The totality of human experience

I wouldn't understand anything about life if it wasn't for the Word of God. My fulfillment comes from the Word, my enjoyment comes from the Word, my faith comes from the Word, my happiness comes from the Word, my sorrow comes from the Word, everything I do comes from the Word.

Until I really got into the Word on a consistent basis I didn't really understand the totality of the human experience. I believed, went to church, loved Jesus but nothing really clicked for me until days after days of reading my Bible.

Totality of the human experience correlates directly to wisdom and wisdom is only found in one place - the Word of God.

I had a decent understanding of the things that were happening in my life, but never the totality of it.

I have brought this up in 100's of posts because the reason I started this blog is to encourage you to get in your Bible and to start reading it.

For years, I tried devotionals, praying more, journaling, etc. I kept bypassing the word because that seemed to be the most difficult thing to get into. For me, it was. I was bored with it sometimes and it often didn't make sense to me.

But then I came to understand that we aren't meant to know the answer to every question that we have. If we knew everything about God, what would the point of everything be? God would only be god if we knew the answers to everything. Another way to think of it is uncertainty. If we were certain of everything that was going to happen we wouldn't need to have faith and faith is the basic of everything related to a relationship with Christ Jesus.

So I got into the word and I stuck to it, and understand so much more about life. That is my challenge and encouragement to you.

We often search all over the place for wisdom. We listen to well known speakers and podcasts. We read books and watch movies. We search everywhere for it because we want to know things. We desire to be knowledgable.

I wanted to feel fulfilled and that came from the wisdom that you find in the Word...I didn't know that until I really got into it. I searched everywhere for it. It was like a life long search. It took my 20 years to get it figured out. That is a long time and makes me sound old when I say something like that.

"No mortal comprehends its worth,
it cannot be found in the land of the living." (Job 28:13) 

Here-Job is talking about wisdom. No wonder I couldn't find it anywhere on earth.

Job stated that wisdom cannot be found among the living. It is natural for people who don't understand the importance of God's word to seek wisdom here on earth. There isn't one leader or group who can produce enough knowledge or insight to explain the totality of human experience.

The ultimate interpretation of life, of who we are and where we are going, must come from outside and above our mortal life. When looking for guidance and understanding, please seek God's wisdom as revealed in the Bible.

To be lifted above and beyond the boundaries of life, we must know and trust the Lord of life.

Never inadequate

In life it's easy to fall into the comparison trap. We are presented with many situations where we compare ourselves to others. Playing the comparison game can get you worn out. Why? It's completely unnecessary.

I could write all day about comparing ourselves in regards to every aspect of life, but this morning I want to focus on how we look at others who seem like they know way more about God than we do.

Up until about a year ago, I was always able to identify some people I knew I wanted to be like and knew they were so far ahead spiritually than I was. When I was listening to how these people would talk about Jesus, or how they would pray, I never thought that I would be able to compare to them.

I put those people up on a pedestal. This allowed me to feel inadequate.

Don't get me wrong, there are still many people that I look up too, I just don't feel inadequate anymore anymore because I appreciate what they are doing rather than comparing myself to them.

We aren't given the same spiritual gifts so of course we are all a little different from each other. There are billions of people on this earth and billions who have came before us and there is not one person who was ever you.

I remember sitting in presentations during school and there were people who would have the most wonderful presentations...but the information wasn't very good. They would get up and I would think that there was no way I was capable of speaking like they did. When I got up after them, I know I wasn't the best, but the information that I had was accurate. (for the most part)

The grades we got usually reflected that as well. I remember giving a Spanish presentation this past semester and I didn't present as well as my classmates but got a better grade because of the content that I had.

Content is far more important than the presentation. A simple, clear presentation that helps listeners understand will be of great value. God's Word stands on its own merit and is not dependent on imperfect human beings to create its own hearing.

