Flashes of Thought.

Contrary to what many believe, the heart , and not the voice, is the true worshipper’s greatest asset. It is from the altar of the heart that either profane or acceptable worship is lifted up to God. In its first mention in scripture, the word worship as used in Genesis 22:5 was used to signify obedience , surrender and sacrifice, all of which are heart matters. Scripture rightly puts it when it speaks of the heart as being the wellspring from which the issues of life flow (Proverbs 4:23). Is this to discredit the place of skill and excellence in voice and musicality? Not at all. The Bible itself exhorts us to “play skillfully unto the Lord” (Psalm 33:3). Yet from God’s perspective, the heart is primary, while voice and musicality are ancillary. It is from this vantage that the Lord contended with the children of Israel, declaring: “ These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Isaiah 29:13). As long as their...

A sublime wonder walked upon the earth. God looked upon it and was pleased. The Holy Spirit watched it with delight. The angels meditated upon it with awe. What was this wonder? That a woman carried God in her womb. Pure, simple, holy and graceful Mary. The vessel through whom the ultimate salvation and redemption was born into the world. A woman so zealous to fulfill her role in the Grand Redemption Plan that when the angel Gabriel came to her with the news that Christ would be born through her, she completely yielded her entire being to the agenda of God. “I am the Lord’s handmaiden,” she said. “Be it unto me according to your word.” In her simple words is revealed the posture of any woman that would carry God in her generation. By acknowledging herself as God's handmaiden, Mary was in effect saying that she did not belong to herself. Rather, she belonged to God, to do as He pleased with her. This sentence reveals a woman who was dead to herself and alive to God. She ...

The session was intense, the atmosphere electric, and our mother was in her element. Gone was the soft and gracious voice of the nurturer. Here was the roar of a lioness among her cubs, teaching them how to roar like herself. The message that day was simple: “ Daughters, know how to carry your God.” The lesson was drawn from the Book of  1Kings 11:1–4, concerning the foreign women whom Solomon loved. “ But King Solomon loved many strange women… of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, ‘Ye shall not go in to them… for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’… And it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.” (1 Kings 11:1–4) Not much is said about these women except that when they came to Israel and to Solomon, they came with their own gods. The influence they carried was so strong that even Solomon—the wisest king in Israel—was turned away from the Lord. These women carrie...