"You cannot commend what you do not cherish..."

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Revelation 4:11

"Worship" = the object of adoring reverence or regard. (dictionary.com)

"Worship"= having weight, something of great value" (Greek NT)

This week I am meditating on worship. What it is and what role it should play in my life. Now I'm not talking about a time on Sunday morning but rather a deep rooted passion to give all that I am to all that HE is! As I was driving into the office this morning, I began thinking about my own passion towards God. I mean I'm a pretty passionate person. So when I go in... I go all in! I'm passionate about family, friends, UT sports, Chuy's (the most amazing tex-mex ever), the persecuted church, the poor and neglected, those who have no voice, missions, preaching the word of God, sharing my faith...among other things. And what I am noticing in my own life is this... that my passion for God is directly connected to my worship of HIM privately. In simplistic words ... what I share & show publicly about Christ must first start privately in my own heart! However for some time now I really have been battling a divided heart. I find myself drifting more and more into indifference, into a state of luke-warmness as it relates to my passion for Christ. But I refuse to give in to that and I refuse to live inauthentically for Christ. We have enough of that in our culture today. So what is it that robs me of my passion for the one who deeply loves me and knows ever fault I have and yet still chooses to never let go of my life?

I guess I have to say it is the love of other things! Its not that I don't have a deep love for Christ...I do... but love is not a feeling! It is a committment! It gives itself away sacrificially! And I am starting to notice that my passion for Christ begins to get dilluded when I begin to give my "worship" to other things in my life that just don't matter. You see I am realizing that whatever I give glory to...(ie...friends, family, UT sports, Chuy's, missions, poor, etc...) is really what I worship. Because we give glory to those things we attach great value to. Now there is nothing wrong with being a great father or husband, or taking care of the poor or serving in missions, being a UT sports fanatic or Chuy's addict... but if I am more passionate about giving glory to those things and seeking pleasure from those things than I am about giving glory and worship to my God than there is a problem. A problem with me! Maybe the unbelievers out there who look at Christianity today and scoff have a legitimate gripe! I mean "We" say we know God...we say that he has changed our lives and that He lives in us ... We say that we believe he created the heavens and the earth, and yet we live so passively for his glory and his name. Albert Einstein himself was very skeptical about Christianity and its claims for that very reason. He did not think the religious had enough respect for the author of the universe. So the issue is not that the unbelieving world finds God unbelievable...its just they haven't been convinced yet, based on our lives that we believe it!

As I meditate on this passage in Revelation ... I notice that John is very purposed in declaring God's preeminence and position in the earth and in his life. John writes “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things." Right before this verse we see the 24 elders in heaven bowing down and casting their crowns before the ONE who was and who is and who is to come. These crowns represent their power, their authority, their own right to rule and yet when they see his glory, his majesty, and when they are embraced by his power & presence and they do the only thing they can do...they fall on their face under the "weight" of who He is and they "worship" Him alone!

Bottom line...true worship of Christ demands my all! As I read this passage this morning I am convinced that I must be "willing" to lay anything and everything down that I hold onto in this life because compared to the glory of God and who he is and what he has done ... nothing else really matters! My prayer today is that my life, love and passion for God would burn bright on the altar of worship! And just maybe as I begin to live in awe of who God is in my own life, maybe ...just maybe others will be able to come and light their candle at its flame!

Not Ashamed...Bill

Take My Breath Away...

One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD
and to meditate in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

I will never forget at my wedding reception someone said to me "Wow, your wife is so beautiful...and my response to them (which was recorded on video) was, "Yea I was really surprised." Now I know that might sound really bad! But hear me out. What I really meant by that statement was this ...when I saw her coming down the isle of that church I was simply blown away by her beauty...she simply took my breath away!

Today I was looking at what it means to pray with adoration as one of the key components of my prayer life. Adoration simply means beholding or meditating on who God is. Adoration lifts my eyes & heart towards heaven & allows me to lose my breath in the glory of who God is! The Psalmist David asks the Lord for one thing here in Psalm 27... "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life"... so that he may "behold the beauty of the Lord..." What I believe David was asking for here was this...God take my breath away....I have seen your glory...I have seen who you are and Lord there is nothing that compares to you...there is nothing else that can satisfy me!

As I sit here this morning I am ashamed to say that I have allowed a lot of other things in this world to take my breath away. I know today that I am still way to busy filling up my life with the things that really don't matter. Honestly it is not the "bad" or sinful things that draw me away from God. Praise God I am not hooked on drugs or porn ... but the longer I live as a Christ follower I really see the greatest danger in my pursuit of God being those things that are "good." Those things that really don't matter ... those things that just don't add really any eternal value to my life. Man I am still so self centered in so many areas of my life...and my desire is that God would simply take my breath away! It's amazing what can take your breath away when your willing to stop & be still & disconnect from the busyness and rapid pace of life that we live today. Be still today and know that He is GOD!

When was the last time God took your breath away? Take some time today and "behold the beauty" of our God. May my God today simply take your breath away!!!!


