Wear Your Worship Inside and Out

When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed.  Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.  Then it was said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.  Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.                -Psalm 126 NIV

Hi educator friend!

I just wanted to remind you this week of your assignment to be God's change agent in your school! You are His beloved, cherished and highly favored child.  

Your worship... our worship... draws us closer and closer to Him. This loving relationship that we develop with God not only pleases Him and us, but it overflows into the lives of those around us. Through our times with Him we hear and see His desire to call others to that same love that we experience.  

It's such a blessing to be saved and filled with His Holy Spirit. It's unexplainable  peace and joy in the midst of  test and trials.  It's perseverance well after the human spirit feels like giving up. It's favor in conjunction with the creativity you were born with.  It's wisdom welding the sledge hammer to break up that wall that your back is against.  It is His love deep within us and there is nothing on this earth that equals or surpasses it. 

Psalm 126 reflects on God's goodness from this liberated side of salvation. It is sung by people who are so exuberantly filled with joy that "the [gentile] nations", people who previously were oblivious to the very existence of God, now acknowledge not only His existence but His goodness to His people.    It is a song of Ascents, a song sung while going up God's mountain to worship Him.  Thankfully, we do not have to trek up a specific mountain to worship before the Lord!  We can actually do it right where we are by praising Him and acknowledging our love for Him.  Hallelujah Jesus!  We love you!

So together, we'll trek up this mountain of worship.  As we head up, let's stop and smell the flowers. Let's pick a few and create a garland to place around our head or neck. Don't worry about your allergies, you'll be just fine. Trust Him.

This beautiful garland that we will  wear is going to be so strikingly beautiful and creatively intertwined that others will ask, "Where did you get that?" "How did you make that?" "Where can I get one?"   This garland is our salvation testimony and each flower represents every triumphed test and trial bound together with the True Vine. Wearing this give credence to the saving power and grace of God.

Dear educator, do you wear your testimony so that others may marvel at it? Are you willing to allow others to see and smell the saving grace of God in your life?  This is the essence of you being a Change Agent. While the bible says that it rains on the just and the unjust, our outcome should be different from those who do not believe in God.  We all may experience budget cuts and financial burdens, but God's educators come out on the other side laughing and singing His praises.  We all may experience difficult working environments and annoying people in which we have to interact with, but God's educators come out on the other side laughing and singing His praises.  Why, because although we may cry, we sow seeds of righteousness in the midst of (Hosea 10:12) and reap the fruit of His unfailing love.

We are the evidence of His love. Confidently speak of His goodness and live (as Joel Osteen would say) your best life now. Be God's evidence of provision in your patience, comfort in your calling and help in your hardship.

Romans 10: 14 But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them? 

Wear this...

 to show them this.

They won't believe unless you show them the evidence.

Dear Grace giving God,

Thank you for loving us so much that it overflows in our speech.  Thank you for giving us so much joy that it is heard in our laughter and songs. Thank You for blessing us with garments of praise and the oil of gladness.  We bless You and honor You and say "Hallelujah" for creating beauty out of the test and trials of our lives.  Help us to confidently and boldly display the splendor of the saving power and grace of Jesus Christ to those we encounter on a daily basis.

In Jesus' name,

Amen

Please enjoy this week's song:  "Something Within Me" by Take 6