Sometimes we forget about the simplicity of Jesus Christ and the things He did that were so simple. When we forget about the simplicity we miss out on a lot. I think about the passage in Matthew 7 that says: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who ask receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)
All we have to do ask, seek, and knock. How easy is that. We aren't being asked to conquer something that is impossible. We don't have to do things like find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We aren't tasked with the impossible. God doesn't ask us to do things that we aren't capable of doing.
When we want something all we have to do is ask. When there is something that we want to know, we seek. If you need to talk to God or come to God, knock. It's really not to bad if you ask me. The problem is that we forget. We are faced with things that we want to know all of the time and then we don't know how to figure out the answer, we get mad, we give up, doubt, etc.
If you are thinking to yourself, what is God doing in my life right now, how often do we let our mind wonder and try to figure it out on our own. How easy would it be to just ask? How easy would it be to just ask God every time we need to know something or want to know something?
That would be the way to go if you ask me! Unfortunately that requires patience. It's not very common to ask God and get an answer right away. Sometimes it takes a while, sometimes you might never get the answer you want. What will happen though is that God does hear you and will answer our prayers. Maybe just not the way we expected which is fine! That is how God works. Sometimes the joy and best part of it all is when you figure out how God worked in the situation that you were in,
I am sure you've had those moments before...where you were excited to see what God was going to do, and what He did was completely different and was better than ever expected. That is what God does, He exceeds expectations.
So how did this topic get sparked into my mind?
This scripture right here:
When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him saying, "I will; be clean." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them." (Matthew 8:1-4)
We can learn a lesson from the man who had leprosy. Mind you, back then leprosy was like the worst disease that you could have. If you had leprosy, nobody wanted anything to do with you. This man approached Jesus in the crowd and asked him if he would heal him. Jesus replied with "I will; be clean." How simple was that? The man asked and he received. He had no shame in his disease, rather he had perfect confidence in Jesus.
It was that easy. I encourage you to take this to heart: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who ask receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
Remember, everything is more simple than we think. All we have to do is ask. You hear that all the time too! Everyday, we have a fear of asking questions and when we eventually do, you'll hear: "All you had to do is ask."
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
The Persistent Piggy
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against his house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (Matthew 7:24-27)
I decided to start with the scripture that this post was going to be based off of this afternoon. From looking at the scripture, I am sure that you noticed two things. A man who built his house on a rock and a man who built his house on the sand. Right! That is exactly what happened.
In this story, Jesus is saying that if we hear the words of God and do them we will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Jesus also tells us that if we hear His words and don't do anything about them, we will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
This is actually a pretty simple story to explain and encourage you with. It's easy read it understand that we need to hear the words of God and live by them. What is most important is how Jesus talks about the rain falling, the floods coming, and the winds blowing and beating on the house, and then the outcome. If we live by the word of God we won't ever fall, we will be tested, and thrown through the ringer and put through a lot of difficult things, but the word of God never fails. On the other hand, if we don't do anything about the word of God, we will be tested, thrown through the ringer, put though a lot of difficult things and then we will fall.
This passage is a perfect reminder about the importance of scripture and doing what it says.
Let me be the first to say, it's not easy to do hear and do all of the time. It's easy to forget simple basic truths that we read in the bible all of the time. I don't know why this example comes to mind, but it's like a card game you used to play with your family. Growing up, you could play this game (whatever game you played) a couple of nights a week. Everybody in your family had so much fun with it and everybody was really good at it. Well, life got busy and you and your family didn't have time for cards anymore. As time progressed, the knowledge you had about the card game slowly went away. After a couple years, you decide to play the game again. At first you forgot about everything, but then as the game goes on, things begin to become more clear and the rules start to make sense again. By the end of the night, you start to remember everything that you used to and you think to yourself...I don't want to get to that point again.
It's also like muscle memory. Ever since I was young, I loved basketball. I've spent hours upon hours in the gym throughout my life working on my game. I've spent so much time working on my basketball skills that what I do is muscle memory. I've trained by body to remember what to do and how to perform. Muscle memory is super cool. Again, if I take some time off from basketball, I am going to loose my sharpness and when I start to play again I will be rusty. Yeah, I will be a little rusty, but the skills that I have worked on and practiced aren't going to leave. I'll always have those.
From looking at the two examples I gave, you can't totally forget something that you've learned and practiced. These two examples show how easy it is to forget something. The common denominator in both? Life. Life gets in the way. Life gets busy and then we use that as an excuse for us to not stay in the word and to do what it says.
You of course have those who hear it and do what it says daily. Those people are like the little persistent piggy who built his house of bricks. The piggy who built his house of bricks knew the big bad wolf couldn't blow his house down. Just like how we should know that when we are persistent, we won't be blown down either. We'll have to wether many storms, but we will never be shaken. For the persistent piggies out there, Satan targets your more than anyone else. He knows that you have the ability to survive, he knows that you will be persistent, he will do whatever he has to. It's not going to work. Simple as that. When you build your house on the solid rock, or out of bricks like the persist piggy, nothing will bring you all the down.
My encouragement to you is to get in the word and do what it says. It's life changing.
I decided to start with the scripture that this post was going to be based off of this afternoon. From looking at the scripture, I am sure that you noticed two things. A man who built his house on a rock and a man who built his house on the sand. Right! That is exactly what happened.
In this story, Jesus is saying that if we hear the words of God and do them we will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Jesus also tells us that if we hear His words and don't do anything about them, we will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
This is actually a pretty simple story to explain and encourage you with. It's easy read it understand that we need to hear the words of God and live by them. What is most important is how Jesus talks about the rain falling, the floods coming, and the winds blowing and beating on the house, and then the outcome. If we live by the word of God we won't ever fall, we will be tested, and thrown through the ringer and put through a lot of difficult things, but the word of God never fails. On the other hand, if we don't do anything about the word of God, we will be tested, thrown through the ringer, put though a lot of difficult things and then we will fall.
This passage is a perfect reminder about the importance of scripture and doing what it says.
Let me be the first to say, it's not easy to do hear and do all of the time. It's easy to forget simple basic truths that we read in the bible all of the time. I don't know why this example comes to mind, but it's like a card game you used to play with your family. Growing up, you could play this game (whatever game you played) a couple of nights a week. Everybody in your family had so much fun with it and everybody was really good at it. Well, life got busy and you and your family didn't have time for cards anymore. As time progressed, the knowledge you had about the card game slowly went away. After a couple years, you decide to play the game again. At first you forgot about everything, but then as the game goes on, things begin to become more clear and the rules start to make sense again. By the end of the night, you start to remember everything that you used to and you think to yourself...I don't want to get to that point again.
It's also like muscle memory. Ever since I was young, I loved basketball. I've spent hours upon hours in the gym throughout my life working on my game. I've spent so much time working on my basketball skills that what I do is muscle memory. I've trained by body to remember what to do and how to perform. Muscle memory is super cool. Again, if I take some time off from basketball, I am going to loose my sharpness and when I start to play again I will be rusty. Yeah, I will be a little rusty, but the skills that I have worked on and practiced aren't going to leave. I'll always have those.
From looking at the two examples I gave, you can't totally forget something that you've learned and practiced. These two examples show how easy it is to forget something. The common denominator in both? Life. Life gets in the way. Life gets busy and then we use that as an excuse for us to not stay in the word and to do what it says.
You of course have those who hear it and do what it says daily. Those people are like the little persistent piggy who built his house of bricks. The piggy who built his house of bricks knew the big bad wolf couldn't blow his house down. Just like how we should know that when we are persistent, we won't be blown down either. We'll have to wether many storms, but we will never be shaken. For the persistent piggies out there, Satan targets your more than anyone else. He knows that you have the ability to survive, he knows that you will be persistent, he will do whatever he has to. It's not going to work. Simple as that. When you build your house on the solid rock, or out of bricks like the persist piggy, nothing will bring you all the down.
My encouragement to you is to get in the word and do what it says. It's life changing.
Monday, October 29, 2018
Human Validity
How often do we do things just so other people can see them. We think that if we do good things and other people see what we are doing, then they'll think we are a good person.
This is something that is difficult because it's okay to share and show the work that God is doing in your life. It really is.
There is a fine line between that and doing good things strictly so that others can see it.
For me, since day one, I really don't care how many people read these posts I write. I believe that one person will be encouraged by each post and that is enough for me. God has called me to do this and I know that this is what He wants me to do, so I am totally fine if nobody every reads anything that I write. I know I just said it, but I fully believe that one person is encouraged from each post and that is enough. Whether it's one person, twenty, or a hundred, I won't stop doing this.
To be honest, I don't know if a person is affected every time and that is okay, because in my heart I know that someone is...every time.
I was reminded by a well-known author over the summer to keep that mindset as long as I write and encourage. It could be easy to get caught up in how many views each post gets. I am not going to lie to you, I feel like I am being tested in that area right now. Each post since last week has at least a hundred less views than any other post. I believe I am being tested. Maybe my link isn't posting or I don't know what it is. I will never stop though. Writing a blog has never been about myself, it's about the people who read it and mostly importantly serving God. It's for you. I never thought I would write anything like this and God has given me the ability to write and encourage and I am going to give everything I have in order to do that. God is awesome and I want you to know that. God does too many amazing things to keep it a secret. I learn too much from reading the bible and I want to share the power that comes from being in the word.
I do what I do for God. I don't do anything to make myself look good. I don't need human validation and neither do you.
It's easy to believe that we have to do good things in order to get to heaven. That's not the case. We have to believe in your heart that Jesus died for our sins and confess with our mouth and that is how you get to heaven.
What sparked this whole post was what I read in Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is preaching some pretty powerful lessons about very important topics.
One of the things he preaches about giving to the needy.
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." (Matthew 6:1-2)
When we give and when we serve we don't need to make a big deal about it just to get recognition. I love when Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." When we do things, like give to the needy or serve the needy, God knows that. God knowing that is the reward. Think about that. Who cares about human validation...the most important thing is God's validation.
Jesus also talks about the Lord's prayer in Matthew chapter 6. He says that we don't need to pray on the street corners so that everyone can see. We don't have to be seen when we pray. Our prayers are between us and God. Again Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." Then Jesus instructs us when we pray to go into your room and shut the door and pray to our Father who is in secret. And that our Father who sees in secret, will reward you. That should be the only validation we need right there.
Jesus address fasting as well in this chapter.
"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." (Matthew 6:16)
There were people who would fast just so that others could see them fasting. They wanted to look good in front of other people. They were seeking human validation, not God's. Again, Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward."
I hope this post encouraged you to remember that God's validation is what most important. When we do good things, or practice our faith, we should never do it just to look good in the eyes of others. We should never have that motive. God knows all of our thoughts, actions, and our hearts. He created them!! He knows us and he loves us and when it comes down to it, that is what matters most and that is what we need to understand.
This is something that is difficult because it's okay to share and show the work that God is doing in your life. It really is.
There is a fine line between that and doing good things strictly so that others can see it.
For me, since day one, I really don't care how many people read these posts I write. I believe that one person will be encouraged by each post and that is enough for me. God has called me to do this and I know that this is what He wants me to do, so I am totally fine if nobody every reads anything that I write. I know I just said it, but I fully believe that one person is encouraged from each post and that is enough. Whether it's one person, twenty, or a hundred, I won't stop doing this.
To be honest, I don't know if a person is affected every time and that is okay, because in my heart I know that someone is...every time.
I was reminded by a well-known author over the summer to keep that mindset as long as I write and encourage. It could be easy to get caught up in how many views each post gets. I am not going to lie to you, I feel like I am being tested in that area right now. Each post since last week has at least a hundred less views than any other post. I believe I am being tested. Maybe my link isn't posting or I don't know what it is. I will never stop though. Writing a blog has never been about myself, it's about the people who read it and mostly importantly serving God. It's for you. I never thought I would write anything like this and God has given me the ability to write and encourage and I am going to give everything I have in order to do that. God is awesome and I want you to know that. God does too many amazing things to keep it a secret. I learn too much from reading the bible and I want to share the power that comes from being in the word.
I do what I do for God. I don't do anything to make myself look good. I don't need human validation and neither do you.