I really want to touch on God's Word creating its own hearing for you. Every night when Rachel and I have our Jesus time and talk about what we read, we often have the same verses highlighted and it means something totally different to us.

We all have such a wonderful and uniquely mind created by God and I am thankful for the Holy Spirit so that our own hearing can be created.

We should never feel inadequate. Don't apologize for any inadequacies that you might have because sometimes it's easy to feel sorry for the things that we cannot do.

Accept your limitations with the same humility that you accept the strengths that God has given you.

You are never inadequate.

A quiet amounting

I want you to identify what things you are doing in your life that are honoring to God but it seems like nobody else notices....Satan deceives us into thinking that everything we do we need to be recognized for. 

For me, one of the things I used to really care about was how many tweets and retweets I would get when I would tweet something about God. I believed what I was saying, but did it more for the recognition. 

One of the other things that would make sense is doing things for other people with the intent of others noticing. Think about a charity or a community service event and only going so that you can post a picture to show that you were there. How many people do you think do this? 

Right now, I write. I write almost everyday with good intentions in my heart and my mind. I sit back and evaluate how I am living my life sometimes and question if I could get up and say these things in front of people. Or even sit across from someone and tell then what I am writing about. 

Paul was somebody who struggled with this as well. 

For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, bit in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. (2 Corinthians 10:10-11)

The things that we do and the way that we live our life while we are absent from heaven will matter when the time comes when we will be present in heaven. We must commit our lives to God on a daily basis so that when that present time comes we will be in heaven. 

Does that make sense to you? 

Paul was obedient to the way in which God called him to live. 

Some said that his speaking amounted to nothing. We might feel like what we do isn't amounting to anything because we are slaves to recognition. 

Evidently, some were judging Paul by comparing him to other speakers they had heard, and Paul was perhaps not the most powerful preacher. No matter what people were saying about him, he responded obediently to God's call. 

My encouragement to you is that being obedient to God is what matters. Keep doing those things that are honoring to God even though others don't notice. Who cares what people think, the people of this world thought Paul wasn't a good speaker, but in God's eyes and our minds from what we know about him we see and know that he was one of the very best preachers ever. 

You will never amount to something in a quick, popular, and flashy way. You will amount to who God created you to be by having an honorable commitment to God daily. 

give, give, give

I am going to be honest with you, I am not good a tithing and giving money in church. I don't think I have ever given money. Setting aside some of my income someday for church is something that I really look forward to doing once I have a steady income.

I haven't really had a steady income yet, I am excited to get started with this.

Although I haven't been able to give something that has a monetary value, I have been able to give my time and energy.

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. (2 Corinthians 8:9) 

That verse really hits home for me. God would never want us to give the things that we don't have. Why would we ever be required to give things that we don't have?

One of the things my basketball coaches told me was that when you show up for practice today and you don't have 100% to give, we should give 100% of whatever percentage we are lacking. So if I was at about 70% I had to give 100% of my 70%.

I am sure that there are a lot of you out there who might relate to this. People my age don't have that much money right now, so we don't necessarily have to give that. There is always more to give.

Sacrificial giving must be responsible. We are called to give generously, but not to the extent where we have to rely on others to provide us with our basic needs. Are basic needs have to be met before we start giving more and more.

My challenge to you is to give your time. Give God your time on a Sunday and go to church. Give God your time every day of the week when you read your bible. Give God your time when you sit and pray. Give what you have and we all have time.

Twofold purification

Every single day when I wake up and get out of bed I am thankful that God allowed me to wake up and have another day. I love living this life and when I get out of bed, I am so happy because life is good! On the other hand, when I wake up everyday I am immediately faced with things of this world. 

What is the first thing you do when you wake up everyday and what is the last thing you do before bed? Think about this...whatever is consuming your mind when you start your day will affect your mindset the rest of the day. On the other hand, whatever consumes your mind before you fall asleep might allow you to forget all all the things that God did for you that day. 

