Is it Well With Your Soul?

I read a blog written by Craig McConnell last week and was captivated by the words and the thoughts behind worship and wonder that He spoke of...

Worship has more to do with the posture of our hearts than the movement of our lips; it’s what naturally happens when a person encounters the wild, beautiful and holy/other God. In the presence of God worship is inevitable—it cannot be suppressed.  In His presence all things fall into their proper place: kings of the earth bow; sinners fall on their faces in repentance; death’s sting is lost; evil and its pawns are vanquished; there is no cancer, hopeless or despair; the blind see; the deaf hear; and there is joy—so much joy.

 He further wrote of his current battle with cancer and His desperation for worship in the midst of the unknowns and the fears...

It was new ground for me… messy, profound… deeply personal. As I cried out for relief I also found myself worshipping, praising, adoring, and thanking God for the comfort, strength, and hope of his presence. I praised him for life, for heaven, for his goodness and grace. Again and again I recited Psalm 23, clinging to the truth that, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.” It wasn’t poetic, but it was passionate and burning... birthed in and from my pain. None of my circumstances changed. I still had a fever and was in pain. My cancer didn’t disappear but everything faded like the old hymn says: “And the things of this world grew strangely dim.” Everything found its proper place. I was anchored to my Father, without fear. I was good. Cancer’s despair lost its grip on me and I worshipped as I may never have done before. 
(http://andsonsmagazine.com/08/love-and-wonder#.VGvKl75RHww)

We sang the song "It is Well" this past weekend at church and it brought me back to a place of evaluating my worship and my wonder for God.  I had to ask myself the hard question, "If God gives you nothing, will you still give Him everything?"  How often do we worship God seeking nothing in return?  So many churches are teaching a prosperity gospel.  Preaching that God is just waiting to give you promotion, money, success, fame, health.  I believe that we serve a God that is capable of giving us all those things--but He never promised us those things.  In fact when the disciples decided to follow after Christ and live a life of worship to Him, They lost EVERYTHING.

With my hands raised and my heart raw, I sing out to God..."IT IS WELL, IT IS WELL, WITH MY SOUL."  At that place of surrender and worship there is an overwhelming wave of peace,  a filling of purpose, and an awakening of our souls.  The things we carry fall to our sides, our needs and our wants fade away, and we realize that we have always had EVERYTHING we will ever need.
Our prosperity is in a God who reveals Himself to His people, who sings with them in the midst of their greatest trials and who Holds their hands high in their hardest battles.

"In His Presence All Things Fall Into Their Proper Place."  Worship is our way of entering into the throne room of God.  It is our way of experiencing Heaven on Earth.

Our prosperity is His Presence.
and in His Presence there is Peace.

I long for a life of prosperity, a life of living out my days in the Presence of God's wonder, overwhelmed by His peace and His joy no matter what circumstances may come.

My longing and hearts cry for worship is to be able to sing out over my circumstances---It is Well With My Soul.

When You Fail...

The definition of grace has never been more profound to my soul then in this current season.
GRACE--unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.

There is the excitement of God speaking so profoundly into your life, the knowledge and understanding that God is whispering into your ear "this is the way you should go."  God in all His foreknowledge prepares our hearts and our minds for the coming season.  But Then..... the season comes, fear overwhelms, and our human hearts get the best of us and we begin to work in our own power and we put our trust in our own hands. 

It does not take long to realize that the only power our hands hold is that of destruction, weariness, discouragement, and chaos.  Our hearts become discouraged and we further our destruction by trying to find our identity, our security, and our purpose in the hearts of others.

It seems that at this point the only way that God can get us on our knees to be in communion with Him is to allow our own bodies to give out.  Our own senses fail us, our own power is not strong enough, and our inner soul collapses and cries out--Oh God, save me from this.  

Where strength fails, grace prevails.

We become empty, 
but as soon as our cry hits heaven's ears,
divine Grace comes and fills us with hope.

How undeserving we are...to know that we hurt the heart of our God and yet with unmerited divine assistance, He reaches from His throne and speaks into our hearts----You are mine and I am Yours. I cry out to Him oh Abba Father--and He calls me His child of purpose.

You whisper over me and my heart screams for You God,

you take my hand and we begin again...

I am Faithful Like The Morning

Not by your power but by mine

will you shine vibrant like the sky.

I am opening the Heavens

that My glory may pour out.

O lift your eyes to the sky

Fill Yourself with Me.

Turn Your weariness to wonder

that you may reflect Heaven's mystery.

I am faithful just like the morning,

though the darkness may rise.

In my light you will find rest.

Be still and see that the Heavens open for you.

I show you my glory that you may

awaken the earth to my wonder

--Shine in My brilliance--

Like a star in the sky

Like mornings first light