I consider myself to be among the fortunate because as a child I was given Psalty: The Singing Songbook cassettes My favourite was Kids Praise 4.

And yes, I'm including these links because I think every child needs Psalty as part of their Christian education. LOL!

The reason I loved Kids Praise 4 so much was because it was about a church mouse named Charity who wanted to be a gospel singing star. This essentially summed up my dreams as a child. I'm sure you don't find that hard to believe. The lesson in the story comes when Charity realizes that even though she loves to sing, it's more important for her to be a servant than a star.

The soundtrack of my childhood included lyrics like "make me a servant, humble and meek," "take all of me" and "learn to be the servant of all." I am so grateful for that because it has helped me understand something as I grew up in Christ. It's not a matter of how much you can bring to the kingdom, it's a matter of being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit for kingdom service. Surrender is more valuable than status.

And while I know these things are true, when the rubber meets the road these principles are not always easy to live out. Surrender to the Holy Spirit and walking in anointed service isn't something we can decide once and for all. It's a daily decision to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him.

When we read in scripture the anointing for service that Christ has made available to us, it's pretty amazing. I've heard many of you say that you are hungry for more of God and would love to see Matthew 10:8 happening in your life and in our church. What does it take to live out "anointed service" in our every day lives? I'm looking forward to exploring this with you on Sunday.

See you then,

P. Tracy