Bible Boot Camp: Jesus Gives Us Three Kinds of Life

June 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
This entry is part 10 of 10 in the series Bible Boot Camp

Bible Boot Camp

This post is part 10 of my series entitled “Bible Boot Camp,” which teaches through systematic theology in everyday language. Click on the series link to read the other Bible Boot Camp lessons!

Did you know that Jesus gives us three different kinds of life?

We often think of life as just being the ability to breathe and have a heartbeat. However, in the Bible, “life” means so much more than just breathing! There are actually three different kinds of life: life for the spirit, life for the soul, and life for the body. When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost all three kinds of life (meaning they died three kinds of death). However, thank God! Jesus died so we could live again!

So today we’re going to look at:

  • how Adam and Eve lost all three kinds of life when they brought the human race into sin; and
  • how Jesus gives all three kinds of life back to us! [Read more...]
Filed Under: Article Series, Bible Boot Camp Tagged With: , ,

4th & Goal: My Goals For This Week (June 16)

June 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Crimson Touchdown

Good morning and happy Tuesday! How did last week go for you? Were you able to set a goal and make progress toward one of your dreams? If so, I’d love to hear about what your project was last week (and what you’ll be working on this week)!

Here are the results of my goals from last week:

Health:

  1. Work out 4 times. I only worked out once. :(
  2. Record my food in MyFitnessPal every day. I did not do this either. :( I have to admit I’ve been very frustrated with my fitness progress… or lack thereof. I am trying to stay positive and upbeat, but I’ve been a bit discouraged about this. I’m praying about it and asking the Lord to really help me. I really cannot do this on my own. I need His help in a MAJOR way.

Blogging:

  1. Write 7 blog posts–5 for this week, no matter how excited I am about posting them now!–and 2 ahead. I only got 5 done.
  2. Finish the intro/outtro music clip for my podcast. I’m having to learn new software to do this, but I’m learning. :)  Done. I actually finished the entire podcast between last week and Sunday, and I published it yesterday! Click here to hear the very first episode of the FromHisPresence Podcast! It’s called “How to Speak the Word of God With Power” and I declare a powerful, Biblical blessing into you at the end. It’s only 14 minutes and 7 seconds long, so you can listen to it quickly. Yay! I hope you love it. :) Be sure to subscribe to it on iTunes (you can search for “FromHisPresence” or you can subscribe via the URL I listed in the post I linked to above) so you don’t miss future episodes!

Orchestra & church:

  1. Attend midweek rehearsal. Not done. My husband’s aunt and uncle passed away this week, and we were dealing with that on Wednesday and trying to make arrangements to go visit the family. It didn’t work out, and neither did rehearsal, because of that. :(
  2. Lead worship at the healing rooms. I attended, but the healing rooms team ended up just having some good family time instead of worshipping. It was great to just spend time together.
  3. Prepare teaching notes for Lifegroup on Sunday. Done.

I am pretty tired after last week. I didn’t get much rest this weekend either, between trying to get blogging stuff taken care of, and Father’s Day celebrations, and then also my stepmom ended up in the Emergency Room for a few hours and we went to go support her and my dad through part of that.

I am still going to set goals for this week, but they are going to be smaller.

Here are my goals for this week: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management, Weekly Goals Tagged With: ,

The First FromHisPresence Podcast: How To Speak the Word of God With Power!

June 17, 2013 By 7 Comments

FromHisPresence Podcast

I’m so excited to release the very first FromHisPresence Podcast (!!!!) today! It’s called “How to  Speak the Word of God With Power.”

In this podcast, I covered the following points:

  • How God is the One that does the work when you speak His Word, not you;
  • That speaking God’s Word into yourself or someone else actually births the power to perform it; and
  • That God’s Word in your mouth is just as powerful as God’s Word in His mouth!
  • I also declare an awesome, Scriptural blessing into you at the end. You will definitely want that blessing–trust me!

And it’s only 14 minutes and 7 seconds long, so you can easily listen to it on your lunch break or any other time! (Future episodes will be short, too.)

You can get the podcast (and subscribe to it) on iTunes, or play and download it with the player below, or you can right click here to download it. It will be on the BlackBerry store and Zune as well very soon. Please be sure to subscribe, so you won’t miss any future episodes!

