"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him." Luke 15:20
There is a fairly famous and somewhat controversial worship song by John Mark McMillan called "How He Loves." The controversy behind the song resides in the fact that John Mark McMillan used the lyrics "sloppy wet kiss" and many people felt that this wasn't reverent enough. Whether you agree with his lyrics or prefer David Crowder's "unforeseen kiss", it doesn't really matter. The heart of the song stays the same. God has so much love for each of us, and He went to incredible lengths to show it.
My favorite line from the song actually comes directly after the "sloppy wet kiss" line. It says, "I don't have time to maintain these regrets, when I think about the way that He loves us."
There comes a time when we just have to understand and accept that the love of the Father is so great that we can't continue to carry the regrets and mistakes of yesterday with us anymore.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. If you are unfamiliar with this story, I will give a brief explanation. Jesus is telling a story to let the Pharisees and scribes know exactly why He hung around with sinners and allowed them to interact with Him so frequently. He tells the story of a father who has two sons, and the younger son tells his father that he wants his inheritance before the father dies. This boy feels like he needs to get out and experience the world and see what it has to offer him apart from his father's house.
His father agrees to this and splits the inheritance between the two boys, and a few days later, this younger son leaves the house and moves off to a "far away country." He then begins to spend all of the money that his father gave him and he winds up going broke squandering his finances on reckless and prodigal living. It so happens that the land that he is in experiences a great famine, so he winds up hiring himself out to a pig farmer and would have eaten pig slop if anyone would have given him any.
Jesus says that eventually the boys comes to his senses and realizes that even servants have enough food to eat and are well taken care of at his father's house, so he comes up with an idea that he will go home and ask his father to make him a slave. "I have sinned against heaven, and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me a slave." Luke 15:19
This is where we pick the story up. He goes home and his father sees him a long way off and runs to him and has compassion on him. The son tries to explain to his father that he isn't worthy to be a son, but his father doesn't even pay attention to him. His father calls for the best robe, his signet ring, and sandals for his feet. He then orders that they take the fattened calf and kill it and celebrate because "this son of mine was dead and is now alive, he was lost and is found!" vs 24
Do you have regrets? Do you have shame and embarrassment because of things you've done in your past? Have you been carrying around the past like a suitcase everywhere you go?
This son came home dirty, broken, embarrassed, and seeking slavery. His father put the best robe on him, gave him a ring, which, acted as the family credit card, and put sandals on his feet, which, showed that he was a son. Slaves didn't wear shoes. Sons wore shoes. His father ran to him. In Jesus day, a dignified man would never run anywhere.
You know what the father never mentions to the son? He never brings up the fact that he left. He never brings up the fact that he requested his inheritance. He never mentions the fact that he squandered the money on prostitutes. (The older brother somehow knew about this and was quick to inform the father about it.) The only thing that the father is worried about is the fact that his boy is home!
When his son tries to tell him that he isn't worthy to be called a son, it's almost as if the father, by disregarding the statement, is saying, "Son. We don't have time for that. I need to love on you right now."
Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The fact that the word 'now' is in this verse is so good. You can't say the word now without it being now. People get so caught up in the failures and the problems of the past, that they fail to see that Jesus' forgiveness and His sacrifice was once for all. His sacrifice and His resurrection covered all sin! It covered your past sins, it covered your present sins, and it covered your future sins! His grace is so great! It's better than they every told us.
So, I ask, what are you still holding on to? What past experience or pain are you still holding on to that you think disqualifies you from the love of the Father? There's no time to maintain those regrets when you actually encounter His love.
On Sunday my pastor said something that really resonated with me. "You can't go back and change the past, but, you can start now and change your future." You can never go back and undo the wrongs that you've done. You can never go back and alter how you've behaved. You can however start today and make tomorrow better than yesterday.
The Father's heart is always for you. His love is great for you, and He stands waiting, watching, and scanning the horizon to see His sons and daughters come home. When you're a long way off, He will run to you, have compassion on you, and hug and kiss you. Drop your regrets and allow Him to love you like His child.
It's never too late to start over. You're Father in heaven loves you with a perfect love, and perfect love casts out all fear. The best is yet to come.
Be ridiculously blessed!
Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Deception and Disguise
"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
Have you ever been in a situation where someone has deceived you? Perhaps it was something as simple as a sleight of hand, and someone convincing you that they were magic. Maybe it was something as serious as a person lying about who they were and eventually being discovered for who they really were.
Do you remember how it made you feel when the illusion crashed down? As a child believing in magic and finding out it was just a trick the whole time, it may have caused you to stop believing in magic. As an adult being tricked into believing that someone was one person and it turned out they were someone completely different, it probably caused you to distrust people in general. Either way, there was a loss of trust and a lack of belief in something after.
The bible tells us that the devil goes about "like a roaring lion". Why would he do this?
I used to think that he went about like a roaring lion so that he could scare us. A lion's roar can be heard from up to 5 miles away, so there is a TON of sound coming out of this animal. I've never been in the presence of a lion in the wild, but, I'm sure that if I were to hear one roar I would be terrified and probably need a change of pants. It made sense that he was going around roaring and trying to pick off the weak people that get separated.
I don't think that's the case any more. A lion roars for a few different reasons, none of them being for hunting purposes. In the animal kingdom it makes no sense for a lion to roar at a herd of buffalo or antelope. It would scare them off into running away, or turning and trying to defend. They hunt as quietly as possible, so that they can make a kill with as little energy as possible.
The purpose of the roar is to show their location to other lions, to show their stature, and to show lions from other prides to back off because they are getting too close for comfort.
Now, why would satan go about like a roaring lion? Who is he trying to communicate with? And what is he trying to communicate?
The Bible speaks of another lion and His power and prowess. He is referenced as "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." This is directly referencing Jesus Christ. It was no accident that C.S. Lewis chose Aslan to be a lion. The lion is known as the "King of the Jungle", and Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He never seeks to devour, rather, He seeks to give life and life abundantly.
The enemy goes about like a roaring lion because he wants to deceive us into thinking that he is the real thing. The enemy can counterfeit and fabricate things well, but he isn't the real thing. He is looking for those of us who stop being sober-minded and drop our guard. He's looking for the ones who aren't being watchful, who only pay attention occasionally. Once he has you in his grasp he will only try to kill, steal, and destroy.
"And no wonder, for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
Most people believe that the Hollywood depiction of satan is the way he actually looks. You know the look. Horns, pitchfork, red beard, terrifying. That's not at all what the scripture describes him as. He was and is incredibly cunning. He is always going to try to make himself look as attractive as possible to us so that he can lead us astray.
His whole game has always been to deceive so that we will walk away from the glory that God has in store for us. He did it and succeeded with Adam and Eve in the garden. He tried it and failed with Jesus in the desert.
He will try it everyday with you and I. Some days I am able to withstand the schemes of the devil, other times he will convince me to walk and behave in a manner unworthy of the calling that I've been called to. You know what the beautiful thing is about God and His grace, though? No matter how many times I fall for the tactics of the enemy, and walk outside of my character as a son of God, He is always there with open arms waiting to bring me back in and remind me that I'm still His.
So, be encouraged today. If you are maintaining your focus and staying sober-minded and watchful, then keep it up! Others of us need to see that there are those who are truly walking this out. If you have fallen by the wayside, or feel like you have walked away from Jesus and don't know how to get back to Him, just start by putting your thoughts and affections back on Him. Allow Him to walk with you through the mud and the muck, and let Him show you what the true Lion of Judah looks like. As always, with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
Be incredibly blessed!
Have you ever been in a situation where someone has deceived you? Perhaps it was something as simple as a sleight of hand, and someone convincing you that they were magic. Maybe it was something as serious as a person lying about who they were and eventually being discovered for who they really were.
Do you remember how it made you feel when the illusion crashed down? As a child believing in magic and finding out it was just a trick the whole time, it may have caused you to stop believing in magic. As an adult being tricked into believing that someone was one person and it turned out they were someone completely different, it probably caused you to distrust people in general. Either way, there was a loss of trust and a lack of belief in something after.
The bible tells us that the devil goes about "like a roaring lion". Why would he do this?
I used to think that he went about like a roaring lion so that he could scare us. A lion's roar can be heard from up to 5 miles away, so there is a TON of sound coming out of this animal. I've never been in the presence of a lion in the wild, but, I'm sure that if I were to hear one roar I would be terrified and probably need a change of pants. It made sense that he was going around roaring and trying to pick off the weak people that get separated.
I don't think that's the case any more. A lion roars for a few different reasons, none of them being for hunting purposes. In the animal kingdom it makes no sense for a lion to roar at a herd of buffalo or antelope. It would scare them off into running away, or turning and trying to defend. They hunt as quietly as possible, so that they can make a kill with as little energy as possible.
The purpose of the roar is to show their location to other lions, to show their stature, and to show lions from other prides to back off because they are getting too close for comfort.
Now, why would satan go about like a roaring lion? Who is he trying to communicate with? And what is he trying to communicate?
The Bible speaks of another lion and His power and prowess. He is referenced as "The Lion of the tribe of Judah." This is directly referencing Jesus Christ. It was no accident that C.S. Lewis chose Aslan to be a lion. The lion is known as the "King of the Jungle", and Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He never seeks to devour, rather, He seeks to give life and life abundantly.
