In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “I Walk the Line.”
The Daily Prompt today asks Have you got a code you live by? What are the principles or set of values you actively apply in your life?
I suppose it is trite to say but I try to live by the motto “WWJD” (What would Jesus do). I approach everyday with prayer directed to Jesus Christ and a renewed hope in His mercies which are new every morning.
Over time I have learned that trying to be like Jesus in my own strength is a fool’s errand. I can no more attain Christ-likeness by my own striving than a turnip can attain humanity by growing in the garden. Left to itself a turnip will always be a turnip and left to my own machinations I will always remain a sinner. But there is hope, for me at least. While I am pretty sure nothing can make a turnip turn human there is something that can transform this sinner into a righteous man; That is the power of Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18 says, “whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
The code is “What would Jesus do”. The ability to live by the code comes through my daily inviting Jesus into my life, by prayer, to do what He would!
Tag Archives: spiritual journeys
Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 5
Today we are concluding our conversation about complete worship. If you have missed any piece of the discussion you can go back to
https://josephelonlillie.com/2015/03/17/pastor-wrinkles-complete-worship-pt-4/
and work your way back through the links.
Today we leave off the public and private expression of worship in order to discuss the worshipper’s heart. In order for worship to be complete…
The act of publicly worshipping and privately worshipping must come out of a singular heart towards God. Lifting our hands, singing, shouting and dancing are indeed all forms of worship but if they are not done out of heart of worship to God they are nothing more than dead religion.
Matt Redman wrote these words about the danger of worship devoid of “the heart”,
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longin’ just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart
I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m comin’ back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
Matt Redman – Heart Of Worship Lyrics | MetroLyrics
At the beginning of our time together I said “The Bible teaches us that the nature of worship is two-fold but that the heart of worship is singular.”
I want us all to capture the heart of worship. That is a heart that has eyes only for Jesus. It is a heart that let’s go of every other care for the job, for the family, or for the bank account. It is the heart that knows Jesus will take care of all those things if we just make Him a priority. The heart of worship is the heart that believes Jesus when He says,
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?
28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Ma. 6:25-34
Maybe you have lost your ability to worship God because you have begun to worry about your life, your family, your provision, your health. Maybe your worry about those things has dampened your ability to worship privately or together with other Christians. Please all me to call you back to the heart of worship this morning. Allow me to ask you, with Jesus, to seek first the kingdom of God, to focus on the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Doing that involves three steps:
FIRST: Admit the thing that is taking your focus away from Jesus.
SECOND: Repent and decide that you are going to focus on Jesus and not that thing.
THIRD: Practice focusing on and worshipping Jesus with the song below. Make some noise. Let Jesus consume your attention for the entire song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MEYWmUYD5E&t=10
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Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 4
We have been discussing the nature of the discipline of worship over the last few days. If you have missed any of the discussion you can find it here and in the other links connected in that piece.
We have already mentioned that…
Those who say they can go and worship God alone in the forest show their ignorance of what true worship is because true worship must at some point involve the community. Further though, those who come to public worship and who do not sing or shout or speak or raise their hands also show that they do not understand what worship is about. Yet those who come to public worship are still only doing half the act of worship. Praising God in the sanctuary is part of worship but it is not all of worship.
The second half of Psalm 150:1 says “praise Him in His mighty heavens.”
Worship ends up in the sanctuary, but that is not where it starts. The people who go out in the woods to privately worship God but who refuse to join themselves to a church do have it half right .They are just refusing to participate in complete worship.On the other hand people who come to the sanctuary every week and worship with in a church body, but who never spend any private time in praising God also fail to completely worship.In fact, you can have a daily devotional and go to church weekly and still not have a vibrant complete worship life. Let me ask you is praise and worship a part of your private prayer life? Or is private prayer for you just a recitation of a prayer list?
Do you spend time during the week thanking God for His work in your life? Do you spend time singing love songs to God at home like you do in church? Do you put on the Christian station at home and dance before Jesus? Do you lift your hands in praise to Him at home like you do in church? If not try it. Praise will revolutionize and empower your prayer life.
