Shifting the Praise Paradigm

The CD played my new favorite song as I drove to work that morning. It was the end of winter and the damp air outside kept the windshield misty with rain. Tears fell down my face as I worshiped Him through song. Just a couple of days before, I had been diagnosed with kidney cancer. Surgery had been scheduled for a few weeks away. Life as I knew it had changed with a doctor’s visit. Yet, as the song “Behold the Lamb” played on, my heart was filled with peace, gratitude and thanksgiving.  

No, nothing had changed around me. We were still trying to figure out how we would manage without my income for over a month while recovering from surgery. We were still trying to help our children understand and not be fearful because mommy had cancer. And, yes, I had moments when I felt scared. But in the midst of it all, I found something new: A new song of praise. And I am not talking about the beautiful melody that was playing on the speakers that day. I am talking about a shift in the praise paradigm as I knew it. For the first time in my life, I understood, deep down in my soul, what praise is really about. And I would never be the same.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow…

It’s easy to praise God when life is beautiful. When we have money, secure relationships and health, we usually find ourselves grinning from ear to ear and praising Him all day. And then… there comes a valley; a deep, dark one. We instinctively find it hard to continue our songs of praise. That’s just, well, normal human nature. It is indeed hard to praise God in the face of our troubles. It takes work. It takes diligence. It takes faith to see past our predicaments and into the immutability of a loving God.  

A New Paradigm

If we are able to move our eyes from our ever-changing circumstances and fix them on the unchanging nature of our God, we change our praise paradigm from focusing on what God does to who God is. We change it from focusing on that which continually changes to the One who never does. Instead of dwelling on the hardship of unemployment, we fix our eyes on the promises of Jehovah Jireh, the Provider. Instead of focusing on the dread of cancer or any other physical illness, we worship Jehovah Rapha, the Healer. Instead of looking at our uncertainties, we fix our eyes on God’s attributes, which never change and never will:

We start worshiping… 

Yahweh… the All Knowing God – who knows exactly what is happening to you. (Job 37:16) 

Yahweh… the All Loving God – who loves you so much that He gave His only Son for you. As a loving Father, He will uphold you in the dark hour. (1 John 4:8)

Yahweh… the All Powerful God – the One who spoke the stars into existence is more than able to mend your broken life. (Genesis 18:14) 

Yahweh… the All Present God – He is there for you when everyone else leaves. (Deuteronomy31:6)

Yahweh… the Sovereign God - who rules all creation and therefore knows what is best for us, even though we don’t always understand. (Isaiah 40:21-23)

Yahweh… The Holy God - who wishes to reveal to us flaws in our character that need to be changed… sins in our lives that need to go. It is through the fire that these impurities come to surface… that we may be molded, renewed, re-done. For His glory and our good. (Leviticus 20:26) 

2012 was a year filled with long, dark valleys. My husband and I often mentioned that we would happily bid the year good bye when December 31 finally came. And so we did. We faced trials with cancer and the tragic death of my brother-in-law in June. As I look back, however, as hard as that year was, the joy of finding a stronger faith far surpasses the pain that these valleys brought along. We have seen God at work. We have sensed His presence and found the joy of worshiping Him “in spite of”. We learned to worship Him for whom He is and therefore found incredible peace in the midst of each storm. All because we have learned to shift the object of our praise from God’s gifts to God alone.

Pray for a shift in your praise paradigm: A re-focus on the object of your praise – from the gift to the Giver. This will change your spiritual life forever… as it did mine.



And in case you have never heard the song I mentioned… Below is a link for you. I pray it will help you worship the Lamb simply for who He is!

"Behold the Lamb" by Paula Stefanovich


 

My Latest Article for the AJC: "Stop the Blame Game"

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The Power of Mustard Seed Faith

Passage:
Luke 17:5-6

Key Verse:
“And the Lord said, ‘If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” V.6 (NASB)

My entire family was glued to the TV that evening. I don’t remember exactly how old I was – probably about 10 or so. Uri Geller, a famous Jewish illusionist was on the screen, bending a spoon before our eyes by merely using his “brain power”. I was mystified. Not long after that, I started hearing reports which affirmed that humans only used about 10% of their brain. I figured mine was very unused, since spoon bending was definitely not inside the spectrum of things my brain could do. 

