Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Perfectionism; The Insidious Dance of Death
Following a Healing Rooms presentation in Boone, NC a few years ago, a young woman came to me expressing her personal frustration with the frustration with the seeming inability to prioritize her life. She wanted deeply to be in some form of the ministry that I was teaching on, but felt that her personal intimacy with the Lord was not at an acceptable level. She was also afraid she would get too involved and her young children would suffer. She just wasn’t sure she could balance it all. She seemed to be very unsettled by the prospect of the opportunity that was before her. This was in direct contrast to her age (late-twenties), countenance, natural beauty and presumed financial status, as indicated by the size of the rock on her left hand, accompanying the Rolex.
I asked her if she was a first-born, to which she replied ‘yes’ and I then reeled off a list of first-born traits, her eyes widening significantly. Then I told her that in all likelihood her relationship with her father was poor to non-existent; she lived in constant frustration bordering on anger (at which point she began to shake visibly); she had never liked the person she saw in the mirror every morning; and to cap it all off I said, “I’ll bet you’ve never been able to receive a compliment either and your marriage is getting difficult” – she began to cry. Then I delivered the final blow. “Your marriage is in serious difficulty because your husband has been pounding continuously at your heart’s door, and you don’t know how to let him in. He’s really frustrated and you’re afraid that he’s about to give up.” At that point, she fell into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. The Holy Spirit had hit the nail squarely on the head, with considerable force, several times in a row.
What was just described are just a few of the classic symptoms of an individual who has adopted perfectionism as a means to get their emotional needs met; working for love and a sense of personal value. For many this has become a lifestyle and all manner of health issues have begun to crop up as a physical expression of the emotional misery.
The ability to maximize your creativity and excel at your craft is also a stake if you are mired in perfectionism because perfection is about being perfect rather than creative. I remember the frequent struggle while working as an electrical design engineer in Houston, TX. At the conclusion of every project I was confronted with trying to answer the question posed by each drawing; When is it done? For a couple of years they literally had to rip the drawings from my hands because I was never satisfied with them; I had to add one more touch to a detail, or one more note to a specification, so that the contractor would be absolutely clear on how to build what I had designed. The stress at the tail end of every project took all the joy out of the design process.
This is part of the dilemma. We may well be able to carve out dedicated time each week for the creative enterprises and feel that is separate from the everyday mundane activity that makes life work. But the reality is that we take us, our beliefs and attitudes into everything we engage in. Perfectionism follows you everywhere – even into the bedroom.
The Lord desires excellence – its counterfeit is perfectionism. The product of each would seem to be the same however one compels you to do your creative best, while the other drives you. Perfectionism is death – excellence is life and life giving. Need help sorting it out? We can help (www.houseofhealingministries.org) or join one of the Worship Studio Groups going through Matt Tommey’s book, Healing the Heart of The Artist. Either way do yourself the favor of a lifetime.
Jim Banks, House of Healing Ministries
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
New Web SIte
We have a new web site under construction, it's up and running. I hope that you'll hang with us while we work out the kinks.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Health Care Dujur
Well, it's done.
We now have a Health Care Plan (like it or not) courtesy of a President who was desparate to leave an imprint on society, and a democratic controlled Congress that is angry over having to play 2nd fiddle to Republicans for four years. It's done now ... but he, and his fellow Democrats have no idea what they have really done.
One of the things that was very disappointing was that Mr. Obama & Co chose not to press their political advantage with dignity and grace, but with the arrogance of a school yard bully; casting aside the fact that he is the President of the other half as well,not its dictator. He has left no doubt that there is no statesman in his genes.
The current policy toward Israel is even more appaling. Arrogance and ignorance have apparently kissed each other.
Certainly, Bush opened the door for it through his equally committable advisors, but Mr. Obama flat blew the doors off, and invited every citizen in the country to host a spirit of division. It's now Them against US, no matter what side of the issue you're on. The sordid underbelly of Congressional dealings was exposed to the entire world. We look like a bunch of cheap Chicago thugs.
