Worship: In Accountability

⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Have you ever looked through your LinkedIn Contacts and have been quite intimidated because it looks all your friends have grown leaps and bounds in their careers? It looks that you are the only one who is not 'prospering' or not 'achieving'. So you are tempted to make your title bigger than it actually is and maybe use huge words to disguise the fact that you are actually a Cleaner!
Hmmm. I am amazed at how God has lifted the people around me to high positions of responsibility all around the world and indeed to Him be all glory and honor! Amen
However in most friends' CVs or profiles(I think in mine too), they will not list the lowly positions they once held. Yet interestingly, it is these lowly positions where their business character was developed. That is where they learned endurance, patience, gratitude even with low pay, honesty and many such like virtues. Why is it the case, I wonder? The answer is actually quite simple. We want to be identified by our strengths. We append our university achievements to our names..may be to show that we are educated. We want to beat our chests and say 'I am the biggest', 'I am The Bull in the Kraal'.
So, is this wrong?...Be the judge. the whole theory of evolution hinges on Natural Selection. This is a process by which the stronger and better ones succeed and the weak ones are eliminated. And indeed, you may need to thump your chest loudest if you are to get that promotion. In many interviews this question is asked 'What makes you think you are the best person for this job?' They are in essence telling you 'Hey Tarzan, do what you do best!' (thump, thump,wu, wu!!)
We all want to be identified by our strengths, competencies, talents, achievements and by how many fell on the way and left us standing. You know a first class degree feels good when you are the only one with it. when the whole class get it, you will not be that excited!
So, believe me it is quite shocking when the holy Spirit through Paul says "..Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.."
One of the most powerful weapons the devil uses against the Christian is when he tells you that you are powerful and invincible. He tells you that you are too big to be accountable. You are too strong a christian to confess that you have a problem with envy or lust. Therefore when you fall you are completely isolated. that is the absolute recipe for disaster.
The verse quoted above unveils God's standard against the devil's 'flood' . "I will boast about my weaknesses". You will continue in the cycle of sin until you acknowledge that you are actually not that strong. You can now be honest and let people know that 'this man of God has some serious issues'. People may have known you as the one who moves mountains but the truth is that we are no different than the rest.You did not drop from heaven with a parachute.

So then, Arthur, do you mean that I should go and shout my shortcomings on the rooftops? Well, of course this requires some wisdom. Jesus usually chose a trio of disciples to whom he showed himself (James, John and Peter). Then sometimes it was with all the twelve. But there always was a finite predetermined number that he chose to reveal the secrets about himself or the kingdom of Heaven. he sometimes gave parables to crowds but the explanation was only to his disciples.
We, too, can get a finite number of God-fearing friends to whom we should be completely accountable to.
A word of caution from Jesus..Matthew 7:6
6 "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces"
What I think Jesus is telling us...Do not be a pig. Understand the weight and value of what has been entrusted to you and treat it with utmost confidentiality. If a great friend entrusts you with his/her heart, do not go around 'sharing prayer requests' about your brother/sister. This is how fellowships die and how great friendships disintegrate.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

You know, the reason why our lives are void of the power of God is that we delight more in our strengths. This, as we see from above, evaporates God's power in your life. We see that God's power is made perfect in weakness. so why then do we continue to think..or make others think that we are so powerful? Is it worth boasting about how you preach the gospel to thousands and the hundreds that have given their lives to Christ but yet live a life of defeat? Why not boast about your weaknesses so that God's power is unlocked in your life?

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."
I cannot tell you how much peace flooded my life when I decided to be accountable to a group of God-fearing friends. Much as there is pain when you confess sin, this does not measure to the joy that fills your heart when you know that you are in the light. Nothing is hidden. for the first time I was having true and honest fellowship. I opened my side and my friends saw my wounds and scars. I trust them and I know that they will bandage them and I will be healed.
I think sometimes we do not know the depth of character that the brethren around you have been endowed with. True fellowship brings out these gems.
The bible says "If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." 1 John 1:6
you live a lie if you delight more in your strengths. If all that your friends know about you is that you are a powerful minister of the word, casting out demons, healing the sick etc. Those are strengths which, actually are gifts of the Holy Spirit. you are not living in true fellowship if you cover up your wounds and pretend to others that they don't exist.