(In your iTunes, a quick and easy way to subscribe is to go to File => Subscribe to Podcast => then copy-and-paste in this URL: 

http://feeds.feedburner.com/fromhispresence/koFF

It should update right away if you do that.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Filed Under: Podcasts, Prophetic Ministry Tagged With: ,

Guest Post: How God Healed Me After My Abortion

June 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

This is a guest post from “Trisha.” She has a beautiful story, and I’m so grateful that she was willing to share it. If you have had an abortion, please read “Trisha’s” story and be encouraged. There is forgiveness, peace, and healing in Jesus. – Jamie

RoseI used to think I was almost perfect. I didn’t think I was better than absolutely everyone, but I thought I was better than everyone who was living in obvious sin.

Then, at age 17, in high school, I got pregnant.  I remember the night I found out.  It was the scariest feeling ever. I never thought this would happen. I was the “good girl” … I went to church. I sang in choirs growing up. I went to church youth camp. I raised my hands in church… but I was living a lie. When I was at home, I was very rebellious, and my sin found me out.

I sat down with my mom and told her I was pregnant.  It was the hardest thing I had ever done.  She was so upset.  She went and told my dad. My dad came and threw my phone into my hope chest and broke it.  Then he called our pastor, and our pastor came over.  (Boy, was that ever fun.) It was a nightmare.

My parents told me that I was going to have an abortion. I was 17 and living under their roof, and I had no choice. I had an abortion at 17 years old.

I grew up and got married. But I never forgot my baby, and I was hurting.

When I was 26 years old, I went to my doctor. [Read more...]

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Response to Reader Question: Why Getting a Tattoo Is NOT a Sin

June 13, 2013 By 2 Comments

Tattoo manApparently I’ve struck on quite a firestorm by beginning to teach on God’s symbolic language using tattoo interpretation. Lest I raise more eyebrows, I’m going to explain to you today from the Bible why getting a tattoo is NOT a sin.

People that say that getting a tattoo is a sin are basing their theory on Leviticus 19:28, which says:

“You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.”

That seems pretty clear at first glance. However, in order to understand how it applies to us today, we have to view it in context. We have to look at the meaning of the entire passage–the verses and chapters before and after it. We also have to look at the rest of the truths taught in the entire Bible as a whole.

First, the context:

Leviticus 19:28 is part of the Mosaic Law–the Law given to the Israelites through Moses. It was a very comprehensive Law, containing moral, social, and ceremonial commands.

But in Matthew 5:17, Jesus gives us this startling statement:

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

God gave the Law as a foreshadowing of Jesus. All of its commands, ceremonies, and rules foretold the Person of Christ. We know from Jesus’ own words, and from many other passages in the Bible, that Jesus was the complete fulfillment of the Law.

So then we have to ask:

How did Jesus fulfill the part of the Law that forbids tattooing? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Biblical Meanings of Symbols, Prophetic Ministry, Tattoo Interpretations Tagged With: ,

Understanding God’s Symbolic Language: Tattoo Interpretation #1

June 12, 2013 By 2 Comments

Last week, I posted here about how we need to learn to understand God’s symbolic language. I also discussed in that same post about why I will begin teaching God’s language of pictures using tattoo interpretation. So today is our first lesson and first tattoo interpretation!

Our first tattoo photos came from Miss T, who has two tattoos. I will only cover one of them today, and we’ll save the next one for later.

First, I will tell you the meanings of the symbols. Then, below the list of meanings, I’ll give the “in-a-nutshell” interpretation of what the Lord is saying to Miss T through this tattoo right now.

Tammy elephant tattoo

Tattoo #1: Elephant

Here are the symbols we saw and their spiritual meanings:

The flower speaks of glory and beauty (Song of Solomon chapters 2-6).

The horseshoe is what the horse walks on. Horses represent strength, power, and authority in the Bible (Job 39:19-25). The horse is ready to go to war (Proverbs 21:31). The horseshoe represents the ability to walk in strength, power, and authority.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Biblical Meanings of Symbols, Prophetic Ministry, Tattoo Interpretations Tagged With: , ,

Kidney Bean Quinoa Burgers

June 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Pinto beansThe freakiest thing happened to me Saturday morning. I was having my quiet time with the Lord, and I suddenly saw a mental picture (out of nowhere!) of myself making kidney bean quinoa burgers!

As I have mentioned before, I really don’t like to cook very much. I don’t have time… but the budget can’t handle eating out all the time! So I’ve been trying desperately to find things to cook that are:

  • affordable;
  • full of vegetarian protein (since I don’t eat meat);
  • whole foods with fiber, so my glucose doesn’t go crazy (I’ve been having issues with this too);
  • low in calories; and
  • don’t have too many ingredients.

Ahh, the life of the non-cook.

So anyway, as I was having my quiet time, I saw this mental picture of myself making these burgers. All of a sudden! And out of nowhere, I suddenly felt like, “Yeah! I could do that!”