Never in the modern history of this nation has one man intentionally done so much to rip a nation apart. Setting up one half of his countrymen to be pitted against the other half sound more like the Civil War. How do you spell Division?
Just so you know what we're talking about here is the definition of Division; conflict, breach, estrangement, difference of opinion, difficulty, disaccord, disagreement, discord, disharmony, dispute, dissension, dissent, dissidence, dissonance, disunion, feud, rupture, split, trouble, variance, breaking off, coolness, disaffection, diverting, divorce, indifference, remoteness, rupture, separation, setting against, turning away, withdrawal.
Any questions?
Folks, there's a war brewing ... because our Congress men and women refuse to face the fact that we're damned near broke, and these problems are not simple ... and more of the same is only going to hasten our demise.
Mexico is looking better all the time.
Pray that the Lord would roll back the Mezmerizing spirit and the spirit of division, and strip its influence off the eyes and the minds of our Congressmen. That focus and unity will return before all is lost. Write or email your Congressmen once a month and tell them how to vote. Then hold them accountable when they don't!
We now have a Health Care Plan (like it or not) courtesy of a President who was desparate to leave an imprint on society, and a democratic controlled Congress that is angry over having to play 2nd fiddle to Republicans for four years. It's done now ... but he, and his fellow Democrats have no idea what they have really done.
One of the things that was very disappointing was that Mr. Obama & Co chose not to press their political advantage with dignity and grace, but with the arrogance of a school yard bully; casting aside the fact that he is the President of the other half as well,not its dictator. He has left no doubt that there is no statesman in his genes.
The current policy toward Israel is even more appaling. Arrogance and ignorance have apparently kissed each other.
Certainly, Bush opened the door for it through his equally committable advisors, but Mr. Obama flat blew the doors off, and invited every citizen in the country to host a spirit of division. It's now Them against US, no matter what side of the issue you're on. The sordid underbelly of Congressional dealings was exposed to the entire world. We look like a bunch of cheap Chicago thugs.
Never in the modern history of this nation has one man intentionally done so much to rip a nation apart. Setting up one half of his countrymen to be pitted against the other half sound more like the Civil War. How do you spell Division?
Just so you know what we're talking about here is the definition of Division; conflict, breach, estrangement, difference of opinion, difficulty, disaccord, disagreement, discord, disharmony, dispute, dissension, dissent, dissidence, dissonance, disunion, feud, rupture, split, trouble, variance, breaking off, coolness, disaffection, diverting, divorce, indifference, remoteness, rupture, separation, setting against, turning away, withdrawal.
Any questions?
Folks, there's a war brewing ... because our Congress men and women refuse to face the fact that we're damned near broke, and these problems are not simple ... and more of the same is only going to hasten our demise.
Mexico is looking better all the time.
Pray that the Lord would roll back the Mezmerizing spirit and the spirit of division, and strip its influence off the eyes and the minds of our Congressmen. That focus and unity will return before all is lost. Write or email your Congressmen once a month and tell them how to vote. Then hold them accountable when they don't!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Fed Up
The President Without a Country
By Pat Boone
"We're no longer a Christian nation." - President Barack Obama, June 2007
"America has been arrogant." - President Barack Obama
"After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals." - President Barack Obama
"You might say that America is a Muslim nation." - President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009
Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president, I keep wondering what country he believes he's president of.
In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country," a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, "Damn the United States! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!"
The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: "You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again.. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country's naval vessels - under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed."
And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan's dying hours in his small stateroom - now turned into a shrine to the country he fore swore - never fail to bring me to tears. And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America , refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.
But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president - a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white - I want to ask him, "Just what country do you think you're president of?"
You surely can't be referring to the United States of America, can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It's because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.
You studied law at Harvard, didn't you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark "Federalist Papers": "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers - and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation - to select and prefer Christians for their rulers"?