" 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."
When your life is in the light...then we are having real fellowship. The other life is just a series of pretensions. Much as they may actually be fact, they do not say who you are. Pretensions are one of the major strongholds of sin in anyone's life.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
"8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" 1 John 1:8
The truth is that we are deceiving ourselves and others as well. We are all at God's mercy and in need of his grace for our salvation. No matter how eclectic our preaching may be, if we try to pass ourselves as having only good, strong and perfect attributes, we are preaching a lie. The truth is not in us
"9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives." 1 John 9-10

Be strengthened by this: You are weak. you are not a giant. No matter how far we have fallen, 'His grace is sufficient for us' I can not top it up. I cannot improve on it. It is sufficient.
His strength is made perfect in weakness.."

Lord Help me be completely honest with my friends. Not hiding away in my tent what is dedicated for destruction but rather exposing it so that it will lose its power and grip in my life. Help me 'boast in my weaknesses' rather than in my strengths so that Your power will be unlocked in my life. The power to overcome.
Amen

Worship: Warfare against sin

What is spiritual warfare? I wouldn't ask if I knew the answer. But right now I am reading from 2 Cor 10. I pray God speaks to me as I read and meditate on this scripture
³ "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does"
We do not wage war the way the world does. Hmmm. I know that the way the world does it today is quite similar to the way it was thousands of years ago. The first stage is the siege..or in our case today, sanctions. Supplies to the city/ country are cut off. The water supply, rivers etc are diverted and the attacking force can lay in wait for years! In the days of old, this caused horrible consequences with people eating their own children.(2 Kings 6:24—7.20)today a similar approach is sought in order to create enough civil unrest and to despise authority because of the harsh conditions. This eventually will lead to betrayal and treachery.
⁴ "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
OK, now our weapons are different and our strategy is different. The above-mentioned strategy intends to weaken the enemy from the outside until it starts affecting the inside. It affects the luxury before it goes for the basics. It goes first for the skin before the soul. What supports a building is its foundation. There is an inner part which is so strong that it might not need outward assistance in order to survive or it may go a very long time without the replenishment of supplies. That is the STRONGHOLD. People will guard it that with ALL.
I have a stronghold. The LORD
The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? Ps 27:1
He is my light, He is my salvation. Without Him I am nothing. I can do nothing. I am empty and without direction. I am lost. But with Him, I have life. With Him I am. Even though all sources of replenishment disappeared but I still have God in the center of my life, I am content. I can wait for the next replenishment...and it will come because "He is my salvation". Hallelujah!
Sin, too has a stronghold. When there is sin in your life, it, too develops a stronghold. Laying siege against it and deliberately starving that sin will weaken it but it will not kill it. It will wait for its replenishment...and it will come.
..On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
Ok, about this..I didn't know. We have divine power to demolish strongholds???What??We can go for the heartbeat and give it a TKO?
⁵ "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

I think we've just struck gold. But God please open these things to our minds that we can understand. Here we see a trinity at the heart of sin's stronghold.
Arguments, Pretension and Thought...
Who would have thought that a stronghold would be made up of such intangible elements which have made many Christians to throw up their hands in defeat and give up the race?
Arguments.
Just about any action goes through that process of rationalization .."Everyone is doing it", "It doesn't hurt anyone", "If God has forgiven murderers, surely He will forgive me", "Just don't think much about it.." Sin requires your mind to be in agreement with the thought of sin before it goes on...At least temporarily. Sin will not care much for the remorse that you will feel after that. All it requires is that window of opportunity.
Jesus met these 'arguments' starting with this phrase 'It is written..."The word of God demolishes arguments. It stands by itself defining morality and truth. "Thou shalt not commit adultery", "Fear not for I am with you", "We are more than conquerors in Christ". The word of God spoken out demolishes all arguments. It stops the whole discussion with sin. The rapport is broken.
Pretension
I confess I had to contact my good friend Google to understand this well.. here is what I got as a definition for Pretension:

1. the laying of a claim to something.