It's easy to believe that we have to do good things in order to get to heaven. That's not the case. We have to believe in your heart that Jesus died for our sins and confess with our mouth and that is how you get to heaven.
What sparked this whole post was what I read in Matthew chapter 6. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is preaching some pretty powerful lessons about very important topics.
One of the things he preaches about giving to the needy.
"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." (Matthew 6:1-2)
When we give and when we serve we don't need to make a big deal about it just to get recognition. I love when Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." When we do things, like give to the needy or serve the needy, God knows that. God knowing that is the reward. Think about that. Who cares about human validation...the most important thing is God's validation.
Jesus also talks about the Lord's prayer in Matthew chapter 6. He says that we don't need to pray on the street corners so that everyone can see. We don't have to be seen when we pray. Our prayers are between us and God. Again Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." Then Jesus instructs us when we pray to go into your room and shut the door and pray to our Father who is in secret. And that our Father who sees in secret, will reward you. That should be the only validation we need right there.
Jesus address fasting as well in this chapter.
"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward." (Matthew 6:16)
There were people who would fast just so that others could see them fasting. They wanted to look good in front of other people. They were seeking human validation, not God's. Again, Jesus says: "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward."
I hope this post encouraged you to remember that God's validation is what most important. When we do good things, or practice our faith, we should never do it just to look good in the eyes of others. We should never have that motive. God knows all of our thoughts, actions, and our hearts. He created them!! He knows us and he loves us and when it comes down to it, that is what matters most and that is what we need to understand.
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Soul Longing
Have you ever experienced a feeling of longing before? Like when you long for something? That feeling is something that is usually deep down.
I believe that in our hearts, we have a longing for eternity.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
This is a verse that has changed my life. I remember when I first read it and then everything made sense to me. No wonder I am not fulfilled by things of this earth. Because eternity is set into man's heart. No wonder winning a basketball game isn't as fulfilling as God's love. It all made sense.
Think about it though, whenever we feel happiness about something like winning a game, or something we always feel that there is more to feel. That verse puts into perspective and gives reason to Christ being the #1 thing in my life. Nothing on this earth will forever fulfill me more than Christ. Nothing on this earth will ever long in my heart like eternity. Wrapping my head around eternity is so hard to do because eternity is forever!
Why am I writing about this tonight? One of the reasons is to encourage you with that verse and I hope it helps things make more sense. The other reasons is to describe the soul longing I experience when I miss out on reading my bible. The soul longing I experience is something I want to share with you because I think it's a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
I'm not perfect, and I am no where near perfect. My life began to change dramatically when I started reading my bible on a daily basis. Everything changes. My heart. My attitude. My outlook. The way I carried myself. Everything. I became very disciplined with this about a year and a half ago. Everyday I read some of my bible and it's my favorite time of day. Whether what I read is 10 minutes worth or 45 minutes. It's more fulfilling than anything else. The hard part is, life is busy and sometimes you don't have time. Yesterday, I didn't have time to read and I've gotten better at being able to accept that. Today I knew I was going to be able to read and write a blog post at some point, I just didn't know when I was going to. This morning and afternoon was kinda busy so I just decided I would wait till tonight. This afternoon, I experienced a feeling of soul longing. I knew exactly what my heart was missing out on and it was my alone time with God. It's such a difficult feeling to explain. It's hard! It's also unique to the point where I know what my heart and my soul need. That feeling of soul longing is a feeling I hope and pray you can experience someday. It's such a testimony to the fact that God needs to be the most important thing in our lives and that our God is so powerful. Our soul longs for the Holy Spirit.
The amazing thing is, as I sat down and read my bible tonight, and as I write this post, my heart is more full then ever. It's an indescribable feeling that I want everyone to feel...I want that more than anything.
I believe that in our hearts, we have a longing for eternity.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
This is a verse that has changed my life. I remember when I first read it and then everything made sense to me. No wonder I am not fulfilled by things of this earth. Because eternity is set into man's heart. No wonder winning a basketball game isn't as fulfilling as God's love. It all made sense.
Think about it though, whenever we feel happiness about something like winning a game, or something we always feel that there is more to feel. That verse puts into perspective and gives reason to Christ being the #1 thing in my life. Nothing on this earth will forever fulfill me more than Christ. Nothing on this earth will ever long in my heart like eternity. Wrapping my head around eternity is so hard to do because eternity is forever!
Why am I writing about this tonight? One of the reasons is to encourage you with that verse and I hope it helps things make more sense. The other reasons is to describe the soul longing I experience when I miss out on reading my bible. The soul longing I experience is something I want to share with you because I think it's a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
I'm not perfect, and I am no where near perfect. My life began to change dramatically when I started reading my bible on a daily basis. Everything changes. My heart. My attitude. My outlook. The way I carried myself. Everything. I became very disciplined with this about a year and a half ago. Everyday I read some of my bible and it's my favorite time of day. Whether what I read is 10 minutes worth or 45 minutes. It's more fulfilling than anything else. The hard part is, life is busy and sometimes you don't have time. Yesterday, I didn't have time to read and I've gotten better at being able to accept that. Today I knew I was going to be able to read and write a blog post at some point, I just didn't know when I was going to. This morning and afternoon was kinda busy so I just decided I would wait till tonight. This afternoon, I experienced a feeling of soul longing. I knew exactly what my heart was missing out on and it was my alone time with God. It's such a difficult feeling to explain. It's hard! It's also unique to the point where I know what my heart and my soul need. That feeling of soul longing is a feeling I hope and pray you can experience someday. It's such a testimony to the fact that God needs to be the most important thing in our lives and that our God is so powerful. Our soul longs for the Holy Spirit.
The amazing thing is, as I sat down and read my bible tonight, and as I write this post, my heart is more full then ever. It's an indescribable feeling that I want everyone to feel...I want that more than anything.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Jesus Calling
Jesus calls us. Every day Jesus is calling us to follow Him. Jesus wants you and you heart. I believe we have a hard time of giving all of it to Him. It can be easy to give just a little bit. It's easy to be moved by the Holy Spirit during a worship song or a sermon and then forget about it later that day. It's hard to be moved over and over again because that requires all of our heart.
If you ask me, it's time to give all your heart to Jesus. It's time to stop going half-way. That will never get you anywhere. It might make you feel good about yourself because you can talk like a Christian, but are you fully living your life as one?
Think about the things you only give part of yourself to. Those things probably leave you feeling a little empty inside. If I only gave a part of myself to my three lifelong best friends (Paul, Grant, & EJ) then the potential of our friendship cannot be reached. If I am not honest with them, and not vulnerable then it's not fair. I also can use basketball as an example. If I show up to practice and don't give everything I have, I am letting the team down and my coaches. I'm also just wasting my time if I do that. Again, I am not living up to my potential.
Again, if you can't put everything you have into something what is the point? To look good? To fit in? To try and be somebody you're not?
The reasoning behind this post today comes from Matthew 4 when Jesus calls the First Disciples. It all started like this: One day, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, they were fisherman. This story is already cool. Jesus was so fully human and I think sometimes that is forgotten about. He was just walking by the sea, that would be so cool to see. So, when he saw the brothers he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there he saw tho other brothers, James and Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Two times, four brothers, and they all immediately left what they were doing to follow Jesus...
Seriously think about this! These guys were in the middle of fishing in the sea and they left immediately to follow Jesus. How often do we put other things before Jesus. We have to finish our homework before we have Jesus time, we have to watch netflix before our Jesus time, etc. We keep putting Jesus at the bottom of the list. I don't know why we do that either. Everybody knows deep down that Jesus should be at the top, I believe that...it's just crazy that it happens over and over again.
Just as much is Jesus is telling us to follow him, Satan is doing everything he can to turn us away from God by filling our life with a countless number of distractions.
My encouragement for you today is to leave what you have behind and to follow Jesus. It's a journey and a decision that you will never regret. It's not easy, it's very hard! If it were easy it wouldn't be worth it. Be like the disciples today and put God above all. It's one decision followed by obedience and a pursuit of righteousness.
If you ask me, it's time to give all your heart to Jesus. It's time to stop going half-way. That will never get you anywhere. It might make you feel good about yourself because you can talk like a Christian, but are you fully living your life as one?
Think about the things you only give part of yourself to. Those things probably leave you feeling a little empty inside. If I only gave a part of myself to my three lifelong best friends (Paul, Grant, & EJ) then the potential of our friendship cannot be reached. If I am not honest with them, and not vulnerable then it's not fair. I also can use basketball as an example. If I show up to practice and don't give everything I have, I am letting the team down and my coaches. I'm also just wasting my time if I do that. Again, I am not living up to my potential.
Again, if you can't put everything you have into something what is the point? To look good? To fit in? To try and be somebody you're not?
The reasoning behind this post today comes from Matthew 4 when Jesus calls the First Disciples. It all started like this: One day, Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee and he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, they were fisherman. This story is already cool. Jesus was so fully human and I think sometimes that is forgotten about. He was just walking by the sea, that would be so cool to see. So, when he saw the brothers he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there he saw tho other brothers, James and Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Two times, four brothers, and they all immediately left what they were doing to follow Jesus...
Seriously think about this! These guys were in the middle of fishing in the sea and they left immediately to follow Jesus. How often do we put other things before Jesus. We have to finish our homework before we have Jesus time, we have to watch netflix before our Jesus time, etc. We keep putting Jesus at the bottom of the list. I don't know why we do that either. Everybody knows deep down that Jesus should be at the top, I believe that...it's just crazy that it happens over and over again.
Just as much is Jesus is telling us to follow him, Satan is doing everything he can to turn us away from God by filling our life with a countless number of distractions.
My encouragement for you today is to leave what you have behind and to follow Jesus. It's a journey and a decision that you will never regret. It's not easy, it's very hard! If it were easy it wouldn't be worth it. Be like the disciples today and put God above all. It's one decision followed by obedience and a pursuit of righteousness.
Thursday, October 25, 2018
We Are Worthy
My encouragement for you today is to let you know that we are worthy. It's as simple as that.
In Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. John the Baptist was a preacher who preached in the wilderness. John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
John the Baptist has been baptizing those who were coming to him. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John didn't feel worthy of this. He tried to tell Jesus that he was the one who needed baptized by Him. He was confused that Jesus had come to him to be baptized. Jesus answered with this: "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill righteousness."
When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
There are two things I want to make a point about.
1. We should never feel like we are not worthy. John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt, his food as locusts and wild honey. I mean picture what John probably looked like. He preached in the wilderness. I picture him as like a super tough looking mountain man. Jesus came to him. Let me say that again. Jesus came to him. He probably never thought in all his life that he would be the one to baptize Jesus Christ. How often do we feel like we aren't worthy. How often do we feel like we are incapable of things because of status, looks, etc? We should never feel that way.
2. When John the baptist said: "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?" He was in a place of disbelief. This is what changed everything. When Jesus said: "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for guys to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus told him that this needed to happen now. I picture the Holy Spirit whispering that in our ears every single day. "Let it be so now." It's time! It's time to pursue Christ and to live a life full of righteousness. It's time to make that decision. It's time to stop waiting until we feel comfortable. "Let it be so now," God says. The time is now.
To conclude, remember that we are worthy and that the time to fulfill righteousness is now.
In Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. John the Baptist was a preacher who preached in the wilderness. John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
John the Baptist has been baptizing those who were coming to him. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John didn't feel worthy of this. He tried to tell Jesus that he was the one who needed baptized by Him. He was confused that Jesus had come to him to be baptized. Jesus answered with this: "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill righteousness."
When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
There are two things I want to make a point about.
1. We should never feel like we are not worthy. John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt, his food as locusts and wild honey. I mean picture what John probably looked like. He preached in the wilderness. I picture him as like a super tough looking mountain man. Jesus came to him. Let me say that again. Jesus came to him. He probably never thought in all his life that he would be the one to baptize Jesus Christ. How often do we feel like we aren't worthy. How often do we feel like we are incapable of things because of status, looks, etc? We should never feel that way.
2. When John the baptist said: "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?" He was in a place of disbelief. This is what changed everything. When Jesus said: "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for guys to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus told him that this needed to happen now. I picture the Holy Spirit whispering that in our ears every single day. "Let it be so now." It's time! It's time to pursue Christ and to live a life full of righteousness. It's time to make that decision. It's time to stop waiting until we feel comfortable. "Let it be so now," God says. The time is now.
