Pressing On

"I'm pressing on, pressing on, all my distress is going, going, gone, pressing on pressing on.

And I won't sit back, and take this anymore, I'm done with that, I've got one foot out the door.

And to go back to where I was would just be wrong. I'm pressing on."

-Relient K

For some reason, there is always a temptation to go back to where we came from. Maybe it's because we are creatures of habit. Perhaps it is simply that we enjoy being comfortable. Change is uncomfortable. Alterations to who we are, are uncomfortable. Sure, we say that we embrace the change. We say that we want the change to come, so that we can experience something new, but, when the change occurs, we meet it with apprehension and timidity. Well, maybe you're different than I am, but there have been numerous instances in my life that I have told God that I needed a change, and He will oblige me, and my situation changes, and I don't understand exactly what He's doing, so then I start to get unnerved. Usually when I'm asking Jesus to change my situation, I have a list of parameters set up, that I would really prefer He operate in so that the "change" that I want would be as absolutely comfortable as possible. 

So here's the main point, if we are continually going back to where we came from in our walks with Christ, we will never grow. Growing is sometimes painful. Sometimes, we see the uncomfortable situations that God puts us in as punishment, when really, we are uncomfortable because of the fact that we are actually growing.  Sometimes, in the growing stages in our own lives, we have gone through a growth spurt, and there is pain involved, because our bodies are trying to adjust to the change of structure. 

When we came to Jesus, and accepted His life and forgiveness, He began us on a journey. Paul calls Him the "author and perfecter of our faith." While we are on this journey, there are obstacles. Sometimes there are roadblocks that have to be cleared or hurtled in order for us to keep going. It's always easier to go back to where you've already been. Being in a familiar place brings comfort. But, sometimes familiarity is absolutely not what Christ wants for you. Sometimes, He wants to be absolutely spontaneous and shake up everything that you thought you knew. 

In the summer of 2012, our youth group went to the Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs. On the way home, we stopped at Seven Falls. It's a beautiful place, but in order to get up to the top of the falls, you have to climb hundreds of stairs. I'm definitely not in the most incredible shape in the world, but I figured I could totally handle it. I was very wrong. I barely made it to the top of the last flight of stairs, but when I got to the very top, I was absolutely glad that I had made it there. It would have been much easier to just go back down the steps and wait for the group to come back. However, if I wouldn't have kept pressing on toward the goal, which was the top of the last set of steps, I would have absolutely missed out on something spectacular. 

Jesus is always trying to take us up, on, and over. He is leading the way, but He will also allow us to go back to where we have already been if we really push for it. He also knows, that if we really and truly keep following Him and pressing through everything that He is taking us through, our lives will be much more fulfilled in the end. So, let's embrace the change. Let's journey on with Him leading us. Let's not go back to where we were, but let's keep pressing on. Then, we, like Paul can say that we "fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith." 

It's a beautiful adventure that we get to take part in. I recently began re-reading my all time favorite book, The Hobbit. In this book, hobbits are a group of people that are quite content with never having anything exciting happening. They are quite fond of knowing everything that will happen, and they absolutely do not like adventures. Well, the main character, Bilbo, allows himself to be dragged out on an adventure to find some buried treasure and to fight a dragon. In the end, everything winds up being a great story. He regrets going on the adventure when things are going wrong, but in the end, he comes home with a vast treasure, and one of the greatest stories ever. 

Let us not be so content with staying comfortable that the journey God wants us to go on scares us out of following Him. I pray that we would all have the desire to follow Jesus wherever it is that He takes us. That when our friends who are okay with staying in one spot in their faith ask us what we're doing, we can answer them, "I'm going on an adventure!" 

I hope this encouraged you. Keep pressing on to the goal. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus, and you will be able to face any and every obstacle in your path. You might even find yourself on the adventure of a life time, changing the world. Our God is not boring, and I don't believe He wants our faith to be boring either. Have a great day, and be blessed!

