With Arms Held High

Worship Wednesday 10/30/2013: "It Was Finished" - Bryan & Katie Torwalt

Lyrics:

It was finished on that day Death was beaten, all darkness was slain All his passion poured out like the rain upon the earth

Three days buried, they came to mourn The stone was rolled away, the veil was torn For He had risen, He is the King of all the Earth

Hallelujah, He has conquered death We cry Holy, He reigns in all the Earth Hallelujah, He has conquered death And He reigns

The room was shaken, the wind of God Fire from Heaven descended upon The Holy Spirit, the Power of God for all the earth

Worship Wednesday 10/16/2013: "Glory Come Down" - Derek Johnson

Lyrics:

My heart is in Your hands

Keep me closer

In my life I make a stand

To follow You only

Every word that You speak

Will stand forever so speak now to me

I'm waiting here for You

Open the heavens

Let Your glory come down

My heart burns for You, Jesus

For Your presence

For Your holy fire

And consume me with Your fire

Worship Wednesday 10/2/2013: "Love Song" - Jonathand David & Melissa Helser

Lyrics:

I can hear a love song

All around me when the wind blows

I can hear Your voice speak

It surrounds me when the leaves move

I'm just dust, without Your breath

I'm just clay, without Your kiss

I'm just skin and bone, without Your wind in my lungs

I can hear a love song

In everything You're singing

I can hear Your heartbeat

Worship Wednesday 9/18/2013: "Break Every Chain" - Tasha Cobbs

This is a very powerful and anointed version of the United Pursuit song. Check it out and be blessed. There is power in the name of Jesus to break EVERY chain!

Lyrics:

There is power in the name of Jesus (x3)

To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain (x2)

There's an army rising up (x3)

To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain (x2)

Worship Wednesday 9/11/2013: "Oceans (Live at Red Rocks) - Hillsong United

Gonna kick of this blog series with one of the most powerful worship songs I've ever heard. It has been the worship song of the summer and has impacted so many people's lives that i know.

Worship Wednesdays is going to be where I post worship videos and anything else related to worship every Wednesday.

Lyrics:

You called me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find you in the mystery

In oceans deep, my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You will call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

I find myself lying in bed with a heavy heart with this thought that there are so many people who are dying on the inside. People who are struggling with or have struggled with such feelings of loneliness, feeling forgotten, unloved, worthless, like nobody cares about them. I myself have wrestled with these feelings in my past. There is no worse feeling than feeling like your on your own. And we wonder why suicides and drug usage are so common.

My fear is that somewhere down the road we've forgotten what it means to really love people like Jesus loves them. We talk about the importance of having people in your life who encourage you, support you, are there for you, take time to be with you, talk with you, care about you. But so many people are lacking that in their life, which is why they feel so alone and that nobody cares. I think that somehow we've convinced ourselves that if we hang out with them once a month, or comment on their Facebook statuses, or say a prayer for them every once in awhile, that that's enough and we can feel good about ourselves. 

When are we going to realize what it really means to love someone, what it really means to be there for someone, to be a friend. When are we going to realize that love is sacrificial, that it puts the other person above yourself, that it's not taking a moment once a month or once every couple weeks to spend time with someone so you can "check it off your to do list." If that was the case, then those actions are nothing more than justification for your conscience so you can feel that you've fulfilled your duty as a friend.

Love is more than that. Love is taking time out of your life to let someone know you love them, its sacrificing time to spend time with them or talking to them. It's driving across town to pick them up in the middle of the night when they need help, it's encouraging, it's affirming, it's calling them just to see how they're doing because you care about them. Jesus met people where they were at, stopped what he was doing to serve, loved people when no one else would, called out the best in people, and most of all he spent time with them. He sat with them, ate with them, talked with them. That's what friendship is.

When are we going realize what it means to love and live it out. When are we going to start taking time out of our day to let people know we care about them, that we're thinking about them. When are we going to stop being afraid to tell people we love them and to compliment them, call out the things they're good at, tell them how God made them. Men, especially, for some reason have a hard time telling someone we love them, as if its embarrassing. As if love implies something sexual so we can't tell people we love them. That's ridiculous for biblically, that's not what love is. And culturally today for some reason, we just don't compliment people. We don't affirm their talents and gifts, we don't call out the ways God made them. This is the main reason so many people today, myself included, don't know how to respond to compliments. Because we're not used to them. Everything today is sarcastic comments and pointing out all the things people need to work at or improve at instead of complimenting them for the things they did well. It's like we think it shows weakness to compliment someone. That it's not "manly." This needs to change. Too many people today are living with insecurity, thinking they're a failure, because all they hear is criticism and sarcasm. Nobody is speaking life into them.

