July 22 ~ Stand Amazed!

It was my first year teaching and I was going south! I had such great desires of being a positive influence on students and to invest in their lives...my passion burns deeper now than ever before. But, in reflecting on the past, it was so hard! I would have students stand directly infront of me and scream at me - I didn't know what to do. Needless to say there were times that my reaction was not what I would call worshipful. I reacted on their emotions and rolled along with them on their ups and downs. I was miserable. What happened to my joy that I had, the excitement of the opportunities that the Lord had granted me? It all came down to the fact that I changed my focus! I began to focus on myself and fixing the problems utilizing my own strength, a strength that was feeble and frail - what good would that do?

I shared this with a friend of mine and she said, "Travis, when we begin to focus on ourselves and the hardships we are involved in, the world becomes a dark and dreary place. Focus on the Lord and allow Him to move in and through your life it is there that joy prevails and the peace that surpasses ALL understanding abides." From that moment on I began rejoicing in the Lord for the trials and hardship and pulled up the bootstraps and moved forward. Since then, yes I have had struggles and hardships, things that I am not proud of....at times I loose that focus and begin to invert my eyes...the Spirit of the Lord reminds me though of how hard things become when focus is lost.

My encouragement to you is that your focus remain on the Lord. Allow Him the involvement in your life that He so ernestly desires. He longs for your waking thoughts to be about Him, He longs for your heart to desire righteousness, holiness, love, peace, patience, self-control, selflessness...His desire for you was so deep that He sent His son Jesus Christ. When you feel weak, weary, discouraged, frustrated, angry, selfish, hateful, impatient, unholy, turn your eyes and your heart to the Lord...worship Him. There is NOTHING you have done that could seperate you from the arms and the love of Jesus Christ. Worship the Lord with authority and focus on Him daily....stand AMAZED!

July 9, 2009 ~ CHALLENGE

I continue to be amazed at the Lords faithfulness to us as his! I was listening to Jason Upton's cd, Faith today as I was traveling to and from the university. I was taken back to a few months ago when I was standing in my kitchen listening to the song, Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, from that cd and the Lord's power poured over me and ministered in a great and mighty way: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom!

CHALLENGE: Worship the Lord your God with your life. Approach your time of worship with the Lord actively remembering that worship means to ascribe worth to something/someone. I say this because it is important that we understand that worship is not a time to focus on our wants, our desires, our hardships and joys. Rather, worship is when we approach the throne room of our God and give thanksgiving for all He has done and all that He is doing, and all that He is going to do. Give thanks for the attributes and character of God. Our time of worship should not be a 'shopping cart' experience. No, it should be a time where we focus our hearts on on giving thanks and praise and honor and glory and power unto our Lord and King. Actively pursue the worship experience and be blessed!

July 5, 2009 ~ TOTALWORSHIP: An Awareness

Think of TOTALWORSHIP as the practicing of the presence of God...daily we overlook opportunities of worship and ascribing praise and worth to our Lord....how can we become more aware of His daily presence? Please share your thoughts! Blessings!

July 05, 2009 ~ TOTALWORSHIP: A Conversational Piece

For a moment consider the phrase...TOTALWORSHIP...what immediate reactions come from this phrase from the Christian perspective? What does it mean? What does it look like?