To conclude, remember that we are worthy and that the time to fulfill righteousness is now.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Following Your Heart
With my post today, I hope that I can give you a new perspective on following your heart.
Before I start, this is an important thing to remind you of: remember that following your heart will only work when you strive to have a heart like Jesus. Your heart has to be in the right place or it will do no good to follow your heart.
I believe that what we feel in our heart is the right decision. I don't think our hearts are ever wrong when our hearts are sat on the right things. We as humans feel things on different levels, we think, we have gut feelings, and we have what we feel in our heart.
How we think usually comes first, then our gut feeling, then our heart. We usually don't pay attention to what our hearts say at first because we think about things...a lot. I wonder why that is? Maybe, as humans we sometimes fear following our hearts because our hearts are right and sometimes what is right is going to hurt either you or someone else. Or our hearts are wrong and they're not set on what is right and you don't trust it.
When it comes down to it, I believe that there are times when we don't follow our hearts enough. It's a little easier to follow our hearts when dealing with something of significant importance. The little things is where it's difficult. I am here to tell you that all things are important and all decisions are important whether big or small. Significant or insignificant. Important or not. Any decision that we make is a direct representation of who we are and you know what? We are not perfect, we screw up all the time and make the right decision most of the time.
My question to you is this: Are you following your heart at all times with your heart set on what is right? That being a heart like Jesus?
I am back in Matthew and read chapter 2 this morning. Matthew chapter 2 is about the wise men visiting Jesus.
The chapter begins with wise men asking this question: "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" They began talking about how they saw his star when it rose and how they have come to worship him. King Herod wanted the wise man to go find baby Jesus and report to him that they have found him. Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. The only way that the wise men were going to be able to find baby Jesus was by following the star.
Now think about this: the only way (most of the time) we know we are making the right decision is when we follow our hearts. The only way that the wise man were going to find baby Jesus was by following the star.
So this wise man listened to the king and begin to search for baby Jesus. As soon as they began their journey, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When the wise man had seen the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. The went into the house, saw the child with Mary and they fell and worshipped him. Then opened treasures and offered him gifts.
Before the wise man began their journey they new the they only way they were going to be able to find baby Jesus was by following the star. When they had found baby Jesus they fell and worshipped because they had found what they were looking for.
I believe we need to do a better job at following our hearts at all times. When we follow our hearts we know when we make the right decisions. It's a feeling I can't put into words, but we know. If we follow our heart we will find what we are looking for.
Mind you, your heart has to be in the right place. If your heart is not in the right place, then you most likely won't find what you are looking for.
Remember this is important: Jeremiah 17:9 says:
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
To be completely honest, I totally had forgotten about this until a great friend of mine reminded me of this verse. Then I was thinking, crap...I have to redo this whole thing, but in actuality I don't have too.
God gives us the desires of our hearts and there is context there that says we need to be in the word trusting him. The only time our hearts will ever steer us in the right direction is if we have the heart of Jesus.
My buddy went on to say this: "A healthy theology of this would tell us that our hearts suck and that our identity in that won't get us very far. It's only because of the transformation our hearts have when the Holy Spirit works in us that we can do anything worthy of the gospel."
My encouragement to you is to follow your heart at all times when you are trying to have a heart like Jesus. The wise men followed the star and found what they were looking for. You are probably thinking, a start and a heart are completely different. Where did the wise men get that desire and know that they had to follow the star? Their hearts.
Before I start, this is an important thing to remind you of: remember that following your heart will only work when you strive to have a heart like Jesus. Your heart has to be in the right place or it will do no good to follow your heart.
I believe that what we feel in our heart is the right decision. I don't think our hearts are ever wrong when our hearts are sat on the right things. We as humans feel things on different levels, we think, we have gut feelings, and we have what we feel in our heart.
How we think usually comes first, then our gut feeling, then our heart. We usually don't pay attention to what our hearts say at first because we think about things...a lot. I wonder why that is? Maybe, as humans we sometimes fear following our hearts because our hearts are right and sometimes what is right is going to hurt either you or someone else. Or our hearts are wrong and they're not set on what is right and you don't trust it.
When it comes down to it, I believe that there are times when we don't follow our hearts enough. It's a little easier to follow our hearts when dealing with something of significant importance. The little things is where it's difficult. I am here to tell you that all things are important and all decisions are important whether big or small. Significant or insignificant. Important or not. Any decision that we make is a direct representation of who we are and you know what? We are not perfect, we screw up all the time and make the right decision most of the time.
My question to you is this: Are you following your heart at all times with your heart set on what is right? That being a heart like Jesus?
I am back in Matthew and read chapter 2 this morning. Matthew chapter 2 is about the wise men visiting Jesus.
The chapter begins with wise men asking this question: "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" They began talking about how they saw his star when it rose and how they have come to worship him. King Herod wanted the wise man to go find baby Jesus and report to him that they have found him. Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. The only way that the wise men were going to be able to find baby Jesus was by following the star.
Now think about this: the only way (most of the time) we know we are making the right decision is when we follow our hearts. The only way that the wise man were going to find baby Jesus was by following the star.
So this wise man listened to the king and begin to search for baby Jesus. As soon as they began their journey, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When the wise man had seen the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. The went into the house, saw the child with Mary and they fell and worshipped him. Then opened treasures and offered him gifts.
Before the wise man began their journey they new the they only way they were going to be able to find baby Jesus was by following the star. When they had found baby Jesus they fell and worshipped because they had found what they were looking for.
I believe we need to do a better job at following our hearts at all times. When we follow our hearts we know when we make the right decisions. It's a feeling I can't put into words, but we know. If we follow our heart we will find what we are looking for.
Mind you, your heart has to be in the right place. If your heart is not in the right place, then you most likely won't find what you are looking for.
Remember this is important: Jeremiah 17:9 says:
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
To be completely honest, I totally had forgotten about this until a great friend of mine reminded me of this verse. Then I was thinking, crap...I have to redo this whole thing, but in actuality I don't have too.
God gives us the desires of our hearts and there is context there that says we need to be in the word trusting him. The only time our hearts will ever steer us in the right direction is if we have the heart of Jesus.
My buddy went on to say this: "A healthy theology of this would tell us that our hearts suck and that our identity in that won't get us very far. It's only because of the transformation our hearts have when the Holy Spirit works in us that we can do anything worthy of the gospel."
My encouragement to you is to follow your heart at all times when you are trying to have a heart like Jesus. The wise men followed the star and found what they were looking for. You are probably thinking, a start and a heart are completely different. Where did the wise men get that desire and know that they had to follow the star? Their hearts.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Freaky Dreams & Freaky Visions
The birth of Jesus Christ is one of the coolest stories in the entire bible. I think it's sometimes easy to forget that story and the major significance that it has. So in Matthew 1 the genealogy of Jesus Christ is written about and the chapter concludes with the telling of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Before I share the story, my hope is that you are encouraged to not be afraid of any dreams or visions you have. It is a real thing for the Holy Spirit to communicate with you through dreams and visions. It's totally real. Now I honestly can't think of a time where the Holy Spirt communicated with me through a dream but I can think of other people who have had dreams like this. The people I know who have had dreams like this seem to be those who have an extra amount of faith. I hope you know what I mean. We all have faith and faith is faith, but those who are more aware of it are the ones who might catch these dreams and visions that are happening.
Awareness is important. We must be aware of how living, loving, and powerful our God is. Our God is always at work and we need to recognize that. If we are not aware of God's power on daily basis than what are we aware of? Probably our own self-interests and our own agendas. If we can become a little more aware, everything becomes so much more real.
So you're probably wondering how having faith and being aware ties into the brith of Jesus?
When Jospeh found out that Mary was pregnant, he didn't believe her and he wanted a divorce because he had thought that she was a virgin and he immediately thought that she would've had to cheat on him. He didn't want to put her to shame so he wanted to resolve to divorce her quietly.
He wanted nothing to do with Mary when he found out. He had not faith in her that she was telling the truth and not much faith in God either. Mary had tried to tell him that the child was from the Holy spirit and he was not very aware of that being a possibility.
Jospeh has very little faith and awareness about the situation until the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Jospeh, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
An important thing to remember about this story is that it took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel." (which means, God with us)
Jospeh woke up from his sleep and he did as the angel of the the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.
Jospeh went from wanting to divorce his wife, to having a dream where the angel of the Lord spoke to him, to having faith and taking his wife.
Jospeh was scared and was fearful, and it took the Lord having an angel come to him in his dream to give him faith and make him more aware.
It's real to be spoken to through a dream or through a vision, and a lot of time those dreams and visions are freaky. Dreams are so freaky. I know whenever I have a dream, most of the time it is crazy and not realistic. Next time you have a dream if you are able to, have a sense of awareness that maybe God was trying to tell you something. That's no small task. I have had the same dream probably 10 times where dinosaurs have taken over the taken over the town and there was nothing I could do about it...every single time. Some dreams, aren't meant to be interpreted like Joseph's was.
Be aware and have faith in your freaky dreams and visions.
Before I share the story, my hope is that you are encouraged to not be afraid of any dreams or visions you have. It is a real thing for the Holy Spirit to communicate with you through dreams and visions. It's totally real. Now I honestly can't think of a time where the Holy Spirt communicated with me through a dream but I can think of other people who have had dreams like this. The people I know who have had dreams like this seem to be those who have an extra amount of faith. I hope you know what I mean. We all have faith and faith is faith, but those who are more aware of it are the ones who might catch these dreams and visions that are happening.
Awareness is important. We must be aware of how living, loving, and powerful our God is. Our God is always at work and we need to recognize that. If we are not aware of God's power on daily basis than what are we aware of? Probably our own self-interests and our own agendas. If we can become a little more aware, everything becomes so much more real.
So you're probably wondering how having faith and being aware ties into the brith of Jesus?
When Jospeh found out that Mary was pregnant, he didn't believe her and he wanted a divorce because he had thought that she was a virgin and he immediately thought that she would've had to cheat on him. He didn't want to put her to shame so he wanted to resolve to divorce her quietly.
He wanted nothing to do with Mary when he found out. He had not faith in her that she was telling the truth and not much faith in God either. Mary had tried to tell him that the child was from the Holy spirit and he was not very aware of that being a possibility.
Jospeh has very little faith and awareness about the situation until the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, "Jospeh, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
An important thing to remember about this story is that it took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel." (which means, God with us)
Jospeh woke up from his sleep and he did as the angel of the the Lord commanded him: he took his wife.
Jospeh went from wanting to divorce his wife, to having a dream where the angel of the Lord spoke to him, to having faith and taking his wife.
Jospeh was scared and was fearful, and it took the Lord having an angel come to him in his dream to give him faith and make him more aware.
It's real to be spoken to through a dream or through a vision, and a lot of time those dreams and visions are freaky. Dreams are so freaky. I know whenever I have a dream, most of the time it is crazy and not realistic. Next time you have a dream if you are able to, have a sense of awareness that maybe God was trying to tell you something. That's no small task. I have had the same dream probably 10 times where dinosaurs have taken over the taken over the town and there was nothing I could do about it...every single time. Some dreams, aren't meant to be interpreted like Joseph's was.
Be aware and have faith in your freaky dreams and visions.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Ants in your pants
The title of this post probably caught you a little off guard. I am not sure how appropriate it is, but it makes sense with what I want to share with you. "Ants in your pants." Has anyone ever said that to you? We get in a hurry sometimes and we get super impatient and antsy...that is when you have probably heard your parents or grandparents say: "What is the matter? Do you have ants in your pants?"
My parents and my grandparents have said that to me before, and I have heard other parents say it as well. Maybe it's just a small town in Ohio thing...
This morning I read Daniel chapter 12. I was sad that it was the last chapter of such an awesome and exciting book that really changed a lot about the way I think.
Daniel chapter 12 is a short chapter about The Time of the End. If you happened to read any of the other posts I made about Daniel, you might have heard The Time of the End referenced a couple of times.
In the beginning of chapter12, someone is writing about what he thinks The Time of The End will be like. I am not sure who this someone is.