One of the things I have been really intentional about is what I do when I wake up and when I go to sleep. I was beginning to discover that I was consumed by worldly things and that was affecting my entire day.

I had gotten in a habit of waking up and scrolling through social media every morning. As soon as I opened up Instagram my mind was already on other things. Those things my mind was now consumed with are things that I don't need to be thinking about in the morning. 

I believe mornings are a time to wake up and be productive and really get your mind right for the day that lies ahead. 

My morning routine looks a little bit like this: 

6:10 - wakeup, take vitamins, brush my teeth and get in the shower by 6:30

6:50 - leave for Panera and FaceTime Rachel. Every morning on my way to work we FaceTime and pray about our day and for each other 

7:10 - I read a devotional the Rachel and I are going through and I get in the word myself and prepare for the blog post I will write later in the day

7:40 - be at my desk, and begin the work day

It's not too crazy, but when I wake up I focus on getting my mind right for the day and in order for that to happen I spend time in the word and in prayer.

I encourage you to try it out sometime. Social media is a hard habit to break in the morning, but once you do, you will feel so much more free and ready for your day. 

To be completely honest, what you do before you go to bed is just as, if not more important. I also used to lay in bed and scroll through social media every night before I went to bed. I would want to be asleep by 10:30 and after an hour of scrolling through social media it was already 11:30. 

I have also really tried to be intentional with what I am doing before I go to sleep. Rather than scrolling through social media, Rachel and I talk about what we read in our bibles that day and pray before we go to bed. 

Having the nightly routine I have, now allows me to feel confident about the day that I had when I lay my head on my pillow to go to sleep. Spending time in the word and talking about it before I go to sleep is just so powerful. 

Going to sleep with my mind fixed on Jesus and waking up with my mind fixed on Jesus has really been powerful and changed my daily perspective and my life. 

The key to all of this is just being disciplined. Do the little things on a daily basis and watch your life change. When I don't start my day with having Jesus time I feel like I can't function that day. It's like my entire day is thrown off. I can't go to sleep without talking about what I read in my bible that day and praying with Rachel. 

It's powerful what can happen when you are committed and disciplined. 

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Purifying myself from things that contaminate my relationship with Christ means spending less time on social media. This could mean something totally different from you. There are just so many things on social media that I don't need to see. There are pictures on IG that aren't good for my mind, there are Tweets with content that make me cringe, etc. Good things can come about from social media but seeing a picture that some girl took at the beach just isn't good for my mind. I don't need any sort of thoughts or images like that it my mind. 

In my intentionally I have come to learn that when you rid yourself of anything that might contaminate your mind, it is amazing how much more free you feel in mind, body, and spirit. 

Purifying ourselves is a twofold action: turning away from sin, and turning toward God. When Paul wrote this he wasn't trying to make the Corinthians become sinless in this life. He was prodding them to work at maturing their faith. God provided them with everything and the resources that they needed, and Christ's Spirit would empower them to become Christlike. 

My challenge to you is to turn away from sin and turn towards God and that might look different for everyone. For me, it's turning away from social media and using that time I would spend on there to turn to God. 

Everyday when we wake up we are contaminated by the things of this world...what are you going to choose to do about it? 

Get Yoked!

If I could tell the younger version of me one thing when it comes to relationships, it would be to understand 2 Corinthians 6:14.

I had heard my parents talk about the significance of being equally yoked along with mentors and family friends. I would act like I knew what they were talking about but I never fully understood. Honestly, I thought it seemed to be impossible. How would I ever find someone who is equally yoked with me? 

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with the darkness? (2 Corinthians 14:6)

I ran into many situations like this. I dealt with a lot of this same issue. 

I finally understood what this meant when I became right with God. This happened about a year ago. I knew that I needed to be right with God before anyone else. 

I made a commitment to God that the next person I was going to date was going to equally yoked with me. When I made that commitment it became very clear to me that whoever this person was going to be was going to be the one that I marry. 

