Breathe. Just Breathe...

 

Breathe, Just Breathe…

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.

Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”

So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. (Ezekiel 37:4-10 (NLT)

Breathe: To inhale and exhale air using the lungs. To inhale air or another gas. To exhale air or another gas.

This week has been a struggle. Ain’t gonna lie.

People with asthma know how much the atmosphere and other uncontrollable variables can dictate whether you are taking deep breaths and “living your best life now” or staying tired with only small, shallow ones.

Yeah, the struggle is real.

But that pales in comparison with those who truly do not have “the breath of life” in them. 

They are the “walking dead." The ones who aimlessly wander through life - trying to find profound purpose in physical activities, accumulation of things, increased wealth, or tan lines and altered hair color. 

Yet, for all of their “pursuit of life and happiness” they do not truly live. 

They do not have the “breath of life” in them. 

They do not have God.

Like the valley of dry bones in our text from Ezekiel they are a great band of possibilities. They are a mighty army buried beneath the dirt. They are an unequaled number of people who have never experienced new life…a resurrected life. They are dead.

They do not have the breath of God.

    They do not have the Spirit of God.

        They do not have life.

And neither do you unless God places breath (Spirit) within you and consequently gives you life. “Then Jesus breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit,’” (John 20:22). 

Remember our asthmatic family and friends? Many have a rescue inhaler. It can save their life when their own breath stops. When they can only exhale but cannot inhale it alone can bring the necessary breath we need to live.

God certainly is not a rescue inhaler but the analogy stands. And, if you are going through life and find that you are tired and out of breath…well, we think you know where you need to draw your next one from. That rescusitating, resurrecting breath of life.

Breathe deep our friends. Breathe deep. Why? Because, the Psalmist told us: “Let everything that breathes sing praises to the LORD! Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 150:6)

Awake My Soul and Sing!

 

Psalm 143 - A Psalm of David

O LORD, hear my prayer. In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea; in Your righteousness, answer me. Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You. For the enemy has pursued my soul, crushing my life to the ground, making me dwell in darkness like those long since dead. My spirit grows faint within me; my heart is dismayed inside me.I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I consider the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah

Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit. Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD; I flee to You for refuge. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant. 

"The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.” - John 3:8

If you are reading this, you are more than likely a Christian. A follower of Jesus. A disciple.

And, if you are a disciple of Christ, it is also probably true that at least once in your life you felt down, depressed, lost, confused, overwhelmed, guilty, alone, or even abandoned.

Maybe, like David, you feel hemmed in by people around you. Perhaps circumstances have pushed you down and the weight of the moment keeps you from getting up. You struggle just to breathe…to catch your next breath. 

You need to be revived. Awakened.

Don’t we all.

Unless you are completely off social media/TV/radio you have undoubtedly heard of the Asbury Awakening (as some are calling it). In a tiny little town about thirty minutes below Lexington, Ky., a spiritual awakening has occurred as God has poured his Spirit out on the students, faculty and citizens of Wilmore.  What began as a normal, mandatory, everyday Wednesday chapel service has continued non-stop. And there appears to be no stopping it. (edit: they will be shutting down Hughes Auditorium late tonight 2/18/23 (1AM) but will reopen tomorrow 2/19/23 at noon).

As a result of people coming to experience the movement of God, and then returning home to their schools and towns, God is beginning to pour out his Spirit in other places as well. Perhaps we are witnessing the birth pangs of a third great awakening? 

Now, we are not going to tackle what is a revival, what makes up a revival, how does a revival occur, or even is this a revival. At this point we tend to look at it as a spiritual awakening…a fresh move of God’s Spirit on people who hunger for holiness. Whatever you want to label this “Divine Moment”, what we are definitely seeing is God publicly calling his people to draw closer to him and to bring their lives into alignment with his character, purpose and kingdom.