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." (Daniel 12:1-4)
What I take away from this that Daniel is in this place where he wants to know everything about The Time of The End. He was given a little bit about what it might be like and now he wants to know everything. That is what we are like as humans. We can be so nosy sometimes. Think about when you're driving somewhere and you see an accident on the side of the road. Everyone drives by so slowly wanting to know what happened and wanting to know every little detail. We get a taste and then we want the whole thing. We are wired that way as humans...I believe that we are a peace when we know all of the information. I also believe we don't need to know everything. We aren't meant to know every detail about every little thing that happens on a daily basis.
You know what else we aren't supposed to know every detail about? God. If we new every little detail about God, God wouldn't be God. God would be god. If we new everything about God there wouldn't be anything that we would want to learn about. If we aren't meant to know everything about God why would we think that we are meant to know everything else?
I think that is a pretty fair question to ask!
Daniel wanted to know all of these things. He was told to "shut up the words and seal the book, until The Time of The End."
Everything that Daniel wanted to know, wasn't meant for him to know yet. Once we die and go to heaven someday, I believe all of our questions will be answered. I can't wait for that because I have a lot of questions I am going to ask. My point with this, is that someday we will know everything, and we don't have to know everything right now.
Fast forward a couple of verses and another man asks a question about how long will these wonders last and then Daniel asks what the outcome of things will be and again, the voice said: "Go your way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end." You can see here that there is more impatience. Daniel again wanted to know the answer to these things and it wasn't time. The voice told Daniel to go his way. I believe that is what God is telling us. He wants us to continue to do our thing. To live the lives that we live. To stop worrying about wanting to knowing everything and to be patient. We will know everything someday. The time to know everything is not right now.
I am not saying that we won't know anything until that time comes. That would be a little dark. God will show us things and give us answers to things in our life every step of the way. We need to do a better job at being more aware of that. When we are aware and more attentive to what God is doing in our lives on daily basis, we will notice those things. It's just not everything yet and we need to be okay with that.
So instead of being antsy, and having ants in your pants, take a breath, and come to the realization that someday we will know everything and someday we will be able to ask God all of the questions that we have.
My parents and my grandparents have said that to me before, and I have heard other parents say it as well. Maybe it's just a small town in Ohio thing...
This morning I read Daniel chapter 12. I was sad that it was the last chapter of such an awesome and exciting book that really changed a lot about the way I think.
Daniel chapter 12 is a short chapter about The Time of the End. If you happened to read any of the other posts I made about Daniel, you might have heard The Time of the End referenced a couple of times.
In the beginning of chapter12, someone is writing about what he thinks The Time of The End will be like. I am not sure who this someone is.
"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." (Daniel 12:1-4)
What I take away from this that Daniel is in this place where he wants to know everything about The Time of The End. He was given a little bit about what it might be like and now he wants to know everything. That is what we are like as humans. We can be so nosy sometimes. Think about when you're driving somewhere and you see an accident on the side of the road. Everyone drives by so slowly wanting to know what happened and wanting to know every little detail. We get a taste and then we want the whole thing. We are wired that way as humans...I believe that we are a peace when we know all of the information. I also believe we don't need to know everything. We aren't meant to know every detail about every little thing that happens on a daily basis.
You know what else we aren't supposed to know every detail about? God. If we new every little detail about God, God wouldn't be God. God would be god. If we new everything about God there wouldn't be anything that we would want to learn about. If we aren't meant to know everything about God why would we think that we are meant to know everything else?
I think that is a pretty fair question to ask!
Daniel wanted to know all of these things. He was told to "shut up the words and seal the book, until The Time of The End."
Everything that Daniel wanted to know, wasn't meant for him to know yet. Once we die and go to heaven someday, I believe all of our questions will be answered. I can't wait for that because I have a lot of questions I am going to ask. My point with this, is that someday we will know everything, and we don't have to know everything right now.
Fast forward a couple of verses and another man asks a question about how long will these wonders last and then Daniel asks what the outcome of things will be and again, the voice said: "Go your way Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end." You can see here that there is more impatience. Daniel again wanted to know the answer to these things and it wasn't time. The voice told Daniel to go his way. I believe that is what God is telling us. He wants us to continue to do our thing. To live the lives that we live. To stop worrying about wanting to knowing everything and to be patient. We will know everything someday. The time to know everything is not right now.
I am not saying that we won't know anything until that time comes. That would be a little dark. God will show us things and give us answers to things in our life every step of the way. We need to do a better job at being more aware of that. When we are aware and more attentive to what God is doing in our lives on daily basis, we will notice those things. It's just not everything yet and we need to be okay with that.
So instead of being antsy, and having ants in your pants, take a breath, and come to the realization that someday we will know everything and someday we will be able to ask God all of the questions that we have.
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Outside These Walls
I woke up this morning and I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to write a post about what I was going to read in Daniel. As I was sitting here in the church library back home, that was not on my heart. I tried, I wanted it to be. As I sat here thinking, what else am I supposed to write about today, it hit me.
I got to church with my mom in between services this morning. When we got there, the first service was just finishing. In our church, the sound system plays whatever is going on in the sanctuary. It's probably like that at a bunch of churches. Outside the walls of the sanctuary is was quiet. It was peaceful. I could hear a couple of people in the cafe sitting down and talking and enjoying a break from life.
You know how the end of services go, I could hear everything that was being said. The pastor was closing the sermon with a powerful prayer, an alter call, and encouraged everyone to love like Jesus does. All of that was happening inside the walls of the sanctuary.
As soon as those doors opened and the people poured out the cafe of the church got louder and louder. It was subtle at first, and once everyone came out, it was pretty loud. It was beautiful to hear. That is something that always happens at church! Inside the walls of the church we love on people, talk to everyone, introduce ourselves to new people, be nice, put on a smile, etc. Inside these walls we love like Jesus.
What happens as soon as you leave church on Sunday? It's back to life. It's back to not seeing everyone as the same beautiful creations from God. It's back to seeing somebody you don't know and not introducing yourself. It's back to letting little things make you angry. Basically, we get exposed as soon as we leave these walls.
I am not saying everyone does this because I know for a fact that not everyone does! It's just something that happens. I am just as guilty of it, I think of meeting new people at church and then I think of myself sitting in the coffee shop back at school...I go in there everyday and there are so many people who I don't know. Some of those people are the same people that I see every single day. Think about when you go back to work tomorrow, or for some go back to class at school. The temptation to fall into the trap of gossip and judgment hits us heavily. The opportunity also arises as well. An opportunity to be different, to not participate in talking bad about someone, to not have a bad attitude like everyone else, to be a light, and to love!
As I sit and listen to everyone talk, love, and encourage one another, image the power of that outside these walls. As humans we are meant for relationships with other people, it's how we thrive. I encourage you with that. Because how often do we sit in church on a Sunday, hear an amazing sermon, feel God do work in our lives and then quickly forget what had happened?
The way we love and encourage isn't just for Sunday's it's for everyday. I encourage you to think about what you are doing outside of these walls. The walls don't even have to be church walls, they could be the walls where you grow and where you experience God. Our identity lies in Christ, how are we going to act? Our we going to be who we say we are?
Outside these walls are what is most important...the opportunity to love one another just like how God loves us, by sending his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
I got to church with my mom in between services this morning. When we got there, the first service was just finishing. In our church, the sound system plays whatever is going on in the sanctuary. It's probably like that at a bunch of churches. Outside the walls of the sanctuary is was quiet. It was peaceful. I could hear a couple of people in the cafe sitting down and talking and enjoying a break from life.
You know how the end of services go, I could hear everything that was being said. The pastor was closing the sermon with a powerful prayer, an alter call, and encouraged everyone to love like Jesus does. All of that was happening inside the walls of the sanctuary.
As soon as those doors opened and the people poured out the cafe of the church got louder and louder. It was subtle at first, and once everyone came out, it was pretty loud. It was beautiful to hear. That is something that always happens at church! Inside the walls of the church we love on people, talk to everyone, introduce ourselves to new people, be nice, put on a smile, etc. Inside these walls we love like Jesus.
What happens as soon as you leave church on Sunday? It's back to life. It's back to not seeing everyone as the same beautiful creations from God. It's back to seeing somebody you don't know and not introducing yourself. It's back to letting little things make you angry. Basically, we get exposed as soon as we leave these walls.
I am not saying everyone does this because I know for a fact that not everyone does! It's just something that happens. I am just as guilty of it, I think of meeting new people at church and then I think of myself sitting in the coffee shop back at school...I go in there everyday and there are so many people who I don't know. Some of those people are the same people that I see every single day. Think about when you go back to work tomorrow, or for some go back to class at school. The temptation to fall into the trap of gossip and judgment hits us heavily. The opportunity also arises as well. An opportunity to be different, to not participate in talking bad about someone, to not have a bad attitude like everyone else, to be a light, and to love!
As I sit and listen to everyone talk, love, and encourage one another, image the power of that outside these walls. As humans we are meant for relationships with other people, it's how we thrive. I encourage you with that. Because how often do we sit in church on a Sunday, hear an amazing sermon, feel God do work in our lives and then quickly forget what had happened?
The way we love and encourage isn't just for Sunday's it's for everyday. I encourage you to think about what you are doing outside of these walls. The walls don't even have to be church walls, they could be the walls where you grow and where you experience God. Our identity lies in Christ, how are we going to act? Our we going to be who we say we are?
Outside these walls are what is most important...the opportunity to love one another just like how God loves us, by sending his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Do you know why I have come to you?
Do you ever wonder why some things happen...whether it's to you, someone else or whatever the case might be?
Sometimes those things shock you and you never thought those things would happen to you. It's like you getting knocked on your butt.
In Daniel chapter 10, he got knocked on his butt by one of the visions that he had. This vision that he had was a terrifying vision of a Man. When Daniel had this vision he was standing on the bank of the Tigris river. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and he saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.
Daniel was with some of his buddies when this was happening and he was the only one who saw this. The guys he was with got scared because they felt a presence and then they went and hid.
Daniel was left alone and saw this great vision and all of a sudden all strength had left his body. His radiant appearance that he had was fearfully changed. Then he heard the sound of his words and when he heard these words he fell on his face.
Sometimes there are things in our lives that happen where we feel totally helpless. We are put into situations where we feel like there is nothing that we can do. What happened to Daniel is what happens to us. He was seeing the great vision and nobody else could see it. We experience what we experience. When God is trying to tell you something in your life and do work in your life, the people around you most likely won't have that same feeling because they are not you. They can understand what you're going through but they can't feel it exactly.
It's like when I get back from going to China. The experience was absolutely amazing. There are things I experienced over there that I cannot bring back here because nobody else can experience those things in the same way. I can share all the stories I want to, the affect might just not be as powerful as the way I was affected.
Back to the story, Daniel is on the ground completely powerless. All of a sudden he feels a hand touch him, and a voice say to him: "O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words the I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you." When this had been spoken to him, he stood up.
When we get knocked on our butts, that is when God speaks to us, and that is when we need to hear his voice. That is also when God uses others to speak to us. God uses people in our lives to tell us things that we need to hear. I could not be more thankful for those people and that God has placed them into my life.
The voice then had something else to say to Daniel: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words."
Daniel was been heard sine the first day he set is heart and humbled himself before God. The entire time he had been heard. Ever since we have accepted Jesus into our hearts, our prayers are heard, our thoughts are heard, everything is heard. Don't forget that. You also have to have patience with that. We have all been in that place before where we pray for something and the prayer is not answered, it takes time and your prayer might be answered in another way. Never forget that you are always heard by God. I challenge you to have that perspective: God hears everything!
When the words from above were spoken, Daniel again turned his face toward the ground and was mute. When this happened, he spoke again about not having any strength.
Again, Daniel was touched by a hand and was strengthened. The voice said: "O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage." Daniel was encouraged by this and said: "Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
When we get knocked down, God is always there. We have no reason to fear. We need to be peaceful. We need to be strong and have courage.
Daniel had quite the experience in this chapter of Daniel. He had a vision, got knocked on his butt, and then lost all the strength that he had. He was touched by God, told that he was greatly loved and regained his strength.
