Pour It Out!

What can I say today?  There is so much on my mind that I am not sure where to start or where to go!  If you see could see in to my brain, you would see the gears working double time.  I am pretty sure they are smokin'!  When my brain is working in overload, it has a hard time focusing on just one thing.  Please, someone else tell me you are like this too!  BUT, I am going to try to focus on one thing that the Lord is teaching me.  Hopefully, I won't chase too many rabbits. (There are no guarantees!)

If you have your Bible handy, grab it and a pen (or highlighter!)  Let's look at Matthew 26:6-13.

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,
⁷ a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil,
and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table.
⁸ But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying,
“Why this waste? 
 ⁹ For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”
¹⁰ But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman?
For she has done a good work for Me.
 ¹¹ For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. 
 ¹² For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. 
 ¹³ Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world,
what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

If you write in your Bible, then would you underline or highlight these two key parts: verse 8 and verse 13!  You will want to remember these.

Since my husband and I have led worship together since before we were married over 13 years ago, we have had a long time to study the topic of worship.  Today, I am going to tell you what I think worship is.

WORSHIP IS HOW YOU LIVE OUT YOUR LIFE BEFORE THE LORD!  It is NOT a song.  It is NOT a church service.  It is NOT if you are lifting your hands or bowing your head.  Worship is NOT confined to certain times in the week.  If you are a true worshipper that is described in John 4:23, you understand that worship IS a constant pouring out of your life before Our Awesome God and King!  If you know me well, you know I love corporate worship.....did you read that......I LOVE it.....but, church services are a very small percentage of my worship each week.   

(Just as a side note, I would like to say that our lives should be in a constant state of 'pouring'!  We need to be pouring our lives into others, just as we need someone to pour into our lives.....Titus 2 women!  This is just as important for older women as it is for younger women.)

One of the most important acts of worship a woman can do is to pour out her life for her husband and her children.  People WILL think you are crazy!  Some will even with good intentions, try to convince you that God has given you too many talents and giftings to waste it staying at home with your children.  Some will never understand your devotion to your husband.  They might not understand that it brings you joy to serve him and to honor him!  There are fellow Christians who don't understand this Kingdom vision. They might look at you and think, "Why this waste?"   

Sometimes worship is costly, just like the very costly fragrance oil in the text.  Mostly it is very expensive in the pride department.  Being a wife and mother is a process of constant humbling.  Everyday you understand Paul better when he said in Romans 7:15, " I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate!"  Anybody else ever feel this way?  Everyday I work at not being impatient ONLY to find myself having to swallow my pride (yet again!) and apologizing to my children or my husband for my failures.  The Lord uses this costly perfume for refining and growth.

Something I have come to grasp in the last few years is that God loves worship.  He loves it in song and He loves it in action.  What others see as waste, he sees as beautiful!  Women, when you feel tired and like you are doing this all wrong, you need to remember verse 13.

Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world,

what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

God loves your worship!  It is beautiful to the Creator of the Universe!  The perfume that you pour out day in and day out raising warrior for Christ that you think no one sees, TRUST ME, you have an audience of One!  The meal that you prepared for your family that no one seemed to notice you worked extra hard on, He knows!  The fact that you only had 3 hours of sleep last night because of a fussy baby and still need to do everything you normally do on 8 hours of sleep, God sees your sacrifice of worship, and He knows that you did it for Him and for His kingdom!   

Worship freely without hesitation and without expecting anything in return in the moment, because the Lord is making it known wherever the Gospel is preached, and He is our reward!  Hallelujah! 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!