Most of us will not be able to hustle on over to the rolling hills of the Bluegrass State to witness this Supernatural movement BUT…can we all not join together (no matter where we are) and pray for God to touch our lives? Can we all agree with one another to seek God’s face and ask him to forgive us of all our sin? To wipe our hearts clean from the filth of this world? To beg him to deliver us from the evil seeking to devour us? To not forget us as the world abandons us? To bring healing where there is pain? And, that we might receive a new heart made of flesh to replace the cold, stony one which has neglected to love as we have been loved?

It’s a tall order for sure. It will require a change in us. It will demand we turn off the idiot box, set down our phones, close our laptops, and put down the Sherlock Holmes (I’m talking to myself here) and take seriously the arduous and painstaking work of prayer. Prayer for ourselves, our families, our communities, our churches, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our world. 

But, please remember…ours is not to emulate or model something just because it is working at one place. Ours is to “humble ourselves in the sight of the LORD and he will lift us up.” 

Think of it this way: we have had some severe weather across the south already this year. We can look at the radar, study wind velocity, read about CAPE, register the dew points and search for a dry line - and almost pinpoint where severe weather will occur. 

But that is not the way of the Spirit of God. 

Plead with us today for a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit…a fresh anointing of his mercy and grace…a revival of our spirits, a renewing of our hearts, a restoration of our marriages, a rejuvenation of our health, a resuscitation of our local churches. May the “Asbury Awakening” be the moment we have an awakening in all of our lives.

Now… “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

The Wonder of Worship

Come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT)

We have a confession to make. It’s one you may or may not have heard from a pastoral couple. You know, the ones who are supposed to be “in charge” - the ones who get paid.

We loved “being” in worship during last week’s General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church. We were not in charge. We did not have to come up with an order of service. We simply got to lift our hands, raise our voices, join in corporate prayer, listen to the Word, and take notes from the messages. What a delight!

That said, there has been a disconnect in worship for far too long between “leaders” and those “attending.” As a matter of fact, the biggest congregations in North America almost always have a great divide between the worship “team” and those in the “crowd.” It’s divine entertainment - and that should not be.

Psalm 95 is a great moment in scripture. It is a call for all to join in worship. Worship can be private - and it should be on a daily basis: devotions, prayer, reading of the Word, singing, doing acts of kindness…all of these are what we should be doing when we are apart from one another.

But, when we are together (and we should get together by the way)...

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up - I Corinthians 14:26

Did you notice? Not just the “paid” staff. Not just the worship “team.” Each of you. Everyone.

Dan Gildner, a writer for spiritandtruth.life considered this quandary in a recent article. He established a baseline, if you will, for both leaders of worship and attendees:

1. Confession - It is good practice to confess known sin to God and one another prior to inviting the congregation to worship or gathering in worship. Acts 3:19-20 promises that confession gives birth to times of refreshing from God’s presence.

Invitation to Practice: Start your morning in worship with a personal time of confession with Jesus and/or with your trusted small group. Be honest. Receive God’s refreshing grace.

2. Anticipation - When we come into worship we believe that his Presence is with us - in Spirit. The difference between those places and the U.S. is expectation. People come to worship expecting God to be present. What we anticipate, we pursue!

Invitation to Practice: Write out a one sentence prayer of faith before you gather/lead. Where do you expect God to show up in your life through this time of worship.

3. Preparation & Faithfulness

PREPARATION: God chooses to work with humankind in the renewal of all things. So we humbly work diligently at the various crafts (music, liturgy, sermon-writing, etc.) because we are graciously invited to participate with God. It demands that we give all that we can.

FAITHFULNESS: At the end of the day, we are human, and more than performance or perfection, God invites us to be faithful. We acknowledge that we could never practice enough to deserve God’s love. We could never pray enough to be fully prepared. But we show up and in each worship service we offer to God our faithful, limited selves.

Invitation to Practice: Before gathering for worship, prepare your heart through prayer, singing or silence…such that corporately you can offer the Lord all that you can.

4. Invitational - It is the job of those leading to invite those gathered to receive from, respond to and participate in the worship of the Almighty. Those gathered should desire to join in singing, sharing testimony, giving generously, and responding enthusiastically with raised hands and shouts of “Hallelujah!” because God “inhabits the praise of his people.”