Throughout all, he was heard. We are heard forever and always. Use the things that knock you down to start something new and to listen to what God is telling you.
Do you know why I have come to you? Do you know why God has come to you today? Or in the past couple? I challenge you to search for that reason and to find it.
Sometimes those things shock you and you never thought those things would happen to you. It's like you getting knocked on your butt.
In Daniel chapter 10, he got knocked on his butt by one of the visions that he had. This vision that he had was a terrifying vision of a Man. When Daniel had this vision he was standing on the bank of the Tigris river. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and he saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.
Daniel was with some of his buddies when this was happening and he was the only one who saw this. The guys he was with got scared because they felt a presence and then they went and hid.
Daniel was left alone and saw this great vision and all of a sudden all strength had left his body. His radiant appearance that he had was fearfully changed. Then he heard the sound of his words and when he heard these words he fell on his face.
Sometimes there are things in our lives that happen where we feel totally helpless. We are put into situations where we feel like there is nothing that we can do. What happened to Daniel is what happens to us. He was seeing the great vision and nobody else could see it. We experience what we experience. When God is trying to tell you something in your life and do work in your life, the people around you most likely won't have that same feeling because they are not you. They can understand what you're going through but they can't feel it exactly.
It's like when I get back from going to China. The experience was absolutely amazing. There are things I experienced over there that I cannot bring back here because nobody else can experience those things in the same way. I can share all the stories I want to, the affect might just not be as powerful as the way I was affected.
Back to the story, Daniel is on the ground completely powerless. All of a sudden he feels a hand touch him, and a voice say to him: "O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words the I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you." When this had been spoken to him, he stood up.
When we get knocked on our butts, that is when God speaks to us, and that is when we need to hear his voice. That is also when God uses others to speak to us. God uses people in our lives to tell us things that we need to hear. I could not be more thankful for those people and that God has placed them into my life.
The voice then had something else to say to Daniel: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words."
Daniel was been heard sine the first day he set is heart and humbled himself before God. The entire time he had been heard. Ever since we have accepted Jesus into our hearts, our prayers are heard, our thoughts are heard, everything is heard. Don't forget that. You also have to have patience with that. We have all been in that place before where we pray for something and the prayer is not answered, it takes time and your prayer might be answered in another way. Never forget that you are always heard by God. I challenge you to have that perspective: God hears everything!
When the words from above were spoken, Daniel again turned his face toward the ground and was mute. When this happened, he spoke again about not having any strength.
Again, Daniel was touched by a hand and was strengthened. The voice said: "O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage." Daniel was encouraged by this and said: "Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me."
When we get knocked down, God is always there. We have no reason to fear. We need to be peaceful. We need to be strong and have courage.
Daniel had quite the experience in this chapter of Daniel. He had a vision, got knocked on his butt, and then lost all the strength that he had. He was touched by God, told that he was greatly loved and regained his strength.
Throughout all, he was heard. We are heard forever and always. Use the things that knock you down to start something new and to listen to what God is telling you.
Do you know why I have come to you? Do you know why God has come to you today? Or in the past couple? I challenge you to search for that reason and to find it.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
You can't google: why am I feeling this way?
In life, we go through so many things. We go through something tough and we want to know why. As humans we naturally want to know the reasoning behind everything. It's the world we live in today. Most of the time we have the power, because of technology, to figure out whatever we want to. Unfortunately you can't google the answer to why am I feeling this way, or why didn't I understand this. The way to do that is alone time with God and really learning about yourself.
In Daniel chapter 8, he had another vision. This vision was about a Ram and a goat. Of all things...a ram and goat.
In the dream he had, he saw a ram standing on the bank of a canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. Daniel saw that the ram was charging westward and northward and southward. No other beast could stand before him. While Daniel was considering this, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Then, this goat came at the ram, and struck it between the horns. The goat then became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four more horns towards the four winds of heaven.
I don't know about you, but none of that makes any sense to me. Daniel sought to understand this vision. When this happened, the arch angel Gabriel showed up to interpret this dream. Daniel was frightened when he saw Gabriel. Gabriel than said this to Daniel: "Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end."
Gabriel interpreted the entire dream to Daniel. Daniel was as lost and confused as I was and as you probably are as well. Daniel then said this. "The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now." He understood that the vision was true. He also told him to seal it back up. There was going to be a time where it was meant for Daniel to understand it and right now wasn't the time. He was going to know...when the time was right.
During this time of not knowing what the vision was about, Daniel got up and went about the king's business. He was appalled by the vision even though he didn't understand that.
We can learn an important lesson from Daniel here. He didn't understand what was going on, yet he got back to doing what he does, and was appalled by it. He didn't get frustrated because he didn't understand the vision, he got back to doing what he does.
We we don't know the answer to something, it's okay. Most likely it's just not the right time. In those times of wondering, we need to stay on our feet and do what we do. Be appalled by the unknown! Be curious, be excited!
Trust me. We don't have the answer to everything that is going on in our lives. We are humans and aren't capable of that. Let what you don't know excite you and motivate you. Don't let it bring you down. Remember...when Daniel didn't understand, he got on his feet and continued doing what he does.
In Daniel chapter 8, he had another vision. This vision was about a Ram and a goat. Of all things...a ram and goat.
In the dream he had, he saw a ram standing on the bank of a canal. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. Daniel saw that the ram was charging westward and northward and southward. No other beast could stand before him. While Daniel was considering this, a male goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Then, this goat came at the ram, and struck it between the horns. The goat then became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four more horns towards the four winds of heaven.
I don't know about you, but none of that makes any sense to me. Daniel sought to understand this vision. When this happened, the arch angel Gabriel showed up to interpret this dream. Daniel was frightened when he saw Gabriel. Gabriel than said this to Daniel: "Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end."
Gabriel interpreted the entire dream to Daniel. Daniel was as lost and confused as I was and as you probably are as well. Daniel then said this. "The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now." He understood that the vision was true. He also told him to seal it back up. There was going to be a time where it was meant for Daniel to understand it and right now wasn't the time. He was going to know...when the time was right.
During this time of not knowing what the vision was about, Daniel got up and went about the king's business. He was appalled by the vision even though he didn't understand that.
We can learn an important lesson from Daniel here. He didn't understand what was going on, yet he got back to doing what he does, and was appalled by it. He didn't get frustrated because he didn't understand the vision, he got back to doing what he does.
We we don't know the answer to something, it's okay. Most likely it's just not the right time. In those times of wondering, we need to stay on our feet and do what we do. Be appalled by the unknown! Be curious, be excited!
Trust me. We don't have the answer to everything that is going on in our lives. We are humans and aren't capable of that. Let what you don't know excite you and motivate you. Don't let it bring you down. Remember...when Daniel didn't understand, he got on his feet and continued doing what he does.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Four Beasts and the Ancient of Days
The last couple of days when I have read in the book of Daniel there have been these amazing stories that have really made sense. This morning, chapter 7 was a little different. It was super fun to read and I really enjoyed reading it, but there wasn't a story that really stuck out to me as much as the stories have in the previous couple of days.
Daniel chapter 7 starts out with Daniel having a vision about four beasts.
The first beast: The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. When Daniel looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.
The second beast: This beast was like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, 'Arise, devour much flesh.'
The third beast: The third was like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
The fourth beast: The fourth beast was more terrifying than the rest. The fourth was dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all of the beast that were before it, and it had ten horns. Daniel considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
When these dreams were interpreted, Daniel learned that the four beasts represented four kings that were going to come from the earth.
The fourth beast was different. It was worse than all the rest. Here is what was interpreted about the fourth beast:
'As for the fourth beast,
there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,
which shall be different from all the kingdoms,
and it shall devour the whole earth,
and trample it down, and break it to pieces.
As for the ten horns,
out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
and another shall arise after them;
he shall be different from the former ones,
and shall put down three kings.
He shall speak words against the Most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,
and shall think to change the times and the law;
and they shall be given into his hand
for a time, times, and half a time.
But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be a consumer and destroyed to the end.
And the kingdom and the dominion
and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;
his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him. '
I wanted to tell you about all of these beasts to show you that there are some pretty crazy stories in the bible. The bible isn't some boring book with lame stories. Every time you open your bible you will most likely read something really cool. The bible is for everyone. Maybe if we change our perspective on the bible we will read it more? Do you ever think about that? If you have the mindset that you are going to learn something and read some pretty cool things every time you read your bible, you will!
Speaking of learning some pretty cool things every time we open our bible, I learned something today for the first time. I learned that: "The Ancient of Days," is another name for God. I would've never known that.
Check our the scripture about The Ancient of Days.
"As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
This post was a little different this morning. It was more of story telling than encouragement. I hope that these cool stories helped changed our perspective about reading the bible. If there is one thing I hope you can take away from this, is that when you have a 'ready to learn' perspective when you open up your bible, you will learn more than ever.
Daniel chapter 7 starts out with Daniel having a vision about four beasts.
The first beast: The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. When Daniel looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.
The second beast: This beast was like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, 'Arise, devour much flesh.'
The third beast: The third was like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
The fourth beast: The fourth beast was more terrifying than the rest. The fourth was dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all of the beast that were before it, and it had ten horns. Daniel considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
When these dreams were interpreted, Daniel learned that the four beasts represented four kings that were going to come from the earth.
The fourth beast was different. It was worse than all the rest. Here is what was interpreted about the fourth beast:
'As for the fourth beast,
there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,
which shall be different from all the kingdoms,
and it shall devour the whole earth,
and trample it down, and break it to pieces.
As for the ten horns,
out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
and another shall arise after them;
he shall be different from the former ones,
and shall put down three kings.
He shall speak words against the Most High,
and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,
and shall think to change the times and the law;
and they shall be given into his hand
for a time, times, and half a time.
But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be a consumer and destroyed to the end.
And the kingdom and the dominion
and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;
his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him. '
I wanted to tell you about all of these beasts to show you that there are some pretty crazy stories in the bible. The bible isn't some boring book with lame stories. Every time you open your bible you will most likely read something really cool. The bible is for everyone. Maybe if we change our perspective on the bible we will read it more? Do you ever think about that? If you have the mindset that you are going to learn something and read some pretty cool things every time you read your bible, you will!
Speaking of learning some pretty cool things every time we open our bible, I learned something today for the first time. I learned that: "The Ancient of Days," is another name for God. I would've never known that.
Check our the scripture about The Ancient of Days.
"As I looked,
thrones were placed,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousands stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
This post was a little different this morning. It was more of story telling than encouragement. I hope that these cool stories helped changed our perspective about reading the bible. If there is one thing I hope you can take away from this, is that when you have a 'ready to learn' perspective when you open up your bible, you will learn more than ever.
Monday, October 15, 2018
Broken Bones & Hungry Lions
I am writing to you again about another story of Daniel and his life. When Darius had taken over the kingdom he set over 120 satraps. I had to look this up, Satraps are like governors. Daniel was one of the governors and he become distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him.
That brings me to my first point I want to encourage you with. Daniel was distinguished because others new that the Holy Spirit was in him. He was noticeably different because of that. He was different and people noticed. I encourage you to have a certain light about yourself. Be noticeably different than all of those around you for the right reasons.
All of the satraps then came by agreement to the king and said to him, "O King Darius, live forever!" They had put Darius above God. The decided to establish that injunction and sign a document saying that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except Darius, shall be cast into the lions den.
So if anyone who Darius ruled over praised any other gods or men they would be thrown into the lions den. They put Darius over everything.
Daniel had gotten word that the document was signed and he went to his house and got down on his knees and prayed three times a day, giving thanks to God for what He had previously done. I don't know how long this lasted but he did it day after day.
This is my second point. Daniel began to thank God for all he had done three times a day. We underestimate the power of prayer sometimes and this story shows an example where prayer did work. Faithful and continual prayer. Daniel knew that he couldn't just pray one time, he knew that he was going to have to pray over and over again. That is a good lesson for all. Be continual in the things you pray for. One time isn't going to do it. Be persistent. Be persistent and watch God work. Watch God deliver you from the things you prayed for and for others to be delivered because of your prayers for them.
