Be Available

As mentioned a few days ago, Peter went to the LIFT conference at our church this weekend.  He was sharing some things with me this morning from seminars he went to by members of the worship team at our church.  (ie Christy Nockels, Jesse Reeves) and I wanted to make sure I heard what he was saying and included it in our current journey.  The overarching theme:

Be Available

Psm. 37:4

⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I think this can be one of the most misquoted scriptures in the Bible.  
This verse does not mean...

 "If I am good enough, God will give me what I want".

Peter shared, reminded me of the meaning ... 

God Alone 

is 

the 

Supplier 

and 

Fulfiller 

of 

Our Desires

As we delight ourselves in Him, He gives us His desires, and also fulfills them in due time.  What a sweet promise to rest upon.  We need to make ourselves available to Him to listen and do what He desires.

Psalm 139.  God knows us intimately.  Nothing about anything surprises Him.  And I need to read it again and again for comfort.  I can rest in the fact that he knows us intimately and has all things under His Sovereign control.  Being available becomes so much easier when we realize it is with someone who knows us so intimately:

 ¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.
 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
   and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
   the night will shine like the day,
   for darkness is as light to you.
 ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
   How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.
 ¹⁹ If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
   Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
   your adversaries misuse your name.
²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD,
   and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
   I count them my enemies.
²³ Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

^{Is. 56:7}
If we could Be Available and called "a house of Prayer"--what a privelege that would be:


⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain 
   and give them joy in my house of prayer. 
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices 
   will be accepted on my altar; 
for my house will be called 
   a house of prayer for all nations.”




Neh. 8:9
I pray that as we walk through this we will not "mourn or weep" but we will have hearts of gratitude toward God.  We will Be Available without mourning or weeping about our circumstance.


⁹ Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.




Peter also spoke about how the Levites (the leaders/priests) had the job of carrying the Ark and Uplifting it.  Peter and I are not worship leaders by trade.  Although he does sing in the choir so does have that responsibility to carry worship to the people with a prepared heart.  
However, we are all given responibility by God to carry whatever He gives us to carry, and do it well.  In the process we are to LIFT Him up and honor Him in all we do.  


He said he really felt convicted to Be Available to God for whatever is to come...
Hold onto your seats, cuz I don't know when it's comin' or how it's comin', but the Lord will figure out a way to make it happen in His timing.  Our job is to 

Be Available 

can you feel the tension in the room? =)