A Season of Uncertainty

     Have you ever been thrust into a season that you absolutely did not understand? I think all of us at one time or another have encountered these times, and sometimes the reaction is to just quit. I have hit a number of uncertain spots in the past 5 years. I have encountered plenty of uncertainty in my life, but it seems like every time I run into another time of unknowns, I still have the same initial reaction. Freak the crap out.

     My best friend, Justin, moved this week. He and his family moved from Hereford to San Antonio. So let's get to the main reason why this is so hard. I believed, and really still do believe, that Justin and I would work in the ministry together again. We had a short run together in 2008, but it was not a very long adventure. I hoped that we were nearing the beginning of our ministerial partnership. And now, it's in question. Suddenly, it feels like everything I was believing for is currently on hold.

    When I made the decision to come back to Hereford in December of 2007, I came back with expectations of things happening a certain way. Things have happened nothing like I envisioned them. I've questioned God thousands of times, asking Him what the heck is going on. The last 5 and a half years have been an adventure to say the least. From incredibly high highs, to incredible low lows. But, through it all, I have learned one thing. Trusting that Jesus has this whole thing figured out, has absolutely set my soul at ease during the times of turmoil.

     You see, when walking into all of the uncertainties over the past 6 years of my life, I've only been able to rely on Jesus to help me through it. If I tried all of this on my own, I would be a royal mess. Seriously, if I didn't have Jesus, my life would literally be meaningless. I could fill it with people, and with music, and with my job, or sports teams, or social networking, or television. Trust me, I have. I have tried to escape inside myself to get to the end of the troubles. I have tried to escape into friendships to escape the pain. No matter how far I dig, or how many friends I find, the pain and troubles are still there. It wasn't until I gave up trying to rescue myself that I really figured out what was going on.

     No, Jesus Christ has not delivered me out of pain and out of sorrows. He hasn't given me some secret cheat code to life that allows me to walk through my entire life void of emotions. What He has done, is given me a way to handle to emotional and spiritual toll that uncertain times and insecurities bring.

     "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."-John 16:33

    He promises us two things in this verse. First, that we WILL have troubles. Most definitely in this world, we absolutely will have troubles. The world still works the same way as it has forever. Crap happens. Situations that really suck happen. All the time. Friends leave. Family members may abandon us. Our jobs may be pulled out from under us. The bonus didn't come. The loan wasn't approved. Someone we are close to pass away. These are all real life situations and scenarios. We all will have to deal with some, most, or all of these things in our lives. And being a Christian doesn't exempt us from these things.

     The second thing He promises us is that we can take heart in knowing that He has overcome the world. All of the ridiculous and hurtful things that happen in life, can be met head on with the peace of Jesus. The storms that come in life, can be walked through because, when we allow Jesus to take control, we get His strength. His promise is beautiful, and His love is fierce. His peace is overwhelming, and His strength is unmatched.

     So, because of the advice of a great friend of mine, I'm going to take the next few months and years as an adventure. Not knowing what comes next is sometimes scary, but it can also be exciting. The unknown is what makes it exciting. Am I absolutely heartbroken because my best friend moved to a city that is 7 hours away? Yes. I am. I wish that I could change things and put San Antonio and Hereford 10 miles apart. But, will I continue to sit around and mope because of it? Absolutely not. There are things here that still need to be taken care of. There is still work to be done in Hereford. I don't feel like God has released me from this community, and He may never tell me to leave, so I have to keep moving forward. I have to try to catch the vision that God is showing, and do my best to follow Him through it all.

    If you are in a time of uncertainty right now, and your life isn't playing out the way that you envisioned it, don't give up. Don't lose hope. Turn to Jesus to give you the strength to make it through the trial. Allow God to push you through to the next destination on your journey. Don't fold. You never know when the tides will turn and you will walk headlong into your destiny.

