i am an offering

Where do you find your confidence?

God has blessed me with natural talent. Learning a new song and memorizing songs come very easily for me. Remembering chord progressions and talking while I play are two things that I don’t have too much trouble with. But I’m saying this not to boast, but to tell you that it’s probably my biggest downfall when it comes to trusting Christ.

I often think that I can do things on my own, without God’s power. I often think that because things come easily to me, I don’t have to prepare or practice or rely on the Holy Spirit. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

What do you depend on?

Bob Kauflin, in his new book Worship Matters has a very encouraging and convicting chapter on the power of the Holy Spirit. As I’ve read his book so far, this chapter has been one that stands out at me the most. In it he writes:

So here’s the question: How much do you pray? Do you pray for his guidance before you start planning for Sunday? What do you place more trust in-God’s power or your performance? Do you toss up generic prayers like, “God, please bless our time today?” Or do you pray specifically, asking the Spirit to reveal Christ to everyone gathered, to help the congregation sing with understanding, and to bring forth fruit in people’s lives? (pg. 83)

Granted, Bob is talking about a worship leader praying for various aspects of a worship service, but how often do we do the same thing in our lives? How often do we not pray before we start our day? How often do we place more trust in our performance then God’s power? How often do we pray generic prayers of “God, please bless me today, or bless so-and-so today,” without getting very specific. God cares about the details.

Bob goes on to say these very convicting statements:

Confessing our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit should produce a deep sense of gratitude, humility, and peace in our hearts. It should free us from anxious thoughts about how smoothly the service will flow, whether or not the sound system will feed back, and how people will respond to us. (pg. 83)

Again, if we apply this to our own everyday lives, utter dependence on the Holy Spirit should free us from anxious thoughts about anything and everything.

So how about you? Are you finding your adequacy in God? Or are you finding yourself self-sufficient without an utter dependence on Him? Let us become God-sufficient, knowing that He is so much more than enough for all we could ever ask or imagine.

Are you satisfied in Jesus today?

God has been getting a hold of me big time lately. The power of His Word combined with wise counsel and brushed up against certain situations is a deadly (in a good way) combination.

In my devotional time in the last few days, one verse has struck me and it’s not going away. It is Psalm 90:14:

O, Lord, satisfy us in the morning with your lovingkindness, so that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days.

I began to wonder in the midst of things to do, things on my mind, and just things in general if God was really “more than enough for me” as Chris Tomlin wrote in his powerful song.

Finding my confidence in Him

This one small verse and a few other circumstances have been leading me to really examine some things in my life. I’ll write more on them in the next couple days. But for now, a question. Are you finding your satisfaction in Him? Are you finding Your confidence in Him? Do you depend on Him as if everything in the world really does depend on Him? Or do you try and do things on your own strength and try and be satisfied on your own power?

More to come. P.S. This website theme is here to stay. No more changing - I promise!