Tonight my wife is leading band rehearsal for Adventure Community Church. So it's just me, our two cats and our dog. I wanted to journal tonight but before I did that, I wanted to worship and get my heart right. There's something about worship that gets my juices flowing, I feel open and vulnerable, yet reassured.
Tonight, I put on my iPod and listened to Jesus Culture's "Rooftops." The chorus goes as follows:
"So I'll shout out Your Name, from the rooftops I'll proclaim that I am Yours. All that I am I place into Your loving hands and I am Yours. I am Yours."
With music blaring in my ears and the drum beat getting harder and harder, I felt like singing out loud. I even became a kid again as I envisioned myself on stage leading hundreds of fellow Adventurers in worship.
Here's the thing. I live in an apartment complex. Our walls are thin. Very thin. Since we've lived here, we've heard numerous melodies through our various neighbors' walls: dogs barking, Koreans playing the keyboard, someone hammering nails, the sound a kid enjoying their Wii with the TV volume on max, etc. etc.
Yet, when it came to my attitude of worship tonight, I didn't care about that. I didn't even take it into consideration. I just kept singing. For all I knew (or cared), my neighbors could have been banging on the walls for me to stop. Or maybe someone was walking their dog and heard me through my door.
Then the irony of the lyrics I was singing. I will shout out Your Name. From the rooftops I'll proclaim that I am Yours.
I want God to be known in my life. I want Him to be seen. I want Him to be felt. I want Him to be shared. My relationship with Him is so personal, yet He desperately wants me to keep it from being private.
I want everyone around me, yes, even my neighbors on the other side of the wall, to know that I am God's. I am known, loved, accepted, forgiven, justified, sanctified, glorified BY HIM!
So why keep soundproofing our lives? Why keep that relationship with God private? It's personal but was meant to be made public.
My neighbors can only hear me through the walls. But God intended us to be SEEN.
So before climbing onto the roof, consider Matthew 5:14-16: “'You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.'"
-NW
Tonight, I put on my iPod and listened to Jesus Culture's "Rooftops." The chorus goes as follows:
"So I'll shout out Your Name, from the rooftops I'll proclaim that I am Yours. All that I am I place into Your loving hands and I am Yours. I am Yours."
With music blaring in my ears and the drum beat getting harder and harder, I felt like singing out loud. I even became a kid again as I envisioned myself on stage leading hundreds of fellow Adventurers in worship.
Here's the thing. I live in an apartment complex. Our walls are thin. Very thin. Since we've lived here, we've heard numerous melodies through our various neighbors' walls: dogs barking, Koreans playing the keyboard, someone hammering nails, the sound a kid enjoying their Wii with the TV volume on max, etc. etc.
Yet, when it came to my attitude of worship tonight, I didn't care about that. I didn't even take it into consideration. I just kept singing. For all I knew (or cared), my neighbors could have been banging on the walls for me to stop. Or maybe someone was walking their dog and heard me through my door.
Then the irony of the lyrics I was singing. I will shout out Your Name. From the rooftops I'll proclaim that I am Yours.
I want God to be known in my life. I want Him to be seen. I want Him to be felt. I want Him to be shared. My relationship with Him is so personal, yet He desperately wants me to keep it from being private.
I want everyone around me, yes, even my neighbors on the other side of the wall, to know that I am God's. I am known, loved, accepted, forgiven, justified, sanctified, glorified BY HIM!
So why keep soundproofing our lives? Why keep that relationship with God private? It's personal but was meant to be made public.
My neighbors can only hear me through the walls. But God intended us to be SEEN.
So before climbing onto the roof, consider Matthew 5:14-16: “'You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.'"
-NW