All of the governors and high officials found out that Daniel was making a plea before God. They were not happy about it because he wasn't abiding by the written document. They went to Darius and told him that Daniel must be thrown into the lions den for making a plea to God and not Darius.
Darius was very distressed in this time. He set his mind to deliver Daniel. He labored until the sun went down to rescue him. Darius was going to do whatever it took to deliver Daniel, unfortunately he couldn't because it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.
My third point. Darius was distressed because Daniel was going to be thrown into the lions den. He did whatever he could to deliver Daniel and it just didn't work. I believe that Darius understood that Daniel served the Most High God. He knew that Daniel was different and did not want to see him be devoured by the Lions. Daniel labored until the sun went down, meaning he worked all day trying to figure this out. There are things in our lives that we need to fight for. There are times when we get this gut feeling that we really screwed up. We can't just give up. Darius never did.
The day came that Daniel was going to be thrown into the lions den and the King declared to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you." just like that, a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his signature signet. While this was happening, Darius fasted in his palace the entire night and did not get any sleep.
Fourth. Darius fasted all night. The power of fasting is incredible. We all like food and when we go without it, we get super hungry. But when we get that hunger, we can focus on prayer and having open ears to what God has in store for us. Fasting causes us to rely on God.
At the break of day, the King arouse and went in haste to the den of lions. Darius saw that God has delivered Daniel from the lions! Daniel told Darius that God had sent his angel and shut the lions' mouth, and that they had not harmed him, because he was found blameless and that he had done no harm. The King was so happy about this. A weight was definitely lifted off of his chest when he saw that Daniel was still alive.
Next, the King commanded that the men who had maliciously accused Daniel be brought and cast into the den of lions along with their children, and their wives. Before the reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones into pieces.
My fifth point is this. Never falsely accuse anybody for anything. Don't accuse someone of being wrong about something just because they are different than you are. The leaders had to know deep down that Daniel served the Most High God, yet they wanted to look good in the eyes of Darius, an earthly king. We can never cop out to please people and things of this world rather than God. It might be what is easiest and it might give you more clout, but it's not everlasting. We need to become more astounded by God than afraid of the world. Fear causes us to cop out. We must be still and know that God is God and that He rules over all.
After all of this had happened, King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages over all the earth: "Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God,
enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
He delivers and recuses;
he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions."
Finally, my sixth and final point is this. King Darius had seen all that God had done and wrote to all the people on the earth telling people to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. How powerful is that? He told everyone!!! What if we shared the work God has and is doing with everyone? Whether we do that or we don't we can start with a few people. Choose somebody to share what God has done in your life. There is so much power to that.
Don't let your bones be broken by things of this world, there are hungry lions out there ready to attack. It's up to you and your trust in God.
That brings me to my first point I want to encourage you with. Daniel was distinguished because others new that the Holy Spirit was in him. He was noticeably different because of that. He was different and people noticed. I encourage you to have a certain light about yourself. Be noticeably different than all of those around you for the right reasons.
All of the satraps then came by agreement to the king and said to him, "O King Darius, live forever!" They had put Darius above God. The decided to establish that injunction and sign a document saying that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except Darius, shall be cast into the lions den.
So if anyone who Darius ruled over praised any other gods or men they would be thrown into the lions den. They put Darius over everything.
Daniel had gotten word that the document was signed and he went to his house and got down on his knees and prayed three times a day, giving thanks to God for what He had previously done. I don't know how long this lasted but he did it day after day.
This is my second point. Daniel began to thank God for all he had done three times a day. We underestimate the power of prayer sometimes and this story shows an example where prayer did work. Faithful and continual prayer. Daniel knew that he couldn't just pray one time, he knew that he was going to have to pray over and over again. That is a good lesson for all. Be continual in the things you pray for. One time isn't going to do it. Be persistent. Be persistent and watch God work. Watch God deliver you from the things you prayed for and for others to be delivered because of your prayers for them.
All of the governors and high officials found out that Daniel was making a plea before God. They were not happy about it because he wasn't abiding by the written document. They went to Darius and told him that Daniel must be thrown into the lions den for making a plea to God and not Darius.
Darius was very distressed in this time. He set his mind to deliver Daniel. He labored until the sun went down to rescue him. Darius was going to do whatever it took to deliver Daniel, unfortunately he couldn't because it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.
My third point. Darius was distressed because Daniel was going to be thrown into the lions den. He did whatever he could to deliver Daniel and it just didn't work. I believe that Darius understood that Daniel served the Most High God. He knew that Daniel was different and did not want to see him be devoured by the Lions. Daniel labored until the sun went down, meaning he worked all day trying to figure this out. There are things in our lives that we need to fight for. There are times when we get this gut feeling that we really screwed up. We can't just give up. Darius never did.
The day came that Daniel was going to be thrown into the lions den and the King declared to Daniel, "May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you." just like that, a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his signature signet. While this was happening, Darius fasted in his palace the entire night and did not get any sleep.
Fourth. Darius fasted all night. The power of fasting is incredible. We all like food and when we go without it, we get super hungry. But when we get that hunger, we can focus on prayer and having open ears to what God has in store for us. Fasting causes us to rely on God.
At the break of day, the King arouse and went in haste to the den of lions. Darius saw that God has delivered Daniel from the lions! Daniel told Darius that God had sent his angel and shut the lions' mouth, and that they had not harmed him, because he was found blameless and that he had done no harm. The King was so happy about this. A weight was definitely lifted off of his chest when he saw that Daniel was still alive.
Next, the King commanded that the men who had maliciously accused Daniel be brought and cast into the den of lions along with their children, and their wives. Before the reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones into pieces.
My fifth point is this. Never falsely accuse anybody for anything. Don't accuse someone of being wrong about something just because they are different than you are. The leaders had to know deep down that Daniel served the Most High God, yet they wanted to look good in the eyes of Darius, an earthly king. We can never cop out to please people and things of this world rather than God. It might be what is easiest and it might give you more clout, but it's not everlasting. We need to become more astounded by God than afraid of the world. Fear causes us to cop out. We must be still and know that God is God and that He rules over all.
After all of this had happened, King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages over all the earth: "Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God,
enduring forever;
his kingdom shall never be destroyed,
and his dominion shall be to the end.
He delivers and recuses;
he works signs and wonders
in heaven and on earth,
he who has saved Daniel
from the power of the lions."
Finally, my sixth and final point is this. King Darius had seen all that God had done and wrote to all the people on the earth telling people to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. How powerful is that? He told everyone!!! What if we shared the work God has and is doing with everyone? Whether we do that or we don't we can start with a few people. Choose somebody to share what God has done in your life. There is so much power to that.
Don't let your bones be broken by things of this world, there are hungry lions out there ready to attack. It's up to you and your trust in God.
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Do I really have to spell it out for you?
Have you ever been in a situation before where someone I explaining something to you, and you don't really understand it at first, and then they make a smart comment like: "Do I really have to spell it out for you?"
I think sometimes that is what God thinks about us. He performs this amazing work in our lives day in and day out and we simply forget or we just don't understand what is happening. If that is you, don't worry, it's you, it's me, it's all of us.
God is always at work and we get caught up in the business of our own lives. For example, this weekend. It was Fall Break, and I had a lot of things to do, I didn't have time to sit down and read or blog until tonight. I was busy with what I had to do. It's not a bad thing, it's life.
Where does this idea come from? In Daniel chapter 5, King Belshazzar, son of King Nebuchadnezzar had made a great feast for a thousand. At this feast, the king was celebrating by drinking wine from gold and silver vessels that were his fathers. They were drinking wine and praising the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Basically, they were having a huge party for all of the wrong reasons.
Remember what King Nebuchadnezzar had to go through? His son was there for the entire thing and you would think that he got the message. Well he didn't...
At the feast, a hand appeared on the wall and had written something on. Nobody who was there was able to interpret it. The King said that he would reward whoever would interpret the message. Again, the magicians, enchanters, and anyone else who was wise tried, but they couldn't do it. Finally, the queen remembered Daniel, and the King had Daniel interpret the writing.
When Daniel was interpreting the dream to the king, he was telling the king everything that his father had experienced in the first four chapters of Daniel. In short, Daniel had explained how Nebuchadnezzar had humbled himself and how his son had not yet humbled his heart.
After everything he saw his father experience he didn't learn anything from it.
While this was all happening, the hand was sent and the writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.
MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end
TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting
PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians
That very night Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
What was written down is what came true. If King Belshazzar would've learned the same lesson his father had learned, this all might have not happened. Does it really have to be spelled out for you?
What is God teaching you right now in your life, what are you learning, and how are you growing? I challenge you to not get to that point where it has to be written down for you. Write it down yourself! Journal, take notes, do whatever you have to do so you learn it the first time.
When someone says: "Does it really have to be spelled out for you?" it is not a good thing, Belshazzar had to have it written down for him and he got killed that night. That most likely won't happen to you, but you never know what God might do to get your attention.
Learn your lessons.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Sometimes you have to be humiliated
Is there anything in your life that you feel like if you let go of it right now, you would feel so much more freedom and peace? Or is there anything that you are doing that you need to stop in order to humble yourself? Is there anything that you need to admit to someone that might be humiliating, but you will feel better because of it?
With this post, I hope that you can understand the process of being restored. The king recognized that he had a dream and that there was nobody like our God. The king then basically gave up his kingdom, and was humiliated. After that time of humiliation, the king was restored and had more wisdom than he had before.
In our busy lives, we need to recognize the things that we can change and the things that we are doing wrong, suffer the consequences and humiliation, and then grow because of it.
Daniel chapter 4 started off in super cool fashion.
King Nebuchadnezzar to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:1-3)
The king recognized the signs and wonders of the Most High God. That was the very first step.
Next, the king had a dream.
In the king's dream, he saw a tree in the middle of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and it's top reached heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the earth. The tree had beautiful leaves and its fruit was abundant, and had food for all. All of the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in the branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
That would be a pretty cool dream to have in my opinion. The king had the power to have these amazing dreams and visions, but wasn't able to interpret them, that is when Daniel comes in to play.
The king also saw this in his dream. He saw a watcher, a holy one, come down from heaven. The watcher proclaimed to him: 'Chop down the tree and lop off its beaches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from the branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band iron and bronze, amid a tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beats in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him and let seven period of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, and in the end the the living many know that the Most High rules the kingdom and men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.'
Now if I am in the situation, I am hoping and praying that I don't have to do this. The king had built up such a great kingdom and by the looks of this dream it looks like the king would have to give up everything in order to know that and to understand that the Most High God rules the kingdom and men and gives it to whom he will.
Daniel interpreted this dream and said that the dream was for those who hate you and your enemies. When Daniel interpreted the dream, he basically said everything that the dream entailed off, he told the king that he would have to do all of those things. He would have to let his kingdom go, all of it. Everything that he has built up for years was going to have to be let go so that the king could recognize that the Most High God rules the kingdom and gives it to whom he will.
Next, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" While these words were still in the king's mouth a voice came down from heaven, "O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whim he will."
When the king heard this voice from haven, the word became immediately fulfilled. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.
Talk about being humbled. The king used to be the head over all of Babylon and now he was eating grass like the ox, and his body was wet with dew. His hair had how been as long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds claws. I imagine it being humiliating enough to loose your power, but the king basically had to look like a bum to be honest, he was probably used to the best clothes, best treatment and best care. Now he didn't have any of that.
Now if you remember what I talked about at the beginning of this post, 2/3 things have happened. There was one more thing left and that was the king being restored.
At the end of the days, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven and his reason was retuned to him. Nebuchadnezzar praised and honored him who lives forever and said this,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, "What have you done?"
When the king had said this, his reason returned to him, along with his kingdom, majesty, and splendor. The king was able to reestablish his kingdom and he had more greatness than ever before.
The king closed with this statement:
Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
I encourage you to think of the things in your life that you are placing ahead of God. Recognize those things and do whatever it takes to get rid of them. You might totally have to humiliate yourself but it's worth it. We will be restored because of it. Just like King Nebuchadnezzar. Because of his humiliation and the things he had to endure, he is now a better leader than ever. We will mostly likely endure hardships and because of those hardships our relationship with Christ will strengthen more and more.