In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: "Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900's that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a "wall of separation between church and state" was used to deny some specific religious expression - contrary to Jefferson 's intent with that statement?
Or, wait a minute.. Were your ideas about America 's Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Is that where you got the idea that " America is no longer a Christian nation"? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that" America has been arrogant"?
Even if that's the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of "not always living up to her ideals," how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be "considered a Muslim nation"?
Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a "Muslim nation"?
Why are we not, then, a "Chinese nation"? A "Korean nation"? Even a "Vietnamese nation"? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you're trying to make is a religious one, why is America not "a Jewish nation"? There's actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution - and the success of our Revolution and founding - owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.
Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran? Even in Egypt? You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can't you? You do recall Muhammad's directives [Surah 9:5,73] to "break the cross" and "kill the infidel"?
It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are "no longer Christian," who have "failed to live up to our ideals," who "have been arrogant," and might even be "considered Muslim" - you are president of a country most Americans don't recognize...
Could it be you are a president without a country?
Thank you Pat Boone ...
As a "natural born" American, a Veteran ... and a tax payer ... I am incensed. I hereby declare that we need to throw this bum out and put a real American and a real man, in the office.
By Pat Boone
"We're no longer a Christian nation." - President Barack Obama, June 2007
"America has been arrogant." - President Barack Obama
"After 9/11, America didn't always live up to her ideals." - President Barack Obama
"You might say that America is a Muslim nation." - President Barack Obama, Egypt 2009
Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president, I keep wondering what country he believes he's president of.
In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale's "The Man without a Country," a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, "Damn the United States! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!"
The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: "You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again.. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country's naval vessels - under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed."
And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan's dying hours in his small stateroom - now turned into a shrine to the country he fore swore - never fail to bring me to tears. And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America , refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.
But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president - a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white - I want to ask him, "Just what country do you think you're president of?"
You surely can't be referring to the United States of America, can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It's because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.
You studied law at Harvard, didn't you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark "Federalist Papers": "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers - and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation - to select and prefer Christians for their rulers"?
In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: "Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."
Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900's that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a "wall of separation between church and state" was used to deny some specific religious expression - contrary to Jefferson 's intent with that statement?
Or, wait a minute.. Were your ideas about America 's Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Is that where you got the idea that " America is no longer a Christian nation"? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that" America has been arrogant"?
Even if that's the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of "not always living up to her ideals," how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be "considered a Muslim nation"?
Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a "Muslim nation"?
Why are we not, then, a "Chinese nation"? A "Korean nation"? Even a "Vietnamese nation"? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you're trying to make is a religious one, why is America not "a Jewish nation"? There's actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution - and the success of our Revolution and founding - owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.
Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran? Even in Egypt? You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can't you? You do recall Muhammad's directives [Surah 9:5,73] to "break the cross" and "kill the infidel"?
It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are "no longer Christian," who have "failed to live up to our ideals," who "have been arrogant," and might even be "considered Muslim" - you are president of a country most Americans don't recognize...
Could it be you are a president without a country?
Thank you Pat Boone ...
As a "natural born" American, a Veteran ... and a tax payer ... I am incensed. I hereby declare that we need to throw this bum out and put a real American and a real man, in the office.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Non-Funky Worship
John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (RSV)
I have already written about Funky Worship elsewhere in this blog. But only telling you what worship isn’t is not real helpful.
Soulish worship only requires that you simply follow along with whatever the worship leader or cd dictates. It doesn’t require anything of you except to keep up with whatever is going on and is predicated on the presence of music. Successful soulish worship requires that your emotions engage with the music. This you can do without ever actually worshipping in spirit or in truth.
So what is worshipping in spirit and truth?
In Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked by the greatest law-keepers of all, “What is the greatest commandment of all the religious laws we have?” We are all aware of His response. But most miss the whole point of His reply. What Jesus was speaking to was relationship, not response to canned rules and regulations. Can you imagine trying to conduct a marital relationship according to rules? Love demands a sacrifice.
