Being Captivated by God
(Hoody has been wanting me to post more and I have all these ideas but haven't managed to find the time to write. So here is something I've previously writen for my youth group. I like to write devotions that tie in with Christian music called Lessons from the Music. It started because I sing specials at my church and many times God will give me a message, sort of a mini-lesson to say before I sing. This year I went to a Dare 2 Share youth conference in March called Blaze. During the youth leader part of it they gave us a free copy of YLO - Youth Leaders Only Music Resource Magazine and in it were lessons you could teach your youth group based on current popular Christian songs. When I saw that I thought, "I can do this. I pretty much do this for special anyway. Thus was born Lessons from the Music. I hope you enjoy. - SCW in AZ)
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Are you captivated by God? Does His majestic power and uncomprehending love boggle your mind and inspire instant praise and a deep longing to be closer to our Creator? Does the story of Jesus’ resurrection from the grave bring inexpressible joy to your heart when you hear it and build up the urge to give a loud “WooHoo! Thank You LORD!!”?
Recently I downloaded a computer game called “The Walls of Jericho”. In this game you’re Jehovah God, and the objective is to move blocks around on this wall to perform spectacular miracles and to amaze and inspire wonder in your followers, the Israelites, walking past this wall. If you fail to entertain them, and all of them walk off the screen the game is over. I noticed two things while playing. First, the more I performed the same miracle, the less awe inspiring effect it had on them. Second, sometimes even when I managed a completely new miracle a few would walk past like nothing happened! As I was frantically moving blocks around, striving to get my followers attention, and getting thoroughly frustrated with them the thought struck me, “I hope I don’t do this to God.” I was so stunned by the sudden thought, I quit playing. Needless to say all my followers walked off the screen and my game ended. I didn’t notice or care because I was fervently praying “Lord, please forgive me if I do this to You. Forgive me, if I take for granted Your wonderful miracles in my life and don’t give you the praise and worship You’re so worthy of.”
What Does Being Captivated With God Look Like?
Every part of Psalm illustrated David’s captivation for God. David longed to be with his Lord, delighted in his God’s Word, marveled at his Creator’s works, sung his King’s praises with all of his heart, and encouraged others to do the same. And for this he is know as “A man after God’s own heart”.
Psalm 27:4 (NAS) “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.”
Psalm 119:34-35 (NAS) “Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.”
Psalm 33:6-9 (NAS) “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. [7] He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. [8] Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. [9] For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”
Psalm 9:1-2 (NAS) "I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. [2] I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
Psalm 112:1 (NAS) “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.”
Paul was so captivated by Christ that he gave up everything so he could know Him better and be sure to have fellowship with Him throughout eternity. Philip. 3:7-11 (MSG) “(7) The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash--along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. (8) Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ (9) and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ--God's righteousness. (10) I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. (11) If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”
Refocusing Our Attention
When my church’s choir was practicing this years Easter special, there was one particular song we struggled with. The timing was difficult, the harmony was awkward and it got to where we’d groan when it came time to practice it. It was "Alive!", the resurrection song. Then we started adding the narration that went along with the music and our readers focused our attention back to the reason why we were singing the song. Jesus is Alive! Once they finished dramatically saying “Christ is risen. He is Alive!” the choir found themselves enthusiastically belting out “Alive!” with gusto whether we managed to hit all the notes perfectly or not. It didn’t matter. We were celebrating our risen Lord and King!
Do you find your attention needs refocused back to the awesome, splendor of our Lord at times? Life will try to steal our attention away from God. We get busy, problems and people demand our concentration. So how do we battle this? The Bible tells us to continually seek the Lord with all of our heart (1 Chronicles 16:11, Jeremiah 29:13) and to delight ourselves in the Lord. (Psalm 37:4).
Hmmmm… Sound a lot like our two friends, David and Paul, from the Bible. This month I want to encourage all of us to daily seek and take delight in our Lord so our captivation with Him won’t diminish. Take time now to list specific ways in you’re life you do/can seek out and delight in God And may the words from Watermark’s Song “Captivate Us” be our hearts prayer.
