I responded to God’s call to ministry when I was 17 and started leading worship in a small church not long afterward. God’s mercy and grace were abundant as I was helped and encouraged, corrected and guided by some loving and wise pastors and laymen and women during those early years. I was “adopted” by several families who made sure that “single young fellow” would have something to eat or someplace to rest.
In my limited experience, I was confident in what I knew and my abilities and had a sincere desire to serve.
Like many beginning in the ministry, the expression “you don’t know what you don’t know” fit me like a glove.
So if given the opportunity to tell my younger self some things, I believe I would start with these things:
1. Spiritual knowledge is not the same as spiritual health
Knowing some biblical knowledge is not the same as understanding the Word and applying it to your life. Though I had a regular time in the Word, I lacked tools in discernment and how to make application in my everyday life. Spiritual knowledge is not the same as spiritual health.
As Peter Scazzero shares we can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. I desperately needed help learning how to be healthy emotionally. I needed help dealing with issues in my life. Somehow I thought I would just pick it up along the way or something.
2. The song of the Church started long before me…
I needed a biblical understanding of what worship was and wasn’t. I knew my experience, but had never studied worship, read much on worship, or how what I was doing fit into it all. I knew what I liked and didn’t like. I was trying the measure the distance of the earth to the moon with the short little ruler of my experience; worship was so much more than I understood. How we had gotten to the point of where we were in congregational worship had no connection in my mind of where we were going.
History was ok and some of the stories were great, but as far as I was concerned, life was always going to be singing, youth musicals, and new music. I didn’t really need the old stuff. I needed to see that the song of the Church started long before I arrived and will be going on long after I am gone. I needed to grasp what had gone on in the past to help me deal with the future.
3. I need to live in the acceptance that only Christ can give
My self-worth is based on what God in Christ has done in my life, not what I could accomplish or how well I could perform. I secretly longed for approval from friends, and others that could validate my worth and value. Little did I realize that I was giving them a power that they could never really give and could not serve to fill the vacuum I felt inside.
I really needed to see that Christ in me “was the hope of glory.” I no longer needed to be driven by the comments of those around me for my security, but instead, live in the love and acceptance that only Christ could give.
4. The right to be heard is earned through trust
Developing strong relationships are basic to life, ministry, and discipleship. We will earn the right to be heard by the trust we had developed more than the position we hold. Learning how to become a servant leader, focusing more on what God is doing in someone's life and joining in that, is more important than trying to develop relationships that will "help further my career."
If I could go back and share with my younger self some things, there would be a lot I would want to share, but I think I would start with these.
Showing posts with label emotional health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emotional health. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Friday, July 27, 2018
13 Reminders
Before school begins soon and I generally like to post some goals that I desire for the students which God allows me to teach, but this year I am changing things just a bit and am listing 13 reminders for me as a teacher:
1. Content and application are two sides of the same coin; teaching is incomplete attempting only one.
2. Skills needed for our ministries must be honed by proper application and practice. "Practice does not make perfect; Correct practice makes perfect." Until we move from understanding the skill to rightly doing the skill we cannot be effective.
3. We teach people, not textbooks; the materials are only a means by which we can share, love and disciple.
4. Respect is earned, not forced. Respect gained by fear leads to avoidance; respect gained by love and trust deepens both. Respect is a two-way street.
5. Anger and impatience are like fire; they can burn and hurt all those around, whether intended or not.
6. The Holy Spirit is the source of creativity; my sensitivity to His working either leads me to join or makes me a hindrance.
7. My response to the students around me must be centered on seeing what God is doing in their lives, not how they respond to me.
8. Fresh study will bring more fruit than simply recycling old notes.
9. The calling and privilege to teach came from God and He has the authority to remove it anytime He pleases.
10. My joy and self-worth come from what God has done through Christ, not from my own efforts. “He who began the good work in me will carry it on until completion until the day of Christ.” [Phil 1:6]
11. We speak the truth in love so that the nature and character of Christ are foremost in all we do and say.
12. My emotional responses are the red flags of warning and caution that can reveal areas in my life which are not consistent with the nature and character of Christ.
13. Becoming wisely transparent about personal weakness and struggles can be a help and encouragement to others as we grow in our sensitivity to our great need and dependence on Christ.
Extra:
I'm not responsible for trying to convince students how smart I am or how much I know, but to join in what God is doing in their lives through the skills and knowledge He has given me.
1. Content and application are two sides of the same coin; teaching is incomplete attempting only one.
2. Skills needed for our ministries must be honed by proper application and practice. "Practice does not make perfect; Correct practice makes perfect." Until we move from understanding the skill to rightly doing the skill we cannot be effective.
3. We teach people, not textbooks; the materials are only a means by which we can share, love and disciple.
4. Respect is earned, not forced. Respect gained by fear leads to avoidance; respect gained by love and trust deepens both. Respect is a two-way street.
