Remembering to Remember

As a pastor there are very few times when I just get to sit and worship in singing without any responsibilities to preach or lead. It makes those times when I do very sweet and very much needed. Last night was one of those occasions as I just got to sit and worship and be called back to remember the great God, that put His son on the cross because of my sins. I was called to remember the way that Jesus died not so that I could be a better person, or a more powerful speaker, but that He willingly went to the cross, because He desperately wanted to be obedient to His Father, and from that obedience God saves men and women, evil people like myself, and He rescues us from not just the acts that we commit that are deemed sinful, but He rescues us from a nature that is sinful.

Last night as I stood there thinking and remembering the God of the Bible, I was drawn back to Is. 53, one of the most beautiful but at the same time gut wrenching passages in the Scriptures. Here he writes in V. 4-6, "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteem Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned - every one - to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

But watch this in V.10-"Yet it was the WILL of the Lord to CRUSH Him; He has put Him to GRIEF..."

When was the last time that you thought about this in worship. and you were consumed not by the songs, or the style, or the volume of the music, but you were consumed by and remembered that God killed Jesus, and that His wrath toward MY SINFUL NATURE is absorbed in the cross and His grace is made available to me through faith, belief, and repentance in CHRIST JESUS.

Last night that line of thinking hit me square in the face and affected me in a deep way for the first time in a long time, don't let it be to long for you, make for yourself opportunities to worship and remember the cross. May it have an impact on your mind and your body.

Song of the Week: BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD- Shane and Shane version
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE

Psalm of Praise

Sing this to yourself today and be reminded of the goodness of a God offers a hope and a future in Christ.

Psalm 150-

Praise the Lord!!
Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens!

Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!!!

Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!!

Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe!!!

Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!!

LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Cultivating Dependence on God

If you are like me, this is one of the things that I struggle with the most, how do I do this, because I am so easily drawn to rely on myself. Darrin Patrick offers some advice and I hope that this post gives you some help in cultivating a lifestyle that depends on the Almighty not just with our words but in all that we are.

Cultivating Dependence on God
Darrin Patrick » Church Leadership Heart Devotions
I appreciate Jack Deere’s paraphrase of John 17:26. “Father, grant me power from the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like you love him.”

This must be our heart’s cry.


Depending on God through fasting
In addition to prayer, there are many other practices that cultivate dependence on God. One is fasting. Jesus calls us to fast in private, and he calls us to pray in private (Matthew 6:16-18). Note that our Lord says when you fast, not if you fast (v. 16). Implication: you should fast.

Fasting is a very helpful way to reduce distractions, focus on God, and cultivate a sense of dependence on him. Fasting is a way of sacrificing physical nourishment to seek spiritual nourishment. Start with a meal that you forsake in order to read and meditate on Scripture. Progress to taking a day where you use all meal times to read, pray, and enjoy fellowship with other believers. Don't make it too complicated; just plan it and do it.

Depending on God through meditation
Another helpful practice is meditation. I define meditation as thinking about and asking questions about what God has said in Scripture in order to hear how God is guiding us in our lives. Meditation allows the Holy Spirit to speak the truth of Scripture into our lives during our private devotions and reading of the Bible. I am not a guy who just starts praying and ends up in spiritual ecstasy. I need God's Word to break up the hard soil of my heart and open it up to the reality of God in my life. I use Scripture to guide me into prayer.

Mediation is turning God's Word into prayer.

Cultivating dependence on God
There are other practices that can help us cultivate dependence on God, such as memorizing Scripture, worshiping in private, taking a Sabbath rest, and serving others. Our focus should not be on what we are doing, but on realizing the reality of our nearness to God. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3).

When we focus on a list of practices, we can become legalistic, focusing either on how well we are doing or how poorly we are doing, and we miss the whole point. Besides, different people will find different practices helpful, so each of us must learn how to best cultivate dependence on the Holy Spirit for ourselves.

There is no formula: our goal should be simply to cultivate more of a dependence on God in our lives.