     I pray that this helps someone. I know that just while writing this, clarity has come to me. The answer isn't giving up. The answer isn't in trying to figure something else out. The answer is this, give it all to Jesus. "Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares for you."-1 Peter 5:7 Allow Him to wash over you in a flood of peace. Let Him show you His love. I promise, with Him, you can make it. You can do it. You will find yourself on the other side with one heck of a story to tell. Be blessed.

   
   

Waiting With Purpose

"...but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
-Isaiah 40:31

     Waiting. Patience. Two words that the American culture, and society are not very well acquainted with. Not any more at least. At one point, life wasn't so fast paced, or at least that is what my parents have told me. I've never known a time in my life that patience was really necessary. We have little boxes that we stick food in and 4 minutes later, something that should have taken 45 minutes, is now ready. It's not as good, but, what do we care? We have food in one tenth of the time.

     We have a generation growing up who have always had instant access to any kind of information they could ever hope to come across. On a computer first, but now, in their pockets, on their smart phones. It is hard sometimes, okay, who am I kidding? It's hard all the time, to understand that with God, time frames don't really matter that much. We are always looking to meet a deadline, or accomplish a goal. We are running into time constraints and restrictions, and we are always in a hurry, hurry, hurry, to get to the next thing that we have to do.

     I am absolutely 100% grateful that I grew up in America. I am so thankful that I grew up in a nation that allowed me to go to church and worship my Savior without restrictions. I know there are millions of believers  who do not have the same luxury afforded them, that I have in my freedom of religion. I do however, wish that America would slow down. Allow people to live their lives. Allow people to take time. It would absolutely make living as a Christian much easier. And maybe that's why we are here. Maybe there is a group of young people in America, who are going to rise up and teach people the art of waiting. The art of patience. You see, in a microwave society and a, get whatever you want right NOW society, waiting, and patience are not viewed as good things. This translates to impatient, upset, angry, irritable Christ followers, who don't understand the fact that our timeline doesn't work exactly how Jesus' time frame works.

    So, what does this have to do with you? Everything, really. Most of you that read this, know the call that Jesus has placed on your life. You know the direction in which you are supposed to be headed. You feel like you understand exactly how to get there, but the process is taking FOR-EV-VER. You are not alone. I know plenty of people who are absolutely in love with Jesus, and who follow Him with everything that they have, but feel as though they are stuck in a situation. I actually happen to be one of those people. "God! I thought You said I was going to be in full time ministry! I thought You said that I would be traveling, and speaking places!" And He did. He just never told me when. I think God leaves time frames open for a very important reason. If we knew when He would move, and when He would make the other shoe drop, we would be ABSOLUTELY useless for the Kingdom until that appointed time. God is very much a God of the now. If He were to give everyone their ultimate future today, nothing would get done today.

    You see, God has things planned out along the path to our future, that must be accomplished. Just because you haven't walked into your full on destiny, does not mean that today is a throw away. Listen, Jesus knew exactly who He was at 12 years old. He spent 18 years training to become the Savior. Some of us have known our calling for a few years, but we have been fighting the entire time to try and push the process along. We don't take the time to actually sit back, and ask God, "What is the purpose of this process right now?"

     Last night I heard Jimmy Witcher say something at Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo that absolutely rocked my world. "If you are praying for deliverance from a situation, and you have not been delivered, it's because God has you there on purpose." God has you where you are right now for a purpose. It's time that we start embracing the process. It's time that we start allowing God to mold us in our waiting times. Then, we will have our strength renewed. We will run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.

     Why do sports teams have practice? Our high schools are about to begin two-a-days. It's not because the coaches hate them, and what the worst for their lives, so they put them out there in 100 degree heat and make them sweat all day long. The reason that they have two-a-days, is so they can prepare for the ultimate goal which is game day. The pain, and the frustration, and the blood, sweat, and tears, will pay off when they get out on the field under those Friday night lights. Imagine if a  coach cancelled 2 a days, and cancelled practices, and just told the players that they were supposed to just go out there and wing it on Friday and hope for the best? First of all, this would be the worst coach of all time. Second, this would be the single most atrocious football team of all time. Absolutely no one would be prepared for anything!

