LizChatter

Let's spend a portion of today being grateful for our nation and praying for the enemies of our nation. 

This thought has been permeating my quiet time lately. Its really laid bare my desire to honor God's Word and the principles given there. Thankfully, the power of the Holy Spirit empowers me to live according to God's Word in freedom and the liberty with which Christ has made me free. 

Many Christians understand worship as a specific time in the scheduled gathering of believers when the band plays, and someone at the front of the gathering leads the congregation to sing, lift their hands, etc. The word "worship" is so often used to describe this time of the gathering together that the general understanding of the word has seemingly shrunk to meet the most common uses of the word.  Sometimes church leaders will use the word "worship" to describe a posture of the body, but even that still limits the fullness of what worship really is. Blame English language speakers, if you like, as English words are reassigned meanings by various generations and often used in ways that limit all of what that word could relate. So here’s a bit about me… I am called a "worship leader" so I know reference that is being made when terms like "worship service", "time of worship", "worship leader", are used. In fact, I use thes...

My glasses broke! My  rose-colored glasses are broken!!  Could I borrow yours?  You don’t have rose-colored glasses, you say?  Oh, well then - good for you. I jest! I had no literal pair of rose-colored glasses.              __________________________________________________________ Have you ever gotten news that was just really, really super good? Well, recently I got a piece of news that was super good. The sense of relief I felt at hearing the news was nothing short of an answer to more than 12 months of quiet prayer and earnestly seeking the Lord. Not everyone shared my sense of relief. In fact, some stated publically that they were saddened by the news. It was another opportunity for me to see how our personal history/personal experiences influence perspective; good, bad and neutral experiences directly influence our perspective; whatever the circumstance may be. The information was posi...

Have you ever stopped to take a critical look at the relationships in your life? If so you'll remember the feeling of dread when you come face to face with the fact that some of your relationships are unhealthy and even harmful. The feeling of "whoops" comes in when you realize that unhealthy relationships are most often developed when we are in an unhealthy place ourselves. Many times the person with relationship issues is able to identify that their unhealthy relationship is a by-product of seeking to end their own loneliness. If you have not been through this process take note: It is not easy to evaluate relationships ! Because of our own fallibleness it is hard to evaluate relationships. Can we determine that someone or some relationship in our life is unhealthy when we ourselves are sometimes struggling and still in the growth process? Yes! We can and should. Knowing how you fit and where you stand in the hearts of those people in your life is an important part o...

Inside my life/outside the walls When I talk about “going to church” what do others hear? Do they hear talk of an exclusive club that has mystical traditions? Does the average American think of ‘going to church’ as people being dressed unusually well or hearing about an unreachable God? Do they immediately dismiss the idea of church because they feel that they don’t fit a certain image? What flashes through someone’s mind when they hear of ‘going to church’? I guess a lot of what they hear is indicative of our heart attitude when we talk about “the church”. As for me, when I say “lets go to church” what I’m saying is “lets go to the place where we meet with other people interested in participating in corporate worship (singing, prayer, Bible study and fellowship)." However, the church is a more than a place, it’s much more than a tradition, and it’s more than the particular group of people that I worship with. The Church is a living, breathing unit that is comprised of indiv...