compelled to GO!

If I am to be consumed, may it be by the fire of loving my Lord. May the things of the world not hold my affection or control me in any way. May I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. I am your servant, your disciple, your missionary, your child. May my life be an offering unto you, my King.

I know I can tend to get comfortable in my life, in my house, with my family, and my responsibilities, etc. I can be consumed by my drives, my burdens, and pains. Yet, I cry from the inside to wake up and stop letting idleness, selfishness, and fear take over whenever this feeling of comfort creeps in; from within I am compelled to GO! I am not sure I can quite explain this urgency in my heart.

The idea of just living our little lives for ourselves, our own plans or ideas or achievement or comfort, just makes my spirit grieve. We are not here for consumption, dominance, pursuit of pleasure, or ourselves in general. We are here to pursue God and lead others to pursue Him. I don’t feel right when I am not actively serving, loving, and relating to my community somehow; when I feel disconnected to the people and in my own little world. My heart burns for more relationship existence with those in the world around me.

We can be deceived by lies causing our faith/walk to slip during disobedience when we are not fully arming ourselves in Christ daily. I know for me, many times in the past I have made excuses for why I can’t serve; my kids, lack of knowledge or skill, time, confidence, etc. Sometimes I am just plain lazy. I become consumed with myself or my comfort or my problems. Sometimes our lives can be too overwhelming for us to want to even think about serving anyone anywhere. Other times it has just been fear holding me back. It can also be hurt and pain from past experiences that keep me from jumping head first into something; where I feel I am protecting myself by not doing it. There are many reasons for why I have denied opportunities in front of me.

Now I know we can’t do everything that is brought before us. We need to pray and seek God daily on what He desired for us to move in. But if our tendency is to say NO most of the time, then we need to take an inner look at our hearts. If it is fear and pain holding us back then we need to find ways to get help and work through those and heal and move past them and not let them cripple us. God can use our hurts, pains, trials, journeys, etc as we serve. They should not keep us from serving but should be used to propel us more into service. We should be asking God to show us how we can be used in spite of or due to those pains. If it is laziness or excuses, then we need to just get over ourselves and suck it up. Again, assess and work through and heal whatever issues might be causing that stagnation or attitude and wake up to what is important and what our calling is. We need to be reminded of the example of laying down our life; only then can we truly come alive.

1 Thes. 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”

Romans 12 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Yes Lord!

I desire more simplicity. I desire more community. I desire life lived together. I desire not just reaching out, but reaching into. I desire Christ seen in me. I desire to see Christ in others. I desire to spread the gospel. I desire to see holy passions ignited in people’s lives. I desire to see lives made new; hearts changed. I desire healing for hurting souls. I desire to bring and see revival in the land; eyes opened causing people running hard, fast, and free after the Lord. I desire to see lives laid down. I desire to be God’s hands, feet, voice, shoulder, etc. I desire to see God being given glory and praise. I desire to be and see love in action; people loving people. I desire for truth to be proclaimed in the streets. I desire for my life to be a living sacrifice. I desire to go and make disciples and proclaim His name among the earth.

Here I am Lord, send me. Lead me daily to walk in your shoes to your people with your message for your glory! I will be your witness. "I will not be silent, NO. I will not be quiet anymore." "I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done..." psalm 118:17
Amen

Life in Christ

Because of the fall of man, people have been living their life separated from God and just learning to live their life accordingly; outside of the daily presence, connection, and knowledge of God. People have learned to cope with life and have developed thoughts, beliefs, patterns, behaviors, etc. over the ages. When one comes to know God and understands who He is and what he has done through Jesus, and comes to Jesus submitting their life to Him as Lord, they are said to be "born again" or given new life and are now reconnected to the Father. The old ways of living apart from God are no longer needed, reconciliation has come and we can know truth and live in that truth.

What happens a lot of times though is that people take God and try placing Him into their ways of living, their world view, their life thoughts, patterns, beliefs, behaviors, etc. that they have established through life experiences and teaching apart from being with God. When instead what I believe we are called to do at salvation is to shred off our lives, our everything; strip down and lay it ALL at the cross and build anew on the foundation of Christ the living word, and God's written word the Bible. We should start over with God's world view becoming our own and then proceed from there building our life in Christ. We shouldn't be trying to fit God into our lives, He should BE our life; everything we are, do, think, act, etc stems from Him and His ways. It is no longer our life, it is His. "For whoever wants to find his life must lose it" (Matt. 16:25) and "to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21) and "it is no longer me but Christ in me" (Gal. 2:20).

Truth?

