Obedience. KEEP READING, I know this seems like a sucky topic ;) but it's one of my favorites...

I am really loving this, this morning:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."  Isaiah 30:21

I think it's speaking to me so much because for the past year I've been really thinking about just obeying Him.  Just doing that.  A few years ago, I read a quote by Rick Warren that changed my life. 

"God doesn't owe you an explanation or reason for everything he asks you to do. Understanding can wait, but obedience can't. Instant obedience will teach you more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. In fact, you will never understand some commands until you obey them first. Obedience unlocks understanding."

Man, it takes the pressure off.  I like someone else steering the boat.  Actually, I wish HE DID steer the boat, but He tells ME which way to turn the wheel and I have to obey and do it.  Free will and all...  Not think about it and figure out if He's right (oh man, I feel silly even typing that OF COURSE He's right even if it doesn't feel like it).  The more I read His Word and the more I talk to Him the more I can discern whether or not it's God or me speaking.  Or the world.  Or commercials.  Or well meaning people who love me (and sorry guys your voice isn't the one I need to hear).  Or even, GASP, my Pastor.  


We had a bible study at Celebration when we first started going where someone (probably me) asked how you can really know that the "voice" you are hearing is God's when you don't hear a voice at all.   I figured Pastor Steve would kind of hem haw around the subject and tell us we should just know, but he didn't!  He told us the more we read HIS WORD (yep, the INSPIRED WORD OF GOD...makes sense) the more we would know what He sounds like.  The more we talked with him daily, hourly, minute by minute the more we would know...uh huh, WHAT HE SOUNDS LIKE.  

BOOM!

Revelation people!  That made so much sense to me that I still laugh about it.  Of course!  Just get to know his voice and you'll know what it sounds like.  I know Isaac's voice so well that I don't ever have to question whether it's him speaking or not, yee-haw, even from 'cross the Wal Mart!  In fact, I was so in love with him so soon and wanted and needed and YEARRRRRRNED to speak with him 24/7 that I got to know his voice and the types of things he would say pretty darn fast.  

Ok, apply that people...

Since I sorta got off topic, I'm going to bring it back around.  LEARN his voice by getting to know Him.  Then...yeah...obey it.  Back to the scripture at the top 

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."  Isaiah 30:21

Don't look to the right or to the left, keep your eyes on your future, your purpose.  Don't know what it is?  Another word from Pastor Steve, MOVE ANYWAY.  Do SOMETHING, anything for the kingdom of God, even if you don't know what to do, just do the right thing.  Clean toilets, change diapers in the nursery, donate clothes, sort said clothes, make phone calls, be nice to people and MOVE THE HECK FORWARD.   You probably won't go wrong and if ya do, God can turn anything around and use everything you did on the wrong path for His good.  AMAZING?  YES!  That's muh God!

"Your ears will hear a voice behind you."  So, get to know that voice, move forward and do good.  And do I even have to tell you?  Come to Celebration Church and do these things with us if you don't have a home church.  We are home.  If you hate church and refuse to come, then just come to our informal Bible study and start to learn.  We want you in the body of Christ, it doesn't have to be in our building. 

The last thing that REALLY, really made me smile about the scripture was:

"this is the way; walk in it."  

It's not "this is the way; let me carry you across the threshold and do it all for you." 

He's all GIRL PLEASE, I've shown you the way now get on with it.  Haha, well not exactly, but he's not going to do it all for us, we have to get on with the VERBing in life and do it.  Being shown the way is most of the battle for me.  Once I know it's from Him, I can do anything and feel confident in it. 
  


It's never too late to start or to get on the right path.  Don't think about the years you haven't done this, just do it now.  

So today, whenever today is that you're reading this, make a promise to yourself to get to know what He sounds like (read ya bible, talk to Him however you feel comfortable) and then listen for His voice.  Then guess what?  Obey it.  I figure you don't need allllllll of those words up there to come to this conclusion, but how a lot of people like to hear their own voice, I like to see my own words.  Apparently.  