Invitation to Practice: If leading, review your language, ensuring an invitational tone. If joining in worship, take advantage of every opportunity to respond to God.

5. Prayerful - Part of our preparation is to pray individually and collectively. Call upon God to release water onto the dry land. Declare God’s Truth over God’s people. Invite God to search your hearts as you lead others. Pray for divine manifestations to be known before, during and after the gathering.

Invitation to Practice: For those leading - It is best to know the Father’s throne room before inviting others into it. For those gathering - pray for God’s presence for all; pray for the preachers; pray for worship to happen when everyone goes to work the next day.

6. Surrendering Results - If we lift up the Name of God, if we praise his Name, if we humble ourselves in his Presence, he will draw us to himself. After all - it has nothing to do with us but everything to do with him. Not just worship - but the results of worship as well. We should not focus on “how worship went” but simply on worship. It’s about time that we all joined together for God’s purposes, glory, and honor.

Oh, the wonder of worship…

If You Give Anything Please Give Thanks

11-23-2021

Psalm 100

Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with joy! Enter his presence with joyful singing! Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give him thanks! Praise his name! For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.

Ephesians 5: 18c-21

...be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Thanksgiving Day, more often than not, gets overshadowed by Christmas in store aisles, porch decorations, radio stations, and people’s priorities. Ironically, I (Steve) am listening to old-time Christmas radio while preparing this reminder that thankfulness must be, should always be, a priority of the community of faith.

We feel safe in saying not many recall the origins of our nation's day of giving thanks. Do you remember why we celebrate the final Thursday in November every year?

Extremely short version: In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first corn harvest, Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast, inviting the colony’s Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. The feast lasted three days!

Fast forward to 1789. George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation, calling all Americans to express their gratitude to Almighty God for the joyous ending to the war for independence and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Still not a national holiday, in 1827, magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale - “Mary Had a Little Lamb” ring a bell? - launched a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. For almost 40 years she wrote numerous editorials and sent thousands of letters to governors, senators, presidents and other politicians, earning her the nickname the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”

Proving persistence pays off, Abraham Lincoln finally heeded her request in 1863. At the height of the Civil War, in a presidential proclamation, Lincoln sought for America to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”

He scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday in November 1863...

And that is where we find ourselves almost 160 years later. Now that the history lesson is finished, what does Thanksgiving, with its place in our nation’s history and culture, actually have to do with you and I - believers in God and followers of His Son, Jesus the Christ?

Well, for lack of a better word, everything! And following in the footsteps of the mother of Thanksgiving, Sarah Josepha Hale, let us - like a journalist - dive into the pertinent questions that will guide us in our investigation into the relevance of giving thanks as a community of faith.

I Chronicles 16 gives us the clues to follow to reach our destination. As a result of the Ark being placed in the midst of the people David gives the command for the people to enjoy a time of feasting and celebration. So, they brought the Ark of the Covenant of God in and feasted, celebrated, and gave thanks. And, that our friends, is truly the first Thanksgiving. Therefore, let us return there and see what we can see, learn what we can learn, and emulate what we can in order to be a faithful community that gives thanks.

Who? Who is worthy of our thanks?
I Chronicles 16:8-10 - Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the LORD.

When? When is it necessary to give thanks?
I Chronicles 16:11&23b - Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him...Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.

What? What are we to be thankful for?
I Chronicles 16:12-15 - Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given, you children of his servant Israel, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God. His justice is seen throughout the land. Remember his covenant forever—the commitment he made to a thousand generations.

Where? Where do we give thanks?
I Chronicles 16:19-20&23a - He said this when you were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan. They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another…Let the whole earth sing to the LORD!

Why? Why do we give thanks?
I Chronicles 16:28-36 - O nations of the world, recognize the LORD, recognize that the LORD is glorious and strong. Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken. Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Tell all the nations, “The LORD reigns!” Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Cry out, “Save us, O God of our salvation! Gather and rescue us from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you.” Praise the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people shouted “Amen!” and praised the LORD.

Happy Thanksgiving! And, “Amen!”

Missy and Steve