The enemy goes about like a roaring lion because he wants to deceive us into thinking that he is the real thing. The enemy can counterfeit and fabricate things well, but he isn't the real thing. He is looking for those of us who stop being sober-minded and drop our guard. He's looking for the ones who aren't being watchful, who only pay attention occasionally. Once he has you in his grasp he will only try to kill, steal, and destroy.
"And no wonder, for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds." 2 Corinthians 11:14-15
Most people believe that the Hollywood depiction of satan is the way he actually looks. You know the look. Horns, pitchfork, red beard, terrifying. That's not at all what the scripture describes him as. He was and is incredibly cunning. He is always going to try to make himself look as attractive as possible to us so that he can lead us astray.
His whole game has always been to deceive so that we will walk away from the glory that God has in store for us. He did it and succeeded with Adam and Eve in the garden. He tried it and failed with Jesus in the desert.
He will try it everyday with you and I. Some days I am able to withstand the schemes of the devil, other times he will convince me to walk and behave in a manner unworthy of the calling that I've been called to. You know what the beautiful thing is about God and His grace, though? No matter how many times I fall for the tactics of the enemy, and walk outside of my character as a son of God, He is always there with open arms waiting to bring me back in and remind me that I'm still His.
So, be encouraged today. If you are maintaining your focus and staying sober-minded and watchful, then keep it up! Others of us need to see that there are those who are truly walking this out. If you have fallen by the wayside, or feel like you have walked away from Jesus and don't know how to get back to Him, just start by putting your thoughts and affections back on Him. Allow Him to walk with you through the mud and the muck, and let Him show you what the true Lion of Judah looks like. As always, with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
Be incredibly blessed!
Thursday, August 4, 2016
Water in the Wasteland
Have you ever gone through a season that just feels dead? I mean, everything seems like it's completely dry, and you have no idea if you'll ever get out. Sometimes, I feel like we encounter these seasons, and we feel like we have done something wrong. You begin to think that somehow, something you did brought on this weight of decay and isolation. You wonder if anything will ever have true beauty again.
Friends, I just came out of one of those seasons. I'm going to be very open and honest in this post. I'm going to talk about the journey that I've been on the last 8 months, and the very real, very tangible darkness that I was surrounded by. However, I will also point to the moment where everything broke open and light shined in my life brighter than I've truly ever seen it shine. Bear with me as I walk you through this journey.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on my way back from Colorado, and I was having a conversation with one of my favorite human beings I've ever met, Andrew Taylor. We were talking about his wedding day and how it was the happiest day of his life, and we were also reminiscing about trips that we had taken together in the past and talking about how they were some of the happiest and greatest times we'd ever experienced, but then the conversation took a turn and the subject of the worst days of our lives came up. He had a handful that he was sure were his, and my mind centered in on one single day. All the other bad days that I've ever had don't come close to comparing to the worst day of my life.
On November 30, 2015 my brother, Jonathan, passed away suddenly and without any real signs. He was 33 years old, and he had an infectious laugh. He was my first best friend. When we were kids we did everything together. As we grew up, we also grew apart. Time was not very kind to my relationship with him. I still loved him, but we didn't have much in common. I got the news of his passing around 9:30 pm and I immediately got in my car and drove to Friona to be with my parents and my oldest brother. My sister would come from Abilene the next day.
Hereford to Friona is roughly a 22 mile drive. Usually it takes me less than 25 minutes to get from my house to my parent's front door. That was the longest 25 minutes of my entire life, yet it went by in a blur. I had never cried that hard in my entire life.
The next few days were extremely tough. How do you adjust to a family member being gone? Life isn't the same. Won't be the same. Can't be the same. I met so many new faces, and forgot so many new names in the week after Jonathan passed away. I hugged so many necks, and had so many people come and cry real tears with us, because their hearts truly hurt with us. I never truly understood what real emotional pain was, until this moment. It felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest, and I didn't know how to feel any more.
This began my eight month journey, wandering through the desert.
One of my favorite books is The Shack by W.M. Paul Young. In it, the main character, Mack, suddenly and tragically loses his youngest daughter. He talks about how he walked around cloaked in what he could only describe as "The great sadness". There would be small breaks in it, but it never truly left him. This is the only thing I can find that makes sense to describe what my life felt like for 8 months. I was walking around cloaked and ruled by this great sadness that I could never truly shake.
I was so broken. I was so lost. I felt like I was so alone. I purposefully isolated myself, so that I wouldn't have to see people. On multiple occasions I felt like just giving up on God, because it just seemed easier than trying to walk through life pretending that I was serving Him. I felt like I was at a masquerade wearing multiple masks all the time. I would lead worship on Sunday mornings, but I wasn't committed to what I was doing. I almost moved away from Hereford so many times because I just felt like I needed to get away from anything familiar. I was in an extremely dark place, and I didn't see a way out. I had no joy, and no peace.
Fast forward to July. Every year for the past eight years I have taken teenagers to a conference in Colorado Springs called Desperation Conference. I honestly wanted nothing to do with the conference this year, but I figured that I might as well just go ahead and go. The first night of the conference, I finally allowed myself to actually worship Jesus with no inhibitions. I figured that I was there, I might as well just go for it. Am I ever glad that I did!
Jesus met me in my place of darkness. He restored my passion. He restored my joy. He restored my zeal. All it took was me finally coming to the end of myself and saying, "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore. I need You to take over. I need You to give me a new heart. I need You to teach me how to be joyful again." He gave me peace in my storm. He gave me His strength amidst calamity and chaos. I am not the same person that I was on November 29, 2015. I probably never will be that man again. I don't even remember who he is at this point. What I do know is this, my Jesus took me from darkness and delivered me into light. He was so patient with me. He was so kind to me. I gave up on Him, but He never ever gave up on me.
During that worship experience I had a mental picture of me holding something in my hand and being ashamed because it was the only thing I had to offer to Jesus. What I was holding was a small black lump of coal. This represented what my heart was and I remember thinking that it was literally all I had. It's the only thing I had to offer at that moment and I felt so small, and so unworthy. Jesus met that with an unexpected reaction. He was so incredibly happy to take my small lump of coal heart because He had what I can only describe as what a kid would give to their mom on valentines day. It was this giant red heart decorated with lace and glitter and all kinds of things, and it broke me. It seems silly now, but that was the turning point in my life. My brokenness for His fullness. My nothing for His everything. My hate for His love. We always get the better end of His exchange rate.
Friend, I don't know what your life is like right now. I don't even know how many of you will read this. I just want you to know that there truly is hope in the name of Jesus. There is freedom and deliverance in His name. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is peace for your storm. There is strength for your weakness. His grace is sufficient, and His heart is always, always, always for you. I can tell you today that I truly am blessed to live in the community that I live in. I'm blessed to serve in the church that I serve in. And I am blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I wouldn't have been singing this tune 2 months ago. I was a broken, depressed, defeated man, who had given up on his hopes and dreams because a tragedy had taken place. I almost stayed that guy. I almost made my home there in the darkness. Thank God that He offered a way out.
If you are struggling right now to find meaning in all of this, and you don't understand what you're going through, please understand something. God is big enough for your questions. God isn't going to be offended because you question your situation. God welcomes the questions because He can meet your questions with His love. He is always willing to listen to his kids. Don't give up. Don't let go. Don't lose hope. This is not the end. You will make it through. Your life isn't over, it's just beginning. Today is a perfect day to start over. Will you? Always remember, that with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
Be abundantly blessed.
Friends, I just came out of one of those seasons. I'm going to be very open and honest in this post. I'm going to talk about the journey that I've been on the last 8 months, and the very real, very tangible darkness that I was surrounded by. However, I will also point to the moment where everything broke open and light shined in my life brighter than I've truly ever seen it shine. Bear with me as I walk you through this journey.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on my way back from Colorado, and I was having a conversation with one of my favorite human beings I've ever met, Andrew Taylor. We were talking about his wedding day and how it was the happiest day of his life, and we were also reminiscing about trips that we had taken together in the past and talking about how they were some of the happiest and greatest times we'd ever experienced, but then the conversation took a turn and the subject of the worst days of our lives came up. He had a handful that he was sure were his, and my mind centered in on one single day. All the other bad days that I've ever had don't come close to comparing to the worst day of my life.
On November 30, 2015 my brother, Jonathan, passed away suddenly and without any real signs. He was 33 years old, and he had an infectious laugh. He was my first best friend. When we were kids we did everything together. As we grew up, we also grew apart. Time was not very kind to my relationship with him. I still loved him, but we didn't have much in common. I got the news of his passing around 9:30 pm and I immediately got in my car and drove to Friona to be with my parents and my oldest brother. My sister would come from Abilene the next day.
Hereford to Friona is roughly a 22 mile drive. Usually it takes me less than 25 minutes to get from my house to my parent's front door. That was the longest 25 minutes of my entire life, yet it went by in a blur. I had never cried that hard in my entire life.
The next few days were extremely tough. How do you adjust to a family member being gone? Life isn't the same. Won't be the same. Can't be the same. I met so many new faces, and forgot so many new names in the week after Jonathan passed away. I hugged so many necks, and had so many people come and cry real tears with us, because their hearts truly hurt with us. I never truly understood what real emotional pain was, until this moment. It felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest, and I didn't know how to feel any more.