Captivate Us
Watermark – Purest Place
Your face is Beautiful, and Your eyes are like the stars
Your gentle hands have healing, there inside the scars
You’re loving arms they draw me near, And You’re smile it brings me peace
Draw me closer, Oh my Lord, Draw me closer Lord to Thee
Chorus:
And Captivate us, Lord Jesus, Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence falling down…
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You
Your voice is powerful, and Your words are radiant bright
In You’re breath and shadow, I will come closer to Thine
You whisper love and life divine, and Your fellowship is free
Draw me closer, Oh my Lord, Draw me closer Lord to Thee
Chorus
And let everything be lost in the shadows of the Light of Faith
And let every chain, be broken from me as I’m bond in Your grace
For Your yoke is easy, Your burden is light
You’re full of wisdom, power and might
And every eye, will see You
Chorus
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You
Captivate us
Recently I downloaded a computer game called “The Walls of Jericho”. In this game you’re Jehovah God, and the objective is to move blocks around on this wall to perform spectacular miracles and to amaze and inspire wonder in your followers, the Israelites, walking past this wall. If you fail to entertain them, and all of them walk off the screen the game is over. I noticed two things while playing. First, the more I performed the same miracle, the less awe inspiring effect it had on them. Second, sometimes even when I managed a completely new miracle a few would walk past like nothing happened! As I was frantically moving blocks around, striving to get my followers attention, and getting thoroughly frustrated with them the thought struck me, “I hope I don’t do this to God.” I was so stunned by the sudden thought, I quit playing. Needless to say all my followers walked off the screen and my game ended. I didn’t notice or care because I was fervently praying “Lord, please forgive me if I do this to You. Forgive me, if I take for granted Your wonderful miracles in my life and don’t give you the praise and worship You’re so worthy of.”
What Does Being Captivated With God Look Like?
Every part of Psalm illustrated David’s captivation for God. David longed to be with his Lord, delighted in his God’s Word, marveled at his Creator’s works, sung his King’s praises with all of his heart, and encouraged others to do the same. And for this he is know as “A man after God’s own heart”.
Psalm 27:4 (NAS) “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.”
Psalm 119:34-35 (NAS) “Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it.”
Psalm 33:6-9 (NAS) “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. [7] He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. [8] Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. [9] For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”
Psalm 9:1-2 (NAS) "I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. [2] I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High."
Psalm 112:1 (NAS) “Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.”
Paul was so captivated by Christ that he gave up everything so he could know Him better and be sure to have fellowship with Him throughout eternity. Philip. 3:7-11 (MSG) “(7) The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash--along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. (8) Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ (9) and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ--God's righteousness. (10) I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. (11) If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.”
Refocusing Our Attention
When my church’s choir was practicing this years Easter special, there was one particular song we struggled with. The timing was difficult, the harmony was awkward and it got to where we’d groan when it came time to practice it. It was "Alive!", the resurrection song. Then we started adding the narration that went along with the music and our readers focused our attention back to the reason why we were singing the song. Jesus is Alive! Once they finished dramatically saying “Christ is risen. He is Alive!” the choir found themselves enthusiastically belting out “Alive!” with gusto whether we managed to hit all the notes perfectly or not. It didn’t matter. We were celebrating our risen Lord and King!
Do you find your attention needs refocused back to the awesome, splendor of our Lord at times? Life will try to steal our attention away from God. We get busy, problems and people demand our concentration. So how do we battle this? The Bible tells us to continually seek the Lord with all of our heart (1 Chronicles 16:11, Jeremiah 29:13) and to delight ourselves in the Lord. (Psalm 37:4).
Hmmmm… Sound a lot like our two friends, David and Paul, from the Bible. This month I want to encourage all of us to daily seek and take delight in our Lord so our captivation with Him won’t diminish. Take time now to list specific ways in you’re life you do/can seek out and delight in God And may the words from Watermark’s Song “Captivate Us” be our hearts prayer.
Captivate Us
Watermark – Purest Place
Your face is Beautiful, and Your eyes are like the stars
Your gentle hands have healing, there inside the scars
You’re loving arms they draw me near, And You’re smile it brings me peace
Draw me closer, Oh my Lord, Draw me closer Lord to Thee
Chorus:
And Captivate us, Lord Jesus, Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence falling down…
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You
Your voice is powerful, and Your words are radiant bright
In You’re breath and shadow, I will come closer to Thine
You whisper love and life divine, and Your fellowship is free
Draw me closer, Oh my Lord, Draw me closer Lord to Thee
Chorus
And let everything be lost in the shadows of the Light of Faith
And let every chain, be broken from me as I’m bond in Your grace
For Your yoke is easy, Your burden is light
You’re full of wisdom, power and might
And every eye, will see You
Chorus
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You
Captivate us
posted by T @ 1:05 PM
5 Comments:
Wow!!
Okay I will admit to being much more compact--will send you that sermon you've been wanting,once I track down the story.
chuckle) Keep in mind Hoody this was a devotion my youth group could take home not a lesson. There would've been more class participation if it had been a lesson. This is also one of my more longer Lessons from the Music because I haven't sung this for special. There is no way I'd have that much time to present everything unless it was a Singsperation. The Lessons from the Music I did from messages and songs I've already sung are quite a bit shorter. ;D (Big Grin) This one is my favorite though.
Ahhh yes---just amazed is all-hope you like the sermon, keep in mind these are always rough notes that change as I get a feel for the crowd.
Amazed in a good way or bad way? (lol) Loved the sermon. Posted comments up on it. :D
Just amazed by you in general and the way you compliment me babe.
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