5. Anger and impatience are like fire; they can burn and hurt all those around, whether intended or not.
6. The Holy Spirit is the source of creativity; my sensitivity to His working either leads me to join or makes me a hindrance.
7. My response to the students around me must be centered on seeing what God is doing in their lives, not how they respond to me.
8. Fresh study will bring more fruit than simply recycling old notes.
9. The calling and privilege to teach came from God and He has the authority to remove it anytime He pleases.
10. My joy and self-worth come from what God has done through Christ, not from my own efforts. “He who began the good work in me will carry it on until completion until the day of Christ.” [Phil 1:6]
11. We speak the truth in love so that the nature and character of Christ are foremost in all we do and say.
12. My emotional responses are the red flags of warning and caution that can reveal areas in my life which are not consistent with the nature and character of Christ.
13. Becoming wisely transparent about personal weakness and struggles can be a help and encouragement to others as we grow in our sensitivity to our great need and dependence on Christ.
Extra:
I'm not responsible for trying to convince students how smart I am or how much I know, but to join in what God is doing in their lives through the skills and knowledge He has given me.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
What About Emotions and Worship?
I would like to respond to a recent note posted on the blog article, “Worship and Entertainment” by a reader:
I thoroughly enjoyed your post and it was very thought provoking. I would like to explore more thought on the role of emotion. While I agree that emotion for the sake of emotion is not worship, there are emotions that well up out of a deep connection with God. I am afraid that we tend to discount emotion as contrived or a surface connection when it can be a part of the most basic expression of our relationship with God.
I have briefly touched on worship and emotions in previous blogs [Worshiping by Faith, and Worship and Emotions], but this issue is huge in our culture and I believe that there is so much more that needs to be said. Because there are entire books on emotions, I will be the first to say that what is here will not be all that needs to be said, nor do I claim to be the authority to state them. These are only some ideas compiled that I trust can be used without causing too much confusion.
1. Emotions are not evil but are a gift from God. God, Himself, is described as having emotions and we are created in His image. Zephaniah 3: 17 states: “The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love, he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” The God who created all there is expressed joy in His creation and rejoices. Surely part of being formed in the image of the Creator means that the capacity to feel and express emotions is also a part of who we are. They can be used for evil, but that was not God's purpose for them.
2. We must remember that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9] Our emotions have been tainted by our human nature and must always be subject to the truth of God’s Word. Whether or not we “feel” something is right or wrong is not the basis for truth, but what Scripture. We must evaluate our feelings to make sure that they are consistent with God’s Word.
3. Sometimes our emotions are a result of physical issues and chemical imbalances in the body. These imbalances can weaken our ability to respond correctly, especially in stressful circumstances. I know from personal experience the effects of hypoglycemia [low blood sugar] can have and how now to help control it.
4. When we find ourselves reacting with very strong emotions like outbursts of anger, etc., then they need to become red flags that something is not right in our responses. In these cases, we need to ask ourselves “Why am I responding in this way?” Many times we will come to understand that there is a point of fear, etc., for which we might not have been consciously aware. Sometimes our emotional responses are tied to a traumatic incident in the past, or the environment in which we were raised. If blowing up and screaming were the norm in someone’s childhood, it is no surprise to find that person repeating the response as an adult in similar situations. As we become aware of the root causes we can begin to process them and respond in a biblical fashion and not just react. {I highly recommend Peter Scazzero’s book, The Emotionally Healthy Leader for anyone interested in the subject. Another good article is by Glenn Packiam and his excellent blog post: http://churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/306192-emotions-worship-wrong-glenn-packiam.html }
5. Music and emotions.
Music can express where words alone seem to fail and part of that expression includes our emotions. Music can become an aid for expression for those who have difficulty in expressing how they feel in words. The psalms are replete with examples of praise to God and joyful expressions in the form of a song; many are direct commands to “sing joyfully,” that is, to express joy to God through song. James 5:13 clearly states “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” Since there are many resources covering this aspect, I won’t go any deeper; it is clear that the Scriptures are replete with examples of music and the expression of emotions. Scott Aniol goes further:
“Music provides a language for a right expression of emotion, and good music actually educates our emotions so that they develop to maturity.” “... words cannot adequately express what we feel. Church music– that is, poetry set to music– provides the language we need to express our affections. So in a church service, as we contemplate truth and goodness, we use music to help us take the next step and respond with our affections.” [Scott Aniol: Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, p. 165-166.]
The key is to keep our focus on God as the center of our worship and not the emotions that the music may evoke, lest we find ourselves worshiping the feelings generated by the music more than God. We have freedom of emotional expression but focused on the root source, not the result.
6. The danger arises when we use emotions as the primary measure of our worship experience; we begin to focus on the result, rather than the cause. Allow me to fall back on the experience I had with my children when we served overseas as missionaries. After a trip that would take me away from home, I always tried to bring the kids something from where I’d been. After a while I noticed that it seemed at times they were more excited about “Daddy, what did you bring me?” than my return. If we are not careful we will begin to focus on the emotions that no doubt come in our worship, but lessen our focus on the reason for our worship.