This began my eight month journey, wandering through the desert.
One of my favorite books is The Shack by W.M. Paul Young. In it, the main character, Mack, suddenly and tragically loses his youngest daughter. He talks about how he walked around cloaked in what he could only describe as "The great sadness". There would be small breaks in it, but it never truly left him. This is the only thing I can find that makes sense to describe what my life felt like for 8 months. I was walking around cloaked and ruled by this great sadness that I could never truly shake.
I was so broken. I was so lost. I felt like I was so alone. I purposefully isolated myself, so that I wouldn't have to see people. On multiple occasions I felt like just giving up on God, because it just seemed easier than trying to walk through life pretending that I was serving Him. I felt like I was at a masquerade wearing multiple masks all the time. I would lead worship on Sunday mornings, but I wasn't committed to what I was doing. I almost moved away from Hereford so many times because I just felt like I needed to get away from anything familiar. I was in an extremely dark place, and I didn't see a way out. I had no joy, and no peace.
Fast forward to July. Every year for the past eight years I have taken teenagers to a conference in Colorado Springs called Desperation Conference. I honestly wanted nothing to do with the conference this year, but I figured that I might as well just go ahead and go. The first night of the conference, I finally allowed myself to actually worship Jesus with no inhibitions. I figured that I was there, I might as well just go for it. Am I ever glad that I did!
Jesus met me in my place of darkness. He restored my passion. He restored my joy. He restored my zeal. All it took was me finally coming to the end of myself and saying, "I've had enough. I can't do this anymore. I need You to take over. I need You to give me a new heart. I need You to teach me how to be joyful again." He gave me peace in my storm. He gave me His strength amidst calamity and chaos. I am not the same person that I was on November 29, 2015. I probably never will be that man again. I don't even remember who he is at this point. What I do know is this, my Jesus took me from darkness and delivered me into light. He was so patient with me. He was so kind to me. I gave up on Him, but He never ever gave up on me.
During that worship experience I had a mental picture of me holding something in my hand and being ashamed because it was the only thing I had to offer to Jesus. What I was holding was a small black lump of coal. This represented what my heart was and I remember thinking that it was literally all I had. It's the only thing I had to offer at that moment and I felt so small, and so unworthy. Jesus met that with an unexpected reaction. He was so incredibly happy to take my small lump of coal heart because He had what I can only describe as what a kid would give to their mom on valentines day. It was this giant red heart decorated with lace and glitter and all kinds of things, and it broke me. It seems silly now, but that was the turning point in my life. My brokenness for His fullness. My nothing for His everything. My hate for His love. We always get the better end of His exchange rate.
Friend, I don't know what your life is like right now. I don't even know how many of you will read this. I just want you to know that there truly is hope in the name of Jesus. There is freedom and deliverance in His name. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is peace for your storm. There is strength for your weakness. His grace is sufficient, and His heart is always, always, always for you. I can tell you today that I truly am blessed to live in the community that I live in. I'm blessed to serve in the church that I serve in. And I am blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I wouldn't have been singing this tune 2 months ago. I was a broken, depressed, defeated man, who had given up on his hopes and dreams because a tragedy had taken place. I almost stayed that guy. I almost made my home there in the darkness. Thank God that He offered a way out.
If you are struggling right now to find meaning in all of this, and you don't understand what you're going through, please understand something. God is big enough for your questions. God isn't going to be offended because you question your situation. God welcomes the questions because He can meet your questions with His love. He is always willing to listen to his kids. Don't give up. Don't let go. Don't lose hope. This is not the end. You will make it through. Your life isn't over, it's just beginning. Today is a perfect day to start over. Will you? Always remember, that with Jesus, the best is yet to come.
Be abundantly blessed.
Friday, February 21, 2014
The Ascension
Who may ascend the mountain of The Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
Psalm 24:3-4
I used to read that passage and immediately come under conviction. If we're being honest here, I'm sure that some of you either used to, or still do read this passage and think to yourselves, "Well I don't trust in an idol...and I don't swear by a false god...but as far as having clean hands, or a pure heart...well, that's another story." I can honestly say that it was only recently that I truly understood the fact that if we have a relationship with Christ, and we have called Him Lord and Savior, the He has cleansed our hearts. He has purified our hearts.
You see, when we believe in Jesus Christ as the one true Messiah, then He comes in and He transforms us. He gives us a new heart. He gives us a new soul. He has done it, apart from us, because He knew that we would never be able to accomplish it without Him.
This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence in the day of judgement: in this world we are like Jesus.
1 John 4:17
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus did everything for us already. Did you know that? There are a lot of people who really believe that they HAVE to do something for Christ. Listen, I'm not saying that we are not supposed to do good things. Just know that in doing these things, we are not working FOR Christ. We are working WITH Him. The bible calls us "co-laborers". We work alongside Christ, and accomplish many great things.
If there is one thing that I could get everyone to understand, it is this, righteousness isn't something that we can gain by working for it. You can't get more saved by Christ by working harder. You can however become incredibly frustrated and angry because life isn't working how you thought it was supposed to. We have become sin managers in the church. We think that as long as we can get this sin under control, we will be okay. Can I tell you a secret? If you are trying to do this on your own power, you will NEVER get that sin under control. It doesn't matter how much bible you read, how many hours you spend praying, how many dollars you give to the church, it will never go away. The only way to get rid of the sins that plague you is to have a shift in your thinking.
You will never live consistently in a way that is contradictory to the way that you believe. Let me reword it. What you believe about yourself, ultimately is the way you will live. If you believe that you are ALWAY victorious through Christ, or that you are MORE THAN a conquerer, than you will see victory in the areas of your life that you have never seen victory in. If however, you view yourself as just a lowly sinner saved by grace, then you will probably have a hard time being victorious in your walk.
One of my favorite worship bands is the United Pursuit Band. They have a song called The Climb. One part of the song says, "And I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open". I was listening to this song this afternoon in a time of prayer, and it hit me. We can ascend the mountain of God with our hands wide open, because God through Christ, has literally given us a position of victory. He has cleansed us. He has purified us. And whether we live in that way all depends on whether we will believe it. I absolutely do not for one second believe that God is in heaven angry with us. I don't think that He is waiting up there for us to screw up so He can pour out His wrath. I think He is in heaven waiting for us to embrace the love that He has already poured out on us.
I also don't think that we can disappoint God. The definition of the word disappointed is this: sad or displeased because someone or something has failed to fulfill one's hopes or expectations. I've heard many people say that they don't want to disappoint God. Well disappointed comes from a place of unfulfilled expectations. Our God is a big God. Our God is so big in fact, that He knows everything. He knows everything from infinity past, and He knows everything to infinity future. He knows everything you ever have done. He knows everything you are doing. And He knows everything that you will ever do. If He already knows EVERYTHING, then how is something unexpected going to show up on His radar? God can't be disappointed, because that would mean that He didn't know something was going to happen. If He didn't know something was going to happen, then He would cease to be God.
God loves you. He really, really loves you. He gave His only Son for you. He poured out all of His wrath on Jesus on the cross. In fact the Word says that it pleased God to crush Him. Why in the world would it please God to crush His son? Because now God could relate to you and I one on one. Now He doesn't have to crush US for the sins in our lives. Because Jesus drank the cup, and took on our sin, now, we can stand boldly in the day of judgement because we are like Christ in this world.
We may ascend the mountain of the Lord, because He Himself has cleansed our hands and purified our hearts. He has given us an open door to meet with Him. What Jesus did on the cross was a beautiful thing. Our Savior is a beautiful Savior, and He is love.
Psalm 24:3-4
I used to read that passage and immediately come under conviction. If we're being honest here, I'm sure that some of you either used to, or still do read this passage and think to yourselves, "Well I don't trust in an idol...and I don't swear by a false god...but as far as having clean hands, or a pure heart...well, that's another story." I can honestly say that it was only recently that I truly understood the fact that if we have a relationship with Christ, and we have called Him Lord and Savior, the He has cleansed our hearts. He has purified our hearts.
You see, when we believe in Jesus Christ as the one true Messiah, then He comes in and He transforms us. He gives us a new heart. He gives us a new soul. He has done it, apart from us, because He knew that we would never be able to accomplish it without Him.
This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence in the day of judgement: in this world we are like Jesus.
1 John 4:17
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we may become the righteousness of God in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus did everything for us already. Did you know that? There are a lot of people who really believe that they HAVE to do something for Christ. Listen, I'm not saying that we are not supposed to do good things. Just know that in doing these things, we are not working FOR Christ. We are working WITH Him. The bible calls us "co-laborers". We work alongside Christ, and accomplish many great things.
If there is one thing that I could get everyone to understand, it is this, righteousness isn't something that we can gain by working for it. You can't get more saved by Christ by working harder. You can however become incredibly frustrated and angry because life isn't working how you thought it was supposed to. We have become sin managers in the church. We think that as long as we can get this sin under control, we will be okay. Can I tell you a secret? If you are trying to do this on your own power, you will NEVER get that sin under control. It doesn't matter how much bible you read, how many hours you spend praying, how many dollars you give to the church, it will never go away. The only way to get rid of the sins that plague you is to have a shift in your thinking.
You will never live consistently in a way that is contradictory to the way that you believe. Let me reword it. What you believe about yourself, ultimately is the way you will live. If you believe that you are ALWAY victorious through Christ, or that you are MORE THAN a conquerer, than you will see victory in the areas of your life that you have never seen victory in. If however, you view yourself as just a lowly sinner saved by grace, then you will probably have a hard time being victorious in your walk.
One of my favorite worship bands is the United Pursuit Band. They have a song called The Climb. One part of the song says, "And I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open". I was listening to this song this afternoon in a time of prayer, and it hit me. We can ascend the mountain of God with our hands wide open, because God through Christ, has literally given us a position of victory. He has cleansed us. He has purified us. And whether we live in that way all depends on whether we will believe it. I absolutely do not for one second believe that God is in heaven angry with us. I don't think that He is waiting up there for us to screw up so He can pour out His wrath. I think He is in heaven waiting for us to embrace the love that He has already poured out on us.
I also don't think that we can disappoint God. The definition of the word disappointed is this: sad or displeased because someone or something has failed to fulfill one's hopes or expectations. I've heard many people say that they don't want to disappoint God. Well disappointed comes from a place of unfulfilled expectations. Our God is a big God. Our God is so big in fact, that He knows everything. He knows everything from infinity past, and He knows everything to infinity future. He knows everything you ever have done. He knows everything you are doing. And He knows everything that you will ever do. If He already knows EVERYTHING, then how is something unexpected going to show up on His radar? God can't be disappointed, because that would mean that He didn't know something was going to happen. If He didn't know something was going to happen, then He would cease to be God.
God loves you. He really, really loves you. He gave His only Son for you. He poured out all of His wrath on Jesus on the cross. In fact the Word says that it pleased God to crush Him. Why in the world would it please God to crush His son? Because now God could relate to you and I one on one. Now He doesn't have to crush US for the sins in our lives. Because Jesus drank the cup, and took on our sin, now, we can stand boldly in the day of judgement because we are like Christ in this world.
We may ascend the mountain of the Lord, because He Himself has cleansed our hands and purified our hearts. He has given us an open door to meet with Him. What Jesus did on the cross was a beautiful thing. Our Savior is a beautiful Savior, and He is love.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
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!
Monday, October 21, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
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.
-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.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
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?
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?
Friday, April 12, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
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!
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!
Monday, January 21, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
The Word that Changed the World
35)He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36)And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.
Mark 14:35-36
A few weeks ago a buddy of mine gave me a copy of his audio bible, and it is incredible. It's called The Bible Experience...and you need to get it. For real. I didn't utilize it until this morning on my way into work. I listened to Mark chapter 14. And it absolutely wrecked me. I usually keep my emotions under control, but this morning driving into town it got to this passage. And I was crying. In my car. Looking like a completely ridiculous mess. I've read this account many times. I know what it says, and I feel like I understand the gravity of this situation...but never have I become that kind of emotional when reading it.
So I know most of you who read this have probably looked at that passage before, but it really hit me this morning. This was Christ's humanity coming face to face with His deity. This was Christ the man, understanding the gravity of what was taking place. He was about to half to walk smack dab into the middle of something He had never experienced in His entire life. He had seen 33 years come and go, without ever stumbling, without ever sinning, without ever doing anything to cross the boundary of the law that His Father had set up for His people...and He was about to experience ALL of it. Do you understand that? This was a man who had never had a bad thought. He had never said a bad word. He had never committed a sinful action in any way. Ever. In His ENTIRE life. And now...He was going to not experience His first sinful act. He was going to experience EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MINE. He was going to experience EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOURS. EVERY SINGLE SIN FROM BEGINNING TO END OF TIME. Can you even come close to grasping that? Can you? Because I can't. I sin on a daily basis. I fall short of perfection every single day. This man had gone over twelve thousand days in His life without ever falling short, without ever doing anything wrong. Ever.
This is why He says to Abba, "All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me." He's pleading for Himself. This is why He told the disciples, "Can you drink this cup?" Of course not! Of course they couldn't. Of course we couldn't! He was our only hope. And our hope was trying to find another avenue. This was the first time that Christ struggled with what His call was. He knew from the beginning that this was His job. Redemption was His calling, and it was His life's work. And our redeemer came face to face with His humanity and realized that He had never sinned. He realized that He was about to experience the most soul crushing thing He had ever felt. He would experience hate, anger, jealousy, wrath, guilt, shame, lust...all of mine, and all of yours, and all of everyone's from the beginning of time to the end of the world...all at once. This is why before He goes into the garden to pray, He says, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful...even unto death." Those weren't just words. He was literally dying inside. You see...for Him to free us from our sins, He had to take them upon Himself. For Him to unlock the chains, and for Him to redeem humanity, He had to experience the very thing He was redeeming, unlocking, and loosing us from.
Then there comes a turning point. "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me..." the next word uttered out of His mouth saved our lives. He is pleading with Dad to give Him another option...but then Jesus says, "nevertheless not what I will, but what I will." Nevertheless is one of the most important words spoken in human history. When Jesus uttered this word, He resolved within Himself that there indeed was no alternative. There was absolutely no other way. He HAD to be made sin on our behalf.
I used to think that He was worried about the gruesome death that He was about to face, and He didn't want to be bruised, scarred, and wounded. Looking at it now, I think He was much more concerned with experiencing sin. If He wouldn't have had to endure the sinfulness of humanity, I think He would have been like, "Peace of cake. Beat me and hang me on the cross. I'm still perfect." Instead, He had to be numbered among the transgressors. He had to be made into sinful flesh so that we could have redemption from sinfulness. He had to experience the fallen nature before He could save it. I'm still trying to grasp this. I'm still trying to understand the brevity of what Jesus endured for me.
Jesus said nevertheless, because He knew what was at stake. He knew the future of the world hung in the balance. He knew that His destiny was what John the Baptist said of Him. "Behold! The Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world!" Remember, Jesus went to great lengths to pay a great, and heavy price for your soul, spirit, and life. You were bought with a price. And Jesus thought you were 100% worth it. If you have accepted His forgiveness and His new abundant life, then hopefully this encourages you that Jesus went through everything you went through. He felt all the pain. He felt all the guilt, and all the shame on that night in Gethsemane. And He endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. That joy was you and I friends.
If you don't know Him as your Savior. If you don't know Him as your redeemer, know this, He was in the garden redeeming all of humanity. Everyone who dies and goes to heaven, dies and is forgiven. Everyone who dies and goes to hell, dies, and they were also forgiven. The difference? Acceptance of the forgiveness. Acceptance of the invitation to the abundant life. Acceptance to His grace, and peace, and love. Jesus loves you, and died for you. He experienced all of your sin. And He left it in the tomb when He rose. His love knows no bounds and His redemption knows no bounds. Will you accept it? Will you RSVP to the greatest invitation of all time?
Be blessed.
Friday, November 16, 2012
All Doesn't Mean Some
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.-Romans 8:28(ESV)
For some reason, I have taken certain words that are a part of the English language and have changed the meanings on them. Words that are completely inclusive, now have possible doubt attached to them. Many times, I don't mean to completely disregard the meanings of simple words such as 'all', or 'everything', or 'always', but many times when those words hit my brain, my reasoning filters them and they become, 'some', 'some things', and 'sometimes'. I think most of the time, it's because my experiences usually don't accept definite words as definite.
This is why the verse above gives us such trouble. We speak it, and we say we believe it, but how many of us usually discredit the above statement with a simple conjunction. We take a word like all, which means every, or any, or the greatest possible, and discredit it with the word, but, which means on the contrary, except, unless, or otherwise. We say, yes! I do believe all things work together for those who love God...but I don't see it in my situation. So we say we believe something wholeheartedly and then completely discredit and disregard our previous statement by saying, 'but'.
I know it is difficult to get past this for a lot of us. For me, it is always a struggle. I will quote scripture over myself or meditate on something like this verse in Romans 8, and then 5 minutes later I'm completely throwing it out the window because I'm reminded of a circumstance.
I've been praying a little differently as of late. I know my circumstances still look impossible sometimes. I've asked God thousands and thousands of times to change, or take away, or do something different in my life. It hasn't ever changed anything, then I get angry with God, and I just want to give up. So now, instead of asking Him to change my situation, I ask Him to always remind me of what He said. I've been asking Him to continually renew my mind, and remind me of the promises that He's made.
All things work together for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I tend to read that verse and think, well yeah. All the good things in my life work together to continue to be good. I mean that sounds like a good explanation. It sounds like an alright idea. It's incredibly wrong. All means All. All does not mean some. We can't take words like all and turn them into indefinite words. There is no doubt in the word all. What this verse is literally saying is that if you love Him, He takes the good, the bad, the ugly, and the indifferent, and weaves them ALL together to complete a work that He finished, and ultimately it is for your good!
You're in a crappy situation? Well, wait. Wait it out. Eventually the bad will turn into the good and the process will be completed. He finds ways and has already set certain things into motion so that all of the junk and all of the blessings can work together to make a finished product that is in all actuality a good product. If you're reading this and you are a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of your soul, then this verse applies.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.-Jeremiah 29:11(ESV)
He hasn't forgotten His plans. He hasn't turned His back on His plans. He doesn't do things half way. He does thing all the way or not at all. He's not like us. He isn't even close to us. He is far better than we know, and He's far better than we give Him credit for.
