Thursday, March 24, 2011

Peace is my desire

This journey to the new album has been amazing. I have met a lot of great peeps, and produced some great music. There have been some bumpy paths along the way and as I am retooling my team, I am asking God to lead me by giving me peace about moving forward in certain directions. As I read today's study in Isa 59:8 this jumped out to me and reminded me to stay where the peaces lies and then peace and blessings on my side.

8  The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice or right in their goings. They have made them into crooked paths; whoever goes in them does not know peace. 

Are you on a path that is disrupting your peace? You  might want to consider if that's the path you should be on....if so, be brave and & gracefully get off and start trekking to a better road. 

Believe me it's worth it.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wherever I go, will You come with me?

Today's devotion was found in Exodus 33:15 Moses replied, “If you do not go with us, don't make us leave this place. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth.”

As a singer I find myself at parties, bars, etc...but a worship leader I lead people in church on Sundays to meet with their God. My prayer is that  no matter where I am, God's presence is  with me. He gives me a voice to sing and work, but my job is to make the most of every opportunity and give him the opportunity to use me wherever I am to bring glory to Him. This is my prayer.


Will you pray this with me and for me?

Here is a link to Brooke Frasier interview that shines some light on this topic. Brooke is a worship leader (singer of popular Hillsong tune Hosanna) and Pop/Alternative singer who walks this line as well and with much power, grace and success.

Monday, March 21, 2011

How some music relates to the loss of innocence which leads to death...

Genisis3:4 The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die. 5 God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

Rihanna, AKA Good girl gone bad, a famous pop artist especially among woman and young girls has a song out now called S&M which stands for: Sadimasochism

Sadism is pleasure in the infliction of pain or humiliation upon another person, while masochism is pleasure in receiving the pain.[1] These terms may be used clinically, in psychotherapy, to describe mental illnesses, psychopathology or counterproductive coping mechanisms

How music relates to the loss of innocence which leads to death... Rhianna's song S&M deeply disturbs me. A few years ago Rhianna was brutally beaten by her then famous pop star boyfriend Chris Brown. Her black& blue bleeding face was all over the news, tabloids and Internet. I think it's odd that a few years later Rhianna releases a song about how being beat during sex brings pleasure. Here are some of the lyrics:

Cause I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it
Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But chains and whips excite me
.

Could it be she lost her innocence? Could it be because of the evil she unfortunately experienced she has now turned to something harmful as a coping mechanism instead of yearning for a tender, safe, loving, relationship God intended her to have.

The sad thing about this is many girls have heard Rhianna's song S&M and I am sure it has sparked a curiosity to know what a relationship full of "pleasurable violence" might be like. Woman all over may be thinking. "She was beat and is fine, so I can be too." The secret in all of this is Rhianna is not fine but just a few steps closer to death, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Rhianna had an opportunity to be a role model that could help woman avoid relationships that  were harmful but instead she is sharing forbidden fruit, songs that advocate harmful relationships God never intended.

As I read today's study in on the garden of eden and how Eve was deceived by evil to basically do and desire that which God never intended for her, I was struck by how the evil one got her in his trap. He basically played on her curiosity and made her not trust the one who loved her enough to keep her pure, safe, carefree, innocent. Eve wanted to know what it would be like to know it all. Eve wanted to experiment with the forbidden, and at the moment she did she lost her innocence and began her journey toward death.

Do you wonder how many girls will be led away into abusive relationships, lose their innocence and experience pain that no father or mother would ever want their daughter to face because of this song?


Do you ever wonder how many good girls will "go bad" or go for the bad boy(forbidden fruit) out of curiosity or because they believe the deceit this songs feeds?



 

Friday, March 18, 2011

Love vs: Depravity

Hebrews 1:3 He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God’s] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. 

Deep thought...Gods Word is propelling, upholding, maintaining, and guiding the universe. The earth is subject to Christ,  and because of free will we have a choice to submit to His propelling power or fight it. Now I understand why destruction comes upon those who reject the Word. To try and fight a power that great (which at the core of it's power is love) will lead to a place of depravity.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Collosians 1:19 -20 So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. 20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe-people and things, animals and atoms-get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.

I just got home form voice lessons and my teacher was talking to me about resonance. 
the condition in which a voice produces the largest possible oscillating sound, esp. when the chakra is connected to the Spirit and is balanced. 

This may seem weird to you unless you are an actor, you know exactly what I am talking about. But this verse reminds me that we are all lives that are oscillating and being drawn to the Spirit and He is putting all things in their proper order. The bible says in Him we live move and have our being, but sometimes we are drawn away from Him and things become broken, confusing, etc...but the core (Spirit) is always there calling your life and spirit back to order. If we stop resisting and allow all the pieces of our lives to be put into Gods order and flow, we will find that perfect harmony stated in Collosians 1:20  

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Day 2 of Essential Jesus thoughts..

Phil 2:12-13
Redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. 13 That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. 

This is interesting because it says the energy(Spirit) is God within me working at what will bring Him the most pleasure. So this leads me to think my pleasure is a byproduct of HIS pleasure. My pleasure should not be the goal, it apparently is not God's ultimately.
John Piper renown theologian and preacher says, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in HIM." So my pleasure is in knowing God, communing with God, loving God....and then God is glorified or is full of pleasure.

Thoughts?
Shuree


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Essential Jesus-Take this journey with me...

I am so excited about this season of Shuree Music!! In fact one thing I'm most pumped about is connecting with friends and fans through music and scripture. The album is still in process and I am now in the Studio YEAH!!!

Another big part of my life as an artist is scripture and the health of my soul and Spirit. I am embarking on a reading plan called-

The Essential Jesus-http://m.youversion.com/reading-plans/the-essential-jesus

The Essential Jesus is 100 carefully selected passages from the Bible that will help us discover who Jesus is and why he is so significant -- even life transforming. Through both Old and New Testament readings we will discover why God sent Jesus, what Jesus taught, how he treated people, why he did miracles, and the meaning of his death, the significance of his resurrection, and what the Bible says about his second coming. Louie Giglio of the Passion movement suggested this plan to a group of worship leaders at Willow.  

I would love if YOU would read with me The Essential Jesus and via social media, this blog, facebook, twitter we share the truths God speaks to our hearts. 

No need to post comments everyday, but PLEASE post insights that you feel could build up other believers and I will do the same.  


Let me know if your down!!???!!


Love-
Shuree