"Passion for the Heart of God"

I am reading a book called "Passion for the Heart of God" by John Zumwalt. I've heard John speak twice in Perspectives of the World Christian Movement, a college level course - basically concerning missions. He is a riveting speaker with stories of God's glory all over the world. He stayed in our home this year when he spoke at our Batesville class. Mickey and I enjoyed his company very much. I knew that I would like any book that he had written. I am not disappointed.

I have been reading it slowly - trying to soak it all in. I know I will go back and reread it, maybe many times. John gets it!! He expresses it, well, too. Sometimes he is a little sarcastic but it is well placed sarcasm. I like it.

You may ask, "What does he 'get'?" The ultimate purpose for our being is to glorify God by allowing Him to use us to bring the nations to know Him and to participate in the increase of his Kingdom. He has already won the victory - now He is preparing a place for some of every tribe, tongue, and nation to gather around Him, rejoicing together in Heaven. That we must participate by praying for the nations and for God to get and receive His own glory - and that He loves us enough to include us in His plan. That when we pray - we pray for this end and not so much about our petty problems and our personal comforts. That our blessings come from participating in His work - even though it means suffering with and for the sake of Him. That hard times bring us closer to Him and in the end, others can see our enduring of suffering and His compassion and will come to know Him - His goal for our suffering, as it was His Son's. Most of all, that He calls us - all of us - to "go" to the nations.

Yes, I do believe we are ALL given a MANDATE to go!! MANY of us need to actually simplify our lives, put on courage and physically go to a dark place in the world who has never heard the name of Jesus and are ALL dying and going to hell because they don't know Him. Yes, He does expect us to leave our jobs, our families, our homes, our comforts and our comfort zone to follow Him. Some of us need to give large amounts of our money - simplify our lives to enable us to do so, get out of debt, seek out those who will physically go - commit to a different lifestyle so that others may go. Some of us need to commit LARGE amounts of time to praying for the nations and those who will actually go and those who will actually send. The world is also coming to our doorsteps. We have the world coming to us by way of the Universities and Colleges in the US. If we give them Jesus while they are here, then THEY can go home and can be much more effective among their own people than we ever could. BUT we have to engage them while they are here, and the door of opportunity is small - usually four to five years. We must prepare our young people to go - to be spiritually prepared and aware of His mandate. We must teach our brothers and sisters and children about the mandate and hold them to a high standard, expecting them to be goers, too. We must pray for our children to be used in other lands, for His sake.

He gets it! The end is near - the time when every tribe, tongue and nation will be reached and we will gather around His throne. There is an urgency to tell! He is coming again - but not until every nation knows of His love! I believe that it will not be tonight unless He chooses to reveal Himself in a supernatural way to all those nations who have never heard. I am grateful that He includes us in His plan and we get blessings because of it. We must fall in love with Him enough to want to see His return! We must "love His return". I still pray for that to be my "true love".

Wow! I didn't know I am so passionate about this! But, praise God!!

Take "Perspectives" if you get a chance! The information is life changing and the fellowship is sweet. I'm not sure how you can get John's book, but I recommend it!

Personal Preferences

Ever since our church has been in "worship wars", as it has been labeled, I have heard so many people say, "You really should not express your 'personal preferences' and we must all 'defer to one another in Christian love'." Now I know that deferring to one another in love is a Biblical concept and even though it is hard, it is the right thing to do. However, I don't think that having a personal preference is wrong - or even expressing it. We have lumped the two together so much that now what we have is people being afraid of being politically/spiritually incorrect by saying what they like or don't like and even saying, "I don't care what kind of music we have." So - I am going to tell you what I personally like, and maybe what I don't like, too! I like new music. I love praise and worship music accompanied by many forms of instrumentation. I like guitars, drums, flutes, pianos, keyboards, penny whistles, and harmonicas. I like lots of harmony contrasted with octave single melody lines. I like some eighties music being sung by an ensemble with four or six part harmony and accompanied by well done tapes. I like solo singing with a video in the background. I like many styles of music, but not too much of any one kind - that just bores me. Well, truthfully, I could sing praise and worship music, when it is done well, all night long without being bored. I can take a little country, a little rap, and some gospel. I will tolerate hard rock and even screamo, if I love the people who are playing it. I love hymns. I never want to be completely without hymns - they are a rich heritage and the words are comforting and meaningful. I love hymns done with a new arrangement mostly, but on occasion I like them played simply on the piano. I don't like to sing the same old choruses that I have been hearing for forty years and pretend they are meaningful or even "new". I would like to put many of them to rest. I don't like learning "old" choruses that I never knew but can tell by the style that they are past their prime. Most of them are cheesy. I enjoy choir music, when it is done with excellence - we just don't have that much any more. I like to sing in the congregation. I don't like to wear choir robes and I think they are pretentious. I like using the screen. I also don't mind using hymn books - but want to use the screen for choruses because I like to read the words - they are not in the hymn books. I like a worship service led by a team of people rather than just one person. Of course, the team needs to be led by someone, though. I am not as fond of "solos" as I used to be - but I like them on occasion. I like standing, sitting, raising hands, closing eyes, dark or bright rooms, scripture and prayer, and videos or slide shows. I like the room full of young and old people together, praising Jesus. I like instruments only, sometimes - with words on the screen just to read, sometimes.

I am sure I haven't covered it all - but I feel better, just because I got to say it. I DO prefer some music over others. Ahhhh!!

Peace?

I am experiencing restlessness in my heart. I am not sure exactly how to explain the feeling. In fact, it makes writing this entry almost impossible. I have started over several times. For the past couple of weeks, I have been given so much "bad news". I don't know how else to put it. Some of it is life threatening (not mine - friends and family), some of it heart-breaking, some of it life-changing (again, not mine - friends and family)... Much of it weighs on my heart heavily. Yet in all of this, I am personally pretty much at peace. I think that is my conflict. People all around me are being affected by burdens and I am just gliding along - not exceptionally happy or giddy, but just, as I said, at peace. I'm grateful that my personal life is not full of drama right now, but I still ache for my friends and family who are experiencing it daily. OK - I'm done. I wanted to go back and erase my ramblings because I am not making sense, even to myself - and so I am finished. I think I will just praise God because He is good!