Last June, me and a friend put together a small youth conference called "Set Apart" hoping to encourage a generation to live set apart for Christ. Recently, at a college bible study the topic of being called out to live holy  ("set apart") lives. This has gotten me to revisit a message I gave one of the nights of the conference on Daniel 3, that I would like to share with you all.

If you haven't read Daniel 3, i recommend reading it, as it is very prophetic of the time in which we live. Daniel 3 tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the idol King Nebuchadnezzar was forcing Babylon to worship. Daniel 3 shows three men who are living set apart and are living out true faith. Here's a quick recap of the story:

King Nebuchadnezzar (I'll just call him King Neb from here on out) made an image of gold, ninety feet high in Babylon. He then commanded the people of all nations and language to fall down and worship the image of gold whenever they heard the sound of music. Whoever refused would be thrown into a blazing furnace. (Daniel 3:1-6)

When the music sounded, all the people fell down to worship except three Jews (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), who King Neb had set over the affairs of Babylon. So King Neb summoned the three and gave them one more chance. The three refused, saying that they're God is able to save them from the furnace. But even if he doesn't, they would not worship the idol. (3:7-18)

King Neb grew furious and ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than normal. He then commanded his strongest soldiers to tie up the three and throw them into the furnace. The fire was so hot that it killed the soldiers who threw them in. King Neb then asked in amazement, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?.. Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."

So King Neb, called the three out of the fire and saw that the fire had not harmed them, their hair wasn't singed, their robes weren't burned, and they didn't smell of fire. Then King Neb gave praise to the God of Israel. (3:19-28)

-----

There is a lot of prophetic things happening in this chapter that applies directly to our lives today. The first thing, is that today has been known as a present day Babylon. Babylon being a nation that worshiped idols and rejected God. In Babylonian culture, idols were frequently made and worshiped. Today, this present day Babylon, is constantly trying to erect idols in our lives. Society is telling us what to spend our time and focus on. There's so much emphasis on things like wealth, fame, sex, drugs, alcohol... the list goes on. These things end up becoming the focal point of our lives as we spend all our time seeking these idols instead of seeking after God. The world tells us what to worship and when and if we don't there's always a risk involved. There's a high chance that our faith would affect everything. We become scared to live set apart because we don't want to lose friends. We don't want to be mocked. We don't want to be an outcast. We think these things of the world are what we need to get through life... And so our focus turns from God to things of the world. We as a generation need to choose whether we're going to follow God or worship the idols of this world. 

As a young man in this generation, I understand the desperation the youth have for something meaningful. We're desperate for purpose, for acceptance. The world says that they can give us that through things like sex, drugs, partying... There's so much pain and need in the hearts of people. A people who think that nobody understands their pain. That if you understood what I was going through, you'd understand why I need these things... I get it, faith is risky. What if you give everything to God and in your time of need He doesn't show up? What if you look like fool. There's so much at stake. Faith costs something. Jesus talked about the cost of following him. That we would be persecuted by the world. But if we live with our minds set on the pain of the present, we will fail to see the hope of the future. We will fail to realize the promises God made to us. He is faithful to every promise he's made. With that being said, lets continue with our story from Daniel.

Oh, here's a quick side note. It's said that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were put in charge over all the affairs of Babylon. This is a call to us christians today. We have authority over the things of this world in the name of Jesus Christ. We have a responsibility. We have authority over the affairs of the nations. To bring the name of Jesus to every corner of the earth. To love others. To see nations turn back to God.

Back to the story, King Neb offers the three men of faith one last chance to worship idols. They show true faith here. Faith that their God is bigger than whatever the enemy might throw at you. That he is able to save you. And even if he doesn't, they choose to remain faithful to that promise. 