I challenge you as well to let yourself be humbled. If you are prideful, the King of heaven will be able to humble you. He has all of the power to do so and he will.
With this post, I hope that you can understand the process of being restored. The king recognized that he had a dream and that there was nobody like our God. The king then basically gave up his kingdom, and was humiliated. After that time of humiliation, the king was restored and had more wisdom than he had before.
In our busy lives, we need to recognize the things that we can change and the things that we are doing wrong, suffer the consequences and humiliation, and then grow because of it.
Daniel chapter 4 started off in super cool fashion.
King Nebuchadnezzar to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you! It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
How great are his signs,
how mighty his wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:1-3)
The king recognized the signs and wonders of the Most High God. That was the very first step.
Next, the king had a dream.
In the king's dream, he saw a tree in the middle of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and it's top reached heaven, and it was visible to the ends of the earth. The tree had beautiful leaves and its fruit was abundant, and had food for all. All of the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in the branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
That would be a pretty cool dream to have in my opinion. The king had the power to have these amazing dreams and visions, but wasn't able to interpret them, that is when Daniel comes in to play.
The king also saw this in his dream. He saw a watcher, a holy one, come down from heaven. The watcher proclaimed to him: 'Chop down the tree and lop off its beaches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from the branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band iron and bronze, amid a tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beats in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him and let seven period of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, and in the end the the living many know that the Most High rules the kingdom and men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.'
Now if I am in the situation, I am hoping and praying that I don't have to do this. The king had built up such a great kingdom and by the looks of this dream it looks like the king would have to give up everything in order to know that and to understand that the Most High God rules the kingdom and men and gives it to whom he will.
Daniel interpreted this dream and said that the dream was for those who hate you and your enemies. When Daniel interpreted the dream, he basically said everything that the dream entailed off, he told the king that he would have to do all of those things. He would have to let his kingdom go, all of it. Everything that he has built up for years was going to have to be let go so that the king could recognize that the Most High God rules the kingdom and gives it to whom he will.
Next, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" While these words were still in the king's mouth a voice came down from heaven, "O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High God rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whim he will."
When the king heard this voice from haven, the word became immediately fulfilled. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.
Talk about being humbled. The king used to be the head over all of Babylon and now he was eating grass like the ox, and his body was wet with dew. His hair had how been as long as eagles' feathers and his nails were like birds claws. I imagine it being humiliating enough to loose your power, but the king basically had to look like a bum to be honest, he was probably used to the best clothes, best treatment and best care. Now he didn't have any of that.
Now if you remember what I talked about at the beginning of this post, 2/3 things have happened. There was one more thing left and that was the king being restored.
At the end of the days, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven and his reason was retuned to him. Nebuchadnezzar praised and honored him who lives forever and said this,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, "What have you done?"
When the king had said this, his reason returned to him, along with his kingdom, majesty, and splendor. The king was able to reestablish his kingdom and he had more greatness than ever before.
The king closed with this statement:
Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
I encourage you to think of the things in your life that you are placing ahead of God. Recognize those things and do whatever it takes to get rid of them. You might totally have to humiliate yourself but it's worth it. We will be restored because of it. Just like King Nebuchadnezzar. Because of his humiliation and the things he had to endure, he is now a better leader than ever. We will mostly likely endure hardships and because of those hardships our relationship with Christ will strengthen more and more.
I challenge you as well to let yourself be humbled. If you are prideful, the King of heaven will be able to humble you. He has all of the power to do so and he will.
Tuesday, October 9, 2018
The Fiery Furnace
The story about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is one of the most amazing stories in the entire bible. If you have never heard this story before, I hope that you enjoy it.
It all started when King Nebuchadnezzar decided to make a golden statue that was sixty cubits high and breadth six cubits. When the king had made this, he set out to get everyone to come out to dedicate the image that he had set up. He gathered the satraps, the perfects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasures, the justices, the magistrates and the officials of the province. Once everyone was there, the herald proclaimed to everyone, "You are commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image the King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace."
Basically, there was a golden image and whenever the people heard any sort of music they were to bow down and worship the statue or die in the burning fiery furnace. It's twisted.
There was a time when the Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. When this happened, they discovered that there were three Jews who were appointed over the affairs of the province in Babylon, who were not there. Those three were: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those three men were accused of not paying any attention to the king and not worshipping the golden image that had been set up.
Nebuchadnezzar was furious and commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. The King asked the three why they don't bow and worship to the image and they replied with this:
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
The king was even more furious and ordered that the fiery furnace be heated seven more time hotter than it was usually heated. After he ordered the franc to be heated more, he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Since the furnace was so hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who threw the three Jews into the fire.
The king was astonished and rose up in haste. He said: "I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." The king came near the the door of the furnace and declared, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here! The came out and the people noticed that the fire did not harm to them. The hair of their head was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. The king then recognized that God had sent an angel and delivered his servants, who trusted him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serving and worshiping a god except their own God."
The king ended with a decree: "Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way."
Such an amazing story right?!
My encouragement to you is this. Don't fall into traps and the temptations of the world. Don't give into putting other things before God. It's so stinking hard trust me! Try your very hardest. Daniel was faithful and God showed him favor, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful and God saved their lives. When we are faithful, God isn't going to just ignore your faithfulness, I promise you that.
The three Jews were so confident that God would deliver them, they never hesitated. They never showed any sort of fear. I wonder if we were put into that situation if we would have the same boldness and confidence in God.
Another thing I want to point out is how the king changed. The king went from having people who didn't worship him being thrown into a fiery furnace to having people who said anything against God being torn limb from limb and having their houses destroyed. The king saw how God had saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abedengo and recognized that there are no gods like our God, the Most High God. Let this story change how think today.
I want to leave you with that thought and question to yourself. Are you willing to stand up for your faith in God and be thrown into the fiery furnace or are you going to give in and worship and bow down to false gods and idols?
It all started when King Nebuchadnezzar decided to make a golden statue that was sixty cubits high and breadth six cubits. When the king had made this, he set out to get everyone to come out to dedicate the image that he had set up. He gathered the satraps, the perfects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasures, the justices, the magistrates and the officials of the province. Once everyone was there, the herald proclaimed to everyone, "You are commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image the King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace."
Basically, there was a golden image and whenever the people heard any sort of music they were to bow down and worship the statue or die in the burning fiery furnace. It's twisted.
There was a time when the Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. When this happened, they discovered that there were three Jews who were appointed over the affairs of the province in Babylon, who were not there. Those three were: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Those three men were accused of not paying any attention to the king and not worshipping the golden image that had been set up.
Nebuchadnezzar was furious and commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. The King asked the three why they don't bow and worship to the image and they replied with this:
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
The king was even more furious and ordered that the fiery furnace be heated seven more time hotter than it was usually heated. After he ordered the franc to be heated more, he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Since the furnace was so hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who threw the three Jews into the fire.
The king was astonished and rose up in haste. He said: "I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." The king came near the the door of the furnace and declared, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here! The came out and the people noticed that the fire did not harm to them. The hair of their head was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. The king then recognized that God had sent an angel and delivered his servants, who trusted him, and set aside the king's command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serving and worshiping a god except their own God."
The king ended with a decree: "Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way."
Such an amazing story right?!
My encouragement to you is this. Don't fall into traps and the temptations of the world. Don't give into putting other things before God. It's so stinking hard trust me! Try your very hardest. Daniel was faithful and God showed him favor, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faithful and God saved their lives. When we are faithful, God isn't going to just ignore your faithfulness, I promise you that.
The three Jews were so confident that God would deliver them, they never hesitated. They never showed any sort of fear. I wonder if we were put into that situation if we would have the same boldness and confidence in God.
Another thing I want to point out is how the king changed. The king went from having people who didn't worship him being thrown into a fiery furnace to having people who said anything against God being torn limb from limb and having their houses destroyed. The king saw how God had saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abedengo and recognized that there are no gods like our God, the Most High God. Let this story change how think today.
I want to leave you with that thought and question to yourself. Are you willing to stand up for your faith in God and be thrown into the fiery furnace or are you going to give in and worship and bow down to false gods and idols?
Monday, October 8, 2018
Hear What You Want To Hear
If you are a Bethel student, you know about the leaf blowers every morning? If you do go to Bethel and don't know what I am talking about, you get the point of this post. If you do not go to Bethel let me explain.
For some reason, it seems like every morning maintenance is out roaming around campus with their leaf blowers. There could be no leafs on the ground and they're still out there blowing away. Heck, there could probably be a little snow and they will still be out there. I am not poking fun at them either, they are working hard and doing a great job at what they do.
Walking to class this morning, the blowers seemed to be extra loud. I don't really know why but I knew I noticed it for a reason and that reason is what I am writing about. "You hear what you want to hear," I noticed those leaf blowers this morning and that is where my focus was.
A couple of things came to mind when I was trying to think of why they seemed so loud. One of the things that came to mind was God's voice. We won't hear God's voice all the time but I believe when we want to we can! Even if we don't want to hear God's voice, we sometimes still hear it. Just like the leaf blowers this morning, I felt like they were shouting at me trying to get my attention and they did. I feel like sometimes we put God's voice in the back of the closet where we don't want to hear it and don't notice it. Does that make sense?
It's interesting how what we chose to hear affects us in different ways. It goes back to our perspectives and how we perceive things.
An example I can think of is basketball games. When we play our games, there are usually a lot of things that are going on at once. Fans cheering, parents yelling and screaming, hundreds of people sitting it the stands watching the game and having conversations, a lot goes on. I hear my coaches yelling and shouting along with my teammates, I hear the opposing coaches yelling and shouting. There are a lot of a lot of voices every night. Out of all the people talking, somehow my coaches' voice is the only one that I hear and I make it that way because that is the only voice I need to hear in a game, along with my teammates of course.
Again, same thing with God's voice. If you want to hear what God has to say to you, listen and choose to hear it.
I continued on to Daniel chapter 2 this morning and what I want to share from this relates to the whole idea of leaf blowers and God's voice...it'a amazing how the Holy Spirit works like that sometimes.
In Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He had a lot of dreams. His spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. The king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. These people were brought to the king and the king told them that if they did not interpret his dreams that they would be torn limb from limb, but if they did interpret the dream they would be given a great reward. The magicians, enchanters and Chaldeans could not interpret the dream, and the king was starting to get angry. He felt like they were lying and trying to kill time. The Chaldeans told the king that there is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
The word got out that these men needed to be killed and David and his men were the ones who were going to do that. Daniel asked why the decree seemed to be so urgent and Arioch explained to him the matter. Daniel then went to the king and asked to be appointed to interpret the dream at that time.
Now, when I think about this I get a little confused to what the king was thinking. The king new that Daniel had wisdom and understanding that was greater than the magicians and the enchanters. Yet he asked for the magicians and the enchanters first. I believe that we do that sometimes as well. We know what is the right answer and the right thing to do but we go about it in the wrong way. We also know who the right people are who we should talk about certain things with, yet we don't do that.
I like to think of it this way, sometimes we try to figure out the right way our way...we can't forget what we have learned...we are sneaky and we are sly. We rely too much on doing things our way and not the way we know deep down in our hearts is the right way.
Why not do it the way in which we know is right. When we go through tough times, why not ask the person we know who has the right advice? Why try to do it our way? Why?
We choose what we hear and who we listen too. Just like annoying leaf blowers every morning, God's way, God's voice, and the people God put in your life are always there. You just have to hear them out.
Hear what you want to hear...
Friday, October 5, 2018
Faithfulness, Magicians, & Enchanters
The story I want to share with you comes from Daniel chapter 1 and it's a story about Daniel's faithfulness. Daniel was put in a situation where each person he was with had to follow specific orders and he remained faithful. I guarantee you can think of a time when you were with a group of people and you had the choice to either do what they were doing or remain faithful and obedient to what God would want you to do. Being faithful and obedient isn't always the most attractive thing either. Attractive in God's eyes yes, but in the eyes of others, no.
The main point of this post is that Daniel was faithful and God showed him favor because of it.