(When usually, saying “I can do that” and “cooking” are nowhere near the same paragraph for me.)

So I felt like this had to be be a God-inspired idea, and I actually wanted to give it a try! So this is what I did:

  1. I took two family-sized cans of light red kidney beans, and drained and rinsed them. (The sodium in the bean juice makes my joints hurt, so I try to go easy on sodium.)Kidney bean quinoa burgers dough
  2. Then I mashed the beans a little bit. Not much… just enough so they would stick together, but without losing their bean shape.
  3. Then I added one small can of white shoepeg corn…
  4. and 1/2 of an onion, diced fine…
  5. and a bunch of Mrs. Dash seasoning. (My know-how with spices is, um, really limited. So I usually let Mrs. Dash do my seasoning for me.) :)
  6. Then I added about 1 cup of cooked quinoa. Maybe a little more; I wasn’t measuring. (Quinoa is an amazing grain that is chock-full of protein, and has all the amino acids in it. It’s one of the few perfect proteins, and it really helps you feel full. I highly recommend it.)
  7. Then I added some bread crumbs…
  8. and 2 eggs.
  9. And mixed all of the above together really well.

Then I tried to make patties out of the dough, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Health & Nutrition Tagged With: ,

4th & Goal: My Goals For This Week

June 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Crimson Touchdown

Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Good morning and welcome to a new week in God’s presence! How has your week been so far (the one day we’ve had of it)?

Did you pick one goal to work on last week? If so, I’d love to hear how it went! And if you didn’t, won’t you make a goal (and write it down!) this week? Having written goals makes all the difference in the world.

Here are the results of my goals from last week: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management, Weekly Goals Tagged With: ,

Introducing Our New Spontaneous Worship Album: “Beyond the Veil”!

June 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Beyond the Veil free worship music free soaking musicI am thrilled to present you tonight with our new worship album, “Beyond the Veil”!

This album has quite a story behind it, but I won’t tell the whole story now. Suffice it to say, GOD MOVED. He is so amazing. We went to worship, and He showed up.

There are still two tracks that I will release at a later date. But for now, I wanted to get this in your hands. I pray you will be INCREDIBLY blessed by it.

This is a live worship session/recording. It’s mostly spontaneous. Here are the people who you will hear: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Free music, Free Resources Tagged With: ,

3 Things to Do When You Feel Dry and Stale

June 7, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Dry desert cracked mudDo you ever feel dry and stale? Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and even physically stale? Almost like you’re numb to the world?

I know I do. I have felt that way several times recently. I’ve been pretty tired and way too busy, and that dryness has crept up on me several different days lately.

I don’t like to feel dry. I like to be vibrant and well-watered! So over the last few days, I’ve been going to the Lord about this and asking Him to help me. I feel like He has given me several things to do to fix it. I thought I’d share them with you, and I’d love to hear what helps you when you’re feeling like this, too.

Here’s what I feel like the Lord is telling me to do:

1. Rest.

This is going to be tough, because I’m going to have to say no to a lot of things for a period of time. Most of the things I’ll have to say no to are social activities that I enjoy.

But I need more sleep, and I need the kind of rest that doesn’t involve sleep. I need to be at home, with plenty of peace and quiet, and recharge. I need to be renewed.

So I am blocking out the rest of June and July on my calendar, and I’m going to try to say no to almost everything during that time. There are some things I can’t say no to (and wouldn’t anyway), like teaching Lifegroup and leading worship. But there are other things that I can do without for a couple of months, like constantly meeting up with friends. I will miss our dinner dates because I love to spend time with my friends, but I really need this time of physical, mental, and spiritual renewal. I can talk with friends on the phone and email them, and they will understand. (They’re just great like that!) :)

If you feel dry and stale right now, please consider resting on purpose. You may have to literally block out time on your calendar in which to stay at home and do nothing, and even lead your family in doing the same thing. However, I really believe this kind of rest will help you as it will help me.

2. Read.

I am desperate for reading time, especially for Bible reading and study. I am still having my quiet time every morning, but I feel like I’ve been so hurried the last few months. I feel starved for mass amounts of feeding on the Word.

Reading inspires me. The Word feeds me. It helps me feel God’s presence more. The Holy Spirit uses His Word to draw me closer to Himself.

Also, without mass amounts of the Word burning in my heart, I have nothing to offer to the people I minister to: [Read more...]

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Understanding God’s Symbolic Language: Call for Tattoo Photos!

