Kate

Finishing up my Inthernship with Transparency

I have only 4 days left of my internship, and although I am glad to be finished I can feel that my heart is hungry for more. I am leading a service this Wednesday night; it is a midweek service that is deeper then our Sunday mornings. This Wednesday has been on my heart for a month which is when I found out I was preaching. The Lord laid it on my heart to speak about a lifestyle of worship. Transparency is definitely something that the Lord is teaching me. When you are transparent with the Lord especially during worship in everyday living, you will find rest and peace and restoration. Psalm 51 says it so well, that when you are in the presence of the Lord, you become totally transparent and honest and your heart and soul cry out to pray "create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me". Read the Message Bible translation – it will inspire you to greater heights. It did for me…. I pray that all of your internships end with an amazing rest and reassurance in the Lord!

Psalm 51 (The Message)

1Generous in love--God, give grace! Huge in mercy--wipe out my bad record.

2Scrub away my guilt,

soak out my sins in your laundry.

3I know how bad I've been;

my sins are staring me down.

4You're the One I've violated, and you've seen

it all, seen the full extent of my evil.

You have all the facts before you;

whatever you decide about me is fair.

5I've been out of step with you for a long time,

in the wrong since before I was born.

6What you're after is truth from the inside out.

Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

7Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,

scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.

8Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,

set these once-broken bones to dancing.

9Don't look too close for blemishes,

give me a clean bill of health.

10God, make a fresh start in me,

shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.

11Don't throw me out with the trash,

or fail to breathe holiness in me.

12Bring me back from gray exile,

put a fresh wind in my sails!

13Give me a job teaching rebels your ways

so the lost can find their way home.

14Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,

and I'll sing anthems to your life--giving ways.

15Unbutton my lips, dear God;

I'll let loose with your praise.

16Going through the motions doesn't please you,

a flawless performance is nothing to you.

17I learned God--worship

when my pride was shattered.

Heart-shattered lives ready for love

don't for a moment escape God's notice.

18Make Zion the place you delight in,

repair Jerusalem's broken-down walls.

19Then you'll get real worship from us,

acts of worship small and large,

Including all the bulls

they can heave onto your altar!

AMEN! Isn’t the Lord Amazing……

posted by Kate Patterson @ Saturday, November 26, 2005