2. a claim or title to something.

3. Often, pretensions. a claim made, especially indirectly or by implication, to some quality, merit, or the like

4. a claim to dignity, importance, or merit.

Sin will try to tell you that you are entitled to it. It is OK. I am reminded of that phrase in the old musical, the Fiddler on the roof "Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!" ha ha!!
That was a different scenario but the devil/sin whispers "You don't have school fees for your child and this money is so easily accessible. It is OK to use it! It is your divine right to educate your child". Pretensions tell you that you have a claim or title. You deserve some happiness! It tells you are a king and therefore you can trample on anyone you wish. It tells you that you are so powerful and therefore you don't need to be accountable. It tells you that you are very strong and that you can resist Potiphar's wife's advances. It sometimes tells you that you are so weak you cannot resist. It tells you that you are so clever that you can out-reason the Public Accounts Committee..so steal whatever you want. All these are PRETENSIONS. After sin has led you to submit to your pretensions, it leaves you to dry in the sun., Then after-all you were not that powerful. you said you were the Conqueror of the British Empire but now you are in exile pondering 'How did it come to this?' You thought you were entitled to some good pleasure and now her husband is about to publish your photos in the Red Pepper.
Demolish the pretension! It is written..
Some pretensions tell you what you are NOT. You are not happy in this marriage. You are not Rich. You are not successful in your business. Life is NOT worth living. These are all pretensions. It is written "I can do all things through Christ". It is written "Let the weak say, I am strong!" It is written "He who finds a wife finds a GOOD thing and obtains favor from the LORD"
I am encouraged by my friend and brother in Christ, Patrick Muinda, who has learned the impact of words on his life. If a word is not in agreement with what He knows the word of God says, he immediately counters it by cancelling it in Jesus' name. If someone tells him that his child is sick, he will counter it by using the word of God to declare divine health over His child. And he does it immediately! right at the threshold of his life. He does not wait for it to bear the fruits of unholy arguments and pretensions.

Thought
"and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"
This is the centroid of the stronghold of the enemy. When He controls thought, he controls you.
"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he" Prov 23:7 the devil will want to gain access to the thoughts that form your heart. Because He knows that is who we are. We are also aware of that. Failure to forgive oneself anchors solely on the notion that, you knowing who you are, are basically unforgivable. How can I think the thoughts that I have and be a child of God, sometimes you ask. that is why it is essential...to 'take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.' It is only in Christ that we can have total and absolute forgiveness.
The problem, is that we always think that thoughts are random. most men (I am actually referring to the male gender here) will answer 'nothing' to the question 'What are you thinking about'. what they may actually mean is that it is of no consequence. Or that it may be quite ridiculous to say the truth that 'I was actually thinking of the pope dancing paka chini.' Giving a face to these thoughts is probably why 'Do you want another rap' by H.E Museveni was a huge hit...or why many Americans enjoy watching 'The Simpsons'(Honestly I don't know why people watch the Simpsons!)
But thoughts can be quantified. Or at least, you can know whether they are under Christ or not. Getting courage to face your thoughts and be strong enough to tell the thought 'you have no place in my life, get out!'..That is the challenge. We want to convince ourselves that we are actually not thinking. you pick the sunrise newspaper/tabloid and immediately go to the center folds just because you are telling yourself that 'I am not thinking'. If a person asked you why you did that, the answer is 'O, I wasn't thinking'...Liar! You were. Not enough courage to face the thought. we should not be intimidated or ashamed of the thoughts that come. They are still at the threshold of your choices. you can choose the thoughts. At least you can choose to give the thoughts a happy ending...in Christ. Joseph in the bible did that..When confronted with the beautiful and lonely (I presume) Mrs Potiphar, he answered
"No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" Genesis 39:9
I think the first part of this response was quite pleasurable to Potiphar's wife. He was thumping his chest Tarzan-style and she might have given out a shy 'Wow'. But he submitted the Tarzan-chest-thumping and made it obedient to God who he would not sin against.