Yesterday my pastor talked about being aware of false prophets, teachers, doctrines, etc. He implored us to be careful who we follow, since who we follow will be who we become and who we become will be who we reproduce. Who do you want to become? What kind of fruit do you want to produce? He talked about how important it is to know the word of God and to be able to recognize when something comes up against it. He brought up how there are many Christian authors, speakers, etc out there bringing messages to people, and much of what they say can be good and true and honor the word, but that sometimes, there will be stuff amongst the truth that doesn't line up. So we need to be aware of what people are saying, no matter how it good it sounds, and take it to the word and see what God says. If we don't know the word well enough, we can be lured into believing a false doctrine, even though we don't mean to. He mentioned how a lot of time what these people end up doing is minimizing the word of God and that is never a good thing.

Now, I love to read books on Christian life and issues and people, and all that. There are times that I get so pumped up and motivated and inspired when I read some of these books. I will recommend books and rave about a lot of the things I got out of them; God's word and message can come alive and be seen more clearly through giftings of writers and speakers. God uses many things in life to give us revelation, but true revelation must match up with the word.

We must be careful not to go around and promote these books as the "all in all" or worship any of the authors/speakers. I know I have caught myself before, jumping the gun and saying how much I am enjoying a book when I start it, only to find out later in the book some questionable material. I want to be careful not to promote something I cant back up with the word. So until we can take something to scripture and back it up, we shouldn't be out walking in it or teaching others. A book never replaces the bible. There are many times where I stop and say "I'm not too sure about that" or "I am going to have to do some study on that one" type of thing. We can take a lot of things away from the books we read, positive and negative; but we always must remember, that they are not the bible. Whenever we do get some message from a book we read, whether we like it or not, we need to take it to the Bible and see how it lines up. I also think, the sooner the better. For if we ponder on something in our thoughts for too long we can start making it part of who we are and if it is something contrary to the word, it will not be good for us. For only God's ways are good. Or the opposite, if God was trying to use something to awaken you to a truth of His and you didn't like that truth so you just pass over it as you read it or hear it saying it isn't truth instead of taking it to the word for conviction to come, then you won't grow in your relationship as God desires you to.

We must remember, that only the Bible is the word of God. The measure for everything. It is not just a book that we can take and leave info from. It is the very word of God. All other books are just books. They might contain the word in them, but you cant call them the Bible. There are many gifted and blessed speakers and writers doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God and they can be such a blessing and inspiration for us. Yet we always must be responsible with the information we receive. Our personal walks with God can not be fully based off of what someone says, writes, teaches, preaches, etc. We need to go to God and dig into His word ourselves and make sure we are living in tune with His ways. We need to have a real living/growing relationship with God and we should be seeking to know Him as we worship Him with our lives. Scripture is so critical in this walk. It can not be minimized. Prov. 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." Be ware of who you follow; only the truth brings life. Only the Bible is fool-proof. 2Tim. 3:15-16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Are you learning the word? Can you detect false doctrines? Do you esteem the word above all else? Do you only rely on others to fill you and teach you truth? Do your beliefs line up with what God says? Do you have a growing personal relationship with God? Do you have strong accountability in your life to help keep you on track with God? Are you willing to let go of your ways and follow God's truth?

Brothers and sister, I pray you fall in love with the word of God and write it on your hearts and consume your thoughts with it. Be careful who you follow, for that is what you will become and that is the kind of people you will produce. Follow Christ and point everyone to Him! God is so worthy of worship and honor; He is the giver of life and His ways are above all others! Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

Truth and morals

I had a class discussion assignment last week dealing with morals... this is from something that I responded to the fact that people create their own...

What do you think about right and wrong? Are there determined moral standards for us? There are a lot of people in this world that don't think there are. There isn't really a truth, truth can bend. They follow their own idea of what is right and go off emotions or intellect. They can't go with anything against with what they feel no matter what anybody else (including God) has to say about it. They go about life in a self-centered fashion. They want to base their life off of what they feel will make them happy or feel good or attain the goals they have. There is no "moral compass" from which to compare truth and line up to it. I don't see how that can work. With all the people on this planet, nobody thinks the same way, everyone has ideas and thoughts. Who is to say who is right? All people are equal right? Or are we? How could anyone make laws or govern people? What would be truth? There has to be truth. God and His ways should be the "moral compass"- He is truth. If there is no compass then there is no God. If there is no God, then there was no creation. If there was no creation, then there is no purpose to humanity. Therefore, would morals even matter? Why care?

We need to line everything about our lives up to the word of God and see what He has to say and make that our answer.

Any thoughts?

Conflicts & Problems: Pass them on or Hold on

In small group last night we were talking about how we could be more loving to people around us, especially our enemies. We discussed how we need to be strengthened by God and real Agape love only flows from God.

We really must tap into the Lord daily for life to flow from us. He is the source of life. God is love. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can not attain these things in the correct manner or full capacity without God.

A thought cam to my mind in referencing our need to go to the Lord with everything. He asks that we lay our burdens at his feet, seek his wisdom, rest in Him, etc. He is our Father who loves us and has plans for us and desires for us to have a fullfilled life.