Much love,

C

I'm adding this devotional that is REALLY good.  I know some people don't love Rick Warren, but for whatever reason his way of writing and his love and fear of God really speak to me, so if you don't like him in general, throw that away for a minute and read this: 

http://purposedriven.com/blogs/dailyhope/index.html?contentid=4408

Blood, testimony, death

Sunday at church, Leanna Chapman testified about coming through something that has been a struggle for about a year.  She referred to the scripture Revelation 12:11

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

2 things are brought to mind this evening from this Word.  First, I was thinking while she was speaking that the 2nd part of this scripture applies to her situation too.  "they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."  I've always thought that line was so cool.  And when talking about overcoming something hard, let's say anxiety, listen how it applies.  

What's more "loving our lives" than trying to control everything by looking at it so hard that it brings on anxiety?  And what a person overcoming anxiety in Him is saying is that I don't love my life so much as to do that to myself.   I don't love it enough as to be so scared of it.  I won't shrink back because my Heavenly Father doesn't shrink back.  My God, my God who has overcome death, CONQUERED death stands up for me!  Why should I care so much about the details of my life that I shrink from them?  Well, that's what Leanna was saying.  She doesn't anymore, she's not shrinking from death because death has no hold on her!  Hallelujah!

Second, TESTIMONY.  YES!  We need to share them that's for sure or what else are they for?  Not for us, we obviously know them already.  I was in bed tonight and something hit me.  God shows me things in picture form because He knows I like to put things from pictures into words.  He showed me something like this photograph:

See the very tip tip top of that plateau up there?  That's your platform.  And its name is what you've overcome. Fear, depression, anxiety, drugs, alcohol, pornography, anger, abuse, write any of those on the flat top of the plateau.  You stand upon that and SCREAM TO THE WORLD FROM THERE YOUR TESTIMONY.  Let's say you've battled depression.  Every moment that you move forward depressed, every step you take that takes you up the mountain of depression, THAT is your testimony.  It doesn't have to be all the way at the top only, EACH STEP FORWARD is your testimony.  No matter what happens after, no one can take that away from you.  Until you are standing on the platform of depression, your feet planted on top of it and you are FREE.

Each step is hard.  When you're going through the depression, yeah it feels horrible.  How can I give God praise, thank Him for being with me, helping me overcome when I can't even rise out of bed?  Are you breathing?  TESTIMONY.

"I woke up this morning and continued to take breaths."

Maybe it's supposed to be hard so that we can have so many little testimonies that lead up to the big one.  Even though it doesn't feel like it, believe me, it's worth it.  As long as we never stop speaking in faith and never stop proclaiming that He is in control, people will be set free by our testimony.  Do you truly get that?  Not only do our struggles and achievement teach US something, they set OTHER PEOPLE free!!!!!

It feels tough because it is.  Climbing to the top of anything is always a struggle filled with sweat, blood and usually fear.  And now that I think about it, maybe our testimonies are for us, too.  They remind us over and over and over and over that God is not only with us, but withIN us.  He cares about it all.  Every step, every drop of sweat that drops onto the rocks beneath us.

Thinking about this climbing metaphor reminded me of an excerpt from a book I've been reading and I think I'm going to just type it out and let it speak for itself.  There's a lot I could say about it, but it's all muddled in my head.  The "point" is in there, I'm just too excited to try to type it out.  So, this is how I'll end this blog (sorry it's abrupt, I'm just spent tonight, too excited about revelations to keep typing)

From Sailing Between the Stars by Steven James:

Rock climbers have a term for the most difficult part of the climb: the crux.  It usually involves a combination of moves and holds that appear impossible at first. Often, it's the critical point, the crucial moment in the climb.

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an expert climber, but I love to go climbing with my friends whenever I can.  And whenever I'm on a climb and I come to the crux, I always start thinking, There's no way I can do this!  I can't make it!  I'm gonna peel!  And sometimes I do.  I fall.

But if I make it past the crux, I can look back and finally see the route clearly.  Once you're past the crux, the route up the cliff makes sense at last.

Crux is a Latin word.  It means cross.

Worship

inside the prayer of Courtney Hutchinson:

***

I want to worship You for You.  I want to lift my hands, my voice, my shout and not care who sees.  I want to lift my hands, my voice, my shout and not try to prove my holiness by them.  Trying to make people see how great it is to worship by doing it right.  Worship is for nothing else, NOTHING ELSE, but to give You praise! FROM ME TO YOU.  Forgive me Father for doing it for any other reason! Forgive me for making it a ceremony!  I adore you Lord for no other reason that You are You.  AMEN!!