June 6, 2013 By 2 Comments

Tattoo man

Did you know that God loves to encourage you? He loves to tell you how much He loves you. He loves to help you navigate through the tough choices and tougher times that you face in life.

One of the huge ways that God speaks is through pictures, numbers, symbols, colors, metaphors, and so on. However, in order to hear His encouragement, love, and wisdom, we have to understand His language.

So starting next week, I am going to begin blogging (once a week or so) about how to understand God’s symbolic language.

Where will I get the information?

  • From the parables of Jesus;
  • From the dreams of the prophets and their interpretations (in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc); and
  • From the symbols described in the book of Revelation, as well as other books of the Bible.

So don’t be afraid; it’s all Biblical!

And to make it even more fun, we’re going to apply it in a modern way:

We’re going to do tattoo interpretations.

Yes, you read that right! It’s going to be a blast, too. Here’s why:

  • God loves to encourage you; and
  • He loves to speak using pictures.
  • So if you have a tattoo, you’ve already got a picture or symbol that means a lot to you to start off with.
  • That means tattoo interpretations are an easy way for us to learn to hear God and understand His language.
  • All we have to do is study the symbols and ask God for the interpretation.
  • You will know right away if we heard the Lord correctly, because if the interpretation speaks right to your heart, you’ll feel it and love it. :)
  • Then you can let us know if the interpretation was encouraging to you, and we can be encouraged that we’re learning!

God is the only One who gives interpretations to dreams and symbols (Daniel 2:28). But fortunately, He loves to speak through His people, and He loves it when we learn to hear Him better.

So here’s how this will work:

  1. Your tattoo interpretation will always be encouraging. It will always be positive and will build you up. No bad news or correction allowed here, so don’t worry. :)
  2. Head on over to my FromHisPresence Facebook page and “Like” it.
  3. Send me your first name and a photo of your tattoo by email at jamie at fromhispresence.com.
  4. I will study the symbols in your tattoo, ask God for the interpretation, and will post the interpretation on Facebook.
  5. I may also use some photos as examples in my posts about the meaning of different symbols.
  6. So by sending me your tattoo photo, you’re giving me permission to post it publicly online, along with your first name.
  7. If I get a lot of photos, I may also call in some other folks I know, who already know how to hear God’s encouraging words through symbols, to help.

Here are the rules:

  1. This is a family-friendly site, so your photo has to be family-friendly! No photos of your bare private areas, please; they will be deleted and I won’t respond to them.
  2. Make sure your photo is in focus and zoomed in to the full tattoo as much as possible. If I can’t see it, I can’t study it.
  3. It has to be your tattoo. Not someone else’s.
  4. But, if you know someone else who would like a tattoo interpretation, please forward them this post or share it on Facebook, and let them post their own photo. They don’t have to read this blog to receive a tattoo interpretation.
  5. After you receive your interpretation, please leave a comment telling us if the encouraging word was meaningful to you.
  6. If we get inundated with tattoo photos, it may take awhile for me to get to yours. But don’t worry; I’ll get there! While you wait, check out the other interpretations you see on Facebook.

Ok? Are you ready? Let’s go… God loves you and wants to encourage you! So send me your tattoo photo now, and let’s see what He has to say!

Image courtesy of Art By Katie Lane  / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Filed Under: Biblical Meanings of Symbols, Prophetic Ministry, Tattoo Interpretations Tagged With: ,

6 Ways To Fill Your Life With Joy

June 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Fill your life with joy

I love to be happy, don’t you? Christians should be the happiest people on the planet. After all, the Kingdom of Heaven is righteousness, peace, and JOY (Romans 14:17), and JOY is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

As they say out at Bethel Church, seriousness is NOT a fruit of the Spirit! :)

But how can you add joy to your life if you don’t feel particularly joyful? Here are the top 6 things I have done that have brought me great joy. Try some or all of them and I believe you’ll see your joy increase exponentially too!

1. Get in the presence of God.

Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Soaking in the presence of God is the Numero Uno thing I do to bring me joy. In God’s presence, I smile and laugh and get as happy as can be. Everything else fades away. Jesus just makes me so happy.

If you need a joy infusion, put on a great worship CD (get my free worship and soaking music downloads here) and focus on Jesus. Release your cares to Him and let the Holy Spirit fill you with joy. There’s nothing like the presence of God!

2. Be thankful.

I have so much to be thankful for, and so do you. No matter what your situation in life is right now, you still have things to be thankful for. For example, even if you don’t like your job, you can be thankful you’re not in a soup line somewhere. If you are in a soup line somewhere, you can be thankful for the soup. It’s really all about choosing to be thankful.

