The Voice of God

Too often I hear people complaining about not being able to hear God's voice in their lives. We have all done it. We claim that we are waiting to hear Him speak before we make our next move.

Why is it that we "can't hear His voice"? Is he not speaking loud enough? Does he need to change His methods of revealing His will to us? Is He not even speaking at all?

After reading through some of the Psalms this summer, I came across Psalm 29:3-9.

³ The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders,
   the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the LORD is powerful;
   the voice of the LORD is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
   the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
⁶ He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
   Sirion^[b] like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the LORD strikes
   with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
   the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the LORD twists the oaks^[c]
   and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

It's not that God isn't speaking loud enough. It's not that He needs to change his method of revealing His will to us. It's not that He is quiet.
The truth is that God is yelling for us! His voice is powerful and majestic. Unlike any of our voices. It is like the thunder and the lightening and it shakes the deserts.

So then if it is that loud, why can't we hear Him? Have we ever actually listened? Because He is yelling.

One Last Week

After 10 weeks of campers, we have finally reached our last week for the summer here at Camp Redcloud. Although this is one of the most physically and spiritually demanding jobs, God has blown me away (yet again) with the ministry here. 54 kids have accepted Jesus Christ into their lives this summer, and 19 of those came during last week alone. That is what it is all about! That is why I love serving here!

Camping ministry and children’s ministry is often overlooked and unappreciated within the Christian circle. And as being the worship leader up here, I see that quite often. There have been numerous days that I’ve led people in song 3 or even 4 times a day, rarely hearing any encouragement or true appreciation. People do not realize the spiritual pressure that is placed upon a worship leader. Pressure coming from 1) teaching people what exactly we were created to do, and 2) pressure coming from the attacks of Satan.

With that said, I have realized that “My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.” (by Oswald Chambers). If you ask me what I’ve learned this summer, I will answer you with that quote. My goal in leading worship is not the Holy Spirit goosebumps or words of encouragement and appreciation. My goal in leading a lifestyle of worship is God Himself. When we set our eyes upon Christ and He is our goal, we will start to see those changes in our lives that we have been working so hard to achieve. Believe me, I see it happen every single week with myself and with others. Lets lay down our pride and selfish desires at the foot of the cross and actually take a look at the cross. Because “My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.”

P.S.  -  You should read Oswald Chambers on a daily basis. He is a VERY wise man of God.       utmost.org

God's Delight

Psalm 147:8-11
"He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills. 
He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the
strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
the LORD delights in those who fear him, 
who put their hope in his unfailing love."



Every morning, I have the privilege of waking up to the snow dusted mountains here in Colorado. God’s creation is glorious and I am reminded of that daily. Genesis 1:31 says that, “God saw all that He had made, and it was good.” The Lord knows that His creation is beautiful, but the amazing thing is that He doesn’t delight in the mountains, fields, oceans, and wildlife...He delights in us! We are the Lord’s delight. We are His favored creation. We are His handcrafted children.

It takes a very humble and genuine God to first and foremost delight in His people. Do the mountains declare the glory of God? Yes. Does wildlife reveal to us His character? Yes. Does He use His creation as yet another way of showing us His love and provision? Yes. Just read the start of Psalm 19 to see that. But what I’m trying to get across is that His ultimate joy, pleasure, and delight is in His people - us. John Piper once wrote that, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." He will be most glorified and pleased when you “fear Him” and “put your hope in His unfailing love.” So if God’s first and foremost delight is in spending time with His children, then is He the first and foremost desire of OUR hearts?

Zephaniah 3:17
"The LORD your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Fire

Ever wonder why sitting around a campfire brings out the deepest and most emotional conversations? Ever thought about how a fire is unlike anything else in all creation? Ever thought that God is trying to tell us something with it?

Whether you have realized it or not, the word "fire" is mentioned 364 times in the NIV Bible. There has to be more to it, right? With the wildfires ripping through Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and many other parts of the country, my thoughts have turned to the spiritual connections that a fire provides. The conclusion I have come to is that God reveals some of His character to us through fire.

