Let me introduce you to Sarah. Sarah Francis Martin is a wife, mother, mentor, and author of Just RISE UP!: A Call To Make Jesus Famous. She has a passion to ignite this generation to get up off the couch of complacency and do life differently for God’s kingdom. When she is not typing away at her laptop, you can often find Sarah on date nights with her husband, rough housing with her young son, or getting her hands messy with craft paint.
This fall, I’ve invited a few friends to share what God is teaching them. I hope their words are an encouragement to you as you continue to awaken to the joy and delight that comes with being a child of God.
A whole lifestyle of praise. Sounds like a lofty idea, right? I thought so, too.
But after recognizing some captivating benefits of said lifestyle, I’ve come to crave it. I’ve come to depend on it.
Making Jesus famous with every square inch of our lives brings us to a place of benefit. (And some benefits are self serving, because isn’t our God so kind?) The ultimate benefits of a life of praise lie in a renewed sense of the ultimate reality:
Jesus is ever worthy of our praise, even when we don’t feel like praising His name. He is worthy.
1. A Never Ending Adventure
Do you ever spend time in the depths of your mind, mulling over and obsessing over something you said or did? Have you ever replayed a scenario ad nauseam with different outcomes?
I have. It’s not fun to live in my brain some days.
These obsessive sessions in my mind are times that I have to scream back to myself, “Get over yourself, Sarah!” During these moments, when I think I’m the center of the universe, I have to remind myself that there is good news: I am NOT.
Oh, but even better news, He IS.
Making much of ourselves is exhausting and grows boring. But making much of Jesus is a never ending adventure of exploring all the ways to praise Him with our lives. One sure-fire way to “get over ourselves” is to serve others as an act of worship to our King. This serves to refocus our perspectives as we reevaluate our level of gratitude toward Jesus.
2. A Divine Detox
I’ve noticed a bit of a detox happening in my heart and mind as I go deeper in my lifestyle of praise. I’ve begun to live consumed by more and more and more of Him and less of myself.
Thus the detox! In the depletion of this self-focus, a painful realization happens every day as I see how much muck is still left in my heart. This process is good for the soul. For every declaration, every exclamation directed at Jesus, there is less and less room for my pride.
3. A Position of Nearness
Of course Jesus is always near, always around, always present. But, our choice to circle our entire existence around making Jesus famous will result in a renewed perspective and position of nearness. Many of us know Jeremiah 29:11 by heart, but most of us stop short in memorizing the next few amazing verses:
“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…” (Jeremiah 29:12-14)
What if those plans we seek after, those dreams we chase, that prosperity we crave were wrapped in the very gift and nearness of the King of the Universe? What if those things we have always wanted in life were pale in comparison to the fact that we have fellowship with the One and Only? What if His nearness was all that we needed to feel blessed, with purpose, and prosperous?
Though the benefits of a lifestyle of praise are endless, there is a bottom line above and beyond the benefits:
HE IS WORTHY. Period. Enough said.
May He increase, as I decrease.
This week we’re giving away 3 copies of Just Rise Up by Sarah Francis Martin.
This week we’re giving away 3 copies of Sarah remembers the exact moment when the relationship between her faith and her entire life came into clear focus. Sitting in her favorite red chair with a comfy blanket and a cup of hot tea, she snuggled in with her Bible and a new book. The book was huge, several hundred pages long, and yet it didn’t intimidate her. Written by the beloved Chuck Colson, How Now Shall We Live? focused the lens of Sarah’s life and spelled out a segregation that she had unknowingly been living with—a segregation between her faith and the rest of her life.
She has since come to understand that The Lord designed each and every one of us uniquely and put a dream in our heart that is attached to His agenda for this world. Many of us have felt the stirring in our heart to make a difference with our life, yet we don’t always know how. The key, she found, was to surrender to God’s leading, seek him first, and allow him to do the big things He has planned with our life. In the end, God’s agenda and our dreams and passions will intersect around one very important phrase – a battle cry, if you will – “Make Jesus Famous!”
Based on Psalm 145, this invigorating study motivates women to do life differently by making Jesus famous in all aspects of life. Just RISE UP! is a call to get off the couch of complacency, live a life of praise with a humble posture and Kingdom perspective, and step into a life of true purpose.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The 3 winners will be selected and announced on Friday.
Speaking of worship, what is your favorite worship song lately? Will you share a link as a comment so we can take time to lift up the name of our great God?