Lord please help me end my thoughts right. Help me Jesus bring all thoughts and make them obedient to You. Help me know you and how you hate sin that I may order my thoughts with reverence for you
Amen

Worship: in adversity

Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
This used to be one of my favorite scriptures in the bible. It still makes my top 5 favorites.
I love to paraphrase it
"Nebuchadnezzar, Our God is going to deliver us from your hand....no doubt about that, period. But for hypothetical purposes, let's imagine that He won't..Ummm..Even then, we think it is important for you to know that we shall not bow down to your gods or worship them"

Help me Lord to trust you and love you. Help me say no to the god of discontentment and grumbling but to look at you as my only God who I will bow down before and worship

WORSHIP: Rev Canon Simon Peter Kigozi - Living it not quoting it

As we remember the life of Rev Canon Simon Peter Kigozi, we are mesmerised by a life that has touched so many. What a life!! "They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,.."Ps 92:14. This, for me, summarizes what nearly everyone thought of him.

This can be counted as my own small eulogy since I wasn't given the chance at the funeral service nor at the vigil!

My encounters with Rev Canon Kigozi were very brief. As you would expect, I was in awe of him all the times I interfaced with him. As such, he really didn't know me and hardly remembered me when I met him again. Being in his presence was quite intimidating for me.

Firstly, he was tall and elderly. In a country where the average height of men is around 5'7" and the average life expectancy is 47, seeing a 94 year old man who is 6'4" is quite a spectacle. And I, standing at a modest 5'6" with my shoes on, was bound to make me feel quite inadequate.

Secondly, He was a man of the light. Without him saying anything, you would automatically evaluate your walk with God. He had such an aura around him. When you google the word 'aura', the first hit is a paranormal Wikipedia page that defines aura as "a field of subtle, luminous radiation supposedly surrounding a person or object". He emitted Christ in his life. During the funeral service (held yesterday 10th March 2010) Jaja Erina said that he didn't have to tell you anything. He just lived it.

For one reason or the other, I am not quite sure why I remember scripture quotations yet I barely passed subjects that required 'cramming'. I seem to remember them word for word for a long time before I forget them if I don't read them again. Pride would have easily set in if it were not for the conviction that I often don't live to all these scriptures I quote at will.

As such, I feel this guilt of knowing God's word which I fail to obey from time to time.

Lately I have said to myself that it doesn't make sense to know what you will not obey. You know the word of God says that "Knowledge puffs up..."1 Cor 8:1 It continues to say in v2 "The man who thinks he knows somethings does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God"

Loving God is shown by obedience. No one can claim to love God and not evidence this claim by continual obedience.

It is at this point that I turn my eyes to gaze at Rev Canon Kigozi's life. He didn't have to quote it. He lived it. He didn't quote for me Jer 29:13 "You will seek me and find find me when you seek me with all your heart" He just lived it. Woke up every morning at 5:00am and led his family in worship and prayer. He didn't quote for me Deut 6:6-9 "Teach your children about my commandments. Talk about them when you are at home and when you walk. When you lie down and when you get up". He just lived it. Brought up his children in the fear of God and he talked about Christ all the time even to the time of his death. There are countless examples as I thought about his life as I drove home in the wee hours of the morning coming from the night vigil.

What a life of great consistency! As I observe him, the word of God that says "Imitate me as I imitate Christ"1Cor 11:1 makes sense.