I thought about how when you are a parent and your children have issues amongst each other or with their friends and at first when they are toddlers you handle the problems teaching them what is proper and improper in how to behave and how to treat others. As they grow, the children run to you so trusting and so freely handing over their problems to you desiring for you to solve them. We get to the point where we tell them, handle the problem yourself. I don't want to deal with it. Stop hitting each other, you know better, be nice, say kind words, no throwing stuff, share toys, etc etc etc... typical parent to child lingo. We get tired of being burdened by such trivial matters that we feel don't call for intervention.

So kids grow up, learning to handle their own problems, which is good because they can not rely on someone else to fix everything for them for the rest of their life. They need to grow up and become responsible, right? But at the same time, if we have not taught them the correct way to figure out the wise choice for whatever obstacle, problem, fight, mishap, decision, etc that comes their way, they might not be successful in defeating it or solving it in the way that will glorify the Lord and benefit their life and the lives of the others involved.

We as adults a lot of times want to hold on to our problems thinking we know what to do or can figure it out. We don't run to God as much as we should. We don't run to Him trusting and freely handing over our struggles to him, like our young children do to us. He so desires for us to come to Him! He wants us to seek Him. He wants us to lay it all down. We try to do it in our own power, in our own wisdom and get frustrated and depressed and bitter, etc when things do not go right. We wonder why we cant be smart enough or able enough. We think we should be.

The great thing is that we don't have to be. We have a loving Father who always has time for us, who is always available, who is always willing to jump in and take control, who will always lead us into truth, who will always forgive us, who will guide us, disciple us, mold us, grow us, etc.

If we were not raised to know those things, if we were not taught to run to the Lord, to bring Him everything, to lay our life and our struggles at his feet, then it will probably be hard to get to that point where we do it automatically. But I pray if you are not doing that right now as of today, start! Make today the day where you abide in Him, seek, Him, run to Him and let Him love you.

And if you have children may you start today, if not doing so already, teaching them how to turn to God. Showing them how to pray, building their relationship with Him, knowing they can access the God of this universe to guide them into all truth and he will mend their heart and heal their soul. Teach them to pray for a forgiving heart, to better love the people around them, to draw closer to God, for wisdom to root and grow inside them, etc.

The answer isnt just, dont hit, share, be nice, etc. The answer is in teaching them those truths that can be found in the scriptures but also including the important aspect of prayer and the awesome power that is found in it. Teach them to understand what happens when we disobey, how the devil gets a foothold, how it hurts their heart and the heart of others, how love falls away and bitterness sets in, how everyone is broken and hurting and desiring love no matter how they act. Don't just mention what to do and not to do, but explain the truth behind it and then go to God together about it. Then as they grow they can know the answer is to seek God, not having to run to you first, or anyone else in the world who might lead them astray. God needs to be our first contact. He is our refuge. We all want whats best for our children and so does God. His ways are perfect because He knows us as humans. He knows how we work, how we think, how we feel, etc. He made us. You as a parent do not have to know all the answers, nobody does. Yet as you can always seek the Lord as a family.

Spiritual Disciplines

What are some spiritual disciplines that you find most helpful in strengthening your connection with God? I would love to hear form you... here are a couple of mine...

I find that when I worship in song, I am drawn very near to God. I absolutely love praise and worship time. There is so much power in music already, but when you make the music all about God and glorifying Him, recognizing Him, giving Him rightful place in your heart and mind, and bowing yourself before Him it is all consuming. Through the lyrics you are praying, calling out to Him, denying yourself, lifting Him up, and seeking Him knowing He will fill you. It is such an awesome way to let go and become immersed in the Lord, connecting with Him on a very intimate level. It is even more powerful when you are among others all worshipping together. You see how God can touch and connect with everyone and unite everyone all together for one purpose. It is beautiful. I have also found just having praise music on in the background during the day as I work helps my spirit and mood and I am more self-controlled in my actions.

Another way I feel strength in my connection with God is through study. When I get into the word and learn more about whom He is, what He desires for us, how we can better serve Him, etc I come alive. I love it when the spirit speaks to me and makes things known. Revelation is such a life-giving experience. You can feel God reaching out to you; feel His love for you, as he builds His relationship with you. He shows how he knows you, cares for you and desires for you to know Him. He wants to sit with you and listen, He wants you to ask questions, He wants you to express your feelings and thoughts and He desires to bestow love and truth. He is such a loving father and teacher and when I feel that connection through enlightenment I feel the truth that I am His child. There is nothing better!

the Word of Life...

Dear brothers and sisters... Do you love the Lord... do you seek to magnify Him in everything, in all parts of your life, in your inner most being... do you believe His word is truth... is it real to you... do you cling to it for life... do you agree with everything it says... do you live by it... would you die by it... does it compell you to be what it says... do you believe in the power it says it holds... do you claim all of it's words for yourself... do you seek to understand it more with every breath... does it pour out of your life... does it ooze out of you... does it burn inside of you consuming you... does it burn bright so that it lights a path for others to see... do you thirst for God... do you long to emerse yourself in his presence... does your life cry out to Him... do you find yourself in Him... is He your identity... does He make you feel alive

conflicted

I don't know about you but sometimes I just don't know what to think or feel. I feel so pulled by different thoughts and Ideals and wants and such. I do know one thing, I want to please my father in heaven, I want to breathe Him, I want to "be his fragrance" (2 cor 2:14-15), I want to live at peace, I want to be full of joy, I want to enjoy my family, I want to share life with others daily...