So King Neb orders the fire made 7 times hotter. The number 7 has extreme significance in the Bible. The number 7 is the number of perfection. In the case of the furnace, this signifies that the furnace was made in essence as hot as it could get. In other words, there's nothing hotter than it. It represents the most extreme fire or trial you can go through in life. The risks of faith just went up. What if God doesn't show up now when the stakes are so high?

But as we see from this story, there's a fourth man in the fire with them. A man who looks like the Son of God. And they were all walking around unbound (free) and unharmed in the midst of the fire. Jesus, the Son of God, was with them in the fire. They're chains were gone and they weren't harmed. Praise be to God! And that's just what King Neb did. He praised the God of Israel. Also, the fire or furnace represents refinement.

We see a promise in the book of Isaiah that applies to this:

"When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43: 2-3

The fires that we go through in life refine us. They strengthen our character. No matter how high the risk of living set apart for God. No matter what we go through in life. We have this promise from God. That even at the most extreme trial, He is with us. He walks with us through the fire. He breaks every chain. He keeps us safe. Its a prophetic promise for today. Before my Grandpa died, his last words to me were "Stay close to Jesus." A person's last words show the most important thing they want you to hold onto. At the end of our lives, we'll come to realize, if we realized it now, that Jesus is the point of it all. He's the most important thing. There's nothing you can do in life that is more important than living for Christ and spreading his name to everyone you meet. And we can hold onto the promise that if we live for God, set apart from the world, that he's there with us through everything the world could throw our way. Hold onto Jesus. Run to Him. Cause He's all you need. And He's with you through all the days of your life. 

I just got back from small group at my college and was thinking about the leader of the group, an elderly woman and how she's ministering into the lives of us students. And I started thinking about how we as the younger generation need to minister to the older generation too. They need encouragement and prayers. There's a connection between the two generations where we minister to each other and depend on the support of each other.

I was reminded of the story in Exodus where Moses orders Joshua to gather some men and fight the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe descendant of Esau that lived in the desert and would attack settlements and steal their goods. They killed for fun. Not exactly the people you want to come across in the desert. Moses, Aaron and Hur went on top of a hill and Moses held up his hands. As longs as they were up, Joshua and the Israelites were winning. When he would lower them, they were losing. So Aaron and Hur put a rock under Moses so he could sit down when he grew tired and each held up one of Moses hands up steady until sunset and the Amalekites were overcome.

We're like Joshua and the Israelites (us younger generations) fighting the enemy that wants to "seek, steal and destroy" much like the Amalekites did. When we're in that desert, that spritual wilderness, we need the support of the older generations, the spiritual leaders to overcome. Much like Joshua and the Israelites depended on Moses raising his hands up to God. The leaders need to pray for the younger generation so that they can overcome the enemy. We need their support and guidance. When that prayer and intercession isn't there, that's when the enemy takes the upper hand.

But notice how the dependance went both ways. Moses needed support to do what he needed to do for the Israelites to win. When he grew weary, Aaron and Hur were there to help him stay steadfast and held his hands up. Its so easy to grow weary in doing good and ministering to the generation if you don't have the support and prayers to keep you going. Just because a spiritual leader is older or "more experienced" doesn't mean he doesn't need prayer and encouragement. There's a crucial relationship that needs to be protected between the generations. The spiritual leaders of the older generation pray for us and guide us so that we can overcome. And we as a younger generation need to pray and support and encourage our leaders so they can keep on doing what God's called them to do. Never stop praying for and encouraging your spiritual leaders so they won't grow weary in doing good. When they grow tired, hold their heads up steady!

We recently had a youth worship/ prayer night as part of a small group we do at my cousins' barn. There was just six of us there along with a small worship team comprised of just two people: one on piano, one on drums. And in that small intimate time of worship and prayer, i believe something powerful took place as we gave all that we had to worshiping God and praying for this generation. You don't need a big corporate gathering of believers worshiping and praying to see God move. Where two or more are gathered, the Lord is with them. It was one of those moments where you could feel the love of God and feel that something was changing. That this is going to have a lasting effect on our lives and the lives of those around us. 

