I have taken it for granted many times. The amount of times I have sung this song is insane. I grew up in The Salvation Army, so for 16 years of my life I sang hymns every Sunday.

At times I’d think they were so boring, but in actual fact they are so powerful and extremely beautiful.

Reflecting on this Psalm today reminded me of this hymn and in turn I started reflecting on the lyrics of this well-loved hymn.

When we see all that the hand of our God has created we can only stand amazed. Our God is Great! There is something about looking at creation which stirs our hearts to worship Him.

Our souls cry out to Him: “How Great Thou Art!”

Day 7 of 40 in the Psalms

Today’s readings were Psalms 7, 47, 87 and 127.

I love Psalm 127.

The verse which spoke to me was verse 1.

“Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.”

This verse just reminded me to keep perspective in my life.

Without God, nothing makes sense. And without God everything is meaningless. Life has absolutely no meaning without God.

Everything begins and ends in Him.

Without the Holy Spirit’s work in my life and in my job I will have nothing of true worth to show at the end of the day.

Day 6 of 40 in the Psalms

Today’s readings were Psalms 6, 46, 86 and 126.

Psalm 86:11-13

“Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.”

These verses really grabbed my heart this morning and they reminded me of another scripture in Jeremiah 24:7 which says:

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”

And this verse reminded me of a verse in Ezekiel 11:19 which says:

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

For quite a while, and I’ve shared this before, I’ve felt the Lord speaking to me about devotion and devoting myself to Him fully. As human beings we are a forgetful race. We too easily forget the good. We too easily get our lives over run by other things and forget about the most important person in our lives.

Every now and then I feel myself drifting and God continually pursues me and reins me back into Him. How amazing is He?! He is relentless in His pursuit of us.

I want to love God more deeply and to my core more than ever before.

I want an undivided heart, a heart completely for God.

Day 5 of 40 in the Psalms

Today’s readings were Psalms 5, 45, 85 and 125.

There were a few verses which stood out to me, but I’ll just focus on one.

Psalm 45:17

“I will perpetuate your memory through all generatiosn; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.”

This verse reminded me of two others.

Psalm 78:4

“We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.”

and Judges 2:10

“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.”

How sad that must’ve been, to see the legacy of God die in the hearts and minds of men.

More and more these verses make me believe that we need to be sharing our testimonies, we need to be sharing the stories and our experiences of Christ with others.

We need to be giving away the things God has placed on our hearts.

I would hate to see a generation grow up who no NOTHING of God and His great love and redemption.

Day 4 of 40 in the Psalms

Just for the record, I am thoroughly enjoying this time of digging into the Psalms.

The fasting situation has been a bit tough, but I’m holding on and feeling closer to God than I have in a while.

Today’s readings: Psalm 4, 44, 84 and 124

One of the first worship songs I ever learnt to play on the guitar was “Better is one day” by Matt Redman. It’s one of my most loved songs and it’s based on Psalm 84.

Verses 1 and 2 say:

“1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD Almighty!

2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.”

What a beautiful Psalm. I love verse 2. It speaks of this deep yearning for God. We were created for Him, so naturally our very being cries out for Him.

Verse 10 says:

“Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

Now, in my life, I don’t see this as being a literal place.

Back in the day God’s presence dwelt behind a curtain in the Holy of Holies in a temple, but when Jesus died that curtain was torn straight down the middle. We can now freely dwell with God wherever we are. His Holy Spirit is with us always. We are free to enter into His presence whenever we want to. What an amazing gift!

I desire and yearn for God, but I’m not going to sit in a church building all day and say it’s better to be in this church building because that is where the Lord dwells. The Lord is with me wherever I am. We are now all temples of the living God.

To me I see this verse as meaning that it’s better to be in communion with God, to live in his presence, to walk closely with Him than it is to live outside of his presence.

I desire to walk closer with Him everyday. I’m praying that He will teach me how to do this.