I constantly find myself going back and forth between two kinds of lifestyles. On one side I desire so much for simplicity. In everything just to be simple. Not as in an easy life but as in in contrast to the busy, stressful, over extended, commercial, American life. Sometimes I just want to give it all up, get rid of so much we don't NEED, downsize our lifestyle to a minimum and not care anything about what we have or don't compared to others, how new or old anything is, how big or small, how fancy or dull, etc. I mean what does it really matter? At what "cost" do we live in our current lifestyle? Not that we ourselves or in such lavish living but we are living above our means regretfully. When I am in this thinking, it also brings out my desire to do missions. I know one day I think it would be really cool to live as missionaries in another country. When and where that would be, I have no idea.

The other lifestyle I go between from the simple one is one in which we are somehow able to take financial blessings in which we have been given and buy a large plot of land here and build a big house for the purpose of ministering to our family, friends, and the people we meet from day to day. This house would be designed for entertainment, social flow, large game room, lots of ammenities, etc. We would constantly be inviting people to come over and hang out and make use of whatever we may have. Part of me so wants to have this house. I have taken a lot of time designing it and dreaming about it. I have such a heart for community and I think it would just be so awesome to be able to have something like that to be able to share with others and bless others.

But then when I get into my simplicity thinking, I am like "why does anyone really need that stuff? I mean yeah it is fun and it can bless people who don't have those things and it can provide plenty of opportunities for relationships to build and blossom and a lot of good can from it. But all the stuff would provide is not a NEED for anyone." I mean if I had the kind of money to be able to do that then there are a lot more things I could do with it that could help a LOT more people in much more IMPORTANT ways.

So then I get all confused on what I really want to do. What goal do I want to work and save for? What do we want to spend our money on? I know living here in the U.S. with our ways of life and commercialism, you almost have to live the way we do because it is just the norm. It is like an illness. I mean think of how much stuff you have in your house that you really could live without, that you barely ever use, that is still packed in boxes, that sits on a shelf collecting dust, that you have 2 or 3 or 4 of, that is just takes up space, etc. We could prolly all stand to be a lot more frugal.

Not that it's wrong to have all that stuff or that it doesn't provide something for us in life but sometimes I just want to get rid of it all, everything I don't need and just strip down to what is necessary and beneficial for our goals in life.

Anyway, I wonder if anyone else feels the way I do. Any thoughts or insights from anyone? I just keep praying to God to show me where to follow Him every day. What daily decisions we should make to lead us down the path that He sees our family going.

Quiet Time

OK, it has been a while since I posted, I know. Anyway, I chose to have a quiet time today after a long hiatus of them. And I just have to post something about it because it was funny- ironic.

I have not really been craving a QT lately. I talk to God throughout the day all the time, but I am talking about a set aside time for just us. Where I study His word or seek to hear from Him in some other way, or sit and worship Him for a while. I mean to be honest, most of the time I feel it is a waste of time and I don't get anything out of it and that it doesn't really matter. There is nothing that draws me into desiring to have it when I feel it will be boring or repetitive, etc. Now, I "know" that what we get out of the QT is not what is important, it should not be the reason for having one. The reason for having one is to show God we love Him and honor Him and desire to obey Him. To respect Him and bring Him joy.

Well, today when I thought about it, I really thought about it. Do I really love God? Do I really desire to please Him and honor Him? To I want to be obedient to what He calls me too? If so, then I should be spending that time with Him no matter what. The whole intention of me coming before Him should be for His glory and honor above all else. If God never does anything else for me, I still have reason to glorify Him and praise Him and honor Him! It is good for my mind, body, heart, and soul to daily humble myself before Him and give Him praise and adoration and show Him that above all else, He is important to me. If anything else comes from that time with Him, then that is just bonus and it is to be used for His glory in some form somehow anyway. It is all about Him and not about me.

So that is the attitude I had when I decided to pick up my bible study tonight. Then, I sat down and prayed, "God, if nothing else comes from this time tonight, may you feel joy and honor. I just want to make you smile! Know that I love you" Then, I proceeded to do the study. The funniest thing... the next study in my book that I left off on months ago was titled this "What is getting my Attention?" And then the first thing it asked was if some of our thoughts when going to church are "Am I going to be encouraged?" "Am I going to like the music?" "Am I going to be taught anything?" etc. Where everything was me focused. We focus too much on what we still want to have instead of focusing on what we have already been given. It is all in your perspective. We can choose where we focus our attention!