And by the way, what you thank God for will increase in your life. So whatever you want more of, thank God for the portion of it you already have. It’s a little-known Kingdom principle: to him who has, more will be given. :) Thank God for what you have, and you’ll get more of it.

3. Set goals.

So much of my joy comes from watching God make my dreams and goals come true. It thrills me beyond description to see Him work on my behalf, bless me, and open new doors of opportunity.

But how would I notice God making my dreams come true if I didn’t have any dreams? How could I notice Him helping me accomplish my goals if I had no goals?

That’s why God said in Habukkuk 2:2:

“Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.“

I believe that one of the most important things you can ever do is to write down your life vision and a list of life goals. Then, write weekly and yearly goals to support your vision and goals. It will make all the difference in the world.

Related: Check out my list of life goals here, yearly goals here, and weekly goals here.

After you have a list of goals and dreams, not only does time management become a lot simpler, but you’ll get excited every time you reach a goal or get to cross something off your life list. Yay! Excitement! Bring it on! [Read more...]

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Bible Boot Camp: Humanism and Greek Philosophy vs. Christianity

June 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
This entry is part 9 of 10 in the series Bible Boot Camp

Bible Boot Camp

As Christians, we must know the supporting evidence for our faith in such detail that we can confidently express the love and truth of Jesus to those who don’t believe in Him. To that end, today’s Bible Boot Camp lesson is about  two points of view that non-Christians tend to embrace–humanism and Greek philosophy–and what the truth of Jesus is in relation to those points of view.

Humanism

The first argument you will usually hear is that man is basically good, and therefore salvation is not needed. This is called the classical humanist theory, and it states that evil is a result of deviation from a basically good nature. Humanists believe that evil is getting less all the time as men continually evolve into more perfect beings. [1]

However, we know that humanism is a lie because:

  1. History has proven that mankind is increasing in evil, not good; therefore, actual fact belies the humanist theory.
  2. Also, if evil deeds are merely a temporary slipping from a basically good moral state, there would be no hope for improvement because we cannot keep ourselves from doing evil.

In his book Foundations of the Christian Faith, James Montgomery Boice states that, under the humanist theory, a man becomes ”the victim of circumstances or of his own tragic flaws, neither of which he can change.” [2]

If we approach the issue with an open mind, we can “see that in all parts of our being, we are simply less than we were intended to be.” [3]

We were created to be perfect beings, living in intimacy with God. However, because we sinned, we lost that perfection and have been subject to sin and its consequences ever since. That’s why we need Jesus to save us from our fallen state and restore us to our perfect state, and to our intimacy with God.

Greek Philosophy

The Christian view is also contrary to Greek thought, which is still widely held in secular circles.

The Greek philosophers believed: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Article Series, Bible Boot Camp Tagged With: ,

4th & Goal: My Goals For This Week (June 2)

June 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Crimson Touchdown

Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Good morning and welcome to a new week in God’s presence! How has your week started off? (Great, I hope!)

Last week was a good week. A couple of neat things happened between last week and this weekend:

  • Bruce and I went to a 4-hour mixing session on Saturday, where we worked on the tracks from our May 18 studio worship session. For those of you who already follow me on Facebook, you’ve already seen the 2nd sneak peek, called “Satisfy”. This song was built around a chorus that God dropped into my spirit when I was leading worship in the healing rooms one night. But all the stuff around the chorus is completely spontaneous. It was so much fun; this song just exudes JOY! So if you haven’t heard “Satisfy” yet, here it is:
  • Or, you can listen to it on my Soundcloud account here if your browser is blocking the player above.
  • I got to lead worship yesterday morning at our pre-church intercessory worship/prayer meeting, and we had the most fun ever. God dropped down this song with the lyric “Like a mighty river, You’re flowing all over me.” We all got into it. Then halfway through the meeting, all of a sudden the church’s projector/TV screens came on (which we don’t usually use at that time), and it was showing the video of the Fishing Channel or something like that, with footage of a river… and people fishing, reeling those fish in. Well, we had been praying for prodigals, so we took that as a “sign that makes you wonder” that God was reeling them in. Yay, go Jesus!
  • I also got to help organize a vision-casting retreat for my orchestra, that we had yesterday. It was great. My director gave a great word about unity, and everybody got to share their input and ideas for the next few years. People had a ton of amazing ideas, so that was a lot of fun.
  • I did get my master closet cleaned out–3 bags of clothes anyway. It’s not finished, but it looks SO much better!

