Your Opus - By Debra Courtney

Burlington Free Press

 "...your voice is unique, and it is sweet to God's ears." Song of Songs 2:14 

Any woman who has the courage to believe in her music “Opus” (her work) inside her will write the music for her orchestra, but must to turn her back on the audience to conduct the instruments that brings HER VOICE. "Neglect not the gift that is in thee..." 1 Tim. 4:14.

This is really a word that speaks to me and rings true to who those who know who they are and who’s they are and what their “Opus” their work is. But some of us don’t. 2013 was a mixture of breakthroughs, delays and contradictions for many of us. Like the noise of an orchestra tuning up.

 If we want to orchestrate heavens symphony we must be willing to turn our back on things and some people on the earth. Sometimes God puts His people into a thing called “transition processing.” It is a place where we go into our own “wilderness transition” so we can find GOD’S VOICE and FIND OURS! I have experienced this “transition” even all the while being surrounded by people. Have you?

It takes courage for us to believe in the music, the “Opus” inside us, the instruments that we bring together and surround ourselves with so we can conduct the symphony we need to hear, and to be faithful to write it out accurately so that others can hear it also. 

When we are true to the one thing that we alone were created to do, we tap into an inner strength, not in and of ourselves, but an inner helper, an inner comforter, what could be called a “Spirit of Truth” that we are doing the right thing, even when nobody around us fully understands where we are at. This “place” of being is the most powerful in the world. It is an aspect of “God Speaking” out through the uniqueness of His design as he created us that we are exhibiting.

DESIGNED for PURPOSE and DRIVEN by PASSION

If driven by purpose without passion our work (our Opus) is average and never the best. If driven by passion without purpose, we are pleasure seekers (sensualist). If driven by both, we are a creative force in a uniquely designed universe waiting to cooperate with us and to bring us all into all that we were designed and destined to be.

I like what Steve Jobs said, “To design something you really have to get it! Be passionately committed to thoroughly understand something. The design of the Mac was not in how it looked…it was how it worked.” 

It is not so much what people think about us that matters, it’s what heaven knows about us that matters! Use the criticism to your advantage. In fact get on the positive side of it.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him who refuses instruction and correction, but he that heeds reproof is honored." Prov. 13:18.

The notes erased, marked through or scratched out on the paper of our lives are ugly – however stay with it, because when the 'Opus" is finished the melody is beautiful.

Forgetting those things in the past and pressing onto the greater achievements of the future. The symphony you will conduct with all the different talents of the orchestrate (instruments)that shows up in your life can change everything in your future. It's your choice. It's your "Opus".  Be that instrument in the Redeemer hand.

Commotions In Motion

Photo by Amelia Grace Photography

“COMMOTIONS IN MOTION” 

By Debra Courtney

There are what I like to call “Commotions in Motion” that you will encounter at some point in your journey through life.  The "commotions" sent by God, the "commotions" that bad decisions create, and the "commotions" our eternal enemy will send.  Each “commotion in motion” is navigated differently.

Commotions in Motion That God Sends

The commotions in motion God sends are severe, but they are designed to get us on over to the other side more liberated and living in abundance than we ever would have been if we avoided going to “whale university” and played it safe.  God sent a commotion to bring Jonah out of resistance and into God's perfect will – to Nineveh you go – the very place Jonah hated.  Even when Jonah does it right, he does it wrong; however, the whole time God is working within and around Jonah and accomplishing His purpose in him.  Most of us need a biblical friend or two like Jonah!

"But Jonah go up and went the other direction to Tarshish, running away from God…”  Jonah 1:3

“Then God assigned a huge fish to swallow Jonah…”  Jonah 1:17

“Then Jonah prayed to his God from the belly of the fish…”  Jonah 2:1

Do we love anything more than God?  Many a commotion is sent to break a hidden attachment from your life.  It may be the fear of not knowing, a childhood trauma, a person, or influence that does not belong in your life.  Are we seeking something more than what pleases the Lord?  Jonah made his own agenda greater than God’s.  He was delivered when he surrendered his will, and the entire time he was in distress, the fish was taking him to his destiny!