I don't know what you're currently going through. I have no clue what most of you are dealing with. I'm sure I can't imagine some of your current predicaments, but here's one thing I do know. Our God is good. He is faithful. He said that He would never leave nor forsake us. He also told us He has a plan to prosper and not to harm, and He says that this present situation will ultimately work out for your good. Ultimately, all the stress, frustration, anger, happiness, joy, love, hard times, and good times, WILL work together for your benefit, if you love Him and are called with His purpose. And if you love Him, you ARE called, because we don't know to love Him except that He first loved us.
Don't give up. Don't let go. Even when you can't see it. Even when you can't feel it. Even when you don't understand it. Don't forget His promises. Don't forget that He has a plan. Don't forget that He will make this work out for good in the end. He loves you, and He will work it out.
If it isn't good yet, then it isn't over. Sometimes things happen that we couldn't possibly understand them working out for our good. I can't begin to explain how some of the horrible things that happen work out for our good, but I'm also not God. I won't pretend to have all the answers. I just know that I have the 1 answer. His name is Jesus, and He is enough for me.
All things will work together for your good. He has a plan. And He is faithful and trustworthy to complete it. There's a song by one of my favorite bands called To The Very End. These are the lyrics:
You know me, and I know You
You're the God who calms all my storms
You're the voice inside my head
Don't give up
Don't let go
Don't lose trust
Don't lose hope
You can have all my fears, God
You can have all my sins
You can have all my weaknesses
I know You're with me to the very end.
Friends, He is with you to the very end. He won't turn from You. He won't leave this unfinished. He will complete the work. He will see it through, and you will come out better than you were on the other side.
For some reason, I have taken certain words that are a part of the English language and have changed the meanings on them. Words that are completely inclusive, now have possible doubt attached to them. Many times, I don't mean to completely disregard the meanings of simple words such as 'all', or 'everything', or 'always', but many times when those words hit my brain, my reasoning filters them and they become, 'some', 'some things', and 'sometimes'. I think most of the time, it's because my experiences usually don't accept definite words as definite.
This is why the verse above gives us such trouble. We speak it, and we say we believe it, but how many of us usually discredit the above statement with a simple conjunction. We take a word like all, which means every, or any, or the greatest possible, and discredit it with the word, but, which means on the contrary, except, unless, or otherwise. We say, yes! I do believe all things work together for those who love God...but I don't see it in my situation. So we say we believe something wholeheartedly and then completely discredit and disregard our previous statement by saying, 'but'.
I know it is difficult to get past this for a lot of us. For me, it is always a struggle. I will quote scripture over myself or meditate on something like this verse in Romans 8, and then 5 minutes later I'm completely throwing it out the window because I'm reminded of a circumstance.
I've been praying a little differently as of late. I know my circumstances still look impossible sometimes. I've asked God thousands and thousands of times to change, or take away, or do something different in my life. It hasn't ever changed anything, then I get angry with God, and I just want to give up. So now, instead of asking Him to change my situation, I ask Him to always remind me of what He said. I've been asking Him to continually renew my mind, and remind me of the promises that He's made.
All things work together for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. I tend to read that verse and think, well yeah. All the good things in my life work together to continue to be good. I mean that sounds like a good explanation. It sounds like an alright idea. It's incredibly wrong. All means All. All does not mean some. We can't take words like all and turn them into indefinite words. There is no doubt in the word all. What this verse is literally saying is that if you love Him, He takes the good, the bad, the ugly, and the indifferent, and weaves them ALL together to complete a work that He finished, and ultimately it is for your good!
You're in a crappy situation? Well, wait. Wait it out. Eventually the bad will turn into the good and the process will be completed. He finds ways and has already set certain things into motion so that all of the junk and all of the blessings can work together to make a finished product that is in all actuality a good product. If you're reading this and you are a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of your soul, then this verse applies.
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.-Jeremiah 29:11(ESV)
He hasn't forgotten His plans. He hasn't turned His back on His plans. He doesn't do things half way. He does thing all the way or not at all. He's not like us. He isn't even close to us. He is far better than we know, and He's far better than we give Him credit for.
I don't know what you're currently going through. I have no clue what most of you are dealing with. I'm sure I can't imagine some of your current predicaments, but here's one thing I do know. Our God is good. He is faithful. He said that He would never leave nor forsake us. He also told us He has a plan to prosper and not to harm, and He says that this present situation will ultimately work out for your good. Ultimately, all the stress, frustration, anger, happiness, joy, love, hard times, and good times, WILL work together for your benefit, if you love Him and are called with His purpose. And if you love Him, you ARE called, because we don't know to love Him except that He first loved us.
Don't give up. Don't let go. Even when you can't see it. Even when you can't feel it. Even when you don't understand it. Don't forget His promises. Don't forget that He has a plan. Don't forget that He will make this work out for good in the end. He loves you, and He will work it out.
If it isn't good yet, then it isn't over. Sometimes things happen that we couldn't possibly understand them working out for our good. I can't begin to explain how some of the horrible things that happen work out for our good, but I'm also not God. I won't pretend to have all the answers. I just know that I have the 1 answer. His name is Jesus, and He is enough for me.
All things will work together for your good. He has a plan. And He is faithful and trustworthy to complete it. There's a song by one of my favorite bands called To The Very End. These are the lyrics:
You know me, and I know You
You're the God who calms all my storms
You're the voice inside my head
Don't give up
Don't let go
Don't lose trust
Don't lose hope
You can have all my fears, God
You can have all my sins
You can have all my weaknesses
I know You're with me to the very end.
Friends, He is with you to the very end. He won't turn from You. He won't leave this unfinished. He will complete the work. He will see it through, and you will come out better than you were on the other side.
Friday, August 24, 2012
True Love
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows His love for us in that WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, Christ died for us.-Romans 5:6-8
Here's the real issue. When we came to Christ, all of us had something in common. We were royally, incredibly, undeniably, unequivocally SCREWED UP! We had no shot at thriving in this life without Him. And if you're reading this, and you don't know Jesus, then listen to me. YOU HAVE NO SHOT AT THIS LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST! Oh sure. You might do well for a while. You might be successful. You might make gobs and gobs of money. You might be well liked...but you'll never be satisfied. There will always be something missing. There will always be this part of you that knows that there is something else. There's something more. There's something...missing. You may not know it now. In fact, you may think I'm an idiot, and truly believe that I have no idea what I'm talking about. That's fine. I used to think that way about people like me. I used to think that people who really sold out to Jesus were coocoo for coco puffs! I used to think they'd gone off the deep end. I used to think they were a bunch of bible thumping nut jobs, who had nothing better to do that waste their time on this "deity" named Jesus. I grew up in a home that was influenced very much by the church. My father was a pastor. I was forced to go to church as a child. As Lecrae would say, I was a drug baby. My parents drug me to church. I hated going to church from the age of about 10-15. I didn't get it. I didn't understand what it was all about. As much as my parents tried to explain who Christ was, I didn't really care until I had a real encounter with Him.
So look, yes. I grew up in the church. I grew up in a Christian household. I "knew" who Jesus was. But I did not care about Him. I didn't give a rip about who He was, or what He did, or how it applied to my life. Because it was MY life after all, right? Right?!? It's MY life, and I can do whatever I want to with it. That's what my mindset was up until about age 16 or 17. Jesus is cool and all. And I know the bible is good, or whatever...but does it really apply to me? Does it really mean anything to me?
Well, I found out in a real way, that Jesus was and is more than cool. I found out the bible is way more than good. And it does apply, and it does mean a lot...to me. Personally. Individually. As myself. Not as a guy who is a part of a greater whole. (The church.) But an individual dude, who had no clue what he was doing in life, and had no idea what I wanted out of this world. Jesus wasn't on the cross sacrificing Himself to save ONLY me, but He was on the cross sacrificing Himself with me on His mind. And you on His mind. And your mom. And your dad. And your uncle. And everyone else. Everyone. No really. Everyone. Even the people that we deem the lowest of the low in society. Guys like Jerry Sandusky. Guys like Timothy McVey. Guys like Osama Bin Laden. Everyone. All of us. Ever.
And it was a once for all sacrifice. Once. For. All. What exactly does that mean? Once for all? Simply put...Jesus died ONE TIME. For ALL SIN. From the beginning of time (Adam and Eve in the garden), all the way until the very last person will be born. This includes, but is not limited to, the fall in the garden, the lie you told your parents when you said you were going out with your friends to the mall, but really ended up going to your boyfriend/girlfriends house, that time you looked at porn on your smart phone, your mom's affair, your dad's alcoholism, the abortion rate in America and across the globe, and any other vile, disgusting things you can think of. Jesus died, because of, and to do away with, all of it.