A couple of months after I made that commitment, God brought me Rachel...and guess what! We are equally yoked. There has been no greater blessing in my life than being equally yoked with someone. When you are equally yoked everything becomes so much easier and God can be glorified in all aspects of your relationship. 

This can be a difficult decision for some to make. Why? It's difficult because you aren't right with God. It's difficult when some of you still wants the things that this world has to offer. You will want that instant glorification. You want pleasure you can experience for only a brief moment.

You know what God does? Loves you. Cares for you. Blesses you. Created you. Lifts you up. Gives you purpose. Provides for you. Fills your needs. 

All of those things that we want deep down in our hearts, God gives us. 

I challenge you to get right with God. Once you get right with God, commit yourself to praying for someone who is equally yoked with you. 

The things that God does leaves me speechless. I promise you this will be worth it. It will be worth it both right now, and in eternity. 

the god of this age

I want to start by asking you this question. Who or what do you think the god of this age is?

My answer to that question is this: The god of this age is what people look to the most when it comes to decisions they make and where people spend the most of their time. I believe that what people put before god is their god. 

God is what should come first always. "gods," are things that we idolize. 

The god if this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

All in all the gospel is open and revealed to everyone, except to those who refuse to believe. Satan is "the god of this age." His work is to deceive, and he has blinded those who don't believe in Christ. 

Money, power, and pleasure blinds people to the light of Christ's gospel. Those who reject Christ and prefer their own pursuits have unknowingly made Satan their god. 

Is that you? Do you prefer your own pursuits over the plan that God has for you? 

If so, I pray for you. When you get your life alined with what God wants for you there is power that is everlasting. 

God's Competency

Competence is defined as being able to do something successfully or efficiently.

Every time I asked what employers look for in their future employees they always tell me character and competence. They want people to be able do the things that they are assigned to do in a successful and efficient manner.

Our competence comes from Christ. Without the gifts that God gives us we would never be able to reach our God given potential.

We can do certain things on our own, but will never be able to reach our full potential. A scary thing is that I believe that we rarely reach our full God-given potential. We are able to do things well and because of that we often think that we don't need God's gifts, we can just do it on our own.

"Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
(2 Corinthians 3:4-6)  

When Paul said this, he wasn't boasting. Paul gave God credit for all his accomplishments. Most of the time, people who are in power give credit to their own successes and power. Not Paul, he expressed his humility before God.

No one can ever claim to be successful without God's help. No one is competent to carry out the responsibilities of God's calling in his or her own strength.

Without the Holy Spirit enabling, our natural talent can carry us only so far. As Christ's witnesses, we need the character and special strength that only God gives.

Two things, we need God's strength to help us achieve everything we have to in order to reach our God given-potential & we must show humility. We need God's competency and the special skills/traits that he gives us.

My lament

"A little more than two months ago I decided to accept a job with Northwestern Mutual. There was a hurdle that I had to get over and that was passing my life and health insurance exam. Two months ago I started studying for this thing.

Everything was brand new to me, the terms, the ideas, every part about it was new. 

After three weeks of studying - I failed 

Another week of studying - I failed 

Another week of studying - I failed

Another month and a couple days of studying - I failed

0/4

I hate that. I have always been an A - B range student. I was never a perfectionist when it came to my grades. If I got an 80% I was happy with my grade. Sometimes, if the class was hard I would be happy with a 79%. 

0/4?! That is horrible. I have never been a part of a team with a record that was 0/4. In all my years of playing basketball, which is basically my whole life, there was only one time when I was a part of a team that lost four consecutive games. If you ask anyone, that is pretty remarkable. You know what sucked though? That loosing streak. It was horrible. We went two weeks without winning a basketball game and that began to put everyone on edge. 

For this ridiculously annoying test I only need a 70%. You would think that would be an easily achievable goal. SIKE! 

