Lusting After God

Lust is one of those words that is instantly thought of as negative because it is associated with a strong desire for something, often sexual. It is wanting something to gratify or please our flesh. When we turn those strong desires toward God they can be beneficial to our walk with Christ. It’s a prerequisite to living a life full of worship. God should be the object of our affections. Lusting after God means that we long for, crave for, and thirst for Him. I love the way David illustrated this point in Psalms 63:1, O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. His desire for God was vital to his life. God is the fulfillment in all that we need, want or desire.

Moving Beyond My Solar Eclipse.

For this blog to be a blessing to people there is a deal of transparency on my part that is involved. I don’t know just how transparent I want to be but I learned something today. I was talking to a friend about God and how we can let our issues get in the way of seeing Him. It’s like a total solar eclipse.

During the time of a total solar eclipse the moon comes in between the earth and the sun. For a few minutes the sky is either totally black or we see the moon with the outline of the sun around it a few hours. That is what happened to me in my view of God. I let my issues/failures get in between me and God and I couldn’t see Him. All I saw were my issues. But as I began to praise God in spite of MYSELF, my focus on those issues shifted and I could see His goodness again. I could see His sweet, tender mercies that are renewed everyday.

I was disappointed in myself for doing something that I said I would not do again. Like most people, when I mess up I’m my own worse enemy. I will mope around and after a few days talk to God about it. But that wasn’t the case today. I had to get in an atmosphere of praise & worship so that “I” could move out of the way. My eyes were on me and not on HIM. He promised that if I keep my eyes on HIM he would keep me in perfect peace. I feel like preaching in here...LOL. So don’t let your issues or worries get in the way of seeing God. He is not going anywhere. Just like in a total eclipse the sun is not moving. It’s the moon that is moving. So when your worries or issues get in the way and you can’t see the goodness of God, lift up some praise & worship and watch how it moves out of the way and His GOODNESS shines through.  Your focus won’t be on you but on HIM.

Romans 8:38-39, the amplified version says it best:

38For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, 39Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What Makes a Good Worship Song? Part 2

I posed this question last week to a friend who also happens to be a worship leader. Our conversation inspired my previous post: What Makes a Good Worship Song? She mentioned that its more about the attitude of the worshipper. Sometimes you can go into a service where the music or singing is not 'on point' and the people are just there. Their bodies are there but there is no expression of worship. They look bored while hindering the atmosphere. When you find yourself in situations like this, my friend says that you have to make up your mind to worship no matter what. Its your attitude that says, "I'm giving my praise and worship to God no matter what because He is worthy!" She sent me this YouTube video of Mali Music talking about what worship is. Check it out: