You're my Lord

I was apart of an incredible night of praise last week. It was organised by the Melbourne Staff Songsters (MSS) - It was a beautiful night of worship. God was with us and we worshipped in Spirit and in Truth. One of the songs we sang was just amazing. God spoke to me very clearly through this song. It's called 'You're my Lord' By the New Zealand based, Parachute Band. It is amazing. It's a reflective song that flows very smoothly and help people to enter into deep worship with God.

Verse:
You are calling me I hear You, Deeper into You I run to worship You alone, You are God alone. You are everything that I adore.

Chorus:
You're my Lord, You're all I long for. In Your hands there's power to heal, power to love. You're my Lord, You're my treasure. You're enthroned in holiness, Majesty.

God spoke to me through this song. Confirming His calling upon my life. But He told me that I have to only long for Him. To rely on the power and healing in His hands, and to run deeper into Him. To offer my WHOLE life up to Him as worship. Every little teeny weeny part of my life to Him. He is faithful. He calls me to life a holy life. To have a life of Holiness. This IS possible through the Holy Spirit and the might power of God, who is at work within us.
I pray that God speaks very clearly to you through this song. Let me know what you think.

Serving under the Risen King - Jesus!,
Stobes xoxox

John 10:10

Today I was not in class, I did not have S.F.E and I did not go to afternoon house duties. I have a slight case of food poisoning. I went out with a friend for supper last night. In the Cafe' I saw thing beautifully, delicious pastry thing with crean and custard...and even better than that, It was on special!! WOOHOO!! There were obvious reasons for that. I finished eating it, It tasted fine. We hopped in the car and on our journey home, my stomach began to experience 'cramps' they weren't too bad to begin with...However, they didn't stop at minimal discomrt. It turned they became really really painful. And so I was awake most of the night with these stomach cramps, there a more details that do not need to be addressed here. I was reminded of how satan makes things look incredibly good to us, in order to lure us in. He causes us to stumble. The result is that we do stumble. And we can fall into temptation because it looks so inviting. I love God's promise in John 10:10 where he says: 'I have come so that you may have life in ALL it fullness' I plan to live that full life both in an earthly sense and in an eternal sense. God intends us to live forever with Him, but we need to follow His leading and continue to have a healthy relationship with Him and do the things that He wants us to do. Regardless of what we have done in the past, where we have been - Today is a new day! He has called us to life in all it's fullness! Are you living a life that's full? If not will you begin one today?
God Bless you!!

What has God been saying to you?

Okay, okay - So I haven't blogged for awhile, I'm sorry. Still getting used to College, now I'm used to it, I ready and raring to go!! God is good.

Let me share some stuff with you...
LENT - For lent this year I've given up using the lifts at College - Man using stairs from 1st floor to 10 going up - Your legs feel it! But it's a great time for me to pray while I'm doing that. I'm hoping that Lent will get me into the mindframe that I don't need to use lifts at all. After all I don't wanna turin into a 'Porky Pig in a Cadets uniform' - I started jogging the other day around Princes Park. It's lovely! There are SOO many people jogging in the morning and at night, it's incredible! A bunch of people, all there for the same reason - to get fit and stay fit.

I have been reminded this week of the worlds need for Salvation! They need Jesus! There is an urgency in this. He calls us to become equipped and empowered by His Holy Spirit. We are Soldiers and we need to continually move forward to the front line. No longer can we sit around being half-baked Christians. It's time to take a stand, to boldly put on the armour of God and to move forward in the mighty power of Jesus of Nazareth, the Risen One, The Holy One, The Saving One, Redeeming One, All-Powerful One - In HIS name, in HIS strength - May be step up to the challenge of the great commission.... Are you with me?

So what is it that God has been speaking into your life over the past couple of weeks, I'd really enjoy hearing what He has been saying to you. Please comment on it and be a blessing to others as you do.

I thank God for you each!

Timbrels

You either hate them or you love them - They are a thing that have bought many blessings to people within the Army and outside of the Army. They have been the basis for many fond memories for those outside of the Army and generally a memory that people within the Army would like to forget.

So what is it about Timbrels? Personally, I LOVE worshipping God through the playing of my Timbrel. I was having a discussion the other day with someone who said that Timbrels were 'Old, outdated and irrelevant' For some of you, you probably agree. Me on the other hand, have a different view of them. Perhaps a Timbrel Brigade playing out the front of a worship service is not relevant, However, In my opinion - I believe that If I want to stand/sit in the congregation and play my timbrel in worship, then It is a way of personal worship, within a corporate setting and that, is never outdated. Personal worship can never be outdate, and people cannot judge on how 'Spiritual' or not you are simply because you play a timbrel!

