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"The language of the heart which comes from the heart and goes to the heart is always simple, graceful, and full of power, but no art of rhetoric can teach it. It is at once the easiest and most difficult language, difficult, since it needs a heart to speak it; easy because its periods though rounded and full of harmony, are still unstudied." |
- Bovee - |
August 24th, 2006 |
 ou've been there before. Rushing out the door with your family, late for an appointment, or, in our case, a singing date. You are frustrated because things aren't in order and you are scrambling last minute to find what was supposed to be on the kitchen table but is now missing. So, you yell at your family...wait, I forgot, Christians don't yell, they just raise their voices:0) You've raised your voice, family members are crying because they are hurt by your insensitive attitude and you head down the road to your appointment. As you're driving the car is silent, dead silent. Everyone is upset. Thats when you get this little voice in the back of your mind. "What were you thinking!" "People are going to see right through you." "You are a phony, putting on your smile and praying for people like you do, don't you know it's going to ruin your reputation if they find out who you really are?!!!" Let's stop here and consider. Did you mess up? Yes. That part of this mini conversation is true, but there is more than meets the ear here. That little voice in our heads is often mistaken for the Lord. Yes, the Lord does convict us of our sin. And we should take care of it immediately through prayer and asking forgiveness of the ones we wronged,
but there is more here. Christ is not our guillotine, waiting for us to mess up to He can have an excuse to get rid of us. He is so much better than that. God's word says that He is our Fortress, our Strength. An ever present help in time of need. He sees us as righteous already! God is outside of time and space and can see the beginning and the end of your story. He sees that moment in time where you bowed your knee to Him and received Him as your Savior and he can look down through time and see you with Him in heaven, pure and perfect, clothed in robes of righteousness. In His eyes you are perfect, spotless. That voice, that condemning voice that hits you each time you stumble is not the loving voice of your Heavenly Father but the voice of the enemy satan. At the moment when he begins to speak these condemning words into your heart, recognize him for who he is and claim the victory that you have in Jesus Christ. We used to sing a song on our way to CEF camp each summer and i think it fits:
"We fall down, we get up
We fall down, we get up
We fall down, we get up
And the saints are all just sinners who fall down...
And get up!"
So, next time you blow up at your family, friends or co-workers, don't let satan get the victory in the situation. Remember that you are saved by God's grace and can ask His forgiveness anytime of the day or night and MOVE ON. Am i a hypocrite? No! I love the Lord, and i am serving the Lord. It's true that I mess up, but I am serving a loving God who sees my heart and knows that my deepest desire is to serve Him in the best way that I can and see hearts turned to Him. Never suck on that "Hypocrite" lollipop. When you fail it doesn't mean that you are a hypocrite, it just means that God is still working on you and, just between you and me, God's not done working with any of us! Just keep on getting up!
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 o, you've left the nest, you've felt the wind upon your face, you've seen lives touched and people encouraged, then it happens. That Wiley old coyote decides that you are a force to be reckoned with and begins his many plots to stop the momentum that your new wings have given you. I'm thinking Road Runner and Wiley Coyote here. You know that the coyote is desperately in need of a brain tune-up because he is NEVER going to win...but he keeps it up. He will stop at nothing. "Oh look," he says, "they are loving Jesus, and making other people love Jesus too. That just makes me sick!" So he straps on his rocket boots and tries to catch up with us. His plan is to kill, steal, and destroy, and he plants his bombs, booby-traps and anvils at every fork in the road. I wish I could say that we never fall for his tricks, but too often we do. We have allowed failures to make us reconsider our "steps of faith". All the while Jesus is standing there encouraging us and rooting us on. Do you know who will have the victory in the end? Well, I do! I will continue to let that anvil fall right back on his sore little head and not let him have one ounce of victory in my life. Then, I will look at the bumps and bruises that I received along the way as learning experiences. A reminder of a trap that I should never fall into again. This reminds me of a children's song. :0)
If I had a little white box to put my Jesus in
I take him out and smooch, smooch, smooch
And share Him with a friend
If I had a little black box to put old satan in
I take him out and bam, bam, bam
And throw him right back in!
Remember brothers and sisters we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers (satan and his demons). But! Be of good cheer for Christ has overcome him! Jesus is the champion, not that wiley old coyote. Don't let the bumps and bruises and lack of faith keep you from the prize. Remember who has already won the war and get back to doing what you should be doing.
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August 22nd, 2006 |
 s we enter a new era in our ministry our hearts are full of expectation and wonder. We have left the cozy nest of the part-time musician and have begun to unfold our wings. There's something about standing at the edge of the nest, not knowing whether you will rise with the wind or fall, then you feel the nudge of the Father pushing you over the edge. It is exhilarating and frightening all at once. To leave the solid ground of jobs and security and step out into the unknown is a thing of wonder. You know that it is time to leave the nest, that safety zone, but you cannot help but wonder what the other side holds for you. Will it be defeat, falling to the ground, never realizing your dreams of where the Lord could take your ministry? Will it be success, open doors, open hearts, and changed lives that can only come from a ministry that is blessed by the Lord? Like a baby eagle we are spreading our wings shakily at first because our spiritual muscles have not completely developed yet. We are stepping out in faith that God wants to use us, the Johnson Family, to touch hearts for Him. We want to be His hands, His feet, His voice to the world around us. With a heart for the lost and excitement for the future of this ministry we begin, and the Mighty Rushing Wind is just waiting for the last ounce of fear to leave so He can lift and move and carry us away.
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