What does your private worship life look like?
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Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 3
We have been discussing the discipline of worship as a method of deeper connection to God. If you missed either of the previous conversation you can find them at
Here are our thoughts for the day:
The Bible teaches us that the nature of worship is two-fold but that the heart of worship is singular.
Worship can be expressed through music but it is not just music. It is about the heart changed in private and expressed publicly.
Some people say worship is everything we do, and I suppose in one sense that is true.
Romans 12:1, 2 does say, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship or service rendered unto God.”
The word used for worship in verse two is the word “latreia” and it is usually translated as “sacred service.”
The worship we are speaking of here is the discipline of worship. It is the word “proskuneo”- and it means to kneel or prostrate to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
Worship is a very specific discipline and for it to be complete in our lives it must express itself in two ways out of one particular attitude. Psalm 150 talks to us about the ways we need to express worship.
First, worship must be public. Psalm 150 1 calls us tp ” Praise God in the sanctuary.”
In other words, half of worship is something you do with other people. It is a community activity. You can no more completely worship alone than you can play basketball alone. Further, worship is like a sport in that It is not enough to show up at the game. You aren’t worshipping if you come to church and watch any more than you can say you have played basketball by going to a game and watching from the bleachers. You must participate in the worship.
To participate you must:
Halal (from which we get the word hallelujah. It means to boast loudly about something.
Now, there is a place for quiet introspective worship, but at some point if you are going to praise God you are going to have to make some noise. Some of us have trouble getting into the presence of God simply because we won’t make any noise. We are so dignified in our manner of worship we’ve starched the presence of God right out of our lives. If you want access you are going to have to
“sound the trumpet,”
“play the harp and lyre,”
“shake the tambourine and dance”
You’ve got to pluck a string or toot a flute or crash a cymbal or at least sing the songs!! Or thank Him audibly for something!
Psalm 150 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Are you breathing? Then you ought to be making some noise for Jesus.
You say, “I’m too shy Pastor J.”
Then you need a healing.
You say, ” It’s not dignified.”
You are right. It’s not. Praise is not dignified. It’s humbling. Worship involves putting aside your pride and it is admitting you are desperate for God, and frankly sometimes the act of doing that is downright indecorous.
Those who say they can go and worship God alone in the forest show their ignorance of what true worship is because true worship involves public community worship. Those who come to public worship and who do not sing, or shout, or speak, or raise their hands also show that they do not understand what worship is about.
So what does worship look like to you?
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Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 2
We are currently in a series considering ways to connect with and deepen our relationship with God. Last week you will remember Pastor Risto spoke to us about how we have access to God through the blood of Jesus. This week we are talking about connecting to God through the act of worship.
C.S. Lewis said, “It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men.”
King David wrote in Psalm 100, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
Christian this morning I am here to tell you if you want to come into the presence of God you will do it through the avenue of praise and worship.
I think many have come to understand worship and praise in a very limited sense. I think many of us have a wrong or at least a limited definition of praise and worship.
Temi Peters, Author of Instruments of Praise & Acts of Worship said- “Worship is not about having a fantastic voice.”
AND
“God is not looking for incredibly high notes, intricate riffs or award-winning ad-libbing. God is looking at the heart.”
AND
“Vocals do not make a worshipper.”
IF WORSHIP GETS US THROUGH THE GATES INTO THE COURTS… INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD THEN AS CHRISTIANS WE NEED TO HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT IS SO THAT WE CAN DO IT!
SO LET ME ASK YOU WHAT DO YOU THINK WORSHIP IS?
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Pastor Wrinkles: Complete Worship Pt. 1
Here is our text for tomorrow’s sermon.
Psalm 150
1 Praise the Lord
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
What does worship look like to you?
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Bigger Plans
I have learned that when I cannot figure out what God is doing, it is usually because God’s plan is so big I couldn’t understand it even if He explained.- Pastor Wrinkles
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Passage or Portion?