     Sometimes, God has to put us through spiritual two-a-days, so that we can prepare for the ultimate plan. If we haven't prepared for something, then nine times out of ten it will fall flat. We are, most of us, in spiritual training camp right now. We are getting stronger, faster, smarter. This process is necessary, because without it, we will surely fail. It's time that we start allowing God to mold, form, and shape us into who He wants, instead of being so absolutely frustrated by the process and questioning God at every twist and turn about timing.

     I hung out at my worship pastor's house last Sunday evening. They have 2 little boys, and these kids think I am the greatest thing in the world. Which is awesome! I was playing Mario Brothers with their older boy, and the younger one kept asking if I would go in the back yard with him to look at their pet turtle. I kept telling him, "Give me just a little bit longer buddy." Thirty seconds later, he would ask again. And we did this interaction about 15 times, and I couldn't help but start to get tired of answering the question. Sometimes, I feel like we are the little kid asking God, "Well is it time yet?" Every. Single. Day. Over. And. Over. And. Over. Thinking that eventually we will wear Him down and He'll have to give us what we want.

     I believe firmly, that God wants to gift us all patience, and a gift of waiting. Not waiting, and doing nothing, but waiting with purpose. Doing whatever it is that He is calling us to do in the waiting period. Ask anyone who has ever been in athletics. The games aren't the hard part. Practice is the hard part. That's where conditioning comes into play. That's where lifting weights comes in to play. Games are a breeze compared to practice! When you're in training camp or two-a-days, there is literally nothing more exciting for you, that getting to the end of training camp or two-a-days. You can't wait until it gets a little easier. Friday night is game night. Monday through Thursday is where the real work is put in.

     Let's wait with purpose. Let's be intentional with our preparation and preparedness as we wait for our future to come. Let us not despise the purpose. Let us embrace purpose. Remember, if you've called for deliverance, and it hasn't come yet, most of the time, it's because God has you there on purpose. Allow Him to work. Allow Him to form, mold, and shape you. You will be better for it on the other side.

Stop Settling for Mediocrity

Can I present something to you that you might not have ever thought of? We have put an enormous amount of pressure on people to absolutely do away with sin in their lives, which in theory is not a bad thing. It would be an incredible life if we never sinned again, however, it is incredibly unlikely that we will actually live a 100% perfect life. I think for the most part, we also think that God thinks the same way that we do when it comes to the "sin issue." We have been teaching people forever how to manage their sinfulness, and do away with the "really big" sins, but keep the little ones hidden so that we can have the appearance of being really Godly and holy people. We continue to go back to these sins as a sort of place of comfort, because it is legitimately a place of familiarity, and we get comfortable in the sin.

I had a conversation with someone just last night in which this person told me that they didn't view the things they did as bad, because of the fact that they liked doing them. And that's the story from a lot of people in today's culture. "What's so wrong with it if I enjoy it so much? What's the big deal?" Well I think the overall big deal with continually going back to our old familiar sins, over and over again, is the fact that it is in effect crippling us. We get so comfortable in our sin, that it doesn't seem bad anymore, and after that, it's enjoyable, so it's no big deal. I know that when I was younger, in my mid to late teens, my spiritual life was a roller coaster at best. I would go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, and it all hinged on me doing something that I thought was awesome, or me doing something that was incredibly stupid. My life was a wreck, because I was basing my worth and my acceptance from God, off of whether I was doing good things, or doing bad things.

Here's something I've really only truly learned recently. God has already accepted and forgiven everyone. We have to accept His forgiveness, but it was given to us all when Jesus died on the cross. He knows when we are going to sin, and He knows when we are going to have weeks, months, or even years of continuous victory. His love and His acceptance of us is not determined by what we do. It was determined already, by who He is.