Timbrels attract people - they are noisy! It's all about the attitude. If people play them to glorify God - It's an act of worship and it's relevant. However if it's for the glory of ones self, it then BECOMES outdated, old and irrelevant. We used Timbrels last year at a big street festival/march - It was incredible! People heard, and they looked and saw the love of Jesus with all those marching. God was glorified through this event!

If you have the right attitude, then go for it...If not, then I think it's time to store the Timbrel in the cupboard!

God of all eternity - May you challenge us to always have the right attitude when we worship you. Whatever we use to worship - may it be for your glory!

Psalm 104 - The works of God in Nature!

Psalm 104:1 says:

''Praise the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; You are clothed with splendour and majesty.''

What an awesome proclamation of praise to begin with. Look at the descriptive words written in this verse. Splendour...majesty...great..clothed. God is wonderful.

We can often forget just how incredible God is - It's hard for our mind to comprehend the enormity of God. I really encourage you to read all of Psalm 104 as it is just an incredible Psalm of praise, adoration and worship. Use it as a devotional. Use it for challenge. Use it for encouragement. Use it for life. Live it.

Father as we recognise your voice and your calling we praise you. You created this earth and you still know us by our name. You call us Your children and you seek to have a real, deep and meaningful relationship with us. You love us, and we thank You for Your love. May our lives be an example and testimony of Your great love and provision for us! Hallelujah!

Worship & Preaching

To all those reading - May you experience the joy of the Lord and His grace, love and peace as you continue to seek the very heart of God and live totally devoted to Him!

Some would say that College has started - And I would agree with them to a certain degree. We started Orientation on the 31st and that went for a week and a half - It was good stuff. Yesterday we started an intensive on Worship & Preaching Essentials, this goes for two weeks. For those who don't know, an intensive is when you do a unit everyday for 2 weeks, rather than doing it over a semester. In order to get all the units completed for the degree there needs to be some intensives thrown in here and there. It's a wonderful thing.

Today in class we were discussing different aspects of worship and we looked at a range of different categories they are placed in. Formal liturgical, Traditional Hymn Book, Contempory Music, Seeker-Sensitive etc What encourages me is that there are so many aspects of worship, for it is not just music, worship is a lifestyle.It's glorifying God. My challenge for you... Think about your life, your work, your place of learning, the things you do during the week and ask yourself if the things you do glorify God. Every single thing we do should bring God glory as our act of worship. God has challenged me with this and I pray He has spoken to you through my words. I pray that you get absolutely drenched in love and blessings from our AWESOME God!!

3 days down, How many now to go??

The first 3 days of College have been brilliant! Sure it's only been orientation, but I have already learnt so much. I've learnt that getting up for house duties @ 7:30am isn't so bad, infact it is actually quiet fun! I've learnt that it takes ages to get hot water on the 6th floor, but I'm thankful that I can actually have a shower with clean, cold water - it is a luxuary for many. I've learn't that regardless how tired I may be, I'm still incredibly energetic and extraverted - Can you believe it's me? I've learnt that God is so much bigger than anything I could ever imagine, actually I didn't JUST learn that, I've known it for quiet some time. I've learnt that Orientation comes in many different shapes and forms and you can have orientation for almost anything - I've actually got a few suggestions for nexts years Orientation...
Orientation to the Orientation course.
Orientation to local shopping
Orientation to the building
Orientation to big day out noise
Orientation to local restaurants
Orientation to taking FREE books from the College
Orientation on picking up your meals AND ordering them
Orientation to 'getting to know you' nights

And well, thats just to name a few. It's all good. I'm absolutely LOVING God and what He is saying to me. Our session is GREAT, They ALL love Jesus! And they are passionate about doing what He wants for their lives and the life of His Army. Can you Please pray for all the Cadets of the Witnesses for Christ session - May we continue to be full on for Him, to be totally, wholly and fully sold out to doing His will. In HIS name we will remain faithful to Him! He saved us and has bought us to this place to grow in Him and to serve Him. God is alive in this place and we worship Him for all He is, all He has done and we're expectant about all the good things that He is GOING to do. I believe it in His name! HALLELUJAH!!! Blessings and grace always, Cadet Aaron Stobie (hehe)