My former roommate at university, Matthew Kasujja once gave me this illustration "Your actions are so loud that I cannot hear you!"
The Lord help me live the gospel that the words I say would only serve to confirm what they observe in my life.
Now that's worship

Worship, my culture

I was listening to the BBC one night going home and the programme at the time was "World have your say". The topic was about people having to act "White" in order to be looked at as successful in their careers and other aspects of their lives.
The programme unearthed many attitudes that many people have especially here in Africa, Uganda to be specific.
We are slowly being conformed to a certain lifestyle and its not deliberate. That is the direction that the whole world looks to be going. the language is changing. The dressing has changed. billboards are screaming at us to conform. The television insists that we change or else we are left out.
I recently was watching "The bachelorette" on TV and one of the guys said he was a virgin and was keeping himself for that one special person. And how he was made fun of! Hollywood insists it is out of fashion to be a virgin and we are conforming steadily!
How does all this fit on a Worship blog?
The culture of a worshipper determines his response to God's revelation of Himself. God even reveals Himself differently to different cultures. To a nature lover, He reveals himself through this nature. To an astronomy enthusiast, He reveals Himself through a peak into the Cosmos. To a poor hungry man, He is a God who provides food and pays school fees for his children.
Now response to God will definitely be different.
The secret in a true genuine response is in discovering who you actually are and responding to our awesome God respectively.
The danger in trying to be who you aren't is that you say words that you don't mean. You act in ways that are obviously imported from another culture.
You are lying to God if what you say to Him doesn't apply to your life. It is an ingenuine response to what He has revealed himself to be.
How can a poor man from Butambala who has never had a chance to go out of his village sing of vastness of oceans and the beauty of snowflakes and the beauty of autumn? It is not genuine at all! True the oceans are vast and snowflakes are individually unique and beautiful and Autumn(the fall) is beautiful in New England but that from our gentleman's mouth is not genuine.
The reason we are born where we are born, live where we live and in the cultures we have is that through all this we shall derive an honest response to God.
God has entrusted us with who we are for the length of time He has decided that even in the most painful of such times we shall come out with something that would glorify Him.
It is a shame for a person who God has enabled to go through fire to refuse to come up with a creative way he can honor the God that pulled Him through but rather use an off-the-shelf response.
We in Africa should come up with worship that truly and genuinely honors God. Something that comes out of our experiences and speaks of a God who has seen us through. It is painfully sad that the urban African church has distanced itself from making this happen. But rather we want to go with the latest trend and the latest song whether or not it is representative of who we are. The guitarist has lengthened his strap till he plays it from the below the knee. Why? Well some popular worship leader does so, so why not?
God help us.
There has been no better time than this time to effect change in the church. There has been quite an outpouring of God's Spirit in the Church in Africa. The church is growing rapidly. Don't we have enough testimony in our lives that we can't sing about it? Have our dances become so demonic that we can't even dance with our local dances to honour our God? Then why did he give us custom designed bodies that can take on such rigorous strokes?
Come on Africa, arise to your place!

Worship, In pain and suffering

He comes back home to rest only to be met by senseless criminals whose agenda looks more than taking a few bucks. Bludgeoned using whichever objects they could find, he is left there writhing in pain. It is a long brutal night for the loved ones as they struggle to get help. He eventually is taken to Mengo hospital. It is all too painful to take in because we have all know him very closely. Nearly everyone recounts the last time they saw him

This is not a story made up by Jerry Bruckheimer for his latest CSI episode. This is Michael Kaddu. A friend and a fellow minister in the Anglican Youth Fellowship (AYF) Choir.
Family and friends are crying to God on his behalf.

We (AYF) are allowed to enter the hospital room to see him. I don't know what to say. Then he lifts his hand and waves. I smile back. Through the smashed jaws he open his mouth to speak with all the energy that he has and what he says leaves me dumbfounded
"I praise the Lord", he says, "because he spared my life. You would be coming from my funeral. I praise the Lord because the love showed to me is a great testimony. I have been badly injured but thank God my brain is intact. I am thinking straight"

After we prayed for him and family I could not help thinking about this great man of God. He was going through a lot of pain but could trace out whatever was good and give glory to God for that.
I could feel my own inadequacy. Such manifestations of worship make all poetry evaporate.

A report from South Africa where he is right now for further treatment from another dear friend Andrew Mujugira says that when he was discharged from hospital he went and sat at the piano and played "How great thou art!"
There are champions of worship that live among us whose silent displays of worship can only be heard by the LORD.

