Where Our Treasure Is…

We are right at the start of building a place of our own for church. It is the most exciting and daunting project all at once. It’s the opportunity to facilitate so much more of what we’re called to do a community – and to create space in our place for those who haven’t yet made their journey towards Jesus.

It feels very grown up!

One of the things that excites me the most though as I look at the steps right in front us now is the opportunity to give again.

It’s the things that are the most important to us that cost us the most. And, in the most wonderful way, they are meant to – even our money!! Of course it never takes long to remember that everything we own has been given to us by God in the first place – in real life, it all belongs to Him!!

What I love is the chance to give back: to shout a loud ‘I love you God’, to offer a renewed ‘I’ll follow you wherever you go’, to treasure all over again the stuff of the kingdom over the stuff around our lives.

When we give, we remember that we are not our own. When we remember that we are not our own, we turn our attention fully again to the One who gave everything for us….and in that moment, everything that we cherish most is right in front of our eyes.

What Would Happen If… (Part 1)

I think creative people spend a lot of time wondering about what could be – they love looking beyond past what is tangibly here already, and imagining how things could be in the future.

As worship leaders we do this all the time – whether it’s thinking through how to develop our bands, or raise up other worship leaders, or write better songs, or whatever it looks like in your context… the list is wonderfully inexhaustive!!

But, what about pulling the ‘not yet’ of the Kingdom into the present? Is there more of the future reality of the Kingdom of God that is for us now? If there is, how do we access it, or release it in the room?  Is this the authority that Jesus was talking about when He told us that we would do the same as Him and greater?

This is something I’ve been wrestling through for about two years – and I am still thinking it through, trying it out, questioning, wondering, dreaming, asking, and seeing more than I thought possible before.

It really is worth getting on our knees before the Lord with this – mostly because He told us to go and do the stuff, and to settle for anything less isn’t really to take Him up on what He’s expecting to see in the fruit of our lives – pretty challenging isn’t it? J  But also because if Jesus said to expect more, then He has more to give us – and if that’s true, then there are people out there who are ready to be healed right there in the middle of worship.  There are those struggling with demonic oppression, who are ready to be set free.  There are those poised to give their hearts to the Lord for the rest of their lives – and who’s to say what they might become – maybe even the most noted evangelists and ministers of our times and beyond!

When I start thinking in these terms some of the fear seems less significant.  I find myself more willing to take the risk.  Increasingly I’m getting around people who are thinking out the same way so that I can have my faith stirred and my mind challenged, and my heart set on fire all over again.

I love that we get to not only ‘jump’ with our actions – but we also get to ask questions well.  Loving God is all about giving our energy, our affection, and the best of our intellect.  Always engage with all of your heart and your mind.  That is what I’m trying to do with this – and I know I haven’t fully grasped it yet!!

I’d love to hear what you think…

The Weakest Link

The older I get the more comfortable I become with who I am, and the less stressed I get about who I’m not.  It’s not something I’ve always been very good at, but I’m loving the freedom of starting to grow in it.

For such a long time I spent far too much of my energy trying to compensate for the things I’m just plain bad at.  It sort of felt like my way of apologising to the world at large for my weaknesses – ‘I’m sorry I’m so bad at this, but at least I’m working really hard at fixing it’.

About three years ago now I read a life changing book – ‘Now discover your strengths’ by Markus Buckingham.  His basic premise is that you were uniquely made to bring your strengths to the table, and not allow the things you find difficult to take you hostage in the process.

Something catalytic happens in our hearts when we start to recognise that, whilst we can’t ignore the things we find hard, we were made to spend our lives bringing what we are good at, what we love doing most to the table.  Another reason why I love the church so much – because it’s the most brilliant reminder that we are not meant to be ‘all singing, all dancing’ individuals, we were made for community, to be the body as a group of people, each with different strengths.  It’s only when we give most of our time to the things that we thrive in, that we get to cover the things others aren’t so good at, and they in turn do the same for us.