Your Spiritual Act of Worship

I absolutely love to blog. However, I rarely make time to sit down and do it! I'm hoping that with this New Year MAYBE I'll get better at it :)

My heart is full. God has blessed and is still blessing daily. Nathan and I had an amazing first Christmas together and are so thankful that we were able to visit all of our family over the break. With the holidays over, excitement is building for the coming days! We are thrilled about this new season that God is carrying us into and cannot wait to see where 2012 leads!

2012 has already brought many changes around the Brewer home. School has begun for Nathan, I am knee deep into teaching my kiddos, and we have begun our ministry at Conway's First Baptist Church. Nathan is the new worship leader for The Burn, FBC's youth, and Thrive, a new contemporary service on Sunday mornings. Change is hard sometimes, but it can also be full of unbelievable joy and peace. I am so thankful for the way God has provided for us in this new transition. We miss our church family at Antioch, but God has stepped in and allowed us to already begin building strong relationships in our new home. I am amazed every day at His provision and plan.

Along with feeling overwhelmed with blessings over the past month, I have also been wrapped up in many thoughts. A few weeks ago I came upon a few verses in Romans that set me back and humbled me. They looked straight at  me and bombarded my pride. They set straight any thought that believed I had control of my life. They clearly revealed pieces of God's character that I tend to overlook at times.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay Him? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen." --Romans 11:33-36

There is so much power in these words! Even while I was writing them and thinking about their depth and power, I was struck with a fear that only Satan could have been behind. This Word is so living and active that just by reading it and proclaiming it, Satan is threatened. Praise God for His victorious Word that helps us in our times of weakness and battle!

These four verses encompass the most amazing traits of God. He is beyond understanding in ways--His understanding has no end and His ways are beyond our understanding because He sees all! He is the God who sees us right where we are at any given moment, but He is also the God who knows what is to come like He knows what happened yesterday. No one has or ever will be enough for God--He needs no completion. He is all complete, filled, and whole. And the most amazing part to me that leaves me in awe is that EVERYTHING is from Him, EVERYTHING comes through Him, and EVERYTHING is to Him. Nothing that is or happens or exists is unknown to Him. Everything, every little detail is to honor and glorify Him. This includes the little things that we may not consider spiritual, as well as difficult and challenging things that cause many critics of God Most High to ask how a loving God could allow. Everything is for His glory, so that He may be known by all.

Many times in the Bible we see the word "therefore." I love this word. I am your typical Type A personality. I require direct instructions in order to follow a task. Any time we see "therefore" we know there are explicit instructions coming. This passage in Romans is no exception. Paul tells us and reminds us of God's sovereignty and His power above all. And then He comes in to tell us that BECAUSE OF the Way God reigns in our lives, there is something that we should do.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing, and perfect will." --Romans 12:1-2

These two verses are very well-known to many Christians. The challenge that these words present calls us to abandon the ways of this world, be transformed into Christ's likeness, and offer ourselves as sacrifices for God to use to bring His name glory. We know this challenge, but do we take in the full magnitude or just shrug it off? I realized that I had never read all six of these verses together at one time. When I did, it completely changed my view of this calling. Because of the abundant mercy that God has shown me, because of the grace He has poured out on me--not because I deserve it or because He needs me, but because He loves me and wants me--there is nothing else I can do but give myself completely to Him and say "yes" to Him. "Yes" to whatever it is He wants to do with me. This is so much easier said than done. It's so easy for me to say, "Yes Lord, use me and do whatever you want," but still live by my own ways. But this is where verse 2 comes in--"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." This renewal comes only through time with Jesus every day, many times a day.

It was not coincidence that as God laid these verses on my heart and began opening my eyes to His will for me to lose more of me and gain all of Him that He was also having me read Kisses From Katie.

This book was written by a 23 year-old missionary in Uganda. Katie moved to Uganda right out of high school to serve and minister to the lowest of lows in Uganda. In the 4-5 years that she has been there she has started her own ministry called Amazima, which sponsors 400+ children, allowing them to have food, school supplies, school fees and basic necessities. She has had the opportunity to help feed 1,500+ people in a remote village that many people consider to be untouchables. In addition, she began a program within this village that allows for women to escape prostitution and the making of alcohol in order to make a living that supports their families. These women create amazing beaded necklaces that are sold through Katie's ministry. On top of all of these ways of outreach, Katie has 13 adopted Ugandan daughters. All at the age of 23. At first I was so amazed that I wanted to honor her and pat her on the back for giving up her comfortable life and living in filth in order to spread the name of Jesus to hopeless and dying people. But remember Romans 12? "This is your spiritual act of worship."

I am so thankful for the timing in which Katie's story came into my life. It is such a beautiful picture of Romans 12:1-2 and allows me to see exactly what Paul is saying. Does this mean that everyone should up and move to Uganda? I don't think it does. Paul tells us to say "yes,", to be transformed, and to be renewed. THEN, we will know what God's will is for our specific lives and what it is that He is calling us to do as our "spiritual act of worship."

I don't have a clue what God is going to ask me to do in my life. The idea of giving everything away and moving to minister to the "least of these" is something that intrigues me more than ever. Taking children in as my own and showing them the love that Christ has shown me is a deep desire. Many of you know how deeply Nathan and I feel called to adoption and we are praying even now for God's direction in that. We don't know when, from where, or how it will happen, but we are praying for our future in bringing home children and teaching them about the Hope that can be theirs. I am so eager to jump right into that, but I am also eager to be obedient right now, right where He has us. I praise God for the blessing of being a wife. I praise God for the opportunity to serve at First Baptist. I praise God for the opportunity to walk into a classroom full of 22 children every day and teach them and love on them. This is where God has me. This is where I desire to live out my "spiritual act of worship." 

Where is your "spiritual act of worship" being lived out? Wherever it is, whatever you're doing, whoever you're surrounded by: be transformed, be renewed, and live out your life as worship unto The One who is above all. 

To find out more information about Katie Davis' ministry in Uganda visit:

Katie's Blog

Amazima Ministries