Maybe what awes us so much about the cross is the raw and crude display of love that makes us backspace our love poems and just gaze at God in amazement.

A great modern hymn writer, Matt Redman has written a song "Blessed be Your Name" that at the moment resounds in my mind

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me

When the world's "all as it should be"

Blessed be Your name

And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name.

These words echo the words of Job and Habbakuk about praising God in very difficult circumstances. His Spirit He puts in us gives us grace to respond to Him in ways the world in all its craft can never understand.
Indeed Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Worship, The Painter of the painting

The universe is His canvass, His word is His paint brush.
Saying designs and great mysteries into being
Defining science with every brush stroke

Yet we know Him not

He speaks stars, constellations, planets, supernovae and many more into existence
He paints answers to questions encoded in the brain of man but not yet thought of

Yet we know Him not

He displays His painting for us to see at short distances. The longest...? Don't even ask
Of course the shortest distance is only 230,000 light years
We eventually catch a glimpse of the painting and we are thrilled!

Yet we know Him not

Our glory is in the fact that we saw the painting but we forget the Painter
We praise our telescopes but forgot the Painter of the painting
Hi Fives are in the air, this is OUR achievement!
We are engrossed in our folly as we congratulate ourselves and refuse to mention God lest we are frowned upon
We immortalise ourselves with biographies
Our cheers drown out the still small voice:
"Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?"
declares the LORD. " Isaiah 66:2a

Yet we know not the Painter of the painting
The one who painted all that we see.....

O Lord, my God
When I in awesome wonder consider all the works thine hand hath made
I see the stars and hear the mighty thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul my savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my savior God to Thee
How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Worship, Seeing Him in His creation

Elihu is the name of a man that very few people have quoted. Many people are sure that they have read the name somewhere in the bible but not quite sure where.

Elihu was a very young man when his contributions were noted and recorded. In the book of Job, many people are familiar with the three friends that came to commiserate with him. However there is a young man called Elihu. He is much younger than the three friends and He is there watching as Job and the three friends try to get to the bottom of understanding the reasons for Job’s suffering.

He is younger, so he waits until everyone is done but by the end he is fuming (obuswandi!). He is angry with the three pals as well as Job. The young man thinks of himself as God’s representative then he starts to speak. Even God at the end of the book makes no mention of him yet this young man set the stage for God to show up.

This man speaks for 6 full chapters. He is indignant on God’s behalf that no one can find anything to condemn Job. He is angry that Job says he is blameless. The first three chapters (Job 32 – 35) he is breathing fire out at Job for justifying himself. The last three chapters, it is like he forgets about what he was telling Job and he focuses heavenward to worship God. It is that part that I find so captivating

Job 36: 24-26

24 Remember to extol his work,
which men have praised in song.

25 All mankind has seen it;
men gaze on it from afar.

26 How great is God—beyond our understanding!
The number of his years is past finding out.

He is taken up by this revelation of who God is that he puts aside his discourse against Job. He had started his speech trying to be God’s defense attorney but by now he is overwhelmed at who God really is. He had started with anger but now God’s revelation of Himself is so overwhelming that he starts to worship Him.

Job 36: 29-30

29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
how he thunders from his pavilion?

30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
bathing the depths of the sea.

He gazes at His creation and all he sees is God in his splendor and power.

Job 37:3-4

3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.

4 After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.

It looks at the moment that it is about to rain or it has already started to rain. Elihu, in my opinion, was outside and as the rain was falling on him he had already lost himself in worship that He just continued to worship God. He could hear Him in the rain. He was overwhelmed by the revelation of God through His creation and he just could not stop his response to such an amazing God.

When he heard the thunder, it was just like hearing God’s voice. I can picture him goose-pimpled all over! Not because of the cold but because of God’s revelation of Himself. Remember, by this time God had not yet spoken!!

His worship set such a stage for God that He just came down! Hallelujah!!

The verse that nearly makes me want to jump out of my seat is Job 38:1

1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm.

