HIS CALLING

His calling

There is a calling that God has put on the ones He called and made His own by the blood of His Son.
Don’t ever doubt it. 

He called me to use my talents and the gifts He gave me. He called me no less than He did the disciples and Paul. I was chosen before the foundation of the world and I am bound by love and humility to fulfill His calling on my life. How could I not give everything to the one who gave everything for me. He is everything to me and as much as I love singing and sharing my journey in front of people, it is for Him and Him alone that I do what I do and I know He knows it, and that is my motivation and the reason I write songs and articles. It is the reason I am writing this book. It is all about Him and what He has done in my life and what He has allowed me to do for so many years. He is my audience and the one who I want to make smile on me. I want Him to know that He is everything and without Him I am nothing. I want Him to be glorified, and on the day when I enter His presence I want Him to know that all the glory I have been given all belongs to Him. I will cast all my crowns at His feet. I will bow before Him - My King, My Savior, The King of Kings. I will try to thank Him for all He did and it will seem so little, but He will know and He will honor me for it. Jesus is “My Everything My All”. He is my hope and the one I follow no matter what. He is the one that comes and finds me when I wander off. He is the one that reminds me that I am His and that He will carry me when I can’t do it on my own. He will see me through the trials of life and He will never leave me or forsake me. His love won’t let Him. He is bound by Love and by the promises He made to me. He is Good, Kind, Gracious, Humble. 

                                                     Mt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.

I am still bound to this calling. I still have the the yearning inside of me to fulfill what He gave me to do. I feel it everyday and I cannot escape it. It is His calling and as I submit myself to Him and continue to give expression to it in writing songs, and leading worship, and writing my thoughts, He will continue to work to open doors for me and to make my desire a reality. He never stops. He will continue until His work is done and He will accomplish what He began in me and in you and everyone who will humble themselves before Him. Our God is greater and more powerful and more loving than anything we can imagine. He is the creator of everything we see. He is the creator of us and He is the one who will redeem His fallen creation and make it new again. He can do all these things and He will do all these things. That is the God I follow and serve and who I gave my life to. I am bound to Him by love. I love Him because He first loved me. He set me free and made me His child. I am a joint Heir with Christ.

I know, I can preach, but understand, this is the truth and I am convicted to share it. Please understand that this whole book is about Him. It is about His work in and with me. It is about what He called all of us to. It is about our being lights to the world and bearers of His truth and His image. It is about how God allowed me to be used by and for Him. You can understand why I would focus so much on Him. It’s all about Him - 

                                            Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR

I am so thankful that God allowed me so many years of ministry to so many people. 

     I am thankful for His continued blessing and His faithfulness in my life as I move into what is next for me. I am thankful for His continued work in making me into the image of His Son, and the opportunities to continue using my gifts and talents for Him and His kingdom. I am thankful for every new song I write - which is His work in me to remind me what I was made to do. I am thankful for my family, my friends and all who have shared with me how much my ministry has meant to them and I am thankful for God never giving up on me and opening doors and reminding me who I am and what I have in Christ. I am blessed beyond my wildest dreams. 

     I am thankful that I am free of the burden of running a church and free to begin to rebuild my ministry and to see if there are opportunities out there for me to do what I did for so many years again. That would be my greatest dream, and other things that God might have me do to further His Kingdom and to further the work of sharing Christ.

      I am also thankful for all the years I got to minister in and serve Open Door Fellowship, and to lead the amazing people I got to do ministry with.  I am so grateful that I was allowed to lead that amazing church and I am thrilled that it is now being led by someone else and God is doing great things there and I will always cherish the time I was allowed to lead them,  and I will always remember that God did use me most of the time even though there were some times when I was not as effective as I had wanted to be. But God also knew when enough was enough and used the elders to free me and to allow me to begin to heal and renew and remember. What a blessing that has been as I have been on the journey of rediscovery and renewal. It is all God’s providence and I am so thankful that I have had this time to remember, write a book, and rediscover me and my heart for His work. That is a gift beyond measure. 

     My God Is GOOD! He knows me and exactly what I need and He makes a way where I can’t see a way. He also reminds me with every step that it is in His power and in His grace and in His righteousness that I live a breath and move and have my being. It is all about Him! I must never forget that and neither should you. Apart from God I can do nothing, but with Him all things are possible. I am living proof of that and even now I am being reminded that it is still true and my life is in Him and He in me. 

