Psalm 27:4

If you could have ANYTHING in the world what would it be? would it make you happy forever?

Today in church, I was privileged to serve in Higher ground and witness the faith of a Child. Something I wish I had never forgotten. Something I so wish that I had. However, God had another reason for me being there, ultimately to bring Him glory. The title of this blog is Psalm 27:4 which says

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple"

If you could have ANYTHING in the world what would it be? would it make you happy forever?

David wrote this psalm, and his focus was clearly NOT on anything of this world. I'll admit that when I answered this question with my TRUE heart, it wasn't "that i may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple". Where is your focus. Is your automatic reaction to those questions "Jesus Christ, and living with Him FOREVER?" or is it "t.v, sports, family, food, entertainment, etc." Think about it. Why do we always have to be reminded of the MAGNIFICENT HOLINESS OF GOD? If its SO amazing it should receive our UNDIVIDED WORSHIP! Nothing should hinder our desire to meditate on God's word, and serve HIM. What gets in the way? I can guarentee that at LEAST (and i say at LEAST) 90% of people, if not more, can probably say that facebook, email, or even social lives, get in the way of Christ being the focus. This isn't true of everyone, everyone has their own idols in their lives they need to deal with. Being an undivided worshipper, calls for another thing. your complete attention. not just whenever you feel like it, but ALWAYS and FOREVER. David had it right. - he recognized God's glory and wanted NOTHING more than that. He could have said 'MANY things i ask of you' but instead, he said 'ONE thing'. NOTHING compares to Christ. And david understood that. So ask yourself again

If you could have ANYTHING in the world what would it be? would it make you happy forever?

Answer honestly. then decide what you need to do to change it.

For HIS glory

Unquenchable Worshipper

Just recently I read a book by Matt Redman called "The Unquenchable Worshipper". I thought I'd share a few thoughts from it.

“Worship is meant to be an encounter and exciting meeting place where love is given and received in an unscripted manner”

One thought that stood out to me while reading the first chapter of The Unquenchable Worshipper. It says

“Enter the unquenchable worshipper. This world is full of fragile loves-love that abandons, love that fades, love that divorces, love that is self-seeking. But the unquenchable worshipper is different. From a heart so amazed by God and His wonders burns a love that will not be extinguished. It survives any situation and lives through any circumstance. It will not allow itself to be quenched, for that would heap insult on the love it lives in response to.”

At the very beginning of this book, it got my attention. Helping me understand that the passion I should have for Jesus should not be able to be extinguished. While reading the Chris Tomlin book "The Way I Was Made" a few years back, I still remember one quote that said “when you’re worshipping God, you will risk looking uncool”. David danced in his palace, throwing aside his image, yet he was praising God! Nothing else mattered.

I really related to what Matt had to say about being an undone worshipper and talking about his tendonitis being a reminder of Christ. I too have tendonitis so I can see how much of an annoyance it can be, but like Matt, whenever it starts to hurt, it causes me to pray to God and ask Him for strength. It’s as if God is using that to provide a complete dependency on Him, something I know He deserves. Many times I’ve asked God why I’ve felt a calling so strong to be in music ministry in some ways, and yet felt the pain in my wrists. All along these thoughts, God was using this to break me down, to give Him complete control of my life. During this time, things ‘weren’t going my way’ and I wrote this…

Broken…I run to you

On my hands and knees I bow

Facedown…in awe of You

Surrendering my life

So who am I, that You love me?

So who am I, that You died for me?

I Give it all to You, my hands and feet are yours

I Give it all to You, all my life, take over

Humbled…by Your grace

By Your mercy and Your love

Thirsting…for more of You

An unquenchable desire

In the chapter about the unstoppable worshipper, there were many examples used by Matt. One being david and goliath. David, being small and just a boy, took on Goliath, a really tall big man, and in doing so, did not let Goliath hinder his worship to God. Paul didn’t either. In prison, asking for more boldness to preach the gospel, the very reason he was sitting there. Finally, Jesus, not letting the cross get in the way of His worship to His Father. We all have our ‘goliaths’ in our lives that we need to overcome. God gives us the strength to overcome trials so we can bring Him worship. This cycle seems to make God conceited. However, He isn’t. Sam Storms says “Christ’s self love is the most loving thing imaginable. He wants us to love Him so He gives us the most amazing thing imaginable: Himself. Giving us anything less would make Him conceited, however He’s loving us pre-eminently by not withholding more amazing things”.

The chapter on the ‘unnoticed worshipper’ clarified a lot of things. Mainly bringing to importance of invisibility on stage. Chris Tomlin stated something along the lines of ‘we are merely there to provide a way for people to worship their God’. However, Redman doesn’t only refer to being on stage and being a distraction, but also our heart offstage. How do we react when someone else is leading that’s not quite ‘our’ style? Do we put in our whole heart? Pride is a BIG issue when it comes to being a worshipper, because we don’t have anything to do with the worship.

God has his ways of speaking to each and everyone of us. He has his ways of showing us that He loves us. He has is ways of bringing Himself the ultimate glory He could receive. Be happy you are a part of His plan.

All for HIS glory!

Age 4 excursion

Many people and friends have asked me why I believe in God. Apart from all the 'generic' reasons - because He is AWESOME! - because He chose me - because His grace is irresistible - i was raised in a christian home (SUPER crucial) - i've always referred back to one incident in my life that i can remember very scarcely, but God was TRULY in that place, and provided one of the BIGGEST answers to prayer ever in my life! Thanks to godly parents, I'm alive and well today, all because of their faith, hence why I said above that being raised in a christian home was SUPER crucial. Ok. to the story.

Around the age of 4 (sorry if I'm wrong :P), I got a form of the flu. A symptom being the swelling of internal organs. The organ of mine that decided to swell was my heart. It didn't stop there either - it continued to swell until it eventually ripped, leaving me in line for surgery within the month, or it wouldn't be good, we'll just leave it at that. Thats what the doctors said. Over the next month, my parents prayed very hard, like they always do, the prayer warriors that they are, and at my return to the doctors room, they wanted to make sure that they didn't open me up to find everything was OK. I can remember sitting in a room with those suction cup readers on my chest, telling my mom i was scared they would hurt when they'd come to pull them off. I was not aware in the least bit that i had an abnormal heart condition. The doctors came back in, and by the grace of God I don't have a scare on my chest. My heart was healed miraculously, and I walked out of there, never to have to worry about it again.

The reason that this story is always a booster for me to pursue God that much more, is simple. Something happened that we didn't expect to happen, and although I don't remember much about that time, ignorance doesn't give me any excuse to acknowledge the fact that God did something amazing in my life at that time. I'm so grateful that He chose to save me from that, and that He listened to my mom and dad. They are the warriors behind this, and I'm super thankful that they are my Mamma G and Daddy Goossen as so many of you know them by!

All this, For HIS Glory!

First Post

Well. This a first for me. thought I'd give this a shot. Maybe something that I could do from now on, to share with you what God is doing in my life, the life of others, and ultimately for His glory, acknowledging HIS doing. Over the weeks to come, hopefully i'll get this figured out! For now, that is all!!