It was a long week, though, and I’m pretty tired. The things above took a lot of time, as did preparing to teach LifeGroup yesterday. So this week I feel like I would like to go a little easy on myself. :)

  1. Celebrate my husband’s birthday on Wednesday. Done!
  2. Write 6 blog posts. Done! One of them was unplanned because I wrote a new free printable (Blessing For Church Orchestra and Choir, here), but hey, it still counts!
  3. Work out at least 4 times for at least 30 minutes each time. Not done, and I didn’t keep track at all of how much I did work out. I know I got one hike in, and I think I also walked at least once. But that’s about it. #fail
  4. Get back on board with the MyFitnessPal app, and record my food every day, starting today. I didn’t do this at all. I was grouchy about it too, and I was hungry, so I went over probably every day. :(
  5. Attend a mixing session from our most recent spontaneous worship session. (Hear the first sneak peek here!) Done! See above for the 2nd sneak peek.
  6. Prepare teaching notes from “Sound of Heaven, Symphony of Earth” for this Sunday’s LifeGroup. Done. We covered some tough material this week, and it took hours to study for. But it was worth it.
  7. Prepare for an orchestra vision retreat we’re having this weekend. Done.
  8. Attend mid-week orchestra rehearsal. Done.

Here are my goals for this week. I think I will try breaking them out by category this week, to see if it helps me stay on track: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management, Weekly Goals Tagged With: ,

New Printable: Blessing for Church Orchestra and Choir

June 1, 2013 By Leave a Comment

music

For everybody out there who is a church musician or singer, this is for you! I wrote a printable blessing this morning to be spoken (or read) over yourself and over your worship ministry.

Click below to get this free, printable blessing for church orchestra and choir:

Blessing For Church Orchestra and Choir

Go ahead–bust it out right now! Our words are so important. You really do get what you say. So be sure to read the blessing out loud, and repeat often :) Have fun and ask the Holy Spirit to open your mind to the possibilities!

Filed Under: Free Resources, Worship Tagged With: , ,

Overwhelmed By the Goodness of Jesus

May 31, 2013 By 2 Comments

Come Unto Me

This morning during my quiet time, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of Jesus. I’ll tell you what I saw, and I believe you will be too.

1. Jesus is so beautiful.

I’m not talking about physical beauty, although I believe the physical descriptions of Jesus in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:9-19) are beautiful indeed. But I’m talking about His inner beauty. When I gaze at Him in my mind’s eye, there could be no one more attractive. The Son of Man, very God of very God, took notice of me, brought me back into relationship with Himself, and loves me. What could be more beautiful to me than Jesus?

2. Oh, how He loves you and me.

As the Holy Spirit was showing me my beautiful Saviour, I kept hearing the song in my head:

Oh, how He loves you and me! Oh, how He loves you and me! He gave His life; what more could He give? Oh, how He loves you… Oh, how He loves me… Oh, how He loves you and me!

He loves you and me so much. Aren’t you overwhelmed by His love? No one has ever loved us like Jesus loves us, and no one ever could.

When you look into Jesus’ eyes, you can see His love there. He knows everything about us, but yet His heart is still ablaze with love… love for you, and love for me.

Oh, how He loves you and me!

3. Jesus is so merciful.

I don’t deserve mercy, yet He continually gives it. I mess up so often, but [Read more...]

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How To Pray For Those That Hate You

May 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

PrayingSomeone made it abundantly clear to me recently that they hate me.

I don’t know why, because they didn’t come to me directly. I’m not aware of anything I’ve done that would have caused their animosity. But it’s there, nonetheless. The whole thing makes me very sad.

After the situation happened, I was just in shock. Speechless. If anything similar has ever happened to you, you’ll understand what I mean. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. And afterward, I didn’t know how to respond.

But Jesus said that if someone hates me, I am to pray for them. In Luke 6:27-28, Jesus said, ““But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”"

And Matthew 5:44-45 says, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

So that’s where I started. I was too numb to do anything else. But I didn’t really know how to pray about it.

Honestly, looking back, I see that my first prayers were from a heart attitude of “Oh yeah? I’ll show you. I’ll pray for you to be blessed, because I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do, and you’re not.”

Horrible. I know. What terrible motives. Lord, I’m so sorry. (Am I the only one who has ever done that?) But, at least I wasn’t angry or cursing this person. I was genuinely concerned for their well-being, even though my heart’s motives weren’t pure. (In the past, before I met Jesus, I would have been very angry and definitely would have said horrible things about them. So I thank God that at least He is changing me.)

Then I got some sleep and went to the Lord the next morning about it. When I did, I saw things very differently. I thought I’d share what I saw, in case you might be dealing with a similar situation: [Read more...]