I am writing this tonight because of something that one of my friend's wrote in a blog today.You can read Justin's blog here.  Do we use our sin as an excuse to live a mediocre life? I know most of us wouldn't think of it in those terms, but Christ has already set us free. Remember what He said in the book of John, "Whom the Son has set free is free indeed!" We have been freed from the curse of sin and death. We have been made alive in His resurrection, and in His life. We are free. Here's the big picture. When we come into a relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. We are now His tabernacle. That being said, Paul also tells us that wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. You have freedom living inside of you.

So how have we crippled ourselves? Well, first of all, we have completely allowed the enemy to run us through the mud. He is called the accuser of the brethren in scripture. We have allowed him to tell us that we are no good, and that we will never amount to anything. We have also embraced this ridiculous idea that says, "Well, I screwed up there...I might as well go for broke!" Did you know that Christ set you free with only one thing in mind? It wasn't for us to be good. Or to do good. Or to live a holy life. He set us free, simply, so that we could be free. We can choose every single day whether we will live a life that aligns with His plan, or not. He has given us that freedom. After all, it isn't freedom if you don't have a choice, right?

If His spirit lives in us, and He has set us free, then we don't have to sin any more. Did you catch that? You don't have to do that anymore. You are freed from being a slave to sin. You can be bound to righteousness. You can live the life that He's called you to now. This very instant. He isn't sitting up in heaven waiting to destroy us because we've been bad. He's anxiously waiting for us to finally understand that we don't have to live in that life any longer! Paul tells the Romans in effect, "Stop it!", when it comes to sin. He says in Romans 6:13, "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness." In other words, His solution for sinning is very simple. Stop! Stop it! You are in control of your life, and in control of your body! And because of the power that has been given to you because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, YOU. DO. NOT. HAVE. TO. DO. IT. ANY. MORE!!!!!

Ultimately this is the point I want to make tonight; stop using your sin as an excuse to live a mediocre Christian life. God paid for a much better life that the one that most of us are living. He took care of sin, and death, and hell on the cross, and He took care of giving us brand new life through the resurrection. We don't have to sin any more if we don't want to. Do I expect to walk through every day without stumbling one time? Honestly, no, I don't. Do I see a day where I stumble less and less and less every day? You bet your bottom dollar I do! Because whom the Son has set free is free indeed!

Through His cross, and through His blood, He has paid for our redemption. We don't have an excuse any more. We can live an incredible life right now. We don't have to settle for this mediocrity that we have grown so accustomed to. Let go of your sin, and grab hold of Jesus. He has an incredible adventure with your name written on it, and your brand new incredible life could begin right now. Take a chance. Jump into the wild blue yonder with no inhibitions. Leap into faith and run as fast as you can. Let's say goodbye to the sins of yesterday that we grown comfortable in. Let's throw away the mediocrity that we have bred over the years, and let's excitedly, expectantly, and joyfully go wherever the Spirit takes us! Why would you want to settle for such mediocrity when incredible fulfillment is just a choice away?

Wasting Time Part 2

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
Matthew 6:33

Last time I talked about the time that we waste on regrets of the past. Tonight I want to touch on the time that we waste on the angst of the future. When Jesus tells these people to seek the kingdom and God's righteousness first, He was telling them to stop worrying. "Which one of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"-verse 27 The people are fretting over the things they will wear, and the food they will eat. He is explaining to these people that the need to chill out on worrying and being anxious about anything, because if they will seek the kingdom of God first, they will be taken care of. The scripture says "all these things will be added to you..." The word added is the same word as forfeit. It will be given up to you and you will take part in the abundance of Him.

So what does that mean for today? Well I'll take a little while to tell you about some of the worries that I have and the stresses I have for the future. I can't tell you how often I have gotten caught up thinking about who my wife will be. I never thought I would see 26 AND STILL BE SINGLE. Now that I'm here, it's really not that big of a deal. Honestly the single life isn't really that bad. But I spent so much time worrying about whether or not I knew her yet, or was close to finding her, or what she looked like, or whatever, and all it did was make me long for someone I didn't know and gave me a lot of stress because of the fact that I didn't know her yet.