I hope that this brief discussion helps some and doesn’t muddy the water too much. I do not pretend to have covered it all, but just some talking points for clarity on the subject. Until we are in eternity with God in heaven, I believe there will be this tension between focusing on Christ and our emotions. It is unhealthy to live on either extreme: to deny and refuse to express emotion or to give full reign to whatever we feel. Balance is needed, directed by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Word of God.
I thoroughly enjoyed your post and it was very thought provoking. I would like to explore more thought on the role of emotion. While I agree that emotion for the sake of emotion is not worship, there are emotions that well up out of a deep connection with God. I am afraid that we tend to discount emotion as contrived or a surface connection when it can be a part of the most basic expression of our relationship with God.
I have briefly touched on worship and emotions in previous blogs [Worshiping by Faith, and Worship and Emotions], but this issue is huge in our culture and I believe that there is so much more that needs to be said. Because there are entire books on emotions, I will be the first to say that what is here will not be all that needs to be said, nor do I claim to be the authority to state them. These are only some ideas compiled that I trust can be used without causing too much confusion.
1. Emotions are not evil but are a gift from God. God, Himself, is described as having emotions and we are created in His image. Zephaniah 3: 17 states: “The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love, he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” The God who created all there is expressed joy in His creation and rejoices. Surely part of being formed in the image of the Creator means that the capacity to feel and express emotions is also a part of who we are. They can be used for evil, but that was not God's purpose for them.
2. We must remember that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9] Our emotions have been tainted by our human nature and must always be subject to the truth of God’s Word. Whether or not we “feel” something is right or wrong is not the basis for truth, but what Scripture. We must evaluate our feelings to make sure that they are consistent with God’s Word.
3. Sometimes our emotions are a result of physical issues and chemical imbalances in the body. These imbalances can weaken our ability to respond correctly, especially in stressful circumstances. I know from personal experience the effects of hypoglycemia [low blood sugar] can have and how now to help control it.
4. When we find ourselves reacting with very strong emotions like outbursts of anger, etc., then they need to become red flags that something is not right in our responses. In these cases, we need to ask ourselves “Why am I responding in this way?” Many times we will come to understand that there is a point of fear, etc., for which we might not have been consciously aware. Sometimes our emotional responses are tied to a traumatic incident in the past, or the environment in which we were raised. If blowing up and screaming were the norm in someone’s childhood, it is no surprise to find that person repeating the response as an adult in similar situations. As we become aware of the root causes we can begin to process them and respond in a biblical fashion and not just react. {I highly recommend Peter Scazzero’s book, The Emotionally Healthy Leader for anyone interested in the subject. Another good article is by Glenn Packiam and his excellent blog post: http://churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/306192-emotions-worship-wrong-glenn-packiam.html }
5. Music and emotions.
Music can express where words alone seem to fail and part of that expression includes our emotions. Music can become an aid for expression for those who have difficulty in expressing how they feel in words. The psalms are replete with examples of praise to God and joyful expressions in the form of a song; many are direct commands to “sing joyfully,” that is, to express joy to God through song. James 5:13 clearly states “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.” Since there are many resources covering this aspect, I won’t go any deeper; it is clear that the Scriptures are replete with examples of music and the expression of emotions. Scott Aniol goes further:
“Music provides a language for a right expression of emotion, and good music actually educates our emotions so that they develop to maturity.” “... words cannot adequately express what we feel. Church music– that is, poetry set to music– provides the language we need to express our affections. So in a church service, as we contemplate truth and goodness, we use music to help us take the next step and respond with our affections.” [Scott Aniol: Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, p. 165-166.]
The key is to keep our focus on God as the center of our worship and not the emotions that the music may evoke, lest we find ourselves worshiping the feelings generated by the music more than God. We have freedom of emotional expression but focused on the root source, not the result.
6. The danger arises when we use emotions as the primary measure of our worship experience; we begin to focus on the result, rather than the cause. Allow me to fall back on the experience I had with my children when we served overseas as missionaries. After a trip that would take me away from home, I always tried to bring the kids something from where I’d been. After a while I noticed that it seemed at times they were more excited about “Daddy, what did you bring me?” than my return. If we are not careful we will begin to focus on the emotions that no doubt come in our worship, but lessen our focus on the reason for our worship.
I hope that this brief discussion helps some and doesn’t muddy the water too much. I do not pretend to have covered it all, but just some talking points for clarity on the subject. Until we are in eternity with God in heaven, I believe there will be this tension between focusing on Christ and our emotions. It is unhealthy to live on either extreme: to deny and refuse to express emotion or to give full reign to whatever we feel. Balance is needed, directed by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Word of God.
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