***

With music, I feel that worship is just gazing at God and giving Him information about Himself that He gave to us...about Himself.  He is holy.  He is great.  He is exalted.  He is soft and sweet and strong and jealous.  Just telling Him.  Probably sometimes that's the only true communication He gets with us during the week (as for me, I talk His holy ear off minute to minute).  But who are we worshipping when we do it in an attempt to look a certain way or be a certain type of person?  Anyone but God.  Ourselves, others, worship leaders..

I was thinking these things today at church because I was just worshiping like crazy and my arms were flying around and I was clapping above my head and Isaac was yelling out next to me and I was thinking "THIS IS IT!"  THIS is worshiping in abandon and I love it!  When I'm most giving to God of myself in praise form, guess what?  It gratifies me, also!  Only God!  Only my sweet, jealous God would care about me so much that he would let my senses get a little thrill from something that is meant for Him!  It's like a dad who lets his child bake a birthday cake for him and then they both eat it!

Our souls yearn to worship, this I know.  I mean, for one... look how we treat athletes.  We can't wait to jump for joy when they succeed and paint our bodies to prove how much we support them.  It's always driven me a little crazy that people behave like that and no one thinks twice but when I do that for my Creator, it's perceived by many as weird (another blog for another day).  Anyway, in Isaiah, the following scripture shows how people loved to worship their own creations.  So yeah, it's just in us to want to worship...something...anything even if we have to make it.

(Isa 2:8)  And their land is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

Sometimes in worship, I feel like I'm just going to fall apart, but it's an amazing feeling.  You know how things always seem to be backwards from how you think it should be according to God?  High is low, rich is poor, first is last... that's how worship is for me.  The more excruciating it is, the more amazing it feels.  Haha crazy!   I KNOW!  And I'm amped up about it!  

So, I guess this was all just written because 1. I started typing and just didn't stop and 2. if you want this type of worship in the presence of God, it's because you were made to want it.  He made you to give it.  

Come to church with me, worship beside me.  I promise I won't hold back on your account, just come and worship God in whatever way you feel comfortable with.  It may be quiet, it may be loud, it may look like worship, it may not.  I will never judge that of others.  I can only be obedient to what I feel within myself and pray that you will, too.

**I want to acknowledge while worship takes MANY forms (even changing diapers in the nursery!) this blog was specifically about praise and worship that takes place usually to music, usually in church...you get it, right?   Corporate worship?  Hope that made sense, I have no idea how to voice that...

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,

    will enter your house.  I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. 

Psalm 5:7

Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!  

Psalm 100:2

"As John 4:23 says, Its time, as worshipers of God, to give him all we have. For when he is exalted, everything about me is decreased. So many times we stand in the way of really stepping into the secret place of worship with God. Just abandon tradition and the "expected" ways of Praise & Worship and get lost in the holy of holies with the sole intention of blessing the Fathers heart." 

Jessica Leah Springer   

Bitter and Sweet

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” ~ Thomas Watson

There was a time in my life when sin was so sweet. It felt so good to do things some part of me knew was wrong even if I didn't know why.  

Hebrews 11:25  Moses

choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than

 to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Above, the Word of God says (regarding Moses) that sin can taste sweet for awhile, but there comes a time when we'll recognize that what we are doing is not good for us.  Which feels...just terrible.  Especially if- like me at that point- you aren't living with God in your life already.  I wasn't saved, but I started to feel this uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that was whispering to me 

"you are mine, you were created for more than this"

  
That alone proves to me that God doesn't always feel like soft flittering butterflies in your stomach.  Sometimes, He's more like a punch to the gut.  


So what did I do when I felt this sound (that's how I describe it...it was a voice that I felt and didn't hear).  I pushed into doing more things that I knew were bad for me.  WHY?????  you are probably asking.  I have no idea.  I think I knew something had to give.  A change had to happen and it would either be for the worse (which I can't imagine) or for the better (which was ANYTHING but where I was and what I was doing to myself).  

