Above All Else: A 21 Day Feast

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Above All Else

21 Days Starts September 8th.

I sat kneeling by the side of my couch. This posture was nothing other than my effort to put myself aside and re-position my heart, mind and body toward more meaningful worship toward Jesus. You see, I need to remind myself. I need to get uncomfortable and on my knees to get over myself and make much of Him.

As my focus began to wane, I knew I needed to crack open my Bible in order to use Words full of life and truth in order to adequately offer my accolades and affirmations toward the King who is due all good and true words that this voice could ever utter.

I will lift my praise above everything to You, my God and King! I will continually bless Your name forever and always. (Psalm 145:1 THE VOICE emphasis mine)

ABOVE EVERYTHING…

ABOVE All ELSE…

Above what I deem important and priority when I’m in the depths of that humane yearning which only seeks the here and the now and the comfortable. Above even what I hold dear––those God-given blessings that I coddle and care for and attend to. Above notions of success. Above notions of power. Above notions of what is safe. Above notions of doubt and fear. Above EVERYTHING…

I will lift my praise.

I became acquainted with Psalm 145 during a 24 hour prayer chain. This Scripture came to my attention with in the prayer guide and I sat captivated by the exhortation…the call… the encouragement…the declarations to…

MAKE JESUS FAMOUS.

A couple of years later, I wrote a book based on this Psalm of David––a song of praise. Verse by verse this song calls us to elevate the level of praise with our WHOLE life to pour out the fame of God’s goodness, holiness, power and to make His kingdom the center of our existence.

Just RISE UP!: A Call To Make Jesus Famous comes out soon…as in October 7th soon!

In the meantime I’m taking some time to soak, really dig into Psalm 145 and FEAST on His Fame.

Will YOU join me?

There are 21 verses in Psalm 145 and each stand alone toward 21 days of  BOLD worship and prayer and pouring forth. I was tempted to do the easy thing and combine the verses for a much more manageable 14 day blog event. But, what I’ve learned through this whole journey of rising up…

HE IS WORTHY of us doing the hard stuff. Will you commit 21 days straight of pouring forth His fame? 

Let’s do this together.

EVERY DAY for 21 days HERE on the LIVE IT OUT! blog we will come together to boldly worship and proclaim God’s greatness. Verse by verse I will offer up some prayer prompts and journal suggestions to encourage you toward incorporating Psalm 145 in your own worship time. I will also encourage you to LIVE IT OUT! with your words and actions that day.

We will boldly proclaim the fame of Jesus with in our social media circles AND in our real life circles.

How Do You Join In on Above All Else?

Be sure you are subscribed to the LIVE IT OUT! blog. All of the 21 days of Above All Else will be posted here. When you subscribe you will get an email to let you know there’s a new day of worship ready for you to partake in!

Note: if you are already a subscriber (thank you!) you are good to go. Just look for the email next Monday!

***The 21 Days starts SEPTEMBER 8th!!!***

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THE LIST

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Hellooooooo Friday! Glad to see ya!

The List

Ready for The List? And…Go…

~What is your biggest guilty pleasure? I can’t get enough of the E! channel while I work out on my elliptical in the mornings. Super “fascinating.”

~If you had an extra hour in the day what would you do? I would either nap (duh!) or get out my art supplies…they’ve been neglected lately after my surgery.

~If money were not an issue, where would you travel? I would hands down go to Ireland. I have a sweet friend who lives in a place called Ballyclare. Doesn’t that sound so divine??

~What Scripture is propelling you forward these days? The word propell is big for me in the last few days but I’m not sure why. I will report back on that soon. Here is what I posted on Facebook yesterday…

The verse that started it all for me and propelled me to write Just RISE UP! What verse is propelling YOU these days to make Jesus famous?

They-shall-pour-forth

Alrighty then. That’s all I’ve got. You? If you want to add anything else to list feel free!

Leave a comment, can’t wait to see your List!

Ferguson In Our Own Backyard

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I’m certain that I am not the only one who feels horrified, confused, dismayed by the tragedy in Ferguson, MO. Though I really don’t have the full picture in mind of what really happened, (does anyone, really?) my heart cries out to God on behalf of all parties effected. Prayer is the first thing that we all should turn to, especially those of us that have no way of changing the circumstances…no way of getting involved directly. God hears our prayers, the prayers of those who say, Lord…what can we do?

Do you feel that way, too? Like you are helpless to make things better, helpless to be an ambassador of peace and mercy in a town that could honestly be any town in the middle of the United States of America.

Church! RISE UP! Ferguson is your backyard and my backyard.

What would happen if the church took it’s place as the light on the hill in every town and city. What would happen if God’s people took responsibility in their own back yard in a radical way?

Would we prevent a Ferguson in our own backyards….

***I want to emphatically say that I have NO DOUBT that the local churches in the greater St. Louis area are and have been heavily involved in their communities. I have seen it first hand in that area.***

Church: that is the corporate and the individual. If you proclaim Jesus as your source of grace, forgiveness, mercy and abundant life, YOU are the Church. We come together as individuals to worship in unity, to hold each other accountable, to do life together, to be impactful in our world…our backyard.

As the Church, we have the God-given responsibility (yep, RESPONSIBILITY) to feed His sheep, build up His kingdom, be mercy to the forgotten, be grace to the unlovable. No entity can do this more effectively than those empowered corporately by the Holy Spirit of the VERY Living God.

To BE THE CHURCH means we put aside our schedules and agendas and all of our #firstworldproblems to reach out past our comfort zones to make a difference in our back yards…our communities.

To BE THE CHURCH means we reach deep into our pockets and give out of the overriding principal that everything we have, all that we own is GOD’s to begin with.

To BE THE CHURCH means we pray hard, really hard, to ask God to love His people like He loves them. We pray that God will chisel away those guards we place around our heart that keeps us from doing the hard stuff–really loving and serving–out of worship. Yes, loving and serving is worship!

To BE THE CHURCH means we stop sitting in the pews on Sunday only giving a nod to what our local church is doing in the community. It means we keep ourselves from checking off excuse after excuse in our heads as to why we can’t get up at 7am on a Saturday morning to paint a house or build a wheelchair ramp or stock the shelves of the food bank.

For when we take our place as THE CHURCH and step into our communities, our very own backyard, to be the change, to be the light to be JESUS, a ripple happens. That encouragement and monetary donation we took part in for a single mom might lead her to get back on her feet with dignity. Then, she is empowered to take that job and provide for her family in meaningful ways. That son of hers who was at risk because of their poverty, has a new path before him. Years later, he goes to college. He partakes in his own local church. He becomes a man and raises his own family who loves Jesus.

Who knows…your one moment of BEING THE CHURCH allowed God to work through you.

Yes, there is the benefit of “feeling good” about how you loved and served. Oh but how great it will be to hear Jesus say,

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)

So, today as we observe the latest reports out of Ferguson let us take Ferguson as our own community, backyard.

Let us BE THE CHURCH.