I don't know why I can't get this thing passed. I have put in all the time that I have in order to position myself for success. The past two weeks of studying I was getting 80% or above on every practice quiz I was taking. 

Even last night, when I sat in Martin's until 10:45 studying I got a 79% on my pratice final exam. This practice exam was just like the exam I took today. It was 160 questions and I had a little over two hours to complete it. 

I went to sleep so confident last night. I woke up feeling more confident for this test than any test I have taken before. Heck-two months of studying-I knew that I was going to ace it. 

Maybe it's a mental block? Maybe I can't actually remember everything I am studying. Am I even learning anything? 

I even watched a 10 minutes youtube video in my car before I went inside about relieving test anxiety. If anyone was watching me, I probably looked like a freak in my car because there were all of these weird tapping things I had to do. 

Even after that video - I felt a sense of relief. 

Walking into the door of Ivy Tech I had 0 doubt that I was going to fail my test. After this much preparation for something, how could anyone ever fail? 

Throughout the entire test, I couldn't stop thinking about looking at my paper and seeing the beautiful four letter word on the top of my results..."pass."

I finished my test, walked to the room, they slid me my results, I turned it over....FAIL. (66%)

You have got to be kidding me. Seriously? Am I really that dumb? Is this career for me? What else can I do? Will I ever pass this thing? Will work let me take it another time? 

Those questions were flooding my brain as I sat in my car with tears running down my cheeks. I was questioning everything. 

I took my about me about three hours and me going for a run in this weather to get ahold of myself. It took me all of that time to build of the courage to text some of my co-workers to tell them that I had failed. 

When I told them, I was blown away by their reassurance and confidence in me."

A lament is a tool that God's people use to navigate through pain and suffering. It's totally okay to lament and cry out to God when we need to. It's okay to not have it all together.

As I sat and read my bible before I wrote this post, I wasn't really encouraged by anything. I was still  down about this testing journey that I have been on. A never ending journey is what it seems like...

It's better to say how you feel and lament than to pretend and be superficial as if everything is okay. That could've been the easier route but where would the truth be in that? Why would I try to hide the way that I am feeling just to sound like I have it all together?

If we never navigated our way through pain and sorrow everybody would be fake. We are all going through something and it is better to be real, open, and honest than to hide things from people.

There is power in a lament. It's crying out to God and saying that "I cannot do this without you. I cannot live this life for anyone but you."

We desperately need GOD!

Lament. 

Don't ever be afraid to admit that you are going through something that you can't handle on your own. 

We can't do anything on our own anyways...with God all things are possible. 

Lamenting also leaves you feeling better. I feel such a sense of relief now that I got all of that off my chest and really gave it all to God. Yeah, I am still disappointed but life moves on! I will take the test again and have another opportunity to continue to grow and learn.

That is my lament to God and me telling you that my life is not even close to perfect. But I know that God is at the forefront and that is why everything will be okay. 

Where are the wise?

Who is wise among you? When you need advice about something who are you asking?

Normally, we do what is the easiest. We ask our closest friends and sometimes whoever is with us at the moment and time that we do need wisdom.

Most of the time, what is easiest isn't the most effective and it's the same way with wisdom. Our friends may be able to fill us with advice that makes us feel important and builds us up but God gives wisdom that will leave us feeling valuable and worth it.

The feeling of importance is a good one to have, but value is what you should want.

It's important for us to get rest, but valuable for our health.

 Or think of it like an engagement ring. The box it comes in is important. You need that box to protect it so you don't loose it. Now think about the ring itself. The ring is valuable. That is where you find value.

We can feel important from what people say on the outside but only God has the power to fill you with value on the inside.

One of the things that makes it difficult is this...say you have a friend who received some words of wisdom from God and then shared that with you. I know that I feel like God gives me wise things to say/write all of the time.

I believe that when you seek wisdom, you'll be better at distinguishing where it comes from. When I am seeking wisdom from God and seek advice from friends or some of my closest friends give me advice I will be better at distinguishing the advice they are giving me.