This last weekend I went to a worship/prayer night at my cousins' barn and it was a great night. I encountered God's love in a new way through worship and pressing in to his love. I think we were all amazed by the love of the Father by the end of the night as we poured out our hearts in worship and prayed for God's love and freedom to reign in our lives. I felt God showing me that no matter what we do, He's right by our side. I saw Jesus leading me by a pool of living water promising to give me life to the fullest and then into a field surrounded by all of creation. Here he showed me all that He's created and told me He created it because He loves us and wanted to show His love to us. All of creation is God showing His love and power. It's there to bring us, the creation, to Him, the creator. I've heard it said before that creation points to a creator and that's never been more true to me than now. Everything I see points me to the love and wonder of our God. I just felt this revelation that God is crazy in love with us. That He wants to bring us back to Him and nothing we do will separate us from that love. Romans says it the best:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)

I've been thinking a lot this week on how much God loves us and how that effects our life. All the worship songs I've been listening to lately are speaking volumes about how much God loves us and how we should respond to that love. I love what Kim Walker says:

"If you are not passionate about your relationship with Jesus and worshiping Him, it is because you have yet to know how much He loves you."

The more we begin to understand just how much Jesus loves us, the more this passion inside and desire for God's presence grows. We begin to live in His love and act out of love for Him. Are you passionate about growing your relationship with Jesus? Are you passionate in your worship to Him? I've been finding my desire and passion to worship God grow the more I encounter His love. My heart opens up wider and true worship begins to pour out of my life. Soon, God is the only thing you can think about. Worshiping Him and spending time with Him is all you want to do.

"How can I stand here with You and not be moved by You." -Lifehouse

That's from one of my favorite songs and its how we should be when we're worshiping God and spending time in His presence. God's love and presence should move us. It should change us. It should burn like a fire in our soul that moves us to deeper love for Him and a deeper passion to worship Him. We should be in awe of His love and glory when we go into worship or devotion with Jesus. 

"Though the world sees and soon forgets, we will not forget who You are and what You've done for us." -Kim Walker

Our admiration and love for God should stay with us. As we have new revelations and encounters of His love, it should change us and stay with us. We should always remember what Jesus has done for us. We should live each day in love for God because of what he's done. 

I've been spending a lot of time listening to worship music lately and just worshiping the Father and its got me thinking about true worship. I think a lot of people don't understand just how big a part of our lives worship is and how important it is to have a heart of worship. The fact is, we were made to worship. Whether we're worshipping God or not, we are worshipping something. Mankind throughout history as searched for something to worship. Its how we've ended up with a myriad of religions down the course of history. Man's heart is always longing for the spiritual. Pastor Sean Smith was talking about this once and said that Man's longing for the spiritual will lead him to God or to the occult and the many other religions this world offers. Why? Because we were made to worship. Man's quest to find what to worship will never bring fulfillment to their lives till they realize that our longing to worship is meant to be directed at the One who created us. There's nothing on this earth that brings peace to your life quite like worship.

But what is true worship? How are we supposed to worship the Father?

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth." -John 4: 23-24

True worship is worshipping in spirit and in truth. Jesus says we MUST worship in spirit and in truth for that is what the Father seeks. But what does that mean?

In Spirit: Jesus says that God is spirit. This means that God is beyond material matter. Many times, the Bible makes it clear that God is more interested in your attitude and your heart than he is with what you do. A man can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. God wants you to do everything with your heart in the right place. That includes worship. Worship isn't about material things. Its not about showing off how spiritual or close to God you are. Its about pouring out your love on the One who first loved you. Are you standing in worship so everyone will see you being involved? Are you raising your hands to seem closer to God? Are you down on your knees with your head in your hands to seem like your being touched by God's presence? If you're doing these things for everyone to see you or feel like your more spiritual, then that's not true worship. God wants your heart. He wants you to be focused only on Him. And while you're focused on him, you may find yourself lifting your hands or falling to your knees not as a show but out of admiration and love for our Savior. 