We shouldn't WORRY about what we still want to have or get from God. He PROMISES to finish the work He started in us (Phil 1:6). If we have faith in what He says then we should just be able to be at peace and rest in His love and grace and give Him thanks for where He has brought us thus far. What has God done for you? Share it with someone. In Philemon in says that we should be ACTIVE in sharing our faith so that we can fully understand what we have been given as believers. I read that and thought it was really cool. Because for me, the proof is in the pudding a lot of the time. If I don't see it lived out and working, then I have trouble having faith in it. So, I look to others, I look for proof. I will wait to see others being active in faith so I can then have the faith. Sometimes I need to be the one who jumps out and shares the faith I do possess. And when I do, my purpose should not be me focused or worldly focused. I should be doing all things as if unto the Lord. And then because of my love and desire and obedience to God, others might be blessed as well as my life be blessed and increase in faith.

God does not desire us to sit around being stagnet Christians. He wants us all to be on a journey with Him. He wants us to grow. He wants us to seek more of Him of course, yet He also wants us to be content with what we have and who we are and what He has done with us already. We don't hide our faith, sit on our faith, or be grudgy over not having enough of it... we live it out, we walk in it, we share it, we praise God for it! Are you being active in your faith and thankful for it? Make your faith come alive and life will come to you. Just keep your focus on loving God and giving Him praise and Honor. With that as your purpose, you can not be let down!

Inside Out

'we are to live in such a way that demands a gospel explanation' this is a quote I read from facebook the other day from @aaronivey. I thought is was really cool and it made me think. Does your life and the things you do in it require the presentation of the gospel just to be understood? I wish I could say mine does. But I know that would be far from the case. I mean, I am sure it does sometimes, to some people. But on the whole, I could use some major overhaul of attitude, thoughts, self-control, speech, actions, etc. Then today at church in our study on the book of James. @kylegoen preached an awesome message on taming the tongue. (which you should totally go watch at www.lifepoint.org) It fit so well with that little nugget from Aaron. First off, during the worship, one of the songs we sang:
Inside Out by Hillsong United:
A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out,
Lord, let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out.

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out,
Lord, let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love You from the inside out.

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

I love that line. "Consume me from the inside out". Man how I want to be consumed by him. So on fire for Him and the things that He loves! Oh to feel like that again. It has been a while. Not just to have that feeling for a few hours or days. But I mean to really be immersed in it every day where my life spills out Jesus everywhere I go and in everything I do. If I am on fire for God, that fire should be catching on. As Kyle said this morning, fire (when it is free) can duplicate itself and will consume whatever is in its path. My life should be causing others to be consumed as well. The things I do, say, laugh at, get frustrated with, spend my time on, how I respond to things, etc all should be proclaiming His name in some way. To make people think and notice that something is different.

So anyway, I just want to say that I am proclaiming today that this week is going to be different. I can't say exactly what that looks like in entirety but I will be changing up some things a bit from what I have been doing lately. Starting with getting back to quiet times of course! And hitting the gym and laying off the unnecessary extra sweets. And watching my tongue extra carefully in the anger, negativity, complaining department, hehe. And doing a better job of what I am "putting in" so that what "comes out" is what I want to shine and not something I don't want. Among so much more, but you get what I mean. Only through the Lord's strength! Anyway, enough for now. Good night!

Holy Fighters

I was listening to Obama talk today and he was mentioning that he wanted everyone everywhere to have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Now we have all heard or read those words many a times before and have cheered for them I am sure. We are so proud of our country and what it stands for. But it got me to thinking...is it that very pursuit of happiness that has ruined the world? I think it should be life, liberty, and the pursuit of HOLINESS! We should be striving to see how many ways we can be used by God and find out what He wants to do through us. We Belong to God and need to live our lives as completely sold out to him and set apart for Him. It is not about what we want but what He has willed for the benefit of all and most importantly for His glory. What do you pursue more? your happiness or your holiness?

Also it made me think about liberty. It is great, don't get me wrong. I love many of the freedoms I have and feel blessed by many of them. But it can be a slippery slope. You must be careful with liberty. I mean think of our country where we are one of the "free-est" places to be and look at the sedentary life of so many christians, the lack of passion ans fervor, the decline of christianity, etc. Then look at other places in which christianity is banned and look at how strong the believers are there and what they are getting accomplished and how explosive the growth rate is there and how alive the people feel. It makes me wonder if the existence of liberty creates weakness? When you don't have to fight for something, do you still fight? When you feel no threat, you tend to relax and get comfortable. But no matter how free you may be or feel, don't you think we should always be fighting and running hard after what you believe? Now I am not necessarily talking about physical fighting. I am talking more about the other aspects of fighting. In the dictionary these are also listed

the ability, will, or inclination to fight: There was no fight left in him.

to contend in any manner; strive vigorously for or against something: He fought bravely against despair.

