I was at the gym this morning in the locker room, and I heard Don singing. Don sings all the time. This morning, he had 'Stronger' by Hillsong United stuck in his head. I think that one is one of his favortites.
Before I came to Off The Wall, I was never much of a singer in public. I have a crappy voice and I never really wanted to have other people hear me sing worship songs in the grocery store or wherever I happened to be in public. But the funny thing is, Don has a pretty bad voice too. He jumps keys all the time and forgets lyrics and mumbles. But he keeps on singing. For Don, singing is about worshiping Jesus, and he doesn't really care what people think or where he is.
I remember the fist time I met Don. It was about a year ago. We were in a Starbucks in New Hampshire, and Don walked in singing as loud as he possibly could. This was my first 'Don experience', as I like to call them. I stood next to him as he ordered his coffee and sang 'The Motions' by Matt Redman as loud as he could to the barista. She just looked at him like he was crazy and didn't really know how to respond. I wanted to go hide in a corner.
In 1 Thesselonians, Paul commands "Do not quench the Spirit of God" or in another translation "Do not put our the Spirit's fire".
I quench the Spirit so much. Probably every day. I can not recount the number of times I have been in a setting of worship at a church or at youth group and God tells me to get on my face and my response is "NO!". I am like "God, what will all these people think of me!?" But the worst part about it is that I am worshiping God with my brothers and sisters in Christ! Why would anyone of us care what position we take in worship. That is the reason we all gather, to worship. And the funny thing is that whenever I happen to see someone on their face or with thier hands raised, I am like "wow. that is awesome. I am going to worship like that." But why are we so hesitant to get on our knees when no one else is. It really should not matter.
Yesterday I was in subway ordering a sandwich. I love subway. It is by far my favorite fast food restaurant. This subway is right across the street from the house and I tend to be a frequent customer. So I see the same guys working there. God has had a way of telling me to talk to people. I don't know what it is, but something inside of me says "talk to this person". I get that a lot. So i am standing in line and I hear God say to talk to the guy making my sub. And I am like "no, i don't really want to right now. I don't want to inconvience myself." So I stood there fore about 2 minutes watching him make my sub and that urge would not go away. So i finally just couldn't take it anymore. So I asked the guy if he liked working at subway and told him that I wanted to get a job there really bad. The conversation really was not that big. I talked to him for about a minute and he gave me my sub and I left. As I was walking home, thoughts just filled my mind as to why I don't listen to the Holy Spirit. So often I repeatedly tell Him "No".
If we are to grow in Christ, it is essentinal that we do not quench the Spirit of God and put out it's fire.
Can you say confidently that in this season of your life you are growing in Christ?
If not, have you ever asked yourself if you quench the Spirit?
Would you define yourself as a passionate, obedient follower of Christ?
I feel like God is teaching me so much right now. I hope this blog encourages you to chase the Spirit and followe wherever He leads. When we are obedient in the small things, like listeing to "God tugs" and asking the cashier at Walmart how her day is, God faithful in giving us opportunites to Glorify Him in the big things.
JN
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