We must worship in Spirit, which means we must worship God with everything we have. We can't be distracted by other things. We can't be thinking about what we're going to do after. We can't be doing it because everyone else is doing it or because its worship time at church and everyone will look at you if you don't. I'm concerned with this feeling that a lot of us christians are getting the wrong idea of what worship is. Worship has simply become that half hour or so on sunday morning. Worship has become a ritual instead of our heart's desire. Worship has become people-led instead of spirit-led. Worship goes deeper than words on a screen or a catchy rhythm. It's more than just singing along with a song. God's not interested in a sing-along. He's not interested in a catchy tune. He's not interested in songs that tickle your emotions. We've started to think that worship is about us. As soon as we start worshiping solely to feel good or so that God will move in our life, we've moved from true worship to selfish worship. Worship isn't about the emotions we get from it. We worship to pour out our love on God, because he is worthy. To worship in spirit, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. When we are, then we'll worship in the Spirit. A new song will pour out of our heart as the Spirit leads us. We'll sing onto God because we're so in love with him. We'll proclaim His truth and His promises. We'll proclaim our adoration and surrender to Him. True worship starts when you believe what you're singing. When the words that come out of your mouth are from your heart. So many times we sing along with the worship songs without stopping to think about the power and declaration of the songs. Do you really believe what you're singing? Or are you just enjoying the melody.

In Truth: Worshipping in truth begins with a relationship with Jesus Christ. We worship the Father through the Holy Spirit in our lives and our relationship with Jesus, who is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life. In our relationship with Jesus and spending time with Him and in the Word, we begin to have a deeper understanding of His love and His will for our life. This truth of God drives our worship. You can't truly worship God if you don't know who God is. When we worship, we're singing truths about God. We're praising Him and thanking Him for all that He's done and for all that He is. Do you believe the things you're proclaiming about God in those songs? If you don't, then you may need to look at your relationship and understanding of Jesus. Worship God with your whole heart and your mind and with your attitude in the right place. It shouldn't be a chore or a ritual. You should have a desire to worship God because of His love for you and your love for Him. 

3) Our Present

I once heard it said that you can't drive forward if you're looking behind you. God can't use you in the present where you're at and can't get you to where you're meant to be if you're still focusing on where you've been. We have to keep on pressing on toward the goal. I've spent a good amount of time in my life looking at how my life was wishing it could still be like that. Honestly, my life sucked for awhile. But the only reason it never got better was because I was too busy focusing on how life used to be so great instead of doing something about it. God has plans for me and for you to make an impact in the world around us. But you'll never make an impact in the present if you're living in the past. And if you're so focused worrying about where you're going, you'll miss the opportunities God places in front of you in the here and now. We can't be effectively used by God until we surrender our future and our past. Only then will we be able to hear Him guide us in the present.

I was wondering how many times in my life I've missed an opportunity to minister to someone God put in front of me because I was too depressed over the past or too much in a hurry to get to where I was going because of fear of being late. How many people could I have encouraged, loved, prayed for? God wants to use us where we're at. How do I know that? By looking at the life of Jesus. Jesus wasn't ever in a hurry to get anywhere nor was he focusing on where he'd been. His present was wholly surrendered to God and going wherever he lead. And in doing that he met people where they were at and ministered to their needs. He didn't tell them to wait. He didn't tell them to find him at a certain time or on a certain day when he wasn't busy. He loved them and healed them where they were. If as christians, we're supposed to live life like Jesus did, then I think we need to learn to be surrendered to God where we are so that we can meet people where they're at and show them the love of Christ. 

But what does it really mean to surrender our present? There are so many things in our day to day lives that get in the way of us really following God. Things in our "present" that need to be surrendered so we can be effectively used by God. I know personally in my life there are few things that I need to surrender to God:

1) My fear- So many times I feel God leading me to do something and I let fear get in the way of me doing it. I feel like Jonah trying to run away from the call on my life. I'll feel God telling me to go pray for someone or go talk to that person about Him and I'll run away. For as long as I can remember I've had these insecurities that led to me having a sort of timid personality when it comes to stepping out and taking risks. I hated talking out loud in front of big groups. I hated talking to people I didn't know. I was afraid of looking foolish. A couple years ago, when I was at Generation Unleashed ( a youth conference), my friends mother came up to me and told me that God wanted her to tell me that I was going to be an intercessor. Now at that time I thought she was crazy. Me, pray for people? I couldn't even pray out loud in a group. How was I going to pray over someone? How was I going to have an impact on anyone's life? Where I'm at now in life, that prophetic word over my life doesn't seem nearly as farfetched. Over the past couple years I began a small group, led discussions, eventually began preaching at said small group in front of everyone, and praying not only out loud but over people. I feel more and more the God's calling on my life to be a leader in this generation. He's given me a heart for the youth and seeing a generation turn back to God. I'm by no way over my fear. But I find that God tends to use you in areas that you think you're weak in. When you're weak, God is strong. It's when you're weak that God really comes through and is glorified. If you think that you can't do something, don't let that convince you that God can't use you in it. I still get scared before praying in groups or giving a sermon but when I open my mouth God gives me the strength and the words. I have to daily pronounce God's boldness and courage over my life. I remind myself that God didn't give us a spirit of fear but of power. Surrender your fear to God knowing that God will give us the strength and courage to do all that he calls us to do

