Shift with the Rhythm
The Rhythms of Grace (Day 5) // Prayer365
“I am the Lord, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator and King. I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. I called forth the mighty army of Egypt with all its chariots and horses. I drew them beneath the waves, and they drowned, their lives snuffed out like a smoldering candlewick. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed. I have made Israel for myself, and they will someday honor me before the whole world.” Isaiah 43:15-21 NLT
All week long we’ve been walking through this powerful theme titled the Rhythms of Grace. We’ve learned that rhythm is the driving force of music, and its purpose is to keep the song moving forward. In our daily journey of getting to know God intimately, we have discovered that God works in rhythm. And if we want to know Him, we must learn His rhythm, the rhythms of Grace. Each day this week we’ve covered practical steps to joining and participating in the rhythm of God:
1. Find the Rhythm
2. Study the Rhythm
3. Surrender to the Rhythm
4. Stay with the Rhythm
I’ll be sharing the 5th step in a moment. Before we get there, I’d like to share with you a concept in music called a rhythm change. We see it often in Jazz, Rock and even Gospel.
I shared with you yesterday how I loved playing the drums as a child. In a gospel choir there’s often a time where the music changes tempo, known as a rhythm change. It may be going slow and then it’ll go fast. Or it may be going fast but then it goes slow.
In a choir there are many moving parts. At Mount Tabor, We’d often have anywhere between 2-5 musicians, a soloist and about 30-50 people in the choir stand (if not more). We’re talking about a large amount of personalities, a large amount of opinions and a large amount of people that want to do it their way. And somehow everyone must come together to make sense of this chaos to create harmony. There’s one person that we depend on to take the chaos of the choir and create harmony in the music and that is the director. The job of the director is to help us work together to move forward in the music. If we’re not paying attention to the director, someone is going to miss it and someone is going to start making noise.
The reason I bring this up is because I want to introduce to you another person into this equation. He is the third person in the Triune nature of God: there’s the Father (the Composer), the Son (Jesus, the Word), and the Holy Spirit (the Conductor). As a member of God’s symphony, we must pay close attention to the Holy Spirit! Why? Because the rhythm will change! It’s not going to stay the same nor will it hold onto what you’re used to, but the rhythms of life, they will change. Because the rhythm was not made for your purpose but for God’s. Therefore when the rhythm changes, we must Shift with the Rhythm.
I want to share three things that you should do to make sure that you’re not negatively affected by a rhythm change.
1. Never marry the rhythm because the rhythm will change with the seasons. Don’t marry the rhythm, it won’t always stay slow, nor will it always stay fast paced. For some of us in this season where God has made everything slow down, we’re trying to figure out how to speed it back up. Whereas God saying, “No, that’s not my rhythm in this season."
2. Marry the Composer (the Creator) and you’ll keep your composure. When things change, it won’t cause you to be freak out or generate anxiety. Instead, you will make the adjustment because you’re following the Conductor who’s being led by the Composer. Don't marry the rhythm, marry the Composer.
3. Embrace the rhythm of the season. In this morning’s scripture we read that God is doing a new thing. What we see in Isaiah 43:15-21 is that God was sharing with His people that He is performing a rhythm change. No longer did He desire that they focus on the rhythm of what He did, instead He desires lead them into what He’s doing now, the new thing. He said Forget all of those old things! “…it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new” (my paraphrase). He said “I’ve already started, don’t you realize it?” God has already started! Whether you’ve shifted with the rhythm or not, whether you’ve moved or not, He’s already started that new thing!
So I encourage you to do what I'm calling the Spiritual Circle of Fifths. They are the five steps that we’ve discussed this week and they must be repeated often: 1. Find the Rhythm, 2. Study the Rhythm, 3. Surrender to the Rhythm, 4. Stay with the Rhythm, and 5. Shift with the Rhythm. We must commit each step to our lives so that we will stay in The Rhythms of Grace.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
All week long we’ve been walking through this powerful theme titled the Rhythms of Grace. We’ve learned that rhythm is the driving force of music, and its purpose is to keep the song moving forward. In our daily journey of getting to know God intimately, we have discovered that God works in rhythm. And if we want to know Him, we must learn His rhythm, the rhythms of Grace. Each day this week we’ve covered practical steps to joining and participating in the rhythm of God:
1. Find the Rhythm
2. Study the Rhythm
3. Surrender to the Rhythm
4. Stay with the Rhythm
I’ll be sharing the 5th step in a moment. Before we get there, I’d like to share with you a concept in music called a rhythm change. We see it often in Jazz, Rock and even Gospel.
I shared with you yesterday how I loved playing the drums as a child. In a gospel choir there’s often a time where the music changes tempo, known as a rhythm change. It may be going slow and then it’ll go fast. Or it may be going fast but then it goes slow.
In a choir there are many moving parts. At Mount Tabor, We’d often have anywhere between 2-5 musicians, a soloist and about 30-50 people in the choir stand (if not more). We’re talking about a large amount of personalities, a large amount of opinions and a large amount of people that want to do it their way. And somehow everyone must come together to make sense of this chaos to create harmony. There’s one person that we depend on to take the chaos of the choir and create harmony in the music and that is the director. The job of the director is to help us work together to move forward in the music. If we’re not paying attention to the director, someone is going to miss it and someone is going to start making noise.
The reason I bring this up is because I want to introduce to you another person into this equation. He is the third person in the Triune nature of God: there’s the Father (the Composer), the Son (Jesus, the Word), and the Holy Spirit (the Conductor). As a member of God’s symphony, we must pay close attention to the Holy Spirit! Why? Because the rhythm will change! It’s not going to stay the same nor will it hold onto what you’re used to, but the rhythms of life, they will change. Because the rhythm was not made for your purpose but for God’s. Therefore when the rhythm changes, we must Shift with the Rhythm.
I want to share three things that you should do to make sure that you’re not negatively affected by a rhythm change.
1. Never marry the rhythm because the rhythm will change with the seasons. Don’t marry the rhythm, it won’t always stay slow, nor will it always stay fast paced. For some of us in this season where God has made everything slow down, we’re trying to figure out how to speed it back up. Whereas God saying, “No, that’s not my rhythm in this season."
2. Marry the Composer (the Creator) and you’ll keep your composure. When things change, it won’t cause you to be freak out or generate anxiety. Instead, you will make the adjustment because you’re following the Conductor who’s being led by the Composer. Don't marry the rhythm, marry the Composer.
3. Embrace the rhythm of the season. In this morning’s scripture we read that God is doing a new thing. What we see in Isaiah 43:15-21 is that God was sharing with His people that He is performing a rhythm change. No longer did He desire that they focus on the rhythm of what He did, instead He desires lead them into what He’s doing now, the new thing. He said Forget all of those old things! “…it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new” (my paraphrase). He said “I’ve already started, don’t you realize it?” God has already started! Whether you’ve shifted with the rhythm or not, whether you’ve moved or not, He’s already started that new thing!
So I encourage you to do what I'm calling the Spiritual Circle of Fifths. They are the five steps that we’ve discussed this week and they must be repeated often: 1. Find the Rhythm, 2. Study the Rhythm, 3. Surrender to the Rhythm, 4. Stay with the Rhythm, and 5. Shift with the Rhythm. We must commit each step to our lives so that we will stay in The Rhythms of Grace.
I'm praying for you and with you,
Pastor Enrique Brooks
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