When I first started researching about the “10% myth”, I honestly thought this myth was a fact. But neurosurgeons have demystified this idea and now we know that, although we may not use our brain at full capacity all the time, we actually use 100% of our brain. All brain areas are somehow explored by either human reasoning or physical movements. So, if these researchers are really right, Uri Geller is not necessarily smarter than me for bending spoons with his brain power. I feel better now (smiles).

If we were to compare Jesus’ teaching on the mustard seed faith to the 10% brain myth, it seems as if He is saying that we grossly underuse the power of faith.  It appears that we have no idea of how much we could accomplish if we were to really put our faith to practice.That is indeed true: In John 14:12, Jesus ratified this truth by saying that His followers would not only do the works that He had been doing, but even greater things.

Yes, we certainly have a lot to grow in understanding how deeply our faith can impact our destiny. The Bible is filled with applications on how God responds to a believing heart. Jesus said numerous times in the gospels that a person’s faith had made them well. He continually linked His miracles of healing and salvation to the receiver’s faith. From the leper to the thief at the cross, He connected one’s faith to divine manifestations, time and again.

But there is something else Jesus was trying to convey in the parable of the mustard seed. 

  
At first, this passage made me feel inadequate. I kept thinking on how much my faith had to grow to get to the point where it could move the Rockies. But, as usual, Jesus’ objective was to encourage us in the right direction, not cripple us into believing we were far from attaining strong faith.

Mustard Seed Faith ↔ Obedience 

We know that this tiny seed can grow into a huge plant. Under the right conditions, a mustard plant can reach up to 10 feet high. However, nothing happens while the seed is in the farmer’s hands. Nothing happens if he does not take the next step and plants it in the soil. And then nothing happens unless it rains. And nothing happens unless the sun shines on the planted seed. 

Indeed, Jesus could have chosen anything for this parable. He could have mentioned a grain of sand or salt - those are tiny too! But He chose something that can only grow if someone chooses to plant it.
 
His deliberate choice of a mustard seed was perfect. The mustard seed-type faith is connected to obedience. We cannot become giants of faith unless we trust God with the smallest tasks; unless we obey Him in the small things. Our faith will not grow, until we take one step of obedience and trust Him for the next tiny step. 

Jesus was saying: “Is your faith this small? Sow it and watch ME make it germinate! Water it and watch ME grow it! Let my Sun shine on it and see it flourish and become big enough to accomplish the impossible.”

So I ponder about single gestures of obedience that initiated history-changing, eternity-shaping events…

Moses… raising his staff… a gesture as small as the span of his arm… mustard seed obedience that parted the sea which separated God’s people from freedom.

Abraham… raising his arm to sacrifice his promised son… a gesture of blind trust that brought forth the lineage from which Messiah would come.

Mary… saying yes to a call to shame, embarrassment, isolation… a sacrificial gesture of faith… crowned with the honor of becoming the chosen mother of God’s Son.

And then I think of my own story, looking back on the past 19 years since I’ve surrendered to Christ. My tiny faith, so fragile at first. But as small seeds of obedience were planted, I’ve watched it grow. Trust has brought forth miracles of healing, deliverance, provision. Obedience has opened doors to opportunities my heart would only dream of. 

The unimaginable. The impossible. The unreachable. Mountain after mountain have I seen Him move out of my way. All that because by faith and often blind obedience, I chose to trust Him.

Are you holding on to your mustard seed? In your hands, it will not grow. Let go of your fears, your plans, your agenda. Plant tiny seeds of obedience and watch Him work.
 
I promise you – your faith will boldly grow.

Faith Flaw

Passage:

Hebrews 6:9-17

Key Verse:

“We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.” Hebrews 6:11

Blogging… Platform… Picture Words… Publishers… Book Proposals… Nerves.

Words and feelings flowed freely for three days as women gathered in North Carolina at the She Speaks Conference 2013. We came from all over the country to learn how to better use our God-given talents as writers and speakers for the Kingdom.

As we assembled to worship, hands lifted high across the room; tears flowed freely down my face. Yahweh’s presence was almost palpable. We met new friends, faces lit with a joy that only Jesus can give. Terri and I left the conference with notebooks filled with new insights for our ministry and a renewed sense of excitement about what God is doing through surrendered women across this Nation. But writing trends and speaking techniques were not the only things I found inside the crowded workshop rooms. Amidst the excitement and expectations on that first day, something happened that revealed a flaw in my faith that I was unaware of.