A different Hosanna experience

I was going through a React tutorial on Scrimba and the song, Hosanna by Hillsong was singing in my heart. So I paused and listened to it on YouTube.

It's a beautiful song. There's Darlene Zschech and Brooke Fraser, the lyrics are just wonderful. As I was listening I noticed something. I was enjoying this song differently this time.

This time I was paying attention to the instrument; the bass notes, the drums, lead guitar noticing how they play with such discipline. I'm not a musician myself but it was very interesting and made my enjoyment of the song different and more interesting from other times.

It got me thinking that we all experience the same things differently. Hillsong is a large church and as the camera pans to the cut of the crowd with hands raised, eye closed, almost in a trance state or euphoric worship, I could not help but wonder what everyone was experiencing at that time and in that place. Was it the worship of God or an enjoyment of good music?

Anyways, just a thought. I'll get back to React now.

-ONWARD!

Everything you are seeking is in God

This past week has been interesting. I was in church and while the service was going on, the Lord was speaking to me. I felt disconnected with the service because my mind and attention was on what He was saying, so I took my pen and began writing what He was saying. Here's what he said to me:

God never leaves anyone. 
If God is far from you, you are the one that went away.
You are seeking something out there.
Do you think God cannot supply those things?
Everything you are seeking is in God.

God is faithful, he will never leave you or forsake you.
His nature is faithfulness.
Even when we are not faithful, he is faithful.

That was Sunday. And I have to say, yeah I had shifted from where I was in my relationship with God. Other things - the cares of this world, had crowded my heart. But God is always seeking to save the lost.

Then again during the week this word came to me while praying. I will paraphrase because I don't remember it verbatim:

People leave the God of love in search of love.
They leave the Most High in search of security, power and influence.
They leave the one that gives wisdom to the wise to search for enlightenment, and education.
They leave the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills to search for their sustenance - for bread and meat, for money.

Basically people leave God who freely gives all things for us to enjoy and seek what they think is real. These two events cannot be coincidences. God is speaking. He is speaking to me. Maybe to you too.

Nothing is worth leaving God to get. If God can't give it to me, I never want it. It doesn't matter what it is.

It's interesting that the supreme God of heaven and earth, who doesn't really need me is the one who will reach out to seek me and rejoice in my restoration. 

Once again you have sought me out in your love and found me. I'm deeply grateful Father. Thank you.

-ONWARD!

I should write more

I should write more. I always say this.

It's been quite a while.

I've got a few posts coming soon.

Watch this space.

Oh and Happy New Year.

-ONWARD!

Raya and the Last Dragon

Just watched the movie Raya and the Last Dragon. I don't know much about the stories that make up this movie. I hear they represent some of the folktales of South East Asia. I see a lot of the Thai, Malay and Indonesian culture play through.

It's a really nice story about dragons and their power to unite people and kingdoms.

I've said before that I wish bible stories, stories about God were told in a more realistic way, not the classic stories we know. Someone once told me that, a brown cow eats green grass and makes white milk. The personal stories of God through a life that God has touched, now spread out to the world, how he is the one behind the rain that falls to the ground, why he is loving and kind and wise and his ways are perfect. That story needs to be told.

It also needs to be clear that when we disobey his commands, and live in rebellion, sometimes bad things happen as a result. They happen as a signal to us that we have done wrong and to return and make amends with God.

Maybe I'm ranting but maybe not. God's story needs to be told.

-ONWARD!

It's not about me

I was washing my mom's car ahead of church tomorrow and thinking through somethings. I was not happy with where my relationship with God was. I felt like most of what I ask for never go answered. Although I must admit that many things I didn't ask for, I got. Yet it was frustrating.

I don't quite know who talks back when I'm thinking through things in my mind, whether it's my mind or the Holy Spirit but I heard someone say, what about what God wants? And I froze at that question.

I had forgotten about God. I had formed a habit of just asking, asking and not caring about him. After all it's a relationship, between me and God. Come to think of it, I should serve his need not him serving mine. God is so humble even though he is All Powerful and doesn't need me, really.

I was created to serve the need of God not my needs. Jesus died on the cross to purchase me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. He paid with his life. I belong to him, I'm his property. I should serve him. He should be the one telling me what He wants me to do. But I get angry because he didn't do the things I asked for. What a poor, blind, ignorant, entitled fool I've been.

The interesting thing is that when I serve God's needs, my needs are served in that very act. When I please him, I am fulfilled. I find my purpose in fulfilling his purpose. I find my joy in his joy, they are connected. So the focus really should be about Him, what he wants me to do, how he wants me to live, not what I want.

I thank the Holy Spirit, it can't be my own spirit speaking like this. I thank Him for always speaking truth to me when I need it the most. And I hope now to focus more on the needs of God more than mine, and if possible, find my joy only in His joy.

-ONWARD!