It’s no different with worshipping God. Following a canned, scripted routine each Sunday is not relationship. It’s a lot like law. This is what you will do when we worship; stay in step; stay together; start when I start; stop when I stop; Do what I do! That’s not relationship. That’s cattle –like behavior. Never mind the view, just stay in line.
Relationship requires that we communicate on an intimate level. Intimate worship is no different. Check out the following from The Message;
John 4:23-24 “But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. 24 God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (MSG)
I have already written about Funky Worship elsewhere in this blog. But only telling you what worship isn’t is not real helpful.
Soulish worship only requires that you simply follow along with whatever the worship leader or cd dictates. It doesn’t require anything of you except to keep up with whatever is going on and is predicated on the presence of music. Successful soulish worship requires that your emotions engage with the music. This you can do without ever actually worshipping in spirit or in truth.
So what is worshipping in spirit and truth?
In Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked by the greatest law-keepers of all, “What is the greatest commandment of all the religious laws we have?” We are all aware of His response. But most miss the whole point of His reply. What Jesus was speaking to was relationship, not response to canned rules and regulations. Can you imagine trying to conduct a marital relationship according to rules? Love demands a sacrifice.
It’s no different with worshipping God. Following a canned, scripted routine each Sunday is not relationship. It’s a lot like law. This is what you will do when we worship; stay in step; stay together; start when I start; stop when I stop; Do what I do! That’s not relationship. That’s cattle –like behavior. Never mind the view, just stay in line.
Relationship requires that we communicate on an intimate level. Intimate worship is no different. Check out the following from The Message;
John 4:23-24 “But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. "It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. 24 God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration." (MSG)
Our Perspective
Our Poor Poor Perspectve
This past week I ministered to a young woman whose mother had died of cancer when she was about 12 or 13 years old. And Yes, she was still mad at God for taking her. I'll write about that issue later.
During the ministry session she spent some time with Jesus. And at one point I asked her to ask Jesus what he thought of her mother. To our surprise, Jesus replied, "She was a good sport." Unfortunately, she missed all the symbology, and most of that which followed. That was a disappointment but what Jesus said really struck me.
I don’t know about you, but when someone refers to another as a “good sport”, I take that as they have gone through a lot, and that they’ve taken it well. Perhaps not with a smile, but certainly not whining all the way through it. Being a good sport does not require you to enjoy what you experience. It simply requires that you endure it with all the good humor you can muster.
Our human perspective on life is always from the immediate; What I’m going through; How much it hurts; Why did it happen? What did I do to deserve this? What can I do about it? etc., rather than from the perspective of the eternal. When viewed from the immediate, it’s about, What can I withstand? How long will it last? and How much of it can I duck? When viewed from an eternal perspective, Paul’s words become very clear, he considered it “a light and temporary affliction.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
When Jesus said she was a “good sport” it said a whole lot about the relationship she and He had. Since He did not afflict her with the disease, He took no joy in the toll it took on her emotionally and physically. But He apparently took pride in how she handled it, even in death. We know from the damage it did that her children didn’t handle it the same way their mom did. Grace to deal with a terminal illness is not always handed out to all participants, but is certainly there for the one who fought it daily. In this case, the husband and father didn’t do his job with the kids.
From Jeremiah 1:4-5, we see that the human spirit is eternal. Consequently, from an eternal perspective a short stint on the planet is not a very big deal, no matter how we make our exit.
2Corinthians 4:11-18 “Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. 12 While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
13 We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. 14 And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. 15 Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 16 So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.” (MSG)
This past week I ministered to a young woman whose mother had died of cancer when she was about 12 or 13 years old. And Yes, she was still mad at God for taking her. I'll write about that issue later.
During the ministry session she spent some time with Jesus. And at one point I asked her to ask Jesus what he thought of her mother. To our surprise, Jesus replied, "She was a good sport." Unfortunately, she missed all the symbology, and most of that which followed. That was a disappointment but what Jesus said really struck me.