Now, unfortunately I think most of us do a horrible job at this. As Christians we should be fighting every day. This life is a fight. The bible even tells us to put on the full armor of God. We are the Lord's army. We need to always be prepared to defend ourselves and our God as well as provide for and protect his people and promote His name. We should be fighting for our marriages, for our families, and for our friendships. Not just for the people themselves but for the actual things that would be responsible for making them what they should be. For the concepts of love, peace, grace, mercy, truth, honor, repentance, forgiveness, etc. Good marriages, families and friendships don't just happen. They are fought for. They are daily prayed over and worked hard on. Defensive barriers are put in place to protect them and people are there to combat when the walls are shaken by any who try to come a destroy them. As Warren Barfield puts it "Love is not a fight, but it's worth fighting for". The same goes for your faith. You must fight to keep your mind and heart pure and focused and on doing your best to do what we are called to do here on earth- worship Him and bring him Glory. ARE YOU A FIGHTER? Or are you lazing around in your "freedoms" and end up caught unprepared and eventually letting other ideals overcome you?

We should make sure not to let the freedom we have in Christ and in this country to turn us into lazy, un-passionate, un-propelled, easily manipulated people. Do you feel you only come alive when attacks, hardships, and unfortune come your way? Or only when something spectacular happens or might happen? If so, do you know why?

Doesn't it feel good to have something to fight for and to fight for it? Doesn't it feel good to know that God has set you apart for something special- that he has called you to be His?

feeling sick?

Last week Erick and I both got sick. I can't remember the last time I was sick like that. It was a bad stomach bug of some sort. I never recall my tummy hurting so bad. I was sitting there praying for God to make it go away, to get the sickness out. It got me to thinking... we hate being physically sick, we do not like feeling bad or being in pain. We moan and groan and beg and plea for it to go away so we can feel better. Don't you think we should be that way spiritually as well? I mean think about it. When you are sick, you clearly have signs that you are; you can feel it and see it. What about when you are spiritually unhealthy? Shouldn't we feel sick when we are falling away from God? Are there signs, symptoms, pains, moans, praying to get better? Do we crave feeling spiritually healthy as much as we crave feeling physically healthy? Shouldn't we? Even more so maybe? We should be able to tell when we are "sick" spiritually. We should know the signs, feel the pain, see the destruction, seek out help to "feel better", etc. It would be great if we treated our spiritual lives that way... not wanting one hint of "sickness" to creep in to bring us down and hold us back from living the life we are meant to live. As much as we hate being sick and feeling bad, we should despise being away from God and do whatever we can to restore our "health". We should be on our knees crying out to God to draw us closer, to forgive us, to restore us, to cleanse us, to take away anything hindering us, etc. We should not want to remain "sick", the pain of it should be overwhelming and pushing us to get better.

Salvation

What does the bible say about salvation?

What is it?

Salvation-
• in my bible it is defined as redemption
• in the english dictionary it is defined as Preservation or deliverance from destruction, difficulty, or evil. n 1: (Christianity) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil [syn: redemption] 2: a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness; 3: the state of being saved or preserved from harm 4: saving someone or something from harm or from an unpleasant situation
• before: dead drowning in sin that overpowers us; after: alive in Christ, power of sin broken

The greek word is soteria which translates to: rescue, safety, deliver, save. He rescues us from any harm, we can no longer be harmed by anything or harm ourselves.


When does it happen?


The change from death to life- Salvation

Romans 6:22 but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.

Romans 7:5-6 for when we were controlled by the sinful nature the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies so that we bore fruit for death. But now by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” The law says that we have to be perfect or have eternal separation from God. That was impossible for us, so Christ came to redeem us from that law. This is salvation.

When we choose salvation we are choosing to be united with Christ, associated with Christ, a member of Christ’s family and of his mission. When we accept His salvation it is not a selfish act but it is an act of worship. It should all be about God, not us.

With that in mind, there should be a transformation inside that person so that their life will never be the same again. They are now living for something else instead of for themselves. Everything they do in life should be based on God and His ways. And the ultimate goal in that person’s life should be to want to please God and honor Him with their life because of how awesome He is; this is evident in how much He loves you and what He did for you even though you were filled with sin. It is amazing that He could want us. We have to give our life to Him; make Him the Lord of our lives- this is salvation. Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

Our lives must try to resemble his as much as we can. 1 John 2:6 Whoever claims to live in Him, must walk as Jesus did. 1 john 3:23-24 this is His command: to believe in the name of His son Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. Those who obey His commands live in Him and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us; we know it by the spirit He gave us.

God is love. To know God is to know love and to live for God is to live in love. All our actions should be led by love. 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed form death to life cuz we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love, remains in death. 3:18-20 let us not love with words and tongues but with actions and truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

We are saved by faith. Faith in who Christ is and what he said and promised and in His power. That faith should spur us on to do the things Christ commands us. If someone is saved their life should reflect that. James 2:14 What good is it my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds. 2:26 as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Therefore, if someone has a lifestyle of purposefully committing sin, I would say that person prolly does not know God. Matt 7:16 by their fruit you will recognize them. Yes we all sin daily, but when we are in Christ we are striving to pull away from that sin and become more like Christ. Read pretty much all of Romans 7 and 8.