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3 Things To Do When Depression Overwhelms You

May 29, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Depressed girl

Do you ever struggle with discouragement? Do you feel like depression is overwhelming you?

I have experienced severe depression several times in my life. Before I met Jesus, I was chronically depressed. I had no hope in life at all. But when I met Jesus and began to receive His love for me, and began to grow in Christ with good, Biblical teaching, that chronic depression left.

But I have still dealt with situational depression, even for long periods of time. For example, my husband and I have been paying for three pieces of real estate since April 2008–over 5 years. The first 3 years of that situation, I was terribly depressed. With every mortgage payment–wasted money in my opinion–I felt like my dreams were going right down the drain. I didn’t understand why God would allow this to happen to us. It would have been so easy for Him to sell that property!

I began to embrace self-pity… and every time I did, it opened the door wide for demons of depression, discouragement, and suicide to attack me.

Yes, you read that right. I began to hear thoughts in my head saying that I should just end it all, because there was no hope. Let me be clear that those thoughts are always from the enemy. They are never from God. And I knew that! I rebuked those evil spirits and commanded them to leave me. But I still embraced self-pity, so the door was open for them, and they didn’t stay gone.

BUT GOD! God always has an answer because He always IS the answer! Each time I have walked through depression and discouragement, He has come through for me. He has always healed me and set me free, even though I’ve had to walk through some tough stuff.

Are you going through a season of depression right now? If so, would you allow me to share with you the three things that helped me get through–and eventually overcome–the depression I experienced?

1. Tell someone everything.

The first time that I was depressed as a Christian, and had those suicidal spirits come against me, I tried to fight it alone for awhile. I was ashamed that I wasn’t stronger, and I didn’t want people to think less of me! But eventually, it got so bad that I couldn’t handle it anymore. I wanted to be free from those evil thoughts (that were not my thoughts, but were from the enemy). So I went to an older, wiser friend of mine who was a prayer warrior, and I dumped everything I was going through on her and asked her to pray for me. I was too worn out and discouraged to pray for myself.

So she and another friend prayed for me. They prayed the glory down! God healed me and set me free, and my friends didn’t think less of me (because they loved me).

But, the key here is that my friends were able to pray for me because I was honest and transparent… even about the suicidal thoughts. [Read more...]

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4th & Goal: My Goals For This Week (May 26)

May 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Crimson Touchdown

Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Good morning and welcome to a new week in God’s presence! Did you have a good week last week, and a good, long, Memorial Day Weekend?

Last week was great for me, although you’ll see below that many of my goals were major fails. :( But it was a good week anyway:

  • I took Friday off work, and I have to admit that I just CRASHED Thursday night. No more energy. No more motivation… nada, zip. But I really needed the rest, and this long weekend was great for resting. :)
  • Bruce and I enjoyed staying at home Friday, and I got a good bit of work done on the blog.
  • I stepped out onto new ground and launched a new FromHisPresence Facebook page! (Please head on over and “Like” it if you haven’t already!) I’ve been searching for a way to interact with you more, and I think Facebook is perfect for that. So if you have comments, questions, etc, now we can talk about those on Facebook in addition to in the comments section! Yay! I’m really looking forward to getting to know you better.
  • A few minutes after I went live with the Facebook page, a guest post I had submitted to MoneySavingMom.com (called “The Best Time Management Advice I Ever Received”) went up! Yay! Please go check it out; it really is the best time management advice I ever got.
  • So this last weekend has been very fun, because I’ve gotten to meet a lot of new readers.

If you’re new to this blog, I want to extend a heartfelt “Welcome!” to you! I pray every day that the Lord would use this blog to touch your heart with His love, to encourage you, and to build you up. Please let me know if there is any specific way I can pray for you in addition to that.

So on to goals. Here were my goals for last week:

  1. Lead worship at the healing rooms. Done.
  2. Write 7 blog posts. Not done, but I did write 6 posts.
  3. Work out at least 5 times for at least 30 minutes each time. Not done. #Fail.
  4. Keep up with food journal on MyFitnessPal every day, and come in under calorie budget 5 times. Not done. Not even close. My fitness and food journal plan crashed and burned Thursday night, starting with dinner at Abuelo’s, and it never recovered. But this is a new week, so I’m starting over.
  5. Do 100 push-ups. (Starting small.) Didn’t even do one. Ugh.
  6. Prepare teaching notes for this Sunday’s LifeGroup. We’re starting a new book–“Sound of Heaven, Symphony of Earth” by Ray Hughes–and I’m stoked about it! The book is all about bringing the Body of Christ–especially musicians and singers–into formation in their proper place, releasing the sound of God into the earth through worship. Done done done! I spent a MASSIVE amount of time studying for this last week. And LifeGroup was AWESOME on Sunday. I’m really pumped about this study this summer.
  7. Read two more chapters of “Whatever Happened to Worship?” by A.W. Tozer. I read a chapter and a half. This is such a great book. I highly recommend it, and anything else Tozer wrote too.