It was out of the storm that Elihu had just derived a revelation of God from. It makes me feel like the worship just ruptured the heavens and the LORD came down.

By the time Elihu was about to finish, you could even sense his deep reverence in these words

Job 37:23-24

23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

24 Therefore, men revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?

God has revealed Himself to us in ways even greater than He did in those days. Elihu was amazed at the storm. We see even much more than storms.

Our generation is able to see the mountains and hills on the moon.

Bill Bryson once said that we have so much advanced in our technology that if anyone lit a match on the moon, we can see it!

What God has made known of Himself today should leave us with enough awe and amazement to inspire worship that this earth has never known. We have more raw materials to work with to respond to a God so powerful than anyone in the history of this planet. Yet we are caught up in our business. We are actually more awed by the technology that sees the stars than we are awed by the One who made the stars! God have mercy on us.

These are some words from Matt Redman's "Face down" album

"No one can sing of things they have not seen

God, open our eyes towards a greater glimpse

Worship starts with seeing You
Our hearts respond to Your revelation"

Worship, An introduction to creativity

After having a very good laugh when I saw this picture, it got me thinking about my life and our lives as Christians. It reminds me of some verses in the bible. You too, when you have had your laugh, will realize that there is a lot to learn from this picture.
It reminds me of "Our righteous acts are like filthy rags". When you meditate on this picture, you see that there is a deliberate and careful action to ensure safety. Quite going the extra mile to get what you want. You may ask, why doesn't the mouse die to self and just leave the cheese alone. All its rodent nature (Guess its the equivalent of human nature) just won't let that happen.
Sometimes going into great detail to explain something narrows its meaning so much. Yet we are in fellowship with a God who uses the same words to address the 10th century monk as well as a 21st century internet geek. I will let you learn whatever God wants you to learn from the above picture. Usually He speaks different things to different people.
This brings us to the creativity that God uses to communicate His word. He goes the extra mile in indulging all forms of art when He wants to tell us something. How many times have you heard someone tell of a time he/she was looking at something and then "God said..". He uses pictures that will help us understand Him better. For each person or society it is different.

Michael Card in his album "Scribbling in the sand" unveils the art that Jesus used when they brought Him the woman that had been caught in adultery. Michael Card uses this expression in the chorus " The same fingers of the strong hand that had written ten commands ( on stone tablets) for now was simply scribbling in the sand)

What a powerful picture of creativity. Even Jesus uses creativity in speaking to us! This requires of us a response to His creativity with the creativity He invested in us. Now that is worship!!!

Worship, His universe revealed

"Meditating on Your power, I lift my eyes to count the stars.

I give up the thought before I even count five

The vastness of the universe is but a speck of dust to You

Yet I am engraved on the palm of your hand"

Taken from the song "You are lifted high"

This was one of the first songs I wrote when at university and though it has never been recorded, it represents a lot of what I feel.
I was introduced to a love of astronomy by my Geodesy lecturer at university. And I remember sitting in the lecture room wondering why every Astronomer was not a believer in God. There was so much evidence of a great God but this knowledge is hidden from their eyes.
I have always been mesmerized by what lies in the skies but from that moment I knew I wanted to know more of the power of God expressed through His creation.
The scale of things just beats my mind. It is like God has made the heavens His workshop.
Psalms 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

I am amazed at the way God reveals himself according to the technology people have attained at the time. To Job or David, He even didn't bother to tell him that it is the earth going round the sun. Yet we are amazed at David's description of the universe. How accurate and yet very relevant. How technologically and poetically correct he was.
In later posts I would love to indulge you into my insights into the complexity of this universe and how it declares the glory of our God.
When scientists peak into a telescope they are all astounded at the harmony of the heavens. It is like an orchestra being played out for whoever has ears. What is even more intriguing is the fact that you are listening to an orchestra that was played millions of years ago yet you are listening to it now. Not recorded, but LIVE!!
A God who operates at such a scale is really awesome! There are no adjectives to describe our God. Because each adjective falls short. Beautiful cannot define Him. He defines beautiful
Our God is an awesome God!