I have spent a lot of time over the last 5 years wondering about my calling and my position and why things weren't working out the way that I thought they would, and sometimes it has robbed me of enjoying the things that I do have and am experiencing right now. I have an amazing church family. I get to spend a few hours every week with some of the coolest teenagers on the planet. My worry and angst about the future has robbed me of countless hours over the years.

Those are just a couple of things in my life that still come up every day, and I have to focus my attention on Jesus in order to get those ideas and those things under control. You see, I am confident that God doesn't want us focused on our past, because it can trap us in the people we used to be. I am also confident that He doesn't want us focused on the future, because we can overlook the good things that are in store for us today! There is a saying, that is super cliche, but bear with me. Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present. Is it okay to plan for the future? Of course! I don't think it is a bad idea to have some plans and goals and dreams. Is it okay for the plans of the future to consume you to the point that you lose today? Absolutely not. You can't get to your future without living through today. And you can't live for today and make a difference and see incredible things happen today if you're so focused on the future.

If we will earnestly and diligently seek His kingdom first, then the future won't be a problem. The pieces will fit together and the gears will turn smoothly. He has designed us all with a purpose and a plan in mind, but we can't get ahead of the process or we will think we aren't getting anywhere, and we will start freaking out because of the fact that we aren't getting anywhere, and then we will stress about what tomorrow will bring, and then we will lose today. Embrace today. Meet it head on. Seek the kingdom, and slowly you will see those things that you worried about being added to you, and you'll wonder why you ever worried about them before!

Am I married yet? No. But I know that the Lord has set aside an incredible woman for me, and He has set me aside for her. Am I exactly where I want to be in ministry yet? No. But I know that right now, I can say that I'm full of hope and joy for where I am with my church family. Seek the kingdom first, and then peace will reign. Stress, restlessness, and angst will be out the window, and you will be completely wrapped up in Him. He is a great God, and He knows what He's doing. He's never late. He's never early. He's always perfectly on time, and He wants you to live a life that absolutely takes advantage of the only day that is promised, and that day is today.

Let's stop wasting time on tomorrow, and instead focus on redeeming the time today! What could we do if we really got a revelation of the difference we can make today instead of worrying about tomorrow and the things we might be able to do then. Do something awesome with the day that's been given. Make the most of every minute. And seek His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all the worries will be given up, and the spoils will be yours.

Wasting Time

"...I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way, that He loves us..."-John Mark McMillan

I've wasted a lot of time. Like, an incredible portion of my life after coming to Christ, because I've been way too focused on the regrets of yesterday. I've been far too preoccupied with where I came from instead of where I'm going. Can anyone else relate? Why are we so worried about who we used to be? God isn't worried about it, so why should we be?

Well, I think the number one reason why we worry about it so much is the fact that the people around us have a hard time differentiating between who we were and who we are. The people who knew us when we were boneheaded and completely lost, still quantify us as that person. The bible says that if anyone be in Christ, that person is a new creation. So, remember, you are not who you were, and Christ took the punishment for who you used to be. He did this, so that we wouldn't have to be that person anymore. It's time to look forward, towards Him and His love. You can't move forward until you realize that your past is in your past for a reason. You aren't meant for that time. He is in the present, and He's leading us to a glorious future!

As John Mark McMillan put it, we don't have time to hold on to the regrets when we come into contact with the love of our Savior! Jesus love is so great, that when we are confronted with it, our regrets, our past, our shame, our sin, it all falls away, and we are left with nothing hindering us from Him. When His love really overtakes you, you can't help but reciprocate it. I think one reason that we worry so much about the regrets of yesterday and the slip ups of the past is because we fear that God didn't really take care of all of it on the cross. We don't really believe that Jesus really loves us that much. So we are fearful that He won't be pleased with us. This is one of the devil's greatest tactics. Fear. If he can get us trapped in a fearful spirit regarding God and His love for us, then He can keep us from really reaching out for the love of God. The bible says that there is no fear in love. Perfect love has cast out fear!