Let's look at the characteristics of a fire
- A fire can be started with just a spark.
- A fire consumes anything in its path.
- A massive wildfire cannot be controlled through any human attempts.
- A fire provides light.
- A fire provides warmth.
- A fire pursues and consumes the dry and the broken.
- After a fire burns through, much needed life begins to grow.

Sound familiar at all?

I believe that my God is like a fire defending me. "Refiner's fire, my hearts one desire is to be holy and set apart for you my Master, ready to do Your will." Look into your heart and find the fires you have in your life (sin, guilt, regret, etc.). Know that the Lord's fire for us and His relentless love for us burns a lot hotter than any fires we have in our lives. Just as fire departments use fire to stop fires through controlled burns, let Jesus put out your sinful fires with His passionate fire for you. 

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." 
- Deut. 4:24

Boasting in Christ

This week, I have had the amazing opportunity of being able to lead the staff at Redcloud into the presence of God through worship. Each night has been incredible and the Spirit of God has been alive and active. To Him be all glory, honor, and praise...forever!

As amazing as this week has been, there is a certain song that has been on my heart like never before. For days I have been trying to figure out whether or not I should play it. The song is called “Our God” by Chris Tomlin. The chorus goes like this...

“Our God is greater, Our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is healer, Awesome in power, Our God, Our God.”

That chorus is sung almost as a chant. I can picture people pumping their fists while singing it. I’ve been so scared at the thought of playing it because I don’t want to offend non-believers by saying that “OUR God is greater and stronger.” I also don’t want to make it look like Christianity is a cult... a cult that pumps their fists and boasts about their God.

But after days of praying and thinking about this song, my view on it has changed. It has changed greatly. And God did all the changing. Yesterday He brought me to Jeremiah 9:23-24 that says, “‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

THAT is what the Lord thinks about the song. I am going to lead out “Our God” tomorrow night with confidence not in myself, not in my riches, not in my strength, but in the confidence of MY God who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on all the earth.

You know what? Our God IS greater and our God IS stronger! I can boast in that!

Answering Prayers

In Luke 11, it says that “If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.” He has been proving Himself over and over again and blessing me with that Spirit in abundant ways.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m serving at Camp Redcloud in Colorado as the “Family and Youth Worship Leader and Assistant Gear Manager.” I’ve been up here for a week now and the Lord has shown His faithfulness through the answering of prayers that I have been praying for months. At the end of each day, I have been laying in bed with a huge smile on my face just pondering all the ways that the Lord revealed Himself to me. Here are some of the amazing ways that the Lord has answered my prayers...

- I prayed that the Lord would provide me with experienced musicians
       Answer: I already have numerous vocalists (one of which is a voice major!), a violinist of 12 years, numerous guitar players, 2 solid djembe players, and 2 experienced people that want to run sound for me.

- I prayed that I would be able to see Camp Redcloud covered in snow
       Answer: There is 4 inches of snow on the ground outside while I look out the window and write this.  :)

- I prayed for safety over my instruments and gear
       Answer: Someone dropped my guitar and it put a pretty good dent in the neck of it which is just about the worst thing that could happen to a guitar. I picked it up and played it to check how bad the damage was. Praise the Lord who heard my prayer from months ago! It played PERFECTLY.

- I prayed that the staff at the family camp would become spiritually connected
       Answer: After worship on Monday night, they all shared their hearts with each other. There were tears, confession, brokenness, grace, and restoration. Spiritual connection? Check!

This is just the start of all the ways that God has been proving his faithfulness. I’m learning that when we pray to the Lord with a eager, humble, and expectant heart, He will answer in ways far greater than what we could have ever expected. I’m going to leave you with a thought.....Are you praying empty prayers? Or are you praying with breathless expectation that the Spirit will work in divine ways?