Who does the saving?

Deut 32:39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no God besides me. I put to death and I bring to life. I have wounded and I will heal. And no one can deliver out of my hand
Nobody is worthy of God’s love, not one is good.

Matt 19:16-26 read it

Romans 3:10-12 there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

There is no way we can say on our own that we were saved. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves, nothing that shows us worthy. He loves us so much that he offers us life and all we do is accept that love. He chose us while we were engrossed in the evil of this world. Works do not save us. Love saves us in grace through faith in Christ. We do works because we are saved and that salvation moves us to good works. We do not rely on those works for salvation.
Gal 3:11 clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.
Gal 5:4 you who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

God is the one who saves us. He offers the gift of salvation freely. He chose us before we even existed, before we could chose Him. How could we chose Him if we didn’t know He existed? He revealed Himself to us. If He didn’t do that, then we would not be able to chose Him. Romans 3:20 therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law, rather through the law we become conscious of sin.

Eph 1:4 for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight

Vs 9 and he made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Christ.

Eph 2:8-9 for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast.


Can we become unsaved again?

John 10:28-29 I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, no one can snatch them out of my hand, my father who has given them to me is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my fathers hand.

This says that we have eternal life. That means from the moment we accept life, we have it eternally. When we accept we are united with Christ. He is in us and us in Him. We may not always act in His ways but nevertheless we are still in Him. We can not overpower God’s love for us.

Romans 8:38-39 (paraphrase) nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, no angel or demon or even ourselves.

If we say we can do something to loose our salvation then basically we are saying that works take part in salvation. We would be saying that we have to do something to deserve salvation. We know this is not true, as stated above in scripture (eph 2:8-9) Works have nothing to do with receiving salvation so they can have nothing to do with taking it away.

We are perfect in God’s eyes once we are saved cuz He looks at us through Jesus. Hebrews 10:14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Coll 3:3 for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

How funny does it sound to say… today I have been really good so if I die today I will go to heaven, then the next day say today I have been really bad so if I die today then I will go to hell? To say that would be to say that our daily actions determine our eternity.

Rom 6:23 The wages of sin is death, the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
He is our savior, He redeems us from that death we deserve and gives us eternal life. He has overcome death, death is no more when we are in Christ. 2tim 1:9-11 “…Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…”

Past Thoughts

Here is a post I wanted to share here from a previous note I wrote on facebook last fall...

If we just stay focused on God and serving others, then I believe a lot of our “problems” would go away. We wouldn’t be worrying about trying to impress anybody or prove ourselves, we wouldn’t be worried about making a name for ourselves, we wouldn’t be concentrated on what we can get out of whatever we are doing, etc. We are so personally driven and we don’t even realize it most of the time. The need to succeed crowds our minds and tempts our flesh. We grow up thinking that we deserve to have so much and that not having what we want is not an option. Many of us strive to get it at any cost. The goal here seems to be materials, power, wealth, knowledge, prestige, etc. Those things should never be our goal. Goals should be things like meeting the needs of our family and friends, providing good examples for our children, using our gifts to serve God and others, becoming more like Christ, etc. The moment something becomes more about us then it is about God, is the moment you need to stop and repent and either re-align yourself to what you are meant to be doing or stop the pursuit of it all together. When we let something become about us, it seizes control of us. We risk compromising things about ourselves in order to hold on to whatever we are vested in. Things like fear, power, money, and position start guiding our thoughts and decisions so we look out for ourselves. Black and white begin to fade to grey and we make excuses and try to justify actions that eventually lead us down a long, winding dark road. Keeping our focus will help us to resist temptations and sin. When we are not self-serving we will be less apt to anger, rudeness, gossip, depressed thoughts, worry, hurriedness, judgment and the like and we will be more apt to compassion, mercy, grace, love, joy, gentleness, peace, patience, self-control, etc. A good check to do every morning would be to see where you are, what state you are in. Are you depressed, joyful, on-edge, driven, anxious? Then, take the time to pray about your state of mind. Thank God for giving you the day to live and if you are in a good state, then thank Him for that as well and ask Him to show you how you can continue in that state today and use it for His glory. If you are in a bad state, then pray and ask God to reveal to you why and to release you from it’s hold. If we are depressed or angry then there is probably some fleshy reason for being so. We need to acknowledge what is causing us to lose our focus on God so that we can not let it have a foothold anymore. When the problem is revealed, make sure to take action towards getting it resolved. This may take time in some cases but at least for now you can hand it over to God and let the spirit start doing its work. When we leave sin unchecked, it takes root and before you know it you are consumed. So it is important to check ourselves daily for “what’s eating us” so that we don’t lead ourselves into actions and thoughts in which will lead us astray. Never think anything is too small to take to God for forgiveness or a heart-check. Once you have dealt with the sin, ask God for the fruits of the spirit to be upon you so that he can do a mighty work in you despite your imperfections and personal struggles.