Commotion in Motion Made by Bad Decisions

This commotion in motion may be choices we made or choices that others made that affected you directly or indirectly.  Paul nearly drowned in a decision made by others to sail to Rome, when they should have stayed in the harbor.  There are many Christians who are frustrated with the choices world leaders in government have made, because they know the end result will be the loss of cargo (economic) and the very ship of state (shipwreck).

”Paul warned, 'I see only disaster ahead for cargo and ship – to say nothing of our lives! – if we put out to sea now.'”  Acts 27: 10

“The centurion set Paul’s warning aside and let the ship captain and the shipowner talk him into trying for the next harbor.”  Acts: 27: 12

“Last night, God’s angel stood at my side, an angel of this God I serve, saying to me, ‘Don’t give up, Paul.  You’re going to stand before Caesar yet – and everyone sailing with you is also going to make it.’  So, dear Friends, take heart… but we’re going to shipwreck on some island or other.”  Acts: 27 26

Adding new territory that wasn’t even in the original plan, God will overrule bad decisions to bring forth wisdom and get us where we need to be.  The commotions you create become a commotion God is in, once you let Him take over your ship.

Commotion in Motion Made by Attacks from our Eternal Enemy

The commotion in motion may be attacks that our eternal enemy sends, which are designed to stop us, overthrow us, and destroy God’s purpose for our life.  When Jesus was with the disciples a great “commotion in motion” arose that threatened their lives.

Jesus reprimanded them.  “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?”  Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down:  “Silence!”  Matt. 8:26

All things under the curse, such as sickness, financial attacks, and thefts, are not from God.

“When Jesus saw that a curious crowd was growing by the minute, he told his disciples to get him out of there to the other side of the lake…”  Matt. 8:18

His Word was sufficient to give them leverage over life and death.  Find the “WORD” God is giving us in our situations and challenges, and speak to the situation!  Jesus talked to the wind and waves.  He talked to trees that did not produce.  He talked to spirits invisible to the human eye.  Thoughts are “things” when they take on the power of fear.  Speak what God says, and watch heaven back up our words.  Jesus said He did what His Father did and spoke what His father spoke.

God is in control of our commotions in motion"!  The Holy Spirit knows the way through every commotion in motion, and He is on the inside of you.  All 3 commotions in motion are common to us.

Newsboys - Your Love Never Fails (Official Lyric Video) from newsboys on GodTube.

Sucker in the Dirt? by @ShelleyHendrix #Leadership #TeamWork #Attitude

Sucker in the Dirt?

by Shelley Hendrix

Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] his own interests, but also each for the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4 Amplified

My husband, Stephen, uses this phrase at times, "He threw his sucker in the dirt..." The first time he used it, I had to ask him to clarify what he meant, because I had never heard that phrase before (which, incidentally, is not unusual: the Hendrix's have all kinds of sayings most of us have never heard before!)  He told me it meant that the person gets offended and behaves like a child who thinks they're retaliating by "throwing their own sucker in the dirt," refusing to play.  The picture, as we see, is that the kid throwing the sucker is really only hurting himself, while he thinks he is taking a grand stand to assert his rights to have his way.

I am concerned about how many people in the Church are doing this very thing on a regular basis.  I'm also concerned about how Christians in the workplace are doing this, too.  I'm definitely concerned when I see this kind of thing try to rise up in me. 

We are all both leaders and followers, in varying degrees certainly, and as such, we need to be aware of how easy it is for us to think we know what's best for the organization.  In making this assumption, realize just how easy it is for us to miss out on what God might be doing in our midst simply because we get our feelings hurt or our ideas get rejected at one time or another.  When we decide we aren't going to "play" anymore, and we throw our own sucker in the dirt and walk away, we need to realize that we will be the ones who miss out on the fun and excitement when God's plan is finally revealed.


I look at it this way:  God, who is smarter than me and with better resources and knowledge, has asked me to come along for the ride.  Like a kid headed out on vacation, I don't get to determine where we're going, how we're going to get there, who's going to pay for things along the way, or what we're going to do when we get there, BUT, I DO get to go!

*****************************************************************************

What about you? When are you most tempted to throw your sucker in the dirt and refuse to play? 

How do you combat the pull to have it your way in your organization?