“This world is our passage not our portion.” Matthew Henry
I hear a lot of talk these days about the end of the world. Conversations about Armageddon (the meaning of that word is different from person to person) are becoming normal chatter not just from the church pulpit but in the grocery line, at the gas pump, even at the doctor’s office. The level of fear attached to such conversations is always dependent on whether or not the end of the world is seen as a loss or as a gain.
Now you might ask, “How can the end of the world be seen as a gain?”
Well for Christians the “end of the world” is a misnomer. When we talk about the end-times we are not talking about the end of everything just the end of this age and this world order. We are talking about the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that “The meek will inherit the Earth.” We are talking about the destruction of sin and death and the reinstatement of Jesus as King of the World.
In that time big changes are coming. The establishment of that new order comes through the judgment and destruction of the old order. Things valued by the old order will be lost. Frankly, there are things in the old order that we humans, even we Christian humans, really like. Things like war and poverty and famine will be absent in Jesus’ kingdom (and everyone shouts Hallelujah!) but also missing from Christ’s reign will be things like the vote, freedom of religion and R-rated movies ( many of us would be Okay with one and two but try to take away James Bond and Jesus just might have a mutinee on His hands!)
What Matthew Henry said is true; This world is just a place we are passing through. It is not our reward. We aren’t supposed to get too comfortable here because this world with its “comforts” is passing away. So Christian don’t be afraid when you see your current way of life fading away in the collapse of the world around you. Jesus said,
Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Ma. 24:4-14
In light of this truth, hold on to Christ. He was at the beginning. He will usher in the end. He will take those who trust in Him beyond the end into the inheritance that truly is our portion!
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Is My Prayer Good Enough?
The crucifix at Kylemore Abbey
A group of us gather at our church three times a week for an hour of morning prayer. We generally do a brief devotion and then spend about fifteen to twenty minutes in solitary prayer and meditation before coming together for a half an hour of corporate prayer.
This morning in my time of meditation I felt the Spirit of God nudge me with these thoughts which I penned into my journal, “The Holy Spirit does not rely on your ability to express His manifestation in order to define the boundaries of His manifestation. The power of your prayers does not come from your words, your volume or your emotion. He is able to do as much work whether you pray long or pray short whether you pray soft or pray loud. How you express your prayer does not determine the power released as long as you are praying in line with the Spirit’s desires.”
I think many of us get hung up on whether or not we are “good pray-ers”. But God does not need people who can pray long flowery or loud exciting prayers. He is the God who invented speech and nothing in the way of language surprises Him. Time means little to a God who dwells in eternity so pray as long or as short as you want. Although, time does mean something to the people you are praying with. Remember, we aren’t in eternity yet so when you pray with people try not to pretend a thousand years are like a day. God’s not deaf nor does He have a nervous condition but the people you are with might have either; So you might want to tailor your volume according to the auditory sensibilities or the nerves of the people around you. I think the way we pray has more to do with whom we are praying with than whom we are praying to.
God doesn’t need long flowery or loud exciting prayers. But what HE does need is people who will commit to discovering and praying His will. In fact God is most excited when we catch His vision for prayer. Emotional excitement is secondary to Him but what really grabs His heart is when His people pray His Kingdom to come on Earth and His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
What specific kingdom prayers is God directing you to pray these days?
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The Point
In the shadow of the cross
15The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him Col: 1:15-17
I think most humans are born a little attention deprived. We either never come to an understanding of what’s really important or we lose focus on the important things in life. We do get lost in the minutiae thinking it’s the point. In gaining wealth, fame, land comfort, a satisfying job or any other earthly satisfaction we run the risk of missing the real point while trying to maintain the dimensions of our life.
Even as ministers we so often miss the point. We say things like, “The goal is souls.” Or “It’s all about winning souls.” Now I think souls are important. Evangelism and discipleship are way up there on my to do list. But I am learning that I can get everything on my to do list done and still miss the point. Souls are not the point. Ministry is not the point. The church is not the point (that does not diminish their importance). Jesus is the point and a personal relationship with Him is the goal. If at the end of my days in this vale of tears I have failed to accomplish that, then I will have truly missed the point.
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Ma. 7:21-23
Let’s keep the main thing the main thing.
Lillie-Put 