Here is another one as well I want to share here...

I had thought of something earlier today (or rather God enlightened me) that though we might not be where we really want to be (or doing what we want to be doing) we are to realize the importance of where we are right now and see how that fits into who we are and what He wants to do.
As humans we are so much in the "I want it now" mind set and we get depressed when we cant have it.
But I was like, ya know, the day will come, there is plenty of time. I need to be content and serve where I am now. God has me here for a purpose

See I don’t really think its about what u are "doing" day in and day out, but where is your heart and your mind and your focus? No matter where you are and what you are doing, God is everywhere and u can be used everywhere. So where is He where you are? And finding Him there and serving Him in that, should make your heart content!

It was a nice revelation, well not so much a revelation, but a deeper understanding.

Since its not really about what we get out of something but what we are giving to God with our lives.
Its hard to think like that on a constant basis though, darn flesh.

Think about this... if we are not serving Him freely where we are when we don’t really want to be where we are- then will we really be able to serve Him when we have what we want and are distracted by it and consumed with it?

A love greater than Life

One of the songs used in worship today was a song about God being the greatest love you have. The key line for me in it is... "I've found a love greater than life itself". Now, every time I hear this song it sparks the same fuel in me to make the words it speaks obvious and true and forefront in my life. To just throw my hands up and say yes Lord, you are the hidden treasure, you are what I have been longing for my whole life, you are better than life and I would give and do all for you. Here is the song...

When I call on Your name (Love came down) by Ben Cantelon !!

lyrics
WHEN I CALL ON YOUR NAME You answer
When I fall You are there by my side
You delivered me out of darkness
Now I stand in the hope of new life

By grace I’m free
You’ve rescued me
All I am is Yours

I’ve found a love, greater than life itself
I’ve found a hope, stronger and nothing compares
I once was lost, now I’m alive in You

You’re my God and my firm foundation
It is You whom I’ll trust at all times
I give glory and praise, adoration
To my Saviour who’s seated on high

Love came down and rescued me
I thank You, I thank You
I once was blind but now I see
I see You, I see You.


Man how I love that song. Thank you Micah for doing such a great job of designing our worship experience Sundays. I want to take this song and live it, sing it out with my life, proclaim it daily with my words and actions in all that do. What about you? Is God the love of your life? Do you love God more than your life? If you think about what it menas to be a christian, then technically you cant be a christian without loving Him more than your life because we are called to give up our lives and follow Him. We are to pay ourselves at the cross and submit to His ways, His plans, His call. We are to trust Him and follow Him wholeheatedly. You can not love your life more then God and truly follow Him. So, have you found this love? This love worth your life? Have you been delivered out of darkness? Were you blind but now see? Is He your firm foundation? Is He your hope, your everything? I really hope that He is and that you do know this love, and if you do not, then I pray that you find it and that your eyes are open to see how good He is!

Now in referencing this to what we are studying at church, the Love Dare and Song of Solomon, in the Movie Fireproof, one of the key sayings in the movie is when Caleb says that he is frustrated with his wife because she is stubborn and even though he has been doing all this stufff for her to show her he still cares about their relationship, she still "spits in his face" about it. Meaning she doesnt care, notice, or change her feelings towards him. He asks how can he continually show love to someone over and over again if all they do is spit in your face and not accept it? Then his dad, showing him the cross, tells him how that is what he is doing to God. Caleb is not accepting God's love just the same way. And God is love. So if you do not have God's love then you can not truly love anyone. So how can he love his wife the way he needs to love her if he doesnt have the love inside him to do it? So right there he realizes his need for God and gives his life to Christ. I love this part in the movie, it is so pwerful the way they prtray it and my explaining of it here gives it no justice so I appologize for that, lol. But the message is so true. We can not do it without God! We can not love, truly love people without his power behind it. People get on our nerves, cause us problems, hurt our feelings, get in our way, etc. Especially at home with our spouses and family members who we live with day in and out and know how to push our buttons and hurt us the most. To be able to press on day after day, fight after fight, struggle after struggle, we need the love of God in our hearts. And we need to take that love and let it guide us into love and wise choices and not let our personal desires and needs get in the way. We need to choose to love no matter what our spouse deserves, for that is how God loves us. Christ died for us while we were "spitting in his face", and He still loves us today no matter where you are with Him. That love, that power is yours when you are in Him and with that power you to can love your spouse even when they dont deserve it for as long as it takes.

So do you hold on to His love like expressed in this song? Do you let this love guide you in all things? Do you put yourself aside every day and focus on His plan? Do you live like you know the greatest love and have the greatest hope? Do you feel alive?