Worship & Testimony in the Valley.

 "Abraham was a man of altars, and Jacob would be a man of tents. But Isaac was a man of wells, and he knew God's constant provision. He also knew God could provide in many different ways, not just one." Commentary on Genesis 26.
David Guzik.http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide_Gen/Gen_26.cfm?a=26019

Our worship and our testimony of God working in our lives should never be restricted to our mountain top experiences.  Those times when God gave us breakthrough moments in our Christian life are to be savored as chapters in the novel He has written for us.  There is a sin that we commit when we idolize those peaks and look fondly back trying to bring them forth as a means of sustenance while we are in His valley.  It is not our own striving or efforts which create mountain experiences with God.  He is the One who controls our circumstances and knows the exact rhythm of our days.  Grasping for another mountain top experience through that next worship service, worship conference, worship book or anything other than the complete focus on God in the valley is to be watched and guarded carefully.  There are many many good things to be a part of.  Conferences, books, music, mentors, web sites and the like.  While these are good resources, they do not provide the well of provision that comes from our personal alone time with God.

Valley's are places of rest.  Valley's are places of stillness.  Valley's are places of calm.  The mountains surround a valley and the temptation is to look up and desire to be on the peak in the thin air, alive with the coolness and the breathtaking vistas that mountains provide.  Up there we see what God might have for us.  Up there we see the result of our ministry and we shout in praise for how God has worked in our lives.  In the valley, however, our temptation is not to allow God to lead us to our next mountain top experience, but to look longingly back on the last.

In the Valley, our testimony should be as strong as it is on the mountain.  For here, in this low place, is where God does His work in us for future ministry.  How can God work in a vessel that refuses to be reshaped for His glory?  A vessel that admires itself for what it has become, how beautiful it is, how useful, can never be used for anything other than its current shape.  A vessel that accepts what it has been and allows God to reshape it into something more beautiful through the fire, brokenness and stillness of the valley is sure to come out of that valley more useful and beautiful than ever before.

Do not worry about your road path.  Whether you be mountaintop or valley or somewhere in between.  God knows the peaks that He has planned for you and the timing of those peaks.  Go to the well that rests in the valley God has placed you in and draw in the sweet water of the Holy Spirit.  Allow the heat of the valley to reshape and recast you into the vessel that God has planned for you next.  Allow the stillness of the valley to be the place where God instructs you and explains His vision for you.

Beware of re-creating your mountain top from week to week or session to session.  Submit and be overwhelmed by His Spirit in your journey.  

Be beyond blessed, bright ones.

#Lightleaning.

Pastor Cat