Most of the time you can tell if the advice you are given is wordy or Godly. Sometimes it's obvious and that is the best. For example, when I need some advice from Rachel and ask her, I know that what she is saying to me is Godly because of where her heart is at.

"But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you."  (Job 17:10)

Job's three friends had a reputation for being wise, but Job couldn't find wisdom in any of them. The three men assumed that they were wise because they were prosperous and successful. Job told his friends that they were wrong because they thought that their wisdom came from prosperity.

The truly wise man knows that wisdom comes from God alone, not from human successes or failures.

When we are wise, we know whether or not we are receiving earthly wisdom or Godly. Seek God first, and that will lead to you becoming more wise everyday.

That is where it starts. Seek God and you will find the wise and maybe even become the wise, but never more wise than God.

Awaiting the next visit

Jesus walked this earth once and he will walk it again. How we act and live our lives in-between that time is everything.

The best example I could think of is this-

Think about when your parents come visit you in college. All colleges are different, but have a common theme. We live differently at college than we do at home. When your parents come visit everybody has to be on their best behavior. You, your roommates, friends, etc.

As soon as your parents leave it is back to normal. It's like a weight is lifted off your chest. Sometimes that will consist of give dapping up your friends once they leave because you made it through without any slip-ups.

What if we were to act like we did around our parents in-between visits. There would never be a sense of guilt because you wouldn't have to change the way in which you were living for a day or two.

I am not saying everybody is like this, but by making this point I hope it catches your attention.

Our behavior in-between visits matters. We can't accept Jesus into our hearts and while we wait for him to come back we can't just do whatever we want. We need to live a life where we are loving others, speaking heavenly language, and building up the kingdom of heaven.

"Be on guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love."
(1 Corinthians 16:13-14)

These were the instructions that Paul left for the Corinthians as they awaited his next visit.

1. be on their guard - they were to be constantly watchful or alert for spiritual enemies

2. stand firm - in what they believed - that is, the gospel that they had been taught in the beginning, the gospel that had brought them salvation

3. be courageous - so that they could stand against false teachers, deal with sin, and straighten out their problems

4. be strong - with the strength given by the Holy Spirit

5. do everything in love - because they were love, they would be no more than prideful noisemakers

We have a mission while we are here on earth. You are special. You have a purpose. Remember that.

Why gamble?

I believe that the way we view things is flip flopped...

Why do things that have temporary importance matter so much more than what is going to last forever?

We always want the newest and greatest things. A new iPhone releases, we buy it, it lasts for a couple years and then we have to buy a new one. You go to the store and buy a new outfit. You wear it a couple times and it goes out of style within a couple of months, then you buy a new one.

It's a never ending cycle. We desperately want things that last only a short amount of time.

If death ended it all, enjoying the moment would matter.

And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death everyday - yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

"Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we will die."

Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Come back to you senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God - I say this to your shame. 
(1 Corinthians 15:30-34)

As Christians we need to remember that life continues beyond the grave. When we believe that Christ died for ours, we will spend eternity in heaven. Eternity is forever. Life on earth is only a preparation for our life that will never end.

I want you to really think about that. Our lives are like a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. Our time on earth matters, it is our time we are given to come to know Jesus and the story of the resurrection. We have such a short amount of time to make a decision that will have an eternal impact.

What we do today matters for eternity. In light of eternity, sin is a foolish gamble. Making decisions just to fit in with people is foolish. Why worry so much about something that doesn't last forever? Sure it might suck in the moment-but we do now echoes in eternity.

I fully believe that sometimes we hesitate to do good and make obedient decisions because we don't see any results.

Me deciding not to do something with my friends that I shouldn't do won't result in a trophy. But maintaining a heavenly perspective is something that will last forever. When we have a heavenly perspective we will understand that we often will not see the good that result from our efforts.