One of my favorite verses in the bible is in Hebrews 8. The writer is actually quoting Jeremiah 31:34, but here is what Hebrews 8:12 says. "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." When we read that, we think, "OH! That means that God forgets things!" WRONG! Sorry. I'm really excited right now. As my friend Justin would say, "Watch this." The Hebrew word referenced that says "remember" isn't speaking about forgetting or bringing to remembrance. It's like this, say I have an accident where my finger gets severed off. If we pack it on ice, and can get to the surgeon quick enough, my finger can be reattached. It can be...re-membered, to my body. So what God is saying in this verse is not that He forgets our sins. What He is saying, is that He chooses not to associate OUR SINS with WHO WE ARE! When we come into a relationship with the Father through the Son, He only cares about Jesus' sacrifice. So basically...our sins don't count. He doesn't attach the sin to our character any more. Here's another way to look at it. In the old testament, when you would bring a sacrifice in to the priest to cover your sins for another year, the priest didn't ever look at you. The priest wasn't worried with what you looked like. He didn't care whether you were 6'6" with ripped arms and washboard abs. He didn't care if you were 5'3" and weighed 245 pounds and were slightly balding. He didn't care if you could have been a swimsuit model. The only thing that the priest looked at was your sacrifice.He inspected the quality of your sacrifice. If your sacrifice was deemed worthy, then so were you. For a year. Then you had to come back again. Next year. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the...well you get the picture. Listen. When you come to God and you present the sacrifice of Christ, and His blood as your offering...you are deemed worthy. Not for a day. Not for a week. Not for a month, a year, a decade, or whatever. For eternity.
So here's where it gets kind of awkward for me. We as Christians sometimes forget the fact that we used to be screwed up. Some of us, quite frequently, forget that Jesus had to save us out of some pretty messed up stuff. And then we get to the point where we think that we are better than sinners. Sometimes I forget that I still screw up. And then God let's me in on something. If it weren't for Him, I would have never realized that I needed a savior. I would have never realized that I needed saving even. Some people don't know Him yet. Some people don't love Him yet. But He loves them. Exactly as they are. He loves them. Where they are at. He loves deeply, every single person on this earth. How can He do that? Well...because He knows them as who they could be, not as who they are. The scriptures actually speak of heaven rejoicing more over one lost person coming to Christ than they do for the 99 who are already a part of the fold.
Christ's love was manifest in a great way on the cross. The passage at the beginning of this blog speaks and attests to that. Seldom will someone die for a righteous person. Very rarely will you find someone who will die for someone who is actually deemed "good" in the minds of men. His love was shown to us in this...that WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, Christ died on the cross for us. While I was still in my dirt, He died for me. In fact, BECAUSE I was in my dirt, He died. It was MY sinfulness, and MY pride of life, and MY selfishness that nailed my savior to the cross. He HAD TO die so that I could truly live. He could not redeem humanity any other way. We are in our nature sinful. We don't have to be taught to sin. It comes natural to us. Jesus broke the mold. He lived a blameless life. He lived a sinless life. He lived a perfect life. And He was nailed to a cross because of MY transgressions. Some of you may be thinking, "Well He died for my stuff too." And you are correct. But until you really get to the point where you understand that it was for you, all of it, then it won't take root. It wasn't until I really understood that it was MY stuff that got my Jesus murdered, that I truly realized what grace meant. Unmerited favor. Undeserved love. I don't want justice. If I were given justice then I would be destined to hell. Mercy is not getting what I do deserve. Mercy is good. But, it isn't grace. Grace gives me what I don't deserve. Grace gives me His love. Unbridled. Uncontained. Unconditioned. You know what God's love is like? Imagine loving someone so much, that it hurt. And realizing that even if they NEVER showed you the same love, you will still love them. You wouldn't stop loving them because they stopped loving you. That's God's love for you. And it was poured out for us, on the cross, while we were yet sinners. While we had no shot. Jesus gave everything He had, so that we could be something new. A new creation. A spiritual creation. Living His life, and loving our lives.
So if you don't know Him. If you feel like you've gone too far, realize this. Every one of us who claim Christ as our savior has been in a place where we thought we were too far gone. But, His love was showed in the fact that while we were still in that place, He died and laid down His life for us. It's never too late, and it's never too early to turn to Christ. He died. He rose. He lives. And He loves you, right where you're at. But He doesn't want to leave you there. He wants you to come along for the ride of your life. He will take you as you are, but He will completely transform you into something new. His love is enough. His life is enough. Will you take His invitation? The choice is yours, and yours alone.
Here's the real issue. When we came to Christ, all of us had something in common. We were royally, incredibly, undeniably, unequivocally SCREWED UP! We had no shot at thriving in this life without Him. And if you're reading this, and you don't know Jesus, then listen to me. YOU HAVE NO SHOT AT THIS LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST! Oh sure. You might do well for a while. You might be successful. You might make gobs and gobs of money. You might be well liked...but you'll never be satisfied. There will always be something missing. There will always be this part of you that knows that there is something else. There's something more. There's something...missing. You may not know it now. In fact, you may think I'm an idiot, and truly believe that I have no idea what I'm talking about. That's fine. I used to think that way about people like me. I used to think that people who really sold out to Jesus were coocoo for coco puffs! I used to think they'd gone off the deep end. I used to think they were a bunch of bible thumping nut jobs, who had nothing better to do that waste their time on this "deity" named Jesus. I grew up in a home that was influenced very much by the church. My father was a pastor. I was forced to go to church as a child. As Lecrae would say, I was a drug baby. My parents drug me to church. I hated going to church from the age of about 10-15. I didn't get it. I didn't understand what it was all about. As much as my parents tried to explain who Christ was, I didn't really care until I had a real encounter with Him.
So look, yes. I grew up in the church. I grew up in a Christian household. I "knew" who Jesus was. But I did not care about Him. I didn't give a rip about who He was, or what He did, or how it applied to my life. Because it was MY life after all, right? Right?!? It's MY life, and I can do whatever I want to with it. That's what my mindset was up until about age 16 or 17. Jesus is cool and all. And I know the bible is good, or whatever...but does it really apply to me? Does it really mean anything to me?
Well, I found out in a real way, that Jesus was and is more than cool. I found out the bible is way more than good. And it does apply, and it does mean a lot...to me. Personally. Individually. As myself. Not as a guy who is a part of a greater whole. (The church.) But an individual dude, who had no clue what he was doing in life, and had no idea what I wanted out of this world. Jesus wasn't on the cross sacrificing Himself to save ONLY me, but He was on the cross sacrificing Himself with me on His mind. And you on His mind. And your mom. And your dad. And your uncle. And everyone else. Everyone. No really. Everyone. Even the people that we deem the lowest of the low in society. Guys like Jerry Sandusky. Guys like Timothy McVey. Guys like Osama Bin Laden. Everyone. All of us. Ever.
And it was a once for all sacrifice. Once. For. All. What exactly does that mean? Once for all? Simply put...Jesus died ONE TIME. For ALL SIN. From the beginning of time (Adam and Eve in the garden), all the way until the very last person will be born. This includes, but is not limited to, the fall in the garden, the lie you told your parents when you said you were going out with your friends to the mall, but really ended up going to your boyfriend/girlfriends house, that time you looked at porn on your smart phone, your mom's affair, your dad's alcoholism, the abortion rate in America and across the globe, and any other vile, disgusting things you can think of. Jesus died, because of, and to do away with, all of it.
One of my favorite verses in the bible is in Hebrews 8. The writer is actually quoting Jeremiah 31:34, but here is what Hebrews 8:12 says. "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." When we read that, we think, "OH! That means that God forgets things!" WRONG! Sorry. I'm really excited right now. As my friend Justin would say, "Watch this." The Hebrew word referenced that says "remember" isn't speaking about forgetting or bringing to remembrance. It's like this, say I have an accident where my finger gets severed off. If we pack it on ice, and can get to the surgeon quick enough, my finger can be reattached. It can be...re-membered, to my body. So what God is saying in this verse is not that He forgets our sins. What He is saying, is that He chooses not to associate OUR SINS with WHO WE ARE! When we come into a relationship with the Father through the Son, He only cares about Jesus' sacrifice. So basically...our sins don't count. He doesn't attach the sin to our character any more. Here's another way to look at it. In the old testament, when you would bring a sacrifice in to the priest to cover your sins for another year, the priest didn't ever look at you. The priest wasn't worried with what you looked like. He didn't care whether you were 6'6" with ripped arms and washboard abs. He didn't care if you were 5'3" and weighed 245 pounds and were slightly balding. He didn't care if you could have been a swimsuit model. The only thing that the priest looked at was your sacrifice.He inspected the quality of your sacrifice. If your sacrifice was deemed worthy, then so were you. For a year. Then you had to come back again. Next year. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the...well you get the picture. Listen. When you come to God and you present the sacrifice of Christ, and His blood as your offering...you are deemed worthy. Not for a day. Not for a week. Not for a month, a year, a decade, or whatever. For eternity.
So here's where it gets kind of awkward for me. We as Christians sometimes forget the fact that we used to be screwed up. Some of us, quite frequently, forget that Jesus had to save us out of some pretty messed up stuff. And then we get to the point where we think that we are better than sinners. Sometimes I forget that I still screw up. And then God let's me in on something. If it weren't for Him, I would have never realized that I needed a savior. I would have never realized that I needed saving even. Some people don't know Him yet. Some people don't love Him yet. But He loves them. Exactly as they are. He loves them. Where they are at. He loves deeply, every single person on this earth. How can He do that? Well...because He knows them as who they could be, not as who they are. The scriptures actually speak of heaven rejoicing more over one lost person coming to Christ than they do for the 99 who are already a part of the fold.