Not Ashamed....Bill

Are You Shameless ...

“I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence (shamelessness) he will get up and give him as much as he needs. “And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."

Luke 11:8-9

Shameless ..."a lack of sensitivity to what its proper."

I was reading in Luke 11 today about a guy who shows up very late to a friends house and asks for some bread because he needs to feed another buddy of his who has shown up at his house and he doesn't have anything to feed him with. How awkward are those moments when you have to ask someone else for help? Or for money? Or even for food? You feel kinda stupid... you immediately start playing down the need that you have and start apologizing for even imposing on them. "I promise I will pay you back...this won't happen again...I'll make it up to you...." Now I know that we are just trying to be polite and respectful and give the impression that this is a "one time" need and that it will never happen again. But is that not pride at work in us? God says here in this passage today that he answers the one who is shameless...he answers the one who isn't worried about his reputation or what others might see him doing, but rather he will answer the one who is willing to ask shamelessly. What hit me today is this...I need to be shameless about my prayers to God. I need to lay all pride aside and share my desperation with him because he calls me to ask, seek and knock...until he responds!

What if God told you today, in this very moment that whatever you prayed for ... whoever you prayed for... he would answer you? What would you pray for? Who would you pray for? My thought is that you would not care where you were or who was around nor what you were involved in ... I would think that in that moment you would become absolutely shameless! You would fall on your face, you would spend however long it took to pray everything on your heart, and my guess is that you would pray more desperately than you ever have before.

What if God is waiting on you to begin to pray shamelessly? What if the reason you have not...is because you ask not. Matt. 7:9-11 reads “Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!" May you know today that we serve a "how much more" kind of God. May you be absolutely "insensitive and improper" in your prayer today. May you be shameless!

Not Ashamed...Bill

How BIG is your God?

“And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. Matthew 6:7-8

This week I am meditating on what it really means to pray. I have to admit... this is the weakest point of my spiritual life and I really don't know why. I mean I know why...(I'm lazy, its hard work, it requires me to exercise faith, and the list goes on...) And I think this morning that if prayer is to the believer what oxygen is to our life... I'm sucking it up... literally. I mean I do pray daily...but is it really the kind of prayers that move the heart of God and shape & deepen my inner life? I don't think so. Where are my prayers of desperation and dependence...where are the prayers that call on the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob to come and show Himself mighty on my behalf?

And then I read scripture like this one today..."for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him." Great ...I'm off the hook....see God you tell me that I don't have to pray because your already know what I need and you will take care of it! But that's not really what God is saying. Maybe that is the case if your prayer life has become a laundry list of needs and wants!!!! But that's not God's intention for prayer. Im really coming to understand that intimate prayer before God is about coming face to face with WHO HE IS ... its about me recognizing who He is and who I am not! Man how I need to be reminded that I know I am NOT...but I know I AM. You see prayer is not something you DO for God ...it is something you get to share with Him. A face to face encounter! A time where I can be still and hear his voice and where He can remind me of just who it is that holds onto me daily. Listen prayer is important not because of what it does for God...but rather what it does in me! It changes everything! It changes how I view my life, my struggles, my family, my ministry, it changes everything! Bottom line ... I am coming to understand that God calls us to pray not because he needs to be acknowledged and have his ego stroked...no....its for us ... so that we might be reminded WHO HE IS and who we are not!!!!

Not Ashamed....Bill

How far am I willing to go?

"... I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you —" Gal. 4:19

I often ask myself...is how I'm living out my faith (my life in Christ) even making a difference? I look at my family and I think ... am I being intentional about pouring out my life into my boys and my wife. Am I doing what I do because I think I have to...its what a pastor is supposed to do. Or do I really want the Christ in me becoming the Christ in them. Paul is writing here to the Galatians who have been caught up in living out a "legalistic Christianity" (they had wrong beliefs but right living.) Basically they were "doing what they do" for all the wrong reasons. They had come to believe that they had to "earn" God's love and forgiveness! They had come to believe that Gods approval of them was based on what they can do for him! And this is so far from the truth! Man how liberating it is to know that God's love for me has never been nor ever will be tied to what I can do for him. And I pray that my wife and boys will know & experience that kind of love from me as well.

Okay so back to Paul... And so Paul writes..."I am again in labor..." It's as though Paul is saying ...once again we are back at square one! I mean Paul is watching these people in his life struggle...those that he loved are taking 1 step forwards and 3 steps back. And I know he had to ask himself ... "Are you kidding me? Again...when are you going to get it?" "How many times do I have to remind you and tell you..." But that's not what he says here...he says in essence ...I am not letting you go! Get up, lets do this life thing together... I'm not quitting on you ...I want you to know that I am committed to you until one thing happens ... that Christ in me becomes formed in you! What an amazing love and passion he had for Christ and for others! Is that not what Christ has called us to do and be ... to Love God and to Love People?