     

     There is no other way to live. I will forever worship Him who died for me so that I could have life forever and be acceptable to His Father. Jesus paid it all, and I owe everything to Him. Every breath I take, every solitary heartbeat, every second of my life I owe to Him. There is no one like Him and He stands alone as the Savior of mankind and His creation. His death paid for sin and His resurrection defeated death for all who believe. His Spirit animates me and makes me alive and real and allows me to dream and hope and rest assured that one day He will get me home. On that day I will see His face and I will thank Him for His gift of life and forgiveness and grace. I will forever worship Him in Heaven, and enjoy His presence and live in the light of His glory as I will be made new and whole and substantial enough to be able to look on His glory and not die. I will be complete and I will see my family that has gone before me and I will bask in His eternal light forever and see the universe the way He sees it with eyes that can see what He sees, because I will have a glorified body and will enjoy Heaven with nothing to stand between me and the reality of His Kingdom. There is no greater hope and I long for the day when I am home, but until that day I will sing His Praise and I will look for His return to take His bride home.

For By Grace You Have Been Saved

For by Grace You Have Been Saved

Years ago I was in Texas to lead worship for a retreat. The topic was ‘Environments and Relationships of Grace’ and I spoke at one of the sessions. I have included some of my thoughts here for you to contemplate. Grace has been described in various ways: 
- the unmerited favor of God. 
- undeserved love 
- Gods Riches At Christ’s Expense 
- Grace is God’s giving us what we don’t deserve and mercy is God’s not giving us what we do deserve.
I am sure that you could add a lot more of these succinct attempts at giving definition to the concept of Grace. The thoughts that I want to give here have more to do with the outworking of grace in our lives. 

Grace sets us free - it never binds us to something

       One of the most crucial hindrances to Grace that Paul and the early church had to deal with was the continual attempt by some to impose restrictions and conditions on grace. It continues until today. Legalism is all around us and robs us of a relationship with Christ. 
      Paul fought this at every turn. He understood that to make the focus our sin would only empower the sin. Grace focuses on Christ and His gift of life. To focus on that takes away the power of sin and empowers the new life that is in us because of the Holy Spirit that indwells us. Grace allows us the freedom to come as we are and believe that Christ within us will change us.

      Legalism binds us to rules and regulations and makes us responsible to deal with all that is wrong with us. We never could fix ourselves.  It was precisely because we couldn’t be good that He had to come. It is His goodness and righteousness that I live in now. In an environment of Grace I am changed by Christ, not by my own effort.

Grace provides a safe place

     Grace provides an environment of safety. I can reveal my weaknesses and struggles and not have to defend myself anymore. I am free to try and to fail, and my failure not change how I am viewed or whether I am acceptable to God. I can be vulnerable. When we are not in environments of Grace we will hide and keep our weaknesses and our sin hidden and in the darkness they grow and fester and drain us of life. Jesus was a safe place. He saw men for who they were. He knew the sinners and He ate with them and liked being with them. He wanted them to know they were welcome. The ones who had to fear Jesus were the self righteous men who would bind others with rules and regulations, and in doing so enslave them rather than setting them free.
      I must ask myself - am I a safe place for people to deal with the issues of their lives and know that they are accepted because of Christ and the issue not be their performance.

     This does not mean we ignore blatant sin or that we not confront sin, but rather that we not make sin the primary focus, and demand behavioral change rather than a heart change. Jesus and His unconditional love must be the primary focus. 

This leads into the next thought -

Grace looks beyond fault and sees need

God hates sin but He loves the sinner. We should take a lesson. I can’t say it any better than this - God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:8 While we were sinning, Christ looked beyond the sin and saw the need. He didn’t come to condemn but to save. His motive was salvation and restoration. 

Grace provides protection

In relationships of grace we must choose to protect each others weaknesses and submit to each others strengths. Too often we see people fail in an area of weakness and then just write them off because they failed. (We set pastors up for failure all the time because we expect them to be supermen who have all the gifts of the spirit in equal measure and when they don’t do certain things well we criticize and demean them for their lack and then wonder why they are ineffective). That is an indictment on us rather than them. We should protect them in those areas of weakness by surrounding them with people who can bring to bear their strengths. Then both are being used effectively and the work of God gets done and God is glorified in the body functioning effectively. When I am in an environment of grace where I can reveal my weaknesses and know I am protected, it allows God to work in and through me unhindered.

Grace provides Hope

It only makes sense that when we are operating in an environment of bondage and performance that we would become disillusioned, burnt out and wander off into the wilderness to take a back seat and not be used. How many people do you know who are in that place. They started out well but soon faded into the woodwork because they were not able to live up to the legalistic standards that are placed on them. Legalism robs us of hope! Grace provides us an atmosphere where hope flourishes because it is not us but rather Christ in us. Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and exist.”