Christ's love was manifest in a great way on the cross. The passage at the beginning of this blog speaks and attests to that. Seldom will someone die for a righteous person. Very rarely will you find someone who will die for someone who is actually deemed "good" in the minds of men. His love was shown to us in this...that WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, Christ died on the cross for us. While I was still in my dirt, He died for me. In fact, BECAUSE I was in my dirt, He died. It was MY sinfulness, and MY pride of life, and MY selfishness that nailed my savior to the cross. He HAD TO die so that I could truly live. He could not redeem humanity any other way. We are in our nature sinful. We don't have to be taught to sin. It comes natural to us. Jesus broke the mold. He lived a blameless life. He lived a sinless life. He lived a perfect life. And He was nailed to a cross because of MY transgressions. Some of you may be thinking, "Well He died for my stuff too." And you are correct. But until you really get to the point where you understand that it was for you, all of it, then it won't take root. It wasn't until I really understood that it was MY stuff that got my Jesus murdered, that I truly realized what grace meant. Unmerited favor. Undeserved love. I don't want justice. If I were given justice then I would be destined to hell. Mercy is not getting what I do deserve. Mercy is good. But, it isn't grace. Grace gives me what I don't deserve. Grace gives me His love. Unbridled. Uncontained. Unconditioned. You know what God's love is like? Imagine loving someone so much, that it hurt. And realizing that even if they NEVER showed you the same love, you will still love them. You wouldn't stop loving them because they stopped loving you. That's God's love for you. And it was poured out for us, on the cross, while we were yet sinners. While we had no shot. Jesus gave everything He had, so that we could be something new. A new creation. A spiritual creation. Living His life, and loving our lives.
So if you don't know Him. If you feel like you've gone too far, realize this. Every one of us who claim Christ as our savior has been in a place where we thought we were too far gone. But, His love was showed in the fact that while we were still in that place, He died and laid down His life for us. It's never too late, and it's never too early to turn to Christ. He died. He rose. He lives. And He loves you, right where you're at. But He doesn't want to leave you there. He wants you to come along for the ride of your life. He will take you as you are, but He will completely transform you into something new. His love is enough. His life is enough. Will you take His invitation? The choice is yours, and yours alone.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Don't Worry Be Happy!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.-Philippians 4:6-7
I'm writing this blog during one of the most trying seasons I've ever gone through. I won't go into exact details of what's been happening, but it has been very frustrating, disappointing, and heavy. Circumstances are in place in my life right now, that I can't see past, and the devil has been doing his best to use them against me, and I have been doing my best to just allow him to do what he wants.
Last week I was just reading through scriptures, just really trying to see what God was up to, why everything seemed like it was going haywire, and God took me to Philippians chapter 4. Particularly verses 6 and 7. Have you ever been anxious about something? There have been some circumstances in my life when I have really been anxious about something. Right now is one of them. Jesus tells us, "Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."-Matthew 6:34
When we worry about things, it usually is because of future ramifications of some sort. Even when we worry about what we did yesterday, or what happened yesterday, it's usually in relation to what tomorrow will bring from that decision. So our problem usually is the fact that things that are coming in the future are scary. Such is the case with me right now. There are things that I don't understand about the future. There are things that are going on in my life right now, that are giving me opportunity to fear the future. But Jesus tells us that God already knows what we need. So why worry?
I believe that one of satan's greatest tactics is to get us to worry. Worry about finances. Worry about the future. Worry about relationships. Worry about jobs. Worry, worry, worry. And the word of God is telling us, "Be anxious for nothing." Don't sweat it! He knows the thoughts that He thinks towards you. And He knows the plans He has for you. To prosper you, and give you a hope, and a future! This is why we don't have to worry. We can trust the fact that God is a good father and that He has our backs. While it may not look like it right now, I'm sure that in a few months I will look back on the situations and circumstances that are happening in my life and say, "Wow. That's what I was so worried about?"
Now let's look at some more of this verse. "...but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." So, Paul gives us an idea of what kind of prayers will produce peace in our lives. The next verse talks about the peace of God that surpasses all understanding coming and guarding our hearts and minds in Christ. When we go to the Lord with our prayers, the best way to catch the heart of the father is to come in with a thankful heart. Now I do not believe that Paul was telling the church in Philippi that they needed to thank God FOR all things, rather to thank God IN all things. Most of you are aware that my father was diagnosed with cancer last November. Now, why would I go to God and say, "Thank you so much for giving my father cancer! You're such a swell guy!" That would be ludicrous! However, I did go to God many times and thank Him for being the healer, and for being with my family through all of it. I never had a doubt in my mind that God was going to take care of dad, and He did. Dad is now cancer free and has finished all of his treatments! Praise God!
Sometimes bad stuff happens. In fact, Jesus promises it. "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."-John 16:33 We WILL have tribulation. James tells us to count it all joy when we encounter trials of various kinds, because the testing of our faith produces patience. And that will in effect produce wholeness in our lives. We know these things, yet we get upset when they happen. Jesus tells us that we will have tribulation, and when it shows up we act like we've never heard this before. We seem to think that everyone else can deal with trials and struggles, but we should be immune to it because Jesus doesn't want us in anything unpleasant. Sometimes we have to face unpleasant circumstances so we can learn something from them. And if we don't learn anything, it can just start the cycle right over again. I firmly believe that God wants us to have a thankful heart as we encounter all things. Be they good, or be they bad, God wants us to learn how to thank Him IN all things.
In the middle of Philippians 4, Paul tells the church that he had learned in whatever situation he found himself in to be content. He knew what it was like to struggle. To be brought low, to be brought high. Facing plenty, hunger, abundance and need. Then he says something that we quote all the time, but use out of context. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This verse is speaking directly to being able to stay content in whatever situation we find ourselves in. The way that we do that is to stay thankful.
"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8
When we stay thankful and pray prayers of thanksgiving to our God, then He can bring His peace in to cover us. And once we get to thank, then we can start to allow Him to renew our mind as Romans 12 talks about. As we think on these good things, it will remind us to thank Him, then it is a reciprocal thing. Thank Him for who He is, and what He's doing, and as you do that then you can start thinking on the goodness of God and His praiseworthiness, and when you hit that point then you are thankful again. And pretty soon. you will find yourself at peace with life, and content with whatever circumstance you are in.
I'm just learning this principle. I was so caught up in my circumstances and my trials and tribulations, that I lost sight of who God really is. And in doing so, I lost sight of who I really am. I am a son of the most high. I am a child of the King of kings. He owns everything, and He is a generous father. No matter what you're going through today, take time out to thank Him for who He is. Take time to allow Him to transform your mind. Allow Him to turn you into a thankful person. He loves you more than you could ever know, and He desperately wants you to know of His love! I pray that this has blessed you as much as it has me by writing it. I love you all. Have a great week. And remember, stay thankful.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
I Surrender All!...Oh really?
All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him I freely give. Many of you know that song by heart. Many of us have sung that song so many times in our lives, but do we really even pay attention to the words? Do you really surrender all? I'm talking to myself more than anyone in this blog. I'm preaching at myself, because I caught a truth last night in a prayer time, that no. I really do not surrender all. Come to think about it...I don't really know that I surrender most. Okay, okay...I surrender some? You see, when we get to the bottom of the pile of this, and dig a little deeper, we come to a realization. Most of us will only surrender what is comfortable. Read that again. We will only surrender what is comfortable. If that's the case, then is it truly surrender?
I just came back from the Desperation Student Conference. If you've never been and you're a youth pastor, you are doing yourself and your kids a disservice. Anyway, that was my plug for the conference. And really, any time you go to a conference or youth camp or whatever, you come back on such a spiritual high that you think, "I'M GOING TO SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD BY MYSELF! JESUS IS SO GOOD! YEAH! NAME IT AND CLAIM IT! I WANT A YELLOW LAMBOURGHINI! AND A MILLION DOLLARS! AND A PET RINO!" Okay...maybe those last few aren't what we really think, but you get the point. We sang a song all week that said, "Jesus makes the impossible, possible." And we believed it. And we still believe it. Today at least. Or maybe this week. But what about next week? Next month? Next year? I feel like every one of the 4,000 people that attended that conference were serious about making a difference in their city. I know that our group definitely was. And still is. We told God that He could have everything! He could be our everything! He was the one we wanted to see, and we only wanted to seek His face! And those are all great things while we're there, but what happens when we get home?
I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Him my blessed Savior. I surrender all. So now we're back to surrender. The dictionary defines surrender as to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield. Surrender is usually linked with war. When the enemy army is too powerful, and too strong, you would surrender in order to save your own lives. Surrendering to God is much the same way. We surrender to Him, not because He is going to take our lives, but because if we don't we can't gain real life. Without surrender to God, we will not be able to walk into the Kingdom of Heaven when we pass on to eternity.
Most of us, I believe really do understand the fact that we have to surrender and accept Him as the Savior of our souls. But what comes next? Do we need to alter in any way the things that we do? Do we need to alter in any way the people we hang out with? Do we need to change anything at all? There's a saying that is said at our church very frequently. The Christian life is not about change. The Christian life is about exchange. See when we exchange our life for Christ's, then He can implant His heart and mind into us. If we are just trying to change to be good, then we will never get where we want to go. However, if we exchange our lives, we allow Christ to come and teach us how to love. Teach us how to follow. Teach us who to be with, how to live our lives, and how to interact with Him. Living a life of exchange at first is not easy, because of one thing. Absolute, complete, 100% surrender. We have to die to ourselves and our desires and allow someone else to call the shots.
