Holland Davis @ Ocean Hills 9 & 11 am…

Tomorrow I am teaching on worship at the 9 & 11am services at Ocean Hills. Pray for God to save the lost!!!

Spirit And Truth:  A Study In Worship

John 4:23-24

Watch live online at http://www.oceanhillschurch.com

Happy Birthday to my beautiful bride!!!

Check out my blog Life in HD at… hollanddavis.com.

Today is my wife Roxie’s birthday… this morning I was reflecting on the story of how we met and the prayer that I prayed to the Lord in asking for a wife. In those days I was a young, up and coming preacher in the making. I led worship at the Calvary Chapel in Escondido, Ca. I taught a Bible study that had 40 to 50 people in it of all ages. I was in a Christian Rock band that was doing really well… but in my heart I wanted a wife. So I prayed for someone that loved the Lord, but wasn’t religious, was independent and loved old Rock and Roll… don’t ask why… I still can’t figure it out. Well… Roxie was the answer to that prayer and she fit every description to a tee.

I remember playing country dance music for a friend of mine who got married in Julian. In between sets, my pastor came up to me and said he really needed to talk to me. I thought I was in trouble for playing country music because I was the worship leader of the church!!! We were down in the basement where the refreshments were and he said… do you know that girl Roxie in the church? I didn’t know her name and I said… no. He said, she’s really cute and she dresses sharp. I knew instantly who he was talking about. He said to me… she’s got the hots for you… you need to go for it!!! He then told me about the relationship she was in that wasn’t healthy for her as a Christian.

So… as an obedient man of God under the direction of my pastor – I went for it. Only it wasn’t as easy as I thought. Every time I would try to meet her it wouldn’t work out. We’d go to restaurants, but the group was so big we couldn’t sit by each other. It was torture. One day I heard she was sick with strep throat. So I took a friend of mine – Mark Dupont – and we went over to pray for her. Mark and I were prayer partners and ministered together frequently. As we were praying, Mark said open your mouth. So she did. Mark stuck his finger in her mouth and said in the name of Jesus be healed. She literally had a severe and gross infection on the back of her throat and by the next morning, she was completely healed. Not only that, but it has never come back. After that, I invited her to come see my play at a local Christian Coffee House called His Place Restaurant. Afterwards we went to the local Denny’s and the rest is history.

One memory that really sticks out was the Holiness Unto The Lord Conference at Vineyard Anaheim. There was this old methodist preacher by the name of Leonard Ravenhill. He would open every session with a hymn and I discovered that Roxie knew every stanza of every hymn. I never knew that not only had I married a lady who had an intense love for God, but she had a legacy of parents, grandparents, etc. that had a rich vocabulary of worship and a deep reverence for God… although there wasn’t a religious bone in her body.

She still continues to amaze me to this day. There are moments where I’m at my lowest point and she will leave me a voice mail that will be straight from the throne of heaven. There are times where I’m feeling weak and she will lovingly give me that word that motivates me to keep going. Usually it sounds like nagging… but I’ve learned to interpret it in light of Christ in her!!!

We would often have people pray over us – not because we ask for it – but because they felt led by God to do it… one of the pictures that God used to describe Roxie is that she is an exotic Bird of Paradise. Unique, beautiful, not-common, special, exotic… that describes Roxie. We have now been together longer than we were single and I am growing to love her more and more each day.

So to my beloved bride and closest companion… my friend and lover… my wife and the mother of our kids… I wish you to a Happy Birthday!!!

What you meant for evil… God meant for good…

I heard a message by one of my favorite preachers… he’s a radical grace preacher by the name of Joseph Prince. He talked about how God will often allow us to repeat life experiences and situations until we learn the lesson that He is trying to teach us through the situation.

I think additionally that there are life messages that God gives us. They become the story of our life and the message God wants us to bring to people in need. I think for me… one of my life messages parallels the story of Joseph… here is the part I’m keying in on…

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Now… if you notice, Joseph tells his brothers that God sent him ahead of them to bless them. When I read my Bible – I see that Joseph was sold into slavery, was carted off to Egypt like a piece of property, was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, thrown into one of the worst prisons one could imagine, was lied to, forgotten, abused and rejected by his own family…. and yet, he didn’t blame his brothers, he didn’t seek revenge, he didn’t claim to be a victim in this life… but instead he simply says…

8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

So radically transformed was Joseph’s heart that he would eventually tell his brothers…

20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Now that is transformation!!!