Grace is the environment God has created in which He works to fashion us in the image of His Son Jesus Christ. 

THE STORY GOD IS TELLING!

                             The whole of Scripture is God's story of love, grace, and redemption
        God is telling us what He is doing and will do to redeem His fallen creation as well as man.

THE STORY GOD IS TELLING
by Randy Thompson
   my latest song

Do you understand the story God's about to tell
He left His home in glory to come to earth to dwell
Here among us as a man of flesh and blood like me.
Jesus came to finally set us free

     Jesus gave up everything to show His love to me
     Knowing in the end His death would finally set us free
     Every step upon this earth He knew would lead Him to the cross
     Where love would win and death would be defeated

He traded a crown of glory for a crown of cruel thorns
He gave up a throne in heaven for the cross that He bore
To the hill where nailed upon the tree He knew He had to die
Knowing in the end His death would bring us all eternal life

     I will forever worship Him my Savior and my King
     For loving me enough to suffer hell eternally
     And watch His Father turn His face away in the final moment
     And do it all because there was no other way
     This is the price that Jesus Had to pay

I stand amazed at the love that Jesus showed
I stand in awe of His willingness to suffer and to go
To the cross for you and me and all who would believe
So we could live with Him eternally

     There is no greater story in the world that can be told
     I will tell it with my dying breath as Jesus takes me home
     With every ounce of life I will proclaim His matchless love
     And stand before knowing that He knows
     Jesus knows
     And all that really matters is that He knows

WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE

All I know is I’m not home yet. This is not where I belong. 

You can take the world, just give me Jesus. 

In that day I will be complete and whole and satisfied. 

Until the day He takes me home I will look for His return 

and I will sing His praises and shout His glory to the heavens 

and give my life fully and completely to the work of lifting 

Him up for the world to see.

There is no other way I can live and know that I have 

run my race and completed my journey to His saving love 

and the kingdom that awaits me. 

I want to stand before Jesus on that day and know that He knows I gave it all, 

held nothing back, gave no ground, and never stopped using my gifts and talents for Him. 

I want Him to know that He was the one I always had in view in everything I did - 

singing, leading worship, writing articles, giving messages, 

and whatever else I have had the privilege of doing. 

If He knows that, then I will have lived my life to it’s fullest 

and I will be able to stand before Him knowing I gave everything. 

He has always been the one I wanted to please 

and for Him to know that I sang about Him and His work in and through me. 

I want Him to know that His love was always my motivation and because 

He loved me I could love others the same way.

So I ask you now. 

Are you willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus? 

It will be the greatest journey you will ever go on and you will never be the same again. 

It will change you. 

You will learn more about yourself than you can imagine, 

and you will never be satisfied with anything else ever again. 

Once you have tasted of His goodness and His power and His love and grace, 

you will be forever changed by it. 

It will define you and the world will know that you are different 

for having trusted Jesus. 

This I know to be true - Life lived for Christ is a life

fully lived and a life that I can present to Him on that day when I enter His presence

and know that I have completed my journey and honored Him

in all I did and I will know He knows and if Jesus knows- 

that is all that matters.

So come, give your life away to Jesus and to those around you.

Take the journey, and discover who you really are. 

Let Him define you and let Him renew and restore you.

The Adventure awaits - don't miss it!

TRUST AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT - IT IS EVERYTHING!

Trust Him with your life, Trust Him with His plans for your life. 

Trust that He can accomplish what He set out to do and Trust His love, power, forgiveness and His righteousness. 

                                     The Christian life can be defined in one word - TRUST!

     

Trust is crucial because with out it we cannot experience love, learn truth, and walk in His righteousness. If you want to ravish God’s heart, tell Him you Trust Him. Only then can you experience His love and His perfect plan for your life. Trust is everything. It is the first step in experiencing all God has for us. It is the key that opens the door to all His gifts and His love and His power. It allows us to grow in wisdom and knowledge.   

      

He wants our Trust more than our love. He wants us to die to ourselves so He can give us new life. I can only truly know God and all He as for me when I choose to Trust Him with it all. It also sets us free. When He sets us free, we are free indeed. I want to be free and to know Him and His grace and love and power and His forgiveness, so I choose to Trust. I am fully in for the journey of a lifetime. I am wanting all He has for me and all He wants to show me, the trials, the joys, everything. I will follow Jesus no matter what comes and I will never stop. Jesus was willing to die for me and suffer Hell so I could know life. He was willing to drink the cup God placed before Him knowing that it would save us and allow us to know life abundant and eternal with Him.

Trust is faith being lived out and allows me to know His love, His forgiveness, and His never ending joy in seeing me being made over in the image of His Son. God is never more pleased with me than when I choose to Trust Him in everything I experience and go through while in this foreign place. I will forever trust Him.

                                      A Song I wrote about Trust

                                                                Trust in You

                             Your ways oh God are a mystery, And my life is a history                            

                             Of trying to unravel them and never knowing how                             

                             And only now I’ve come to see It’s far beyond my ability to understand                             

                             What no one can until we fall into Your hands and choose

                                 To trust in You,  I will trust in You                                  

                                  There is no better way for me to touch Your heart oh! Father                                  

                                  But in trusting You,  I will trust in You                                  

                                  It’s all I have to offer and it’s all You ever wanted                                  

                                  Was my trust in You.......

                            In the darkness that is all around, when I can’t find the solid ground                               

                            When I’m bloodied and I’m broken And my hope is all but gone                               

                            And I can’t see the way to go, and I can’t hear you anymore                               

                            And I can’t feel You deep inside, and I’m longing for Your presence                                 

                            It is then that I’m reminded that You never go away

                                  So I will trust in You,  I will trust in You                                   

                                   There is no better way for me to touch Your heart oh! Father                                   

                                   But in trusting You,  I will trust in You                                   

                                   It’s all I have to offer and it’s all You ever wanted                                   

                                   Was my trust in You

                           Your love is always here with me You promised it would always be                               

                           And only now I’ve come to see that the only way I’ll know it is in

                                  Trusting in You,  I will trust in You                                   

                                   There is no better way for me to touch Your heart oh! Father                                   

                                   But in trusting You,  I will trust in You                                   

                                   It’s all I have to offer and it’s all You ever wanted                                   

                                   Was my trust in You, trust in You

Will you trust Him?

Will you serve Him out of that trust?

Will you sacrifice for Him because You trust Him?

Will You lay down Your life for Him?

If you choose to do this, then He will give you a life you have never known

and others will follow and give their lives to Him.

He is worthy of our trust and He is fully capable of giving us 

the life we can only dream of.

He is waiting and anxious to prove Himself as we trust Him!

There is no greater gift you can give God than your trust. 

And He will honor it by proving Himself trustworthy and showing you things 

more wonderful than you can imagine. 

He is ready and waiting and willing to show you a life beyond your wildest dreams.

The Hobbit
   One of my all time favorite stories
                                                                                                                                      

 I am reminded at this point of Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit.

He was forced to go on an adventure that would take him to places
 far beyond the shire,

And Hobbits don't like adventures!

He would experience things that he had never known existed. 

All along the journey he just wanted to be back home in his Hobbit hole,   

with his favorite pipe and his favorite chair and his fire and reading his favorite book.

But at the same time Bilbo began to find out that he was much more than he had ever 

thought he was capable of being. 

He was brave and resourceful and surprised by his own abilities. 

Upon returning home to the shire after  finding the magic ring, defeating Smog the dragon,

and helping the dwarves reclaim their homeland he realized that he would never be the same. 

He would never be satisfied with the life he had had before the adventure. 

He had seen too much and learned too much about himself to ever be satisfied with his old life. 

He was changed forever because of the journey.

I can say that I know this to be true for myself. I have seen too much and 

learned too much about myself on my journey to ever be satisfied with a lesser life.

I want the adventure, and to discover who I really am and what I am capable of as 

I trust Christ with me.

                                                                          The adventure awaits and it is calling you. 

                                                       Jesus is asking us to follow Him, and on the journey we too will

                                                       learn about ourselves and what we are capable of when we trust 

                                                      and choose to be courageous, and never take our eyes off of Him.

  

                                                             And we will never be satisfied with anything else having

                                                    walked with our creator, King and Savior. It will change us and we

                                                 will forever long for the journey which changes us and allows us to see

                                                          who we really are and what we can do when we trust Him.

                                                     So now is the time to take up your cross and follow Jesus and see

                                                                                      what life is really all about.

                                                                        It's about a life that only Jesus can give you!
                                               So don't wait - follow Jesus on the greatest adventure you could imagine.

                                                                                You won't be sorry - I promise!
                                                                The truth is - Jesus promises that we won't be sorry
                                                                                        and He can be trusted.
                                                                            The adventure awaits - don't miss it!