In the beginning of Daniel 1, the King commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed in knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literate and language. The king assigned these people a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were educated for thee years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
Before all of that, Daniel made a decision that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. He decided that it would be best if he asked the chief to allow him not to defile himself. Because of this decision, God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. The chief said this to Daniel: "I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king." In response, Daniel had this to say: "Tests your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see." The chief listened to Daniel and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. The steward then took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
As for the four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, the king commanded that they should be brought in and when they were brought in the king spoke with them. The king spoke to them and observed them. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
This entire story was a result of faithfulness. Daniel's faithfulness and God's. Daniel stuck to his guns and was going to be different and be faithful to God. He was rewarded and so were the other three. Because of their faithfulness, their wisdom and understanding was tens times better than everyone else who had wisdom and understanding like the magicians and enchanters.
There is so much power in faithfulness. I hope you are motivated by this story and by Daniel's faithfulness. It's okay to be different, it's okay to not do what everyone else is doing, it's okay to be a little weird, it's cool to keep God the number one priority in your life. With the comes obedience and trust in God. Trust His plan for you. The path He wants you to take might not always be the sexy, attractive and easy path. The path He will have you on is difficult, narrow and not attractive sometimes and that is okay!
Be faithful!
The main point of this post is that Daniel was faithful and God showed him favor because of it.
In the beginning of Daniel 1, the King commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed in knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literate and language. The king assigned these people a daily portion of the food that the king ate and of the wine that he drank. They were educated for thee years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king.
Before all of that, Daniel made a decision that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. He decided that it would be best if he asked the chief to allow him not to defile himself. Because of this decision, God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs. The chief said this to Daniel: "I fear my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink; for why should he see that you were in worse condition than the youths who are of your own age? So you would endanger my head with the king." In response, Daniel had this to say: "Tests your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see." The chief listened to Daniel and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's food. The steward then took away their food and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.
As for the four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. At the end of the time, the king commanded that they should be brought in and when they were brought in the king spoke with them. The king spoke to them and observed them. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
This entire story was a result of faithfulness. Daniel's faithfulness and God's. Daniel stuck to his guns and was going to be different and be faithful to God. He was rewarded and so were the other three. Because of their faithfulness, their wisdom and understanding was tens times better than everyone else who had wisdom and understanding like the magicians and enchanters.
There is so much power in faithfulness. I hope you are motivated by this story and by Daniel's faithfulness. It's okay to be different, it's okay to not do what everyone else is doing, it's okay to be a little weird, it's cool to keep God the number one priority in your life. With the comes obedience and trust in God. Trust His plan for you. The path He wants you to take might not always be the sexy, attractive and easy path. The path He will have you on is difficult, narrow and not attractive sometimes and that is okay!
Be faithful!
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Name Change: Deliberate Enrichment
For quite some time, I have been wanting to change the name of my blog. I had kept the original name for just over a year. Up until I had changed it, I had been trying to come up with names in my head for a couple of weeks. I was really struggling with it as well. Coming up with a new name is a difficult task.
'31 Reasons,' to me ended up being kind of silly name to me. The name made sense but it sounded so much like the '13 Reasons Why' TV series on Netflix.
When trying to come up with a new name, I wanted the name to not have anything to do with myself. This blog isn't about me, it's about the encouragement of other people.
The new name I came up with is 'Deliberate Enrichment.' How did I come up with those two words? I looked up as many synonyms to the words 'consistent and encouragement' as I possibly could. I wanted a title that sounded intense and caught the eye.
What does each word mean?
Deliberate: done consciously and intentionally
Enrichment: the action of improving or enhancing the quality or value of something
I believe with all of my heart that God wants me to deliberately put in the time and effort to write a blog as consistently as I can. Whether that's 7 days a week or 5 days a week, I know that it is what God wants me to do. I get an unexplainable amount of fulfillment from each post that I write because I get to have alone time with God doing what I feel He wants me to do. I hope and pray that what I write can enrich somebody's life. Not by what I say, but of what the Holy Spirit gives me to say. I hope that the words given to me and the stories I can share can give value to areas in other peoples lives. Not for my glory but for God's glory.
All of that being said, 'Deliberate Enrichment,' seems like the best possible name for my blog and I hope that after I shared this, you now understand what the title means. I believe the title makes perfect sense to the content that is in each blog.
As I was writing this post, I was sitting here thinking about each post I write and sometimes I look back and wonder if I really wrote it...Deliberate Enrichment.
I want to close with this verse:
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)
'31 Reasons,' to me ended up being kind of silly name to me. The name made sense but it sounded so much like the '13 Reasons Why' TV series on Netflix.
When trying to come up with a new name, I wanted the name to not have anything to do with myself. This blog isn't about me, it's about the encouragement of other people.
The new name I came up with is 'Deliberate Enrichment.' How did I come up with those two words? I looked up as many synonyms to the words 'consistent and encouragement' as I possibly could. I wanted a title that sounded intense and caught the eye.
What does each word mean?
Deliberate: done consciously and intentionally
Enrichment: the action of improving or enhancing the quality or value of something
I believe with all of my heart that God wants me to deliberately put in the time and effort to write a blog as consistently as I can. Whether that's 7 days a week or 5 days a week, I know that it is what God wants me to do. I get an unexplainable amount of fulfillment from each post that I write because I get to have alone time with God doing what I feel He wants me to do. I hope and pray that what I write can enrich somebody's life. Not by what I say, but of what the Holy Spirit gives me to say. I hope that the words given to me and the stories I can share can give value to areas in other peoples lives. Not for my glory but for God's glory.
All of that being said, 'Deliberate Enrichment,' seems like the best possible name for my blog and I hope that after I shared this, you now understand what the title means. I believe the title makes perfect sense to the content that is in each blog.
As I was writing this post, I was sitting here thinking about each post I write and sometimes I look back and wonder if I really wrote it...Deliberate Enrichment.
I want to close with this verse:
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Monday, October 1, 2018
You Can't Drink Milk Your Whole Life
Every year I have ever played basketball, we begin each season with the basics. Even in college, you have to start somewhere, and we start with simple skills and drills. We don't walk into the first practice and expect to be playing 5 on 5 full court. That would be terrible. We would pick up awful habits right away. It takes a week or so to get to that point. We have to put in hours of the basics before getting to the real deal. Without the basics our team would never be a finished product. There always has to be a strong foundation. Stronger the foundation wider the pyramid right?
Another example of this would be the first week of classes every year. The first classes are always so boring and you're like why the heck do I have to go. You go to class the first week so you understand how the professor teaches the course and so you can learn how the class will work. Have you ever had that professor who likes to give a quiz over the syllabus? So dumb right? Not really. This happens all the time, a professor gives a quiz over the syllabus and someone fails the quiz because they were either not there or they didn't pay attention.
One last example. Think of relationships. When you start getting the feels for someone you will do absolutely whatever it takes for them to know that you dig them! You're extra in everything you do because you don't want to lose that person. You want to impress that person in the best way that you can. Fellas, you better always be doing that to your lady. We all know we don't deserve the women we have in our lives. As relationships progress, it's easy to forget the basics. It's easy to get comfortable. You think you have her in the bag and then crap, she's not digging you anymore because you forgot the basics. We so easily stop doing the things we should be doing because we get comfortable.
Friends, we are dull of hearing. What we have learned in our faith walk is so quickly forgotten. We learn a lot of the basics at a young age and as we grow older, we become more distracted and we forget the most basic things! It happens to us all. I'll come across something in the bible and be like...I seriously forgot about this story! How? When we learn the best by learning the basics. I believe that sometimes we get so comfortable that we just say screw the basics. When you stray away from the basics you forgot so many things that you have learned your whole life. You don't have that strong foundation you need to be a good basketball team. You fail your quiz and have no idea how the professor teaches the class. You get comfortable in a relationship and it could fall apart. You forget the basics and you have no where to go.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)
...since we have become dull of hearing we need someone to teach us the basic principles of the oracles of God. We were supposed to be teachers by now. All of us. Can you imagine that? We should have the basics down so well that we could teach it to everyone. Remember we aren't perfect. We were not made to have all of the answers right now. That is why God is God. We are meant to grow, grow, grow, and grow some more. We are seeds, not fully flowered trees. That is how God wanted it so that we recognize that we NEED Him.
We need milk because we really don't know what we are talking about. Milk is for those who are unskilled in the word of righteousness. Milk is for children and that is where a lot of us are. We need that milk to make our bones nice and strong. We need the basics to make our relationship with Christ strong. We cannot get to the top and know everything without starting at the very beginning. That isn't how life works. Eventually, we get to the solid food. Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. I would hope that we all have a goal of solid food. Milk isn't bad, but you can't drink only milk your whole life. We will always need to know the basics and put a huge emphasis on them. We can't just be focused on that. We need solid food, we need growth, we need to be able to distinguish good from evil on a consistent basis.
We are dull of hearing. Bottom line. We forget what is simple because we think we know it all. When life hits us in the mouth, we feel like we failed. That's Satan making you feel like you don't know enough. Satan hates the basics. When we can get the basics down, things in our lives will begin to make much more sense. Everything will become more clear one step at a time.
I hope you were encouraged by this post. If I came across as harsh I am sorry, I wrote this with a little bit of fire because I am a firm believer that we as Christians have forgotten the basics and the simplicity of it all. My hope is that you were reminded of how important the basics are.
Another example of this would be the first week of classes every year. The first classes are always so boring and you're like why the heck do I have to go. You go to class the first week so you understand how the professor teaches the course and so you can learn how the class will work. Have you ever had that professor who likes to give a quiz over the syllabus? So dumb right? Not really. This happens all the time, a professor gives a quiz over the syllabus and someone fails the quiz because they were either not there or they didn't pay attention.
One last example. Think of relationships. When you start getting the feels for someone you will do absolutely whatever it takes for them to know that you dig them! You're extra in everything you do because you don't want to lose that person. You want to impress that person in the best way that you can. Fellas, you better always be doing that to your lady. We all know we don't deserve the women we have in our lives. As relationships progress, it's easy to forget the basics. It's easy to get comfortable. You think you have her in the bag and then crap, she's not digging you anymore because you forgot the basics. We so easily stop doing the things we should be doing because we get comfortable.
Friends, we are dull of hearing. What we have learned in our faith walk is so quickly forgotten. We learn a lot of the basics at a young age and as we grow older, we become more distracted and we forget the most basic things! It happens to us all. I'll come across something in the bible and be like...I seriously forgot about this story! How? When we learn the best by learning the basics. I believe that sometimes we get so comfortable that we just say screw the basics. When you stray away from the basics you forgot so many things that you have learned your whole life. You don't have that strong foundation you need to be a good basketball team. You fail your quiz and have no idea how the professor teaches the class. You get comfortable in a relationship and it could fall apart. You forget the basics and you have no where to go.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)
...since we have become dull of hearing we need someone to teach us the basic principles of the oracles of God. We were supposed to be teachers by now. All of us. Can you imagine that? We should have the basics down so well that we could teach it to everyone. Remember we aren't perfect. We were not made to have all of the answers right now. That is why God is God. We are meant to grow, grow, grow, and grow some more. We are seeds, not fully flowered trees. That is how God wanted it so that we recognize that we NEED Him.
We need milk because we really don't know what we are talking about. Milk is for those who are unskilled in the word of righteousness. Milk is for children and that is where a lot of us are. We need that milk to make our bones nice and strong. We need the basics to make our relationship with Christ strong. We cannot get to the top and know everything without starting at the very beginning. That isn't how life works. Eventually, we get to the solid food. Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. I would hope that we all have a goal of solid food. Milk isn't bad, but you can't drink only milk your whole life. We will always need to know the basics and put a huge emphasis on them. We can't just be focused on that. We need solid food, we need growth, we need to be able to distinguish good from evil on a consistent basis.
We are dull of hearing. Bottom line. We forget what is simple because we think we know it all. When life hits us in the mouth, we feel like we failed. That's Satan making you feel like you don't know enough. Satan hates the basics. When we can get the basics down, things in our lives will begin to make much more sense. Everything will become more clear one step at a time.
I hope you were encouraged by this post. If I came across as harsh I am sorry, I wrote this with a little bit of fire because I am a firm believer that we as Christians have forgotten the basics and the simplicity of it all. My hope is that you were reminded of how important the basics are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)