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s

 paths to follow our own” Isaiah 53:6a 

But it's hard to take a step in the right direction when you can't see what's ahead.  It's so much easier to stay on the path you've always been on, but it's WORTH IT to seek out the path less traveled.  And maybe it's the path less traveled BY YOU.  For me, I had never really had a foot on that path for real.  A few times, I pretended to be but mostly I kept jumping into the jungle, getting torn up by the vines and briars all in a quest to go my own way.  (insert Go Your Own Way lyrics by Fleetwood Mac into your brain here... you're welcome)  

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you

 that you should go and bear fruit, and that  your fruit should

 remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He

 may give you. John 15:16

I CHOSE YOU!  It makes me want to weep. Even when I wasn't choosing Him, He was choosing me.  Even when I wasn't speaking to Him, He was speaking to me.  How completely undeserving.  How completely God.    

Become like a child...Asher says it's "soopah fun"

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:1-4

The other day, I was singing to my children. Asher likes when I sing Adele; Zoe likes when I sing JJ Heller.  I thought how wild it was that I've never been able to sing in front of adults, but in front of my kids (or any kids really) I can.  I don't really care about them hearing me.  In fact, the more out of tune I sound, the better to them.  It just amazed me that I had such freedom around them and I could be more "Courtney" than ever.   


I really have thought often about what it means to be "like a child" as opposed to "childish."  THAT MUCH, I understand.  Being childish consists of the things people think of as negative with kids (I WANT THAT NOW and LIFE ISN'T FAIR and I'M WIPING THIS BOOGER ON YOU CUZ I CAN and I'M GOING TO TAKE WHAT YOU SAID AND TWIST IT ALL AROUND TO BENEFIT MY AGENDA).  


I get how Jesus wants us to be humble and unassuming like a child (child-like).  And...

Playful

Happy

Unblemished

Trusting 

Silly

Innocent

Smiling

Interested
Interesting

Open

Playful

Curious

Expressive 

Quick to cry when they're sad

Quick to laugh when they're happy

Quick to let you know when they are mad

HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO FOCUS ON WHAT ANYONE ELSE WOULD THINK SILLY.  Like following a bug around just to see what happens.  

I get all that and WOW, isn't it true?  But, what I was thinking about while singing in front of the kids was something that had never occurred to me.  

When you are child-like, the PEOPLE AROUND you are also affected.  It's not just all about you.  

Think about how adults react to kids.  We get down on their level, and start to have fun in a way we haven't in a LONG time.  Suddenly, playing with cars is fun and their happiness regarding it is contagious.  We start to let go of the world a little bit and get into theirs.  Kids haven't formed judgement on the world yet and we feel safe in their presence.  They haven't learned to be cynical or doubt that what you say is true is really true!  How refreshing! Ok, now apply that to how Jesus wants us to be in Matthew 18.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Maybe it's not all about what it means for US to be child-like but for what it looks like for OTHERS to SEE us be that way.  When we aren't so cynical and judgmental and hateful, it definitely looks different to the world.  

I think they start to then want that (even if they don't realize it) and thereby come around you more often.  It's sort of an extension of when Pastor Steve talked about "smelling like Jesus" and carrying His fragrance around with you.  People smell it and want it even if they aren't sure WHAT/WHO they want at first.  They just know they want to be around YOU (who happens to talk to Him often, who speak His own words, invites His Holy Spirit into you, who listens and obeys Him).


So today, I challenge you to be child-like.  Take those qualities I mentioned above and incorporate them into your day in as many ways as you can.  Then, look around and see how people react. 

 Do you know who I am thinking about right now?  

Jim Carrey in Yes Man.  Ok, ok, you don't HAVE to take it to that extreme but everyone in his life immediately started coming alive around him and they were curious about the change.  He made people happy.  Plus, it's a biblical story.  JUST kidding.  It's a great movie though, so if you aren't willing to be child-like today, AT LEAST watch Yes Man.  (you get a bonus Zooey Deschanel thrown in, too!)


I'm going to end with mentioning that I feel like I haven't gotten this across in the most effective way but I feel strongly about posting it this morning.  I hope you see that it's important for us to be like children for ourselves as much as for the people around us.  Have a marvelous day, dear readers!


Much love,
C