I feel like this is the way most people view surrender. "As long as it doesn't alter who I am. And as long as it doesn't affect my friendships. And as long as I don't have to act, think, or do differently...then sure! I'll surrender! Friends, THAT. IS. NOT. SURRENDER. That is completely opposite of surrender. If you were to surrender to an enemy in battle, you do not get to make any kind of demands from them. You are in fact their prisoner and they tell you who you will be. How you will be. And who you will be you with! Surrender means that you have counted the cost. You understand that you are about to save your life, but there is something that the other side is going to demand of you. Fortunately for us, Christ is not an evil ruler. Christ honestly doesn't really demand that we change our lives. He doesn't really tell us that we have to be better than we used to be. As long as we believe in Him as the Son of God, and accept His baptism, then we can rest with Him in eternity. But here's my question for you if you live your life that way. If you walk through life, and never really allow God to take control of it, because you don't want to give up your freedoms. ARE YOU RETARDED?!?!?! The CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE wants to have a real relationship with you, and He wants to give you the most fulfilling life you could ever hope for, yet you think you can do it better?!? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a child? You think that you, a carnal and finite being, could make a better decision about the creation than even THE CREATOR can? God IS bigger than us. God IS better than us! God KNOWS more than we do, and He knows BETTER than we do! The only way that we can really come into what He knows, and how He knows it, is to surrender.
Friends, surrender without sacrifice is not surrender. You don't get to pick and choose when you surrender. You either do it all the way, or you don't do it at all. There is no riding the fence when it comes to surrender. Romans 12 talks of us being a living sacrifice. There is one big difference between being a living sacrifice and a dead one. A living sacrifice can get off of the altar. Excuse my grammar but, DEAD STUFF DON'T MAKE CHOICES! The reason God wants a LIVING sacrifice is because a living sacrifice has to CHOOSE to stay on the altar. "But what happens when I fall off of the altar because of decisions I've made?" Very simple. You stand up. Dust yourself off. And get back on the altar. None of us will live in surrender perfectly. But I can assure you, that you will definitely never live a better life on your own.
I discovered last night that I really don't surrender much of anything to God. I really would rather just live my life with Him being a part of it, riding shot gun while I make the decisions. The thing that scares me, is that He will do that if I want Him to. And He isn't a passenger side driver. He won't nag me about my driving skills. He won't try and get me to let Him drive. The only thing He says is, "When you get tired of driving, I'll take over. And I know a better way to the destination." I have purposed within myself, that surrender will be a daily part of my life. Will I be perfect at it? Of course not. Will I get better with time? Definitely. He will help me along. He will teach me how to surrender. He will teach me how to love Him with everything. He will teach me how to give myself over to Him.
Friends, I encourage you, and I implore you, to make a genuine decision to surrender to God. You may not be ready to go all in right now, but there is something in all of our lives that is holding us back from living a fulfilled life with Christ. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's television, or movies, or whatever. But if you will allow Christ to help you to surrender it to Him, He can make all the difference in the world.
I pray that this has helped someone. I pray that at least one of you will take this challenge and follow through with it. I believe that there is no greater joy in life, than following Christ and doing what He does. If you do take this challenge, let me know. I want to pray for you and believe with you during this journey.
Jesus, I pray for myself, and my friends that are reading this. I ask that You would give us the courage and the strength to step forward and come out of agreement with ourselves, and come into agreement with You. Help us to really begin to surrender our lives. Help us to really go hard after You with everything that we have. We want to see Your face, and we want to know who You are, and how You live. Thank You for the life that You've given us. Now, help us to live it abundantly unto You.
In Your name I pray.
Amen.
I just came back from the Desperation Student Conference. If you've never been and you're a youth pastor, you are doing yourself and your kids a disservice. Anyway, that was my plug for the conference. And really, any time you go to a conference or youth camp or whatever, you come back on such a spiritual high that you think, "I'M GOING TO SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD BY MYSELF! JESUS IS SO GOOD! YEAH! NAME IT AND CLAIM IT! I WANT A YELLOW LAMBOURGHINI! AND A MILLION DOLLARS! AND A PET RINO!" Okay...maybe those last few aren't what we really think, but you get the point. We sang a song all week that said, "Jesus makes the impossible, possible." And we believed it. And we still believe it. Today at least. Or maybe this week. But what about next week? Next month? Next year? I feel like every one of the 4,000 people that attended that conference were serious about making a difference in their city. I know that our group definitely was. And still is. We told God that He could have everything! He could be our everything! He was the one we wanted to see, and we only wanted to seek His face! And those are all great things while we're there, but what happens when we get home?
I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Him my blessed Savior. I surrender all. So now we're back to surrender. The dictionary defines surrender as to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield. Surrender is usually linked with war. When the enemy army is too powerful, and too strong, you would surrender in order to save your own lives. Surrendering to God is much the same way. We surrender to Him, not because He is going to take our lives, but because if we don't we can't gain real life. Without surrender to God, we will not be able to walk into the Kingdom of Heaven when we pass on to eternity.
Most of us, I believe really do understand the fact that we have to surrender and accept Him as the Savior of our souls. But what comes next? Do we need to alter in any way the things that we do? Do we need to alter in any way the people we hang out with? Do we need to change anything at all? There's a saying that is said at our church very frequently. The Christian life is not about change. The Christian life is about exchange. See when we exchange our life for Christ's, then He can implant His heart and mind into us. If we are just trying to change to be good, then we will never get where we want to go. However, if we exchange our lives, we allow Christ to come and teach us how to love. Teach us how to follow. Teach us who to be with, how to live our lives, and how to interact with Him. Living a life of exchange at first is not easy, because of one thing. Absolute, complete, 100% surrender. We have to die to ourselves and our desires and allow someone else to call the shots.
I feel like this is the way most people view surrender. "As long as it doesn't alter who I am. And as long as it doesn't affect my friendships. And as long as I don't have to act, think, or do differently...then sure! I'll surrender! Friends, THAT. IS. NOT. SURRENDER. That is completely opposite of surrender. If you were to surrender to an enemy in battle, you do not get to make any kind of demands from them. You are in fact their prisoner and they tell you who you will be. How you will be. And who you will be you with! Surrender means that you have counted the cost. You understand that you are about to save your life, but there is something that the other side is going to demand of you. Fortunately for us, Christ is not an evil ruler. Christ honestly doesn't really demand that we change our lives. He doesn't really tell us that we have to be better than we used to be. As long as we believe in Him as the Son of God, and accept His baptism, then we can rest with Him in eternity. But here's my question for you if you live your life that way. If you walk through life, and never really allow God to take control of it, because you don't want to give up your freedoms. ARE YOU RETARDED?!?!?! The CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE wants to have a real relationship with you, and He wants to give you the most fulfilling life you could ever hope for, yet you think you can do it better?!? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a child? You think that you, a carnal and finite being, could make a better decision about the creation than even THE CREATOR can? God IS bigger than us. God IS better than us! God KNOWS more than we do, and He knows BETTER than we do! The only way that we can really come into what He knows, and how He knows it, is to surrender.
Friends, surrender without sacrifice is not surrender. You don't get to pick and choose when you surrender. You either do it all the way, or you don't do it at all. There is no riding the fence when it comes to surrender. Romans 12 talks of us being a living sacrifice. There is one big difference between being a living sacrifice and a dead one. A living sacrifice can get off of the altar. Excuse my grammar but, DEAD STUFF DON'T MAKE CHOICES! The reason God wants a LIVING sacrifice is because a living sacrifice has to CHOOSE to stay on the altar. "But what happens when I fall off of the altar because of decisions I've made?" Very simple. You stand up. Dust yourself off. And get back on the altar. None of us will live in surrender perfectly. But I can assure you, that you will definitely never live a better life on your own.
I discovered last night that I really don't surrender much of anything to God. I really would rather just live my life with Him being a part of it, riding shot gun while I make the decisions. The thing that scares me, is that He will do that if I want Him to. And He isn't a passenger side driver. He won't nag me about my driving skills. He won't try and get me to let Him drive. The only thing He says is, "When you get tired of driving, I'll take over. And I know a better way to the destination." I have purposed within myself, that surrender will be a daily part of my life. Will I be perfect at it? Of course not. Will I get better with time? Definitely. He will help me along. He will teach me how to surrender. He will teach me how to love Him with everything. He will teach me how to give myself over to Him.
Friends, I encourage you, and I implore you, to make a genuine decision to surrender to God. You may not be ready to go all in right now, but there is something in all of our lives that is holding us back from living a fulfilled life with Christ. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's television, or movies, or whatever. But if you will allow Christ to help you to surrender it to Him, He can make all the difference in the world.
I pray that this has helped someone. I pray that at least one of you will take this challenge and follow through with it. I believe that there is no greater joy in life, than following Christ and doing what He does. If you do take this challenge, let me know. I want to pray for you and believe with you during this journey.
Jesus, I pray for myself, and my friends that are reading this. I ask that You would give us the courage and the strength to step forward and come out of agreement with ourselves, and come into agreement with You. Help us to really begin to surrender our lives. Help us to really go hard after You with everything that we have. We want to see Your face, and we want to know who You are, and how You live. Thank You for the life that You've given us. Now, help us to live it abundantly unto You.
In Your name I pray.
Amen.
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