Listen Paul could have just focused on simply transferring knowledge...but knowledge alone doesn't change lives! Life on Life does! One life rubbing up against another life! Listen it is not going to be easy! Its not clean...its messy and there is going to be a lot of bumps and bruises along the way. But the reward is worth it...Christ being formed in the lives of those God has entrusted to me! What a blessing! And so the question is ... when is it enough? How long do I go? How much do I invest into this relationship? And that is where I am encouraged today by Paul. Because he had a singular passion in life... to endure whatever pain, failure or frustration he must endure, so that Christ might be formed in those God has entrusted to his life! So my prayer today is that I would do whatever it takes, that I would give whatever I have, that I would go through whatever I have to go through in order that Christ Jesus would be formed in those God has entrusted to my life! Especially my wife and my boys!

Father I thank you that you never ever gave up on me! Thank you that you are a God of second chances! And I pray today that you would create in me a deep passion to be sacrificially poured out into the lives of those you have entrusted to me.


Not Ashamed...Bill

Which part do I share?

Passage Read/Meditated 2 Timothy 3:12-14

"...all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..."

I find myself thinking often about what that moment would look like or be like for me. Would it be in some hostile land over seas all alone, away from my family dying at the hands of violent men? Or would it be a long and torturous journey... where I would have to endure the loss of everything that I hold dear to my heart. I do admit that soon after I surrendered my life to Christ that I have had an eerie sense that this would one day be my destiny. That one day I would have the privilege "to share in the sufferings of Christ." Now that may be the case only God knows, but as I read this passage this morning... this thought hits me...is not "sharing in the sufferings of Christ" the destiny for all of us? I mean persecution is not simply reserved for the "saintly"...or for the "super-christian"... It is not reserved for a select few but rather it is a daily calling for all Christ followers...to lose their lives that they might find it in Christ! That our lives would be spent for the Glory of God.

Philippians 1:29 reminds me this morning that when Christ reached into my life and grabbed hold of me...that I was forever joined to HIS LIFE! That means all of HIS LIFE! All of his grace, compassion, forgiveness, holiness, righteousness, power and yes even all of his sufferings. So here's my problem... why is it that I am so desperate to want to LIVE in Christ but yet at times so resistant to embrace his sufferings? I guess I'm still trying to figure out which part I want to share. His LIFE or HIS DEATH...and yet the truth is...it must be both...I cant have His life without His death. "I am crucified with Christ...and it is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me..."And so my prayer today is that I would choose to be completely joined to HIS LIFE. That I would seek to share not only in his life but also in his death. I pray that Christ you would lead me to the place where I can begin to share all things with YOU!

Not Ashamed... Bill

Is there Substance or just a Silhouette?

Passage read and meditated on 2 Tim. 3:1-9

v5 "...holding onto a form of godliness, although they have denied its power: Avoid such men as these."

Could my life be avoided? Should my life be avoided? How authentically is CHRIST being lived out of my life? Isn't there something different about those who "pose" & those who live authentically? Paul says here the difference is the very person and presence of Christ...HIS LIFE!!! Listen I don't want to live my life LIKE CHRIST... He is not something I can just "add on", "or get the latest plug in or version" and then go on living my life my way ... I want to live in such a way that ALL of ME is consumed by ALL OF HIM! I know what my life will be like if I try and "do it" any other way. Empty, powerless, miserable! There is so much at stake in my life ... I desperately want my life to count... I want my life to change and shape the lives of the next generation. I desperately want to KNOW Christ more and to make HIM KNOWN... but I confess I am a screw up at times ...I get in the way so many times!!! I have the desires and the want to... but when I give into "a form of godliness" ...when I choose to pursue religious expressions instead of pursuing a pure and simple devotion to Christ, I become "that" person Paul describes. A lover of self and possessions, boastful and ungrateful, unloving and unforgiving. I end up living my life for the praise of men, instead of the pleasure of God. I admit this Christian life becomes miserable, and powerless and religiously rigid when it is lived outside of intimately & authentically knowing Christ. Listen I want to be the Man God has called me to be, the husband that I long for my wife to know, and the father that I would want my sons to grow up and become! But am I willing to pay the price? Am I willing to die? Am I willing to lose myself and my "form" of godliness... so that the very LIFE and person of Christ may be spilt out of my life and into the lives of others? Man the stakes are high ...and I have one chance...one opportunity to make an impact... and as I read this verse today ... I wonder ??? God is this life that I live... is it becoming merely a silhouette, a form, a "keeping up of appearances", a list of "doing" ... instead of a life of "being" and LIVING IN CHRIST? May it NEVER BE!!!!

So I ask myself today ...does my life stand in dark contrast to the norm of a self centered "Americanized Christianity?" Does my Christianty take on a form of godliness OR does it take on the very person and character of Christ! I cannot live that kind of Christianity ... where there is more emphasis put on the outward appearance of Christ instead of an inward reality of His person. OH GOD how I need help to live that way! How I long for the very Person of Jesus Christ to spill out into every area of my life! God I pray that my life with you would NEVER get to a place where it simply becomes an outward symbol, a silhouette of what I think others want to see but rather may the life that I live be the very substance of the person of Jesus Christ!

Not Ashamed...Bill