Last week’s goal list looks pretty bad, but oh well. I’m really thankful for what I did get done! I’m also thankful for a new start every week, aren’t you? :)

Here are my goals for this week: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Time Management, Weekly Goals Tagged With: ,

We Need a Culture of Honor

May 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment

flag

America and the Church are both in dire straits, but there is hope. One of the messages that has been burning in my heart lately is about something that will help both America and the Church find healing and restoration: HONOR. We need to return to a culture of honor.

“Honor” is a word that carries many different meanings. There’s no way I could ever address every aspect of “honor” in one blog post. So for the sake of simplicity, in this blog post, the kind of honor I want to talk about is this:

“esteeming highly, deferring to, and having respect for those who have preceded us in building or protecting the cause or organization we are involved in.” [1]

Championing any cause is a tough job. Building any organization is a tough job. It takes different forms:

  • Mothers and fathers build families;
  • Pastors build churches;
  • Statesmen built our country;
  • Soldiers, sailors, and airmen protect our country; and
  • Faithful servants labor in all of these types of organizations to support and protect what has already been built.

But these people rarely receive the honor they deserve.

  • We disrespect our parents.
  • The hallway committee gossips and complains about the pastor.
  • We curse our political authorities with our words (bringing curses upon ourselves, by the way).
  • We disrespect and neglect our men and women in the military.
  • We cast aside our faithful helpers–the Type B personalities, who don’t have an opinion, don’t want to lead, and just want to help and serve. (Even though nothing great could ever be built without people who will just be faithful and follow.)

And I’m preaching to myself just as much as to anybody else here.

But last week, as I was sitting in church service, I realized something huge:

I am reaping countless benefits because my pastor labored to bring in this harvest. I could never name them all. I honor my pastor for those things.

Then I continued with the same line of thinking in other areas of life:

  • I have a good education because my parents worked hard to make sure I got to go to good schools.
  • My parents taught me many wonderful things, including music. I would never be where I am today without my parents.
  • I live in a free nation because so many thousands of soldiers–maybe hundreds of thousands?–have given their lives so I could be free. Some of them were just children when they died. Some were old. All of them were precious, and one drop of their blood is priceless.
  • I work for a wonderful, Fortune 500 company because the Maclellans built it in the 1800s.

The list goes on, and on, and on.

This was a real revelation to me. It just hit me all of a sudden how much I owe to those who have gone before me. Many people have poured out their blood, sweat, and tears to pave the way for the life I am enjoying right now.

But how often do we really stop to think about these things? How often do we care?

Somewhere, America and the Church both have forgotten to honor. We have forgotten the blood that was shed for our freedom. We have forgotten our fathers and mothers–the natural ones and the spiritual ones. We have forgotten even our political fathers–the founding fathers of this nation. Instead, we have sunk into disrespect, and we are so much poorer for it.

It’s time to return to a culture of honor. I feel this message so deeply in my spirit. I’m actually crying as I write this. Our forefathers–even the ones that are still alive–have gone long enough without our honor, without our support, without our prayers.

I urge you today: Would you join me in returning to a culture of honor? Would you help me honor our authorities, simply because God commands it and has allowed them to be in authority? Whether we agree with them or not? (That means that if you disagree with them, you pray for them, not curse them.) Would you join me in honoring our pastors and their families, who have literally sown their lives so we could reap a spiritual harvest? Would you join me in honoring our biological and spiritual parents?

Father God, strengthen those who have been fighting all these years. [2] Teach us to honor them. Bring them the harvest they have longed for in these days.

America has lost her culture of honor. But we can get it back. My dear Christian friend, you can be the one whom God uses to restore a culture of honor into your world.

Do you agree that we have lost our culture of honor? If so, what are some ways we can return to honoring the fathers, authorities, and protectors that God has placed in our lives? I’d love to hear your ideas. Leave a comment below!

____________________

[1] Jamie’s Authorized-and-defined-by-herself Version.

[2] Lou Engle prayed this phrase in this YouTube video, about the Elijah Revolution. I highly recommend it.

Filed Under: Power Principles
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