How often do we want to blame those in our life for the way our lives turn out? How often do we want to judge what God is doing in our hearts while we’re mid-stream instead of trusting God and allowing Him to complete the work in us? How often do we take matters in our own hands simply because we really don’t believe that God loves us?

As I’ve pondered over the last few years of my life in ministry, I realize there have been times when I wanted to fix blame and hold others accountable for things that happened in my life – all the while not really understanding that the person that I was ultimately dealing with was God Himself. If my life belongs completely to Him, then it really is His will in my life – no longer I who live, but Christ in me. If my life is completely surrendered to Him and I am truly His servant – then the real test comes when I am treated like I am His servant. How do I respond?

Maybe you can relate to the story of Joseph. Maybe you have people in your life who are jealous over you and so they seek to wear you down or even undermine your ability to perform. Maybe you are in a situation where you are being falsely accused or even fired unjustly.

Whatever the situation is… allow God to work in you as He did in Joseph. To give you the perspective of His Kingdom. The perspective that allows you to see His hand leading and directing you and not bringing harm to you. The perspective that allows you to see how He takes ALL things in your life to work together for your good. The perspective that allows you to see God’s plan in the bigger picture…. and remember that no matter what you’re going through it has no bearing on your future!!!

Jesus Movement Stories…

I need your stories. Stories from the Jesus Movement and stories of how you have allowed God to shine through your life. Email to me.

Thought For The Day…

Here is a thought for each of us… We may have been criticized by the best, but the Best Of All says I am His beloved child.

Rooted And Grounded In Him…

Lately I’ve been meditating on Colossians 2:6-7.  It’s my verse for this year.  Here it is…

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it^[a] with thanksgiving.

Here is what I’ve been thinking about.  The first word rooted is an interesting word.  In the original Greek language, the tense of the verb suggests that it’s not something that we do… but something that is done to us.  Literally Christ roots us in Himself.  It is His work to root us in Himself not mine.  However, it is my job to allow Him to root me in Himself.  To cooperate with His work in my life.

The word built up is another word that has caught my attention.  It word suggests community.  It suggests relationship both with Jesus and with His people.  It suggests that Jesus is the one who builds community around us.  The unifying factor is Jesus Himself.  The presence of Jesus.

So… Jesus roots us in Himself and then He builds a community around us that is unified by His very presence.

The problem for most of us is that we don’t allow Jesus to root us.  We take matters into our own hands.  We plan our own lives and “network” our way into the communities we think we need to be a part of to get ahead in this life.  We don’t allow Jesus to plant us where He desires.  The result is that we find ourselves striving to attain and thus we find ourselves striving to maintain.  I see the effects of self effort on relationships, families, careers… especially as I counsel people.  I see the effects of self effort in ministries where a well meaning leader begins well, but in the midst of striving to hold on to a ministry changes and become more controlling, more demanding, more abusive and eventually stumbles and falls because of pride.  All because we are the ones trying to root ourselves in Christ instead of allowing Jesus to root us in Himself.

Earlier this year I prayed and said to the Lord that I wanted this verse to be true for my life.  The result has been amazing.  Amazing in the sense that it has thrown my life into crisis as God is literally uprooting me from myself and the community that I have wanted to be a part of.  How many of you know that the methodologies of God can be confusing at times – until you get through to the other side?  He’s always good, but not always safe!!!

On the flip side, the result has been amazing in that God has revealed Himself more to me in the last few months than in the last few years.  There is an intimacy with Jesus that I haven’t experienced in years.  I’m watching Him build His community around me.  It’s not what I thought it would be.  Connecting me to people I would have never imagined.  Opening doors that I could never have opened on my own.  I’m seeing His favor in my life in ways that have surprised me.  Unexpected ways.  It’s mind blowing.

What about you?  Are you striving to fulfill your dreams?  Maybe God has spoken to you and like Moses you’re trying to bring His word to pass in your life.  Why not stop and allow Jesus to root you in Himself?  Why not rest in His work in your life?

I want to leave you with this prayer.  I heard Pastor Chuck Smith from Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa pray this before stepping out to minister and I’ve made it my own prayer.  I want to encourage you to make it your prayer.  It’s the prayer of a man or woman who is completely surrendered to the work of Christ in their life.  It’s the prayer of a man or woman who looks at life from the place of wonder… looking forward to what God will do as he or she allows Jesus to root them in Himself and build His community around them.  Here is the prayer… make it yours.

Lord we look forward to seeing what You’re going to do by the work of Your Spirit.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen