Hi, I'm Leigh Ann Friesland and this is Restoring Word.
Have you ever messed up bad?
I have.
And a lot of times it was because of my flesh and whatever's in my flesh or what I'm going
through or what I'm thinking, it's going to come out my mouth.
Why?
I haven't renewed my mind and I don't have a lot of self-control.
You know, we're not perfect people.
We're going to mess up.
I mess up all the time.
But what helps me the most is when I go back into the Word and I renew my mind and I kind
of adjust my life and my heart and I get myself back on track.
Just a little devotional for you today that I hope will help you adjust your heart and
get things back on track.
Psalms 37 31 the instruction of his God is in his heart and his steps will not slip.
Isn't that good that you've hidden the word in your heart so that what you don't goof
it up.
Man, I need all of that that I can get and I don't ever want to goof it up.
My heart is to do the right thing.
My heart is to make the right decisions and to walk with Christ and to be a witness and
to be a loving, kind, patient, spirit-filled person.
But I am not going to be able to do that ever unless I renew my mind and go back into what
does the Bible say.
You know, we really have to look at the Word of God as our baseline in everything and then
judge ourselves based on that.
I see this really big when it comes to worship leaders because worship leaders can get very
arrogant and egotistical.
Why?
They're on the platform, everybody's looking at them, everybody's, wow, you've got a beautiful
voice.
Oh, that was an incredible set.
I really enjoyed worship today.
You're just so anointed.
I love you.
Okay.
You know what that can do to a worship leader that doesn't have his or her flesh under control?
It just puffs them up.
And the problem with that is especially if you put somebody on the platform that isn't
able to handle that kind of attention at a young age, they're going to get arrogant and
then eventually they're going to be humbled.
Have you ever stepped on a platform and forgot lyrics?
Have you ever stepped on a platform and you're like, oh my gosh, I know that chord progression.
What is that again?
And you're standing in front of hundreds of people looking like an idiot.
Yes, I've been there.
Okay.
It's all right.
You just keep going.
I think it's one of the things that as a musician, it's always kept me very humble because I
always knew that things didn't come naturally for me.
I had to work at them.
And because of that, I always stayed humble because when I was humble, his grace always
covered me.
Okay.
Proverbs 30, starting in verse five and six, every word of God proves true.
He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
Do not aid to his words or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.
Okay.
You are to come in here and to look at the word of God as your shield and as your protection.
God is my protection.
He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.
If you're humble and you really love God and you really want to make it with him and you
want to be successful in the kingdom, I can tell you who he's going to promote.
He's going to promote the humble.
He's going to promote the broken.
I'm convinced.
Do you know why I successfully built the program I did?
Why?
Because I knew I couldn't do it without Jesus.
I didn't have a lot of natural talent or ability.
I had to really hustle all the time to make it happen.
I was willing to acknowledge and get out of God's way.
And that's why he used me.
There's a lot more skilled people out there that probably could have done ten times the
job as me.
But here's the problem with musicians.
Musicians are arrogant and they think it's all about them and they're wrong, okay?
Especially as worship leaders, you have to be balanced as a minister first and then as
a musician second.
And if you do that, you're going to get promoted and God will use you.
you. Scripture will transform your life. If you are humbly seeking Him and you're in the Word,
the Word will change you. Romans 12 verses 2, do not be conformed to this world, be transformed.
How? By the renewing of your mind. Okay, renewing. Okay, that's an action verb. Okay, guess what?
It never ends. Never. You're never not going to be renewing your mind. And man, I notice it like
in the middle of the school year and I've got to-do lists and I've got IEPs I've got to write
and I've got a cranky parent and I've got an irritable person I'm dealing with. I can get
really short and I don't like that or I can get really salty or impatient with someone and I
don't want to do that. I have to go in there and I have to renew my mind. I have to transform
my mind and I get I have to do it all the time and I can tell you on the mornings when I go to
the piano and I pray and I worship and I get in there and I transform my mind. I have 10 times
the day. I mean just things fall in place. I have favor with leaders. I'm very loving and very
patient with unloving, unpatient people. Walking it with Jesus is so much easier than trying to do
it in your flesh but you're always going to have to be doing it. No one ever arrives. I don't care
who you are. I don't care what your title in ministry is. I don't care how long you've been
in ministry. You don't care how long I've been in ministry. You don't care. You know what? It's not
impressive. That's flesh. You know what's impressive? Self-control. You know what's
impressive? Peace. You know what's impressive? Integrity. Yeah, trust me. That's impressive.
This is a great reminder for everybody. Matthew 5, 6. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst
for righteousness for they shall be filled. I want to be filled with the righteousness of God.
I want to be filled with grace. I want people to say, man, I love her. I just love
calling her and talking to her. If you ask God for righteousness, not for sin,
you're asking God, God, I want you to fill me with you. If you'll ask him for that,
he will give it to you and you will walk in a blessed life. And there's many blessings out
there and many bonuses for doing that. This is Romans 15, 4. Whatever was written in the past
was written for our instruction. So the Bible is really our instruction book for life, okay?
So that we may have hope through endurance. You know what I'm impressed with when it comes to
Christians anymore? People who are still going at it. People who haven't given up.
People who haven't gotten bitter or angry or haven't gotten discouraged or, you know,
so-and-so is doing this and so-and-so is doing that. Who cares what everybody else is doing?
What are you doing? How are you living? How am I living? Am I still slugging away at it?
Am I still walking it out with him? Am I still trying to make a difference? Okay,
I'm enduring to the end. I'm running my race. I am not giving up. In fact, right now at this
point in my life, I want to run harder than ever before because I realize as I get older,
and especially as you watch a parent pass away, your days are numbered. Make them count.
Make every day count. Romans 15 again, so that we may have hope through endurance,
through the encouragement from the scriptures. This is where your encouragement comes from.
If you will just open up your Bible. I keep looking at this. My Bible is here. This is
an old Thompson chain. My Thompson chain changed my life on the front porch of my house in Sioux
City, Iowa. This is where it started. What happened? Encouragement from the scriptures.
Studying topics that I need at this moment.
You know, it isn't helpful to study something when it doesn't apply.
to what you're going through right now. What's helpful is when you study
something in the Bible and that's really what's going on in your life. That will
change everything. Why? Because this is what encourages you to live well. To live
really, really well. I want to thank all the people who have so graciously loved
me through the loss of my dad. Thank you for notes and cards and likes and
private messages and phone calls and just little comforting things that say
hey Leanne, I understand how much you hurt and it's it's okay. This too will
pass. Daddy's in heaven and it's okay. Thank you. It means the world. It means
the world. Please like and subscribe and I hope that we can meet together again
soon. Have a good week.