I saw a TikTok the other day. It was a pretty lengthy one, but one line stuck out to me more than anything else I heard the whole rest of that day. The girl said, "Your relationship with God is supposed to be personal, but not private." That hit me so hard y'all, all I could do was literally sit and ponder that one line for a good long while.. Then, I started asking myself some questions that I didn't necessarily love the answers to.
Questions like:
Do I share God's word like I should? Nope.
Do I talk about God's goodness as much as I talk about my problems? Sure don't.
Do I always love like Jesus? Probably not, but I try.
Do I tell of His grace and mercy like I should? Not enough.
Do I praise in the valleys like I do on the mountains? Doubt it.
Do I treat my relationship with Jesus as my rock and solid foundation? I hope so, but...
Psalm 62:6 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
The questions just went on and on... Do y'all ever do that? And if so, do you make changes based on the answers to your questions or do you just chalk it up to you're crazy for talking to yourself and push it aside??
Sometimes, it's almost like we want to keep our relationship with God locked away, to keep it all for ourselves.. Either that or we are just to embarrassed and scared to share. But, what if that person who witnessed to us when we got saved felt that way? What if they never talked to us about Jesus? Just imagine where we'd be.. We should be doing the complete and total opposite of having a private relationship with Christ. We should share His word with every single person we come in contact with. We should shout it from the rooftops and do everything in our power to build up God's Kingdom-y'all; that's what He wants from us. Why are we so hard-headed sometimes? I'm asking for myself as well!
Listen, I get it. I can sing to thousands of people all day long, but ask me to actually talk and witness to someone, I'll shell up everytime. We are working on that...
Pebbles of Praise
Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
I sing in church every Sunday morning, and it's truly one of my favorite things that God has ever blessed me with doing. I get to sing with some pretty amazing ladies that love Jesus every bit as much as I do and honestly, we all love praising Him! To be able to step up on that stage and worship God is such a blessing. I try very hard to drop my worries and burdens off on those alter steps as I'm walking up to that microphone. Not because I'm perfect or because I want people to think I don't have problems, but because He is perfect and deserves my very best and I can't give Him my very best if I'm weighed down by problems that I probably created for myself.
I'm usually the girl that blares my Christian music up as loud as it will go with the windows down praising Jesus through town because I really think that I could be witnessing to someone out there who needs Jesus. Hands up in the air, singing to the top of my lungs, unapologetic and unashamed. With all that said, I'd be lying if I told you it was always easy for me... It's not, but I do it anyway.
Life has been kicking our tail here lately and I have most definitely allowed it get the best of me some days. Now, please know that I'd never, ever turn my back on Jesus, and I feel it in my spirit when I need to straighten up and fly right. One things for sure and two things for certian: The Holy Spirit will whip ya into shape real quick and in a hurry, because y'all hear this now: God deserves the highest of praises, always and He only wants what is best for us.
We can't just throw out little pebbles of praise and expect God to move a massive boulder. Y'all, it just don't work like that. HE IS OUR ROCK and He is our firm foundation that will never move or crumble. Y'all, we gotta share that love and knowledge with everyone we can!!
It doesn't matter what we are going through; we should still praise. It doesn't matter who hurt you, what your financial status is, what the medical diagnosis is, what or who you lost-PRAISE HIM!
Don't just praise Him in private, praise Him for all to see!
Even on our worst, no-good, miserable day, our Father deserves our very best. Not to mention, it just makes you feel better! You'll never convince me that blasting up my favorite Jesus song and praising through it, isn't the best remedy for any problem I'm facing. You'll never convince me because I've tried all the other things and nothing, but Jesus will work!
Stones
My new favorite song right now is a few years old, but it's been on repeat in my car for weeks. It's called Stones by Kim Walker-Smith. Y'all, if you haven't heard this song go listen to every word, especially if you're in a battle right now.
In short, the song says:
I will praise you, I will praise you
I won't let the stones cry, I won't the stones cry out
I will praise you
Something in me has to
I won't let the stones cry, I won't the stones cry out
When I first heard the song, I didn't really understand it, but it still spoke to me. I didn't really know what "I won't let the stones cry" meant. But, as i started to research it, it wrecked me.
Luke 19:38-39 takes place as Jesus was entering Jerusalem the week before He was killed. When the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" Because they were worshipping and praising Him. Luke 19:40 says Jesus replied to the Pharisees (who by the way knew they were completely powerless in this moment) "I'll tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."
Now, he didn't mean the stones would literally cry out with praise to HIm.. "The stones will cry out" was not meant to be a literal statement. Y'all, feel this: What it seems He meant was- it's more likely that the impossible would happen (the stones crying out) than for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to enter His capital without praise and honor.
Everything in creation declares His praise, but WE as humans are created in God's own image and should always praise Him.
And since we're on the topic of stones, don't be throwing them either...
Pray. Praise. Repeat.
Boulders
John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."
We all have boulders in our path of life, and unfortunately, it's when we're stumbling over those boulders that all eyes are on us, seeing how we are going to handle it. Will we fall or get up? Will the boulder kill us or will we survive?
Listen, if you take nothing else from this blog post, take this: My friend, you will stumble, you will, it's inevitable-it's gonna happen, but praise Him through it. Because while you are stumbling, He's going on ahead of you to pave a smoother path. Watch Him turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones!! Praise Him so loudly and proudly that everyone around has no choice but to know who He is!! Only then, will you have a testimony to tell all who will listen and not for your praise but for HIS and HIS alone!!
Singing and praising is my way of sharing my relationship with Jesus so that you might see I'm nothing without Him. As long as I have Jesus, I have all I'll ever need. So, yes, keep your relationship with God personal, make it the most personal and important relationship in your life but never keep it private, someone needs to hear your story. How cool would it be if God used your mess to be the message that brings a lost soul to Him?? Share of His goodness and glory, y'all!!
Boulders are heavy and stumbling blocks can't have my soul ,
Because, Jesus is my rock and that's how I roll!
Forever singing His praise,
Michelle
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