LIVE IT OUT

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Tonight I am giving a Bible study message to the ladies at my church with the theme of LIVING OUT THE KINGSHIP OF CHRIST. I thought I would share some of my notes. Take a look at this video first.
Click here– this is worth clicking-I PROMISE!

Here are some practical ways to LIVE IT OUT

Worship in the Presence of the King
-When we lift Christ up as King our worship is to serve Him and not just “get something out of it” for ourselves. Worshiping in the presence of the King means to put our full engagement in the act of singing and making music as we think about what we are singing and think about how our words glorify Him. Revelation 19:6-8 is a great example.

Revelation 19:6-8 (The Message)

6-8Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, the sound of strong thunder: Hallelujah! The Master reigns, our God, the Sovereign-Strong! Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us give him the glory! The Marriage of the Lamb has come; his Wife has made herself ready. She was given a bridal gown of bright and shining linen. The linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Waiting at the Throne of the King: While we wait in His presence-we can make ourselves busy by digging into the Bible and study what Christ our King wants to say to ous personally.
Here’s a perfect account of what we should do as we Wait at the Throne:

Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The greek word for Listen in verse 38 means to pay attention. So basically, Mary sat down and waited with the intention to pay attention.

If we truly see Christ as our King of Kings-who wouldn’t want to wait to see what He has to say to us. Dig into your Bible Today!!

Find Focus on Him alone means to put all of our thoughts and energy into getting to know who Christ is. When we do this, I fully believe that we can’t help but run smack dab into our purpose. In addition to finding our focus on Him for our purpose- we should find our thoughts, emotions, affections and our love toward Him in our little happenings in life. This means turing our frustrations, our anger, and even our grumpiness toward Christ-making Him the center of everything.

Colossians 3: 1-2
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things

This is an attitude check kind of verse. Are our thoughts set on Christ who is in the Higer Place or is our focus on earthly things. Things that fade, things that die out, things that go out of style!

The good news is that Christ is already King, He is already victorious. We don’t have to do a thing to place Him on the throne accept set our worship, our waiting and our focus on Him.

Revelation 22:
Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

It is already done-we just have to LIVE IT OUT!!!

Quick Devotion-Radical Love

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I was reminded of one of the gospel accounts of the woman with the alabaster jar last Sunday and was intrigued to go and have a fresh look at the passage. This story is often looked at as a lesson on true repentance, but I have a new insight-A Woman with Radical love for Christ.

Here is the passage-take a fresh look at it for yourself: Luke 7:36
36Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

Yes, this is an amazing story of repentance, one that we should all learn from. But look at it from the context of adoration of Christ. This woman walked into a situation where she was not welcomed and was totally out of her social circle and probably comfort zone. The Pharisee alone was a reminder that she was a sinner compared to the men at the table (they were known to be extra righteous and pious Jews) Once she walked in, she showed up most respect by anointing Jesus with oil. This oil was very precious and gave off a beautiful smell. What is so incredible is that she unabashedly poured it out on Jesus’ feet and washed His feet with her tears. In this one act, she was showing how much she loved and respected Christ and lifted Him up as her King.

What got me thinking is, how do I step up my worship of Jesus. How do I radically show Him I love Him. Do I ever step outside my comfort zone to adore and anoint Him as King? I don’t have an answer right now as to how I will go about taking my worship to another level, but I will be spending time praying and meditating over this. How about you??

American Idol

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My husband would tell you that I am an American Idol freak. There was a time, when AI first aired, that we would have to leave a restaurant during our entree with doggy bags in hand in order to make it home by the time the show started. While I am not quite as fanatical about it ( I don’t leave events early anymore) I still enjoy the show.

I have to admit that I have been a bit confused by the song choices this year. I was excited to see Dolly Parton belt out a gospel Jesus song and I loved that they re-did the “Shout to the Lord” after much audience protest, I am sure. This has been really cool to see on a national show with such a large audience. I am, honestly, kind of confused as to their motivation with song and guest (Dolly) choices. Praise the Lord that this music was aired, but who is behind it??

Is it the same motivation behind the unfortunate song choice of Carly Smithson? On Tuesday night, she sang “Jesus Christ Superstar” from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s 1970’s famed musical of that same title. If your not familiar with this title, the musical was controversial and the Christian community deemed it as blasphemous. Not familiar? Google it as I would rather not give anymore lip service to the musical directly! (Can you tell that I’m a bit steamed?!)

In on word, if I had to pick just one, the song was IRREVERENT. It takes the name and reputation of Christ in vain. No one seemed to bat an eye by the performance. I batted more than an eye, I was upset and pouted about it for a few days. Well, not really pout, but I mulled over it intensely when I didn’t have anything else to focus on. After a few days, I finally had a conversation with the Lord about it. I prayerfully asked Him what He thought about the AI performance and that I hoped it would not go unnoticed by Him. What is so cool is that God held up His side of the conversation with me and led me to a Bible verse answer in Revelation:

He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself…On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORD Revelation 19:12, 16

I felt the Lord telling me that He can take care of Himself in this situation and He doesn’t need me fretting over something so small. God is used to people taking His name in vain. But, one day, when He comes back to judge the world, He will bear a name that no one knows. This name will be pure and glorious and not defiled by the sinful world. This bit of a Bible verse gave me a since of power-though not my own power. I felt uplifted that my God doesn’t let blasphemy bring Him down. Yes, he does weep over our fallen, sinful world, but that sin doesn’t change His Kingly nature in anyway!

As Revelation 19 says, one day the whole earth will proclaim His glory:

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!’ ”

Revelation 19:6-7