There's no time left for us to maintain those regrets. There's no time for us to leave those regrets on life support. It's time we pulled the plug and let our regrets and our failures of yesterday die. Today is a brand new day, and Jesus has new things planned for today. If we were meant for yesterday, we would have stayed there. Jesus is standing, beckoning, gently urging us along, to follow Him into our future. Jesus paid for our who we used to be, and adopted us into His family of righteousness.

Let us stop wasting so much time in yesterday. Let's not worry about what tomorrow brings, and let us live in today and for today. Let us make a difference today, and let us accept Jesus blessings for today, instead of longing to go back and correct what we did yesterday. I don't know about you, but I am tired of living in who I was, and worrying about correcting who I was. I'm ready to see what today's blessings and today's grace holds! Stop wasting time, and start redeeming it. Basking in His love for you today. As the song says, I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves!

We Can't Quit This Year

I've heard, and read a lot of words that people have given concerning 2013 and I feel like God has told me resoundingly through it all that this year will be a year that we HAVE to persevere. I was in the prayer room at church last night with 3 of my friends and God spoke very clearly to me. "2013 will be a year of incredible attacks and incredible adversity, but will also be a year of incredible victory and incredible breakthrough if we "seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God."

Because of the fact that we live in a society that wants everything as quickly and as easily as possible, it's easy to see why these mindsets would be parlayed into our Christian understanding. This, I believe, is one of the biggest travesties of modern Christianity. It throws out huge chunks of the scriptures, and has adversely affected the lives of many, many people.

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
James 1:2-4

Why would James speak of various trials if we were supposed to be sheltered and covered from them? Why would Jesus tell us before He left, that in this world we "would have tribulation", if we were supposed to be amnestied from it?

We tell people that when they come to Jesus and make a decision to be a part of His family that everything will be fine, and all of their troubles will just disappear, when we know that these things are bold faced lies.

Our problems, our issues, our troubles, do NOT end when we come to Jesus. Many times, the hard times and the hurt BEGIN when we come to Christ. The reason why Jesus is the better alternative is this, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

Jesus offers us peace in this midst of the madness! Jesus offers us rest in the midst of adversity. It isn't about removing us from the issues and the problems, it's about Him throwing us directly in the middle of it all, but giving us peace, rest, and joy in spite of all of it! He is a good God, and He is a good dad, but parents who completely shelter their kids from the bad things in the world are in for a rude awakening when their children get to leave the house.

If you were to take 2 identical trees, and plant one in a green house, where it was completely unaffected by the elements, and the wind, and it had the perfect amount of sunlight and water, it would grow. It would appear to be a very healthy tree, but it wouldn't be able to grow very tall. If you take the second tree and plant it outside, and it is affected by the wind, and the rain or lack there-of, then it may appear to be unhealthy, but it will have much deeper roots than the tree grown in a greenhouse. You see, it has to grow it's roots down deep in order to find the water, which will allow it to grow very tall and very strong. If we were to take that tree out of the green house and transplant it to where this other tree is, then it would not be used to having to search for water. It would suffer wind and fall over.

If God were to protect and shield us from everything, we would never be able to grow in patience. If He simply allowed good things to happen to us at all times, then we would never have to worry about anything, and this whole thing would be useless.

This year, the enemy will try and get us to give up, at all cost. He will try, as hard as he possibly can, to rattle you and get you to quit. But remember, as James said, to rejoice in the trials, for in the testing of our faith, we can produce patience, which leads to maturity. This year could be the worst year of your life, or it could be the absolute best year of your life. The choice is yours. If I were you, I'd choose to rejoice through the trials, and to expect that through them, maturity and joy come.