Originally published Thursday, 11 September 2014.
**Above All Else was originally published on LIVE IT OUT! blog.
Generation. This is a word that has circled in my brain for well over 2 years now. It is a gathering point for me. It is a word that conjures up unity toward a common cause, theme--the Kingdom. To me the word generation is not about age or demographic or what era you were born. No, for me it is the HERE and NOW. Those right here, right now who long to "do life differently" with their actions. Those right here and right now who live in grace and desire others to do the same. Those right here and now who want to ring the bells and sing the song and make much of Jesus through the much needed lens of LOVE...loving Jesus first and loving others out of that.
Press In
Yes! Our feast continues with a call to this generation (that is YOU and ME) to proclaim. Oh it is much more than words. It is a proclamation with our entire beings. A proclamation of His great works. And it starts with the Cross. It continues with the risen King who LIVES. It keeps going with the power we have at hand through His Spirit live in the privilege that we have to exist in His Kingdom that will reign forever.
One generation after another will celebrate Your great works; they will pass on the story of Your powerful acts to their children. (Psalm 145:4 THE VOICE)
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4 ESV)
Celebrate, pass on, commend, declare. Action words. Do you see it? He is worthy of our worship in action and not in theory. So much of what we say and do is in theory. It looks nice on our Facebook status. It sounds nice in group prayer. I'm guilty! Oh, Jesus forgive me!
Pour Out
Jesus, thank you for these great works. You are the God of action. Nothing about You is theory. You are Truth. You are both just and abounding in love. Let us not ignore Your great works, Jesus. We want to see Your glory in this generation.
Pour Forth
Let us put legs to our action words of celebrating, passing on, commending, declaring. Over the past four days I've been challenged to worship in action and not simply in theory. But lest we are tempted to go and do all of these things, a balance is needed. All of our action words of worship bring us in unity as a generation as we outwardly proclaim His mighty works. But, we must sit and rest in a private celebration––sitting with Jesus and not darting around through the day attempting to just keep up. We must surrender our preconceived notions of what we think God's goodness and mighty acts should look like based on our current agenda. Oh, this will cause us to miss it! Just because we don't place ourselves in a position to see His mighty works, surly does not mean they don't abound all around us!
Today as we outwardly feast on the fame of Jesus let's take time to cultivate an inward assurance of His goodness. Sit quietly...with a quiet soul...and press in. He will meet you there. When we desire to make Jesus famous, this pleases Him. I am certain He is ready to show off! Will you celebrate that?