2) My Selfishness/Pride- Now I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to put myself first. I won't want to do things if its not convenient for me. And I tend to want to do things my way instead of letting others have their way. It's something that I'm struggling with and I think I'm way better now than I used to be. But it's still a battle every day. If I'm going to be used by God, I have to put my selfishness aside and be able to step out of my comfort zone, step out of what's convenient or fits into my schedule. I have to be willing to sacrifice what I want so that I can reflect the love of Christ. If you want to really follow Christ, we have to die to ourselves so that we may live in Him. That means that we have to let go of what we want and be willing to sacrifice. Christ followers need to practice selflessness.

3) My Self-worth- Growing up I've developed a set of insecurities. I have this desire to feel accepted and worth something. To feel that I'm good at something and that my friends want to be around me. Because of this, I tend to take the smallest of things personally. If a friend doesn't follow through on promises, or cancels plans, or if i don't hear from them for awhile I tend to get hurt by it and think that its because they don't really care about me. I've had to learn that not everything is an attack on me. That sometimes life happens. I would get so upset by the smallest things that I wasn't able to be used by God to help other people. I've since began to find my worth in Christ and I'm surrendering those insecurities to Him.

4) My Sins and Addictions- All of us sin and are tempted. There's addictions in our lives that we try to break. Things in our life that we're too ashamed to tell anybody about so we try to deal with them on our own. The truth is, without God, we'll never be free from sin or addictions. If we're to be used by God and follow God we have to strive to have a pure heart and live life like Christ. When we sin and fall victim to our addictions and temptations it pulls us away from God. The bible says that the punishment for sin is death. And by death, I believe its mainly talking about spiritual death, or separation from God. If we're living in sin and are bound by our addictions, it separates us from God. I can't be a leader and the man God wants me to be when Im still bound by my addictions. I heard a pastor once say that "Your bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from Your bible." If we're going to be who we're called to be, then we have to draw close to God and know that Jesus died to set us free from the chains of sin. We may not be able to do it on our own, but we have a God who will set us free. But it's going to take our willingness to surrender it to God and then rely on Him through the temptations. When the devil tries to lure you back in, proclaim that You are free in Christ and aren't bound by the chains of sin.

5) My storms- I think one of the biggest things that will get in the way of our relationship with God and being used by Him is trials in our life. If we become consumed by the pain and hardships we go through then we won't be able to help anybody or love anybody. For me, through my storm, I felt isolated and distant from God. I had no desire to do anything. I would just sit around in sadness and despair. I wasn't of any use to anyone. I saw my small group fall apart. I saw God's blessings in my life begin to recede. Things just seemed to get worse and worse. I would hear God say to me, "You're letting the storms become God of your life." This was really convicting because I never realized that I had let something take God's place in my life. I don't really know the exact moment my life began to turn around, but I've found as I surrender more and more the storms in my life, the more and more joy I'm finding. The more I'm feeling God's calling on my life again. One of my favorite verses is James 1:2-4 that says:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." 

The trials you face in life are developing you into the person that you're meant to be, so that you won't be lacking anything. Its hard to find joy in the storm. But our joy is found in the Lord and if you surrender your storms to God then you'll find that you have all the joy you could ever hope for.

6) My Time- We live in a fast paced world. Everyone's so focused on getting to where their going and making plans that we don't seem to find any time for God. We don't stop to see the beauty in life. We don't stop to hear God speaking to us. God wants us to slow down enough that we won't miss the opportunities he puts in front of us. Why are we in such a hurry to get to our destination that we don't stop to enjoy the ride. Time and time again we shove off those in need because we don't have the time. And as if that's not bad enough, we even shove off God because we don't have time. We can't even find time in the day to spend time with God. We can get so busy that we don't even acknowledge all that he's done for us. If we're going to live for Christ, we need to take time for God every day. If there's one thing that worthy of our time, its our Creator.