joshuahendrix

Well.  That’s a churchy thing to say, but I believe God wanted me to speak directly to YOU.  Don’t start thinking I’m sending this message to someone else specifically.  God specifically wanted to say it to you.

So, I believe God wanted to say to you,

You have been waiting,, wanting,, needing,, more…  More life in your spirit…  More FEELING of being alive…  More faith….  More hope…     Today that begins to happen!  Right now, begin drawing your heart near to Me and I will begin breathing new life into you…  New hope…  New vision……  Don’t be in a hurry,, and don’t think about the past.  Allow Me to move in your heart and into your heart.

——

Ok,

So, I believe God would have you read this over and over if necessary and meditate on Him.  He will change your heart.  Remember, He told me this was specifically for the person who reads this, so if you just read it He wanted to say this to you!

Joshua

I’ve gotta say, I’ve been feeling a push to go for it lately and you’ll probably pick up on that just a wee bit.  Is there any better time than now?  Is it good to wait till we’re ready and comfortable?  The question of now or later has been coming up in my life, and I suppose it’s a normal part of life for everyone.

I think there are some things in the kingdom we can’t get without waiting.  I believe God has designed some things to come with time.  There’s no way around this, and honestly I don’t recommend trying:) However, I also think there are things we’re supposed to do now!  James 4:17 says; “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”-NIV.  Just before that James is talking about not arrogantly boasting about the future, but humbly saying “If it’s the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”- James4:15.  He ends this discussion with (paraphrase)”Do what you know to do.”

This is not some great profound idea, it’s just that I think we need to get off our butts and stop dragging our feet.  It’s amazing that we sit around and talk about how fast time flys, and yet take months or years to decide to do what we already know to do.  I recently heard about a church who took a couple years to pick a worship leader(YEARS!).

If we’re waiting on the Lords timing, then great, but if we’re waiting because we’re waiting, STOP.  We have to move when we can move and while we can move!  I believe in trying to be good stewards we can miss the boat by not moving when we can and should.  Anyone heard of balance?  Let’s count the cost(quickly please), then make our decisions and go.  You can do it!!

Church of Northern Colorado come alive!  Loveland!  Fort Collins!  We have to want more!  Right?  Are you satisfied with your affect on the world around you?  Are you ok with the level of supernatural promises of God being fulfilled in your life?  Do you realize you don’t have a lot of time here?  Jesus said” I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” John 14:12NIV.  My point in this is to inspire you to want more not to bash, though I’m not opposed to it:).

I wonder if we’re gonna see more of God’s power when we ALL start going after it.  It has come to my attention lately through a couple sources(Bill Johnson & Bob Jones) that there are things we need to accomplish corporately.  God hasn’t necessarily designed supernatural things to all flow through only one person.  If we had EVERY person we prayed for healed it would dramatically change our lives.  Bob Jones asked the Lord why he would see someone healed supernaturally, then go for months where seemingly nothing happened when he prayed over people.  He felt like the Lord showed him he couldn’t handle it if everything he prayed instantly happened, and that the Lord is calling us as a body of believers to see things happen together.

This idea excites me!  If we all begin praying for the supernatural promises of God and one person here and another person over there start seeing things more, think of what can happen.  I think it’s the picture of popcorn popping.  One pops here then another, pretty soon the level is rising and it’s happening all over.  We could see exponential change in our churches and society without anyone specific getting all the credit.  We could dismantle the idea that it’s one specific pastor or person that has to pray, and it doesn’t have to take place inside the walls of the church!

Let’s start believing for God’s power to come and radically change our work places, our government, and society.  Go and change the atmosphere around you!  Carry God’s presence with you to work and see what will start happening.  Let’s see what will happen when we start acknowledging His presence while we’re in the grocery store and change the spiritual atmosphere there:)  Let’s not be satisfied with where we’re at,  in a good way.  Let’s get weird together Loveland:)

Joshua

joshuahendrix.com

What do you think about playing “non-worship” songs in church?  Let’s assume we’re not talking about a song with graphic or unclean language and ideas(talking about sex inappropriately for example).  What about playing a song that does have anti-biblical words, but we just play the music and sing no words?

Here in our Loveland, CO church we played “Every Day I Have the Blues” and people loved it.  I don’t know the last time I had such a response after our meeting.  We’ve had people requesting more songs like it.  So, is it wrong for us to enjoy music in church?  Good grief, if you think that stop being stupid.  We aren’t playing these songs to take the focus off God, we’re just coming together and enjoying music.  I think more churches would get people in the door if they would start playing musically relevant songs every now and then.

Do you find yourself having a problem with playing “Rock and Roll” in the “House of God”?  As Pastor of Elevation Church Steven Furtick recently said on the subject (paraphrased)” WE ARE THE HOUSE OF GOD!  This is just a building!”  We can’t forget this, but we do!  If you listen to a song on your iPod, it’s no different to here it at church.  We’ve got to work through the double standard we’ve been taught all our lives, and stop being stupid about it.  We’ll never break the hypocrisy out of us until we start getting rid of this kind of crap!  Music is only one aspect, but it’s very revealing on how you feel.  We need to be “real” in all we do, and stop making fake fences.

So get rid of your crap, and I’ll work on mine.

Later

I thought it might be a good idea to talk about difficulty(since my eyesight is failing in my left eye).  The doctor is saying my MRI shows abnormalities in my brain(like I didn’t know that already).

So, in thinking about it, I find myself wanting to draw into God and worship Him even more.  In that way, this difficulty is a gift.  I want to worship more, but worship with song less(hmmm).  I want to pour out thanksgiving from my heart, but don’t really want to sing as much right now.  The enemy has in no way taken my song, I just want to worship even more in conversation with Him.  It’s been an interesting time.

The enemy has been in full attack mode trying to kill my resolve, but to no avail.  I’m receiving my healing even as I type.  My healing has not been instant, but gradual.  Understanding why God sometimes heals fast and sometimes slow is a topic for another blog(and your guess is as good as mine).  Never the less, my eyesight has been returning as well as having less “other” symptoms.  Woohoo!

I’ll end with this.  Worship Him in every way you can!!  Don’t take your ability to sing, dance, think, etc. for granted and use it while you have it.  The fact is that in this life, we will ALL experience death if we’re not here till he returns, so seek Him with ALL of you!

Peace out

Hmmmm.  What to think about musicians?  I’m a drummer and aspiring guitarist.  I used to live in a place where you didn’t get opportunities to use your gift at all.  There were amazing players sitting all around you week after week, so there wasn’t enough need for players to go around.  Now I’m in a situation where I guess players get to play more than enough, because they actually turn down opportunities to play in front of hundreds of people.  I will say, I don’t prescribe to the notion that in order for a player to play at a church they need to be plugged in at that church.  I think it’s good if they’re plugged in at a church, but it shouldn’t be a requirement for a week here or there at another place.  What “the church” needs is more Good musicians!  It’s not a requirement for worship to take place at a meeting, it’s a requirement to move forward in quality and standards.  You can worship without music at all and should, but that doesn’t mean we should set no standards for what comes off the  stage.  I don’t want to walk into the local club on Friday and hear better music than I can find in a church, but it’s more often the case.  We need to be thankful for where we’re at, but also press for higher and better quality.  I think it would be cool to be able to find out what percentage of the population is actually gifted with a high musical IQ.  I wonder if you knew that percentage, (then narrow by those that are using it) how many people should there be in your local church that can really play?  Of those, how many play contemporary instruments?  Things I ponder…  All that said, I have the privilege of playing with some amazing players week after week and feel very blessed.  I can usually find replacement players(not so much this week), but I know lots of places that can’t.:(