I don’t know about you, but when someone refers to another as a “good sport”, I take that as they have gone through a lot, and that they’ve taken it well. Perhaps not with a smile, but certainly not whining all the way through it. Being a good sport does not require you to enjoy what you experience. It simply requires that you endure it with all the good humor you can muster.
Our human perspective on life is always from the immediate; What I’m going through; How much it hurts; Why did it happen? What did I do to deserve this? What can I do about it? etc., rather than from the perspective of the eternal. When viewed from the immediate, it’s about, What can I withstand? How long will it last? and How much of it can I duck? When viewed from an eternal perspective, Paul’s words become very clear, he considered it “a light and temporary affliction.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
When Jesus said she was a “good sport” it said a whole lot about the relationship she and He had. Since He did not afflict her with the disease, He took no joy in the toll it took on her emotionally and physically. But He apparently took pride in how she handled it, even in death. We know from the damage it did that her children didn’t handle it the same way their mom did. Grace to deal with a terminal illness is not always handed out to all participants, but is certainly there for the one who fought it daily. In this case, the husband and father didn’t do his job with the kids.
From Jeremiah 1:4-5, we see that the human spirit is eternal. Consequently, from an eternal perspective a short stint on the planet is not a very big deal, no matter how we make our exit.
2Corinthians 4:11-18 “Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. 12 While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!
13 We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. 14 And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. 15 Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! 16 So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.” (MSG)
Funky Worship
Funky Worship
Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus ... for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,and him only shall thou serve." (RSV)
Matthew 15:9 "But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." (RSV)
John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)
From these verses, it is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual of observers, that we are not only commanded to worship, but that there apparently is a way that God the Father (through the mouth of Jesus) wants us to do it; ie in spirit and in truth. Failure to do it in the prescribed manner means that we have been duped into, or worse, chosen to not to worship according to the Word, but to worship according to the doctrines and precepts of men. That's not good!
So which category to you fall into? Are you offering up funky worship? It would be good to check it now and again.
1Thess 5:23 says, "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Apparently God made us rather uniquely. We are a tri-part being; spirit, soul and body. Despite the fact that we can make this division in order to discuss the issues, it’s a bit harder to separate them in course of living life. But it is important to do so in order that you can draw a proper distinction between functions.
There is a principle of interpreting scripture called “The Principle of First Mentioned.” Whenever the scripture presents us with a list, the first item in the list is the most important (comparatively speaking) and the last item in the list is the least important. So in this instance our list of “spirit, soul and body” lays out for us a couple of things; 1st, we are a three part being, 2nd, our human spirit should rule over our soul, and 3rd, our soul (mind, will and emotions) should rule over our physical bodies. This is the proper order for living life.
To confirm this we have these two scriptures, which are very important for us to grasp because this is the way we need to be living our lives;
Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
John 4: 24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So what we have here is a flat-out declaration that we are first and foremost spirit beings. Not soul beings. Not physical beings. But spirit beings, unfortunately being unduly influenced by both the soul and the body.
Consequently, that confusion has become the chief problem for most people when they enter a worship service at their local church. If their soul (principally their emotions) is not moved by either the music or the lyrics, then they feel they’ve not worshipped. They are more swayed by the implications of their soul and body than they are by their human spirit.
What does it take to move your emotions? Number one on the list is familiarity with the music, which we understand as the ability to sing along with the music without struggling to read the words or figure out where the melody is headed. This is one of the reasons why many hymns were originally so popular for a century or more. Many of the tunes were former pub songs and they were easy to sing.
Number two on the list is the sentimentality of the lyrics. We respond to the words of songs that pull at our heart strings, so topics that touch those places of need become key; family, security, acceptance, provision, faithfulness, etc. If we follow that path, and require that to be a prime element of worship, then worship actually becomes all about us and not about God at all. We will become disenchanted with any worship leader who doesn’t provide us a storng does of it.
Number three on the list, which may rival number one, is the song’s sing-ability. If a song is easy to sing, and is well within your range, and is also familiar, it presents no stress and makes it easy for your soul to engage and your emotions to be touched.
It’s certainly nice to have our emotions stirred by our worship, but that cannot be the gauge by which we judge whether we’ve worshipped, or perhaps more specifically, whether the worship leader has done his. If we are soulish worshippers, then it’s easy to blame the worship leader for not doing what's necessary to get you where you think you need to go. Many a worship leader has run afoul of folks whose preference for a specific style of music, or fondness for a specific instrument, or voice dictates whether they'll participate or not. This is followed by mounds of helpful suggestions, criticsm and complaints. Its no wonder we have so many "former" worship leaders.
Matthew 4:10 "Then saith Jesus ... for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God,and him only shall thou serve." (RSV)
Matthew 15:9 "But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." (RSV)
John 4:23-24 "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth." (RSV)
From these verses, it is intuitively obvious, even to the most casual of observers, that we are not only commanded to worship, but that there apparently is a way that God the Father (through the mouth of Jesus) wants us to do it; ie in spirit and in truth. Failure to do it in the prescribed manner means that we have been duped into, or worse, chosen to not to worship according to the Word, but to worship according to the doctrines and precepts of men. That's not good!
So which category to you fall into? Are you offering up funky worship? It would be good to check it now and again.
1Thess 5:23 says, "And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Apparently God made us rather uniquely. We are a tri-part being; spirit, soul and body. Despite the fact that we can make this division in order to discuss the issues, it’s a bit harder to separate them in course of living life. But it is important to do so in order that you can draw a proper distinction between functions.
There is a principle of interpreting scripture called “The Principle of First Mentioned.” Whenever the scripture presents us with a list, the first item in the list is the most important (comparatively speaking) and the last item in the list is the least important. So in this instance our list of “spirit, soul and body” lays out for us a couple of things; 1st, we are a three part being, 2nd, our human spirit should rule over our soul, and 3rd, our soul (mind, will and emotions) should rule over our physical bodies. This is the proper order for living life.
To confirm this we have these two scriptures, which are very important for us to grasp because this is the way we need to be living our lives;
Genesis 1:27 “And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
John 4: 24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So what we have here is a flat-out declaration that we are first and foremost spirit beings. Not soul beings. Not physical beings. But spirit beings, unfortunately being unduly influenced by both the soul and the body.
Consequently, that confusion has become the chief problem for most people when they enter a worship service at their local church. If their soul (principally their emotions) is not moved by either the music or the lyrics, then they feel they’ve not worshipped. They are more swayed by the implications of their soul and body than they are by their human spirit.
What does it take to move your emotions? Number one on the list is familiarity with the music, which we understand as the ability to sing along with the music without struggling to read the words or figure out where the melody is headed. This is one of the reasons why many hymns were originally so popular for a century or more. Many of the tunes were former pub songs and they were easy to sing.
Number two on the list is the sentimentality of the lyrics. We respond to the words of songs that pull at our heart strings, so topics that touch those places of need become key; family, security, acceptance, provision, faithfulness, etc. If we follow that path, and require that to be a prime element of worship, then worship actually becomes all about us and not about God at all. We will become disenchanted with any worship leader who doesn’t provide us a storng does of it.
Number three on the list, which may rival number one, is the song’s sing-ability. If a song is easy to sing, and is well within your range, and is also familiar, it presents no stress and makes it easy for your soul to engage and your emotions to be touched.
It’s certainly nice to have our emotions stirred by our worship, but that cannot be the gauge by which we judge whether we’ve worshipped, or perhaps more specifically, whether the worship leader has done his. If we are soulish worshippers, then it’s easy to blame the worship leader for not doing what's necessary to get you where you think you need to go. Many a worship leader has run afoul of folks whose preference for a specific style of music, or fondness for a specific instrument, or voice dictates whether they'll participate or not. This is followed by mounds of helpful suggestions, criticsm and complaints. Its no wonder we have so many "former" worship leaders.
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