If you and I truly believe that Christ has won the ultimate victory, that fact must affect the way that we live right now. Don't let discouragement over an apparent lack of results keep you from working.

Do the good that you have the opportunity to do. Those results are the results that will last eternity. Eternity is far more valuable than any reward that we could ever receive during our short duration on earth

'Shibboleth' not 'Sibboleth'

When pilots of airplanes plug in the coordinates for their destinations if they mess up by one degree they will end up in the wrong place. There is no room for error.

I was intrigued to write this post after attending church in Nashville yesterday with Rachel. The sermon was absolute fire. It was fiery, intense, and uplifting from the very start.

The main point of the sermon is that we need to speak heavenly language. We can't conform to this world and speak in a way that would be pleasing the world. We can't proclaim Jesus with our lips 6 days a week and on the 7th say whatever we want. We can't speak in a different way according to what friends we are hanging out with.

Simply put - we cannot conform to this world to sound cool or to fit in. Once we start to compromise the things that we say it's a slippery slope. As followers of Christ Jesus we often get a bad rep because we can be hypocrites.

On Monday we are often still on fire from church on Sunday and we are speaking heavenly language, but as soon as that wears off we are back to saying things to fit in and because we are comfortable talking like the world does. Unfortunately for most, it's a never ending cycle.

Are you speaking heavenly language? If you were sitting across from God right now and he asked you about the words that you said, would you be okay with the things that come out of your mouth on a daily basis?

Before I conclude this post - I want to share a quick summary of Judges 12 with you.

There has been a battle that was going on and Israel had just won it. Instead of being joyful and happy with their victory there was pettiness and quarreling. The tribe of Ephraim was angry and jealous that they were not invited to join in the fighting. (Although Jephthah said he has invited them) The insults of the Ephraimites enraged Jepthah, who called out his troops and killed 42,000 men.

The men of the tribe of Ephraim caused Jephthah trouble just as they had Gideon. Jephthah was able to defeat his countrymen as they crossed the river. He used a pronunciation test. Shibboleth is the word for stream. The Ephraimites pronounced "sh" as "s," so Jephthah's army could easily identify them.

All because of one syllable and Jephthah's wisdom, the tribe wasn't able to cross the border. They were all killed.

The importance of what he say is everything.  Are you going to change to way that you talk in order to gain the world? Look how far the Ephraimites got when they didn't know the language that they should've known.

There is a fine line that we have to be careful about.

I challenge you to look at what you say. Could you sit across from God and tell Him that you believe you are speaking life, love, and hope to people? Make that your goal. Speak in such a way that is honoring to God all day, everyday. You can't just do it on Sundays. Heavenly language is a beautiful thing.

Graciously given gifts

God has graciously given us gifts. The gifts that God has given every person that was uniquely and wonderfully created by Him are far more valuable than any gift that you could be given in your lifetime on earth. The gifts that God gives us will last forever, whereas something that your family gets you only lasts a couple of years.

I could be given a new vehicle tomorrow and love it but what value does that have with the kingdom of heaven? The new vehicle would be really nice, it would make me feel really good about myself and I would drive it for years. What will eventually happen is that the vehicle will become older and more worn out. The value of my new vehicle would depreciate significantly every day.

The value of the gifts we are given by God don't ever depreciate. Those gifts are valuable every day. We can use the gifts that we are given by God to further the kingdom of heaven daily.

What are the gifts that God gives us?

God lovingly gives us spiritual gifts.

God is completely involved in the giving, using, and empowering of gifts. Specific gifts, places of service, and activities vary, but they are all important. God creates a unique place in the body for every believer. Gifts vary, but each believer has a specialized, God-designed role.

Part of the existing adventure of following Christ involves discovering one's spiritual gifts and then making it available to God so that we can honor Him by using those gifts. Our gifts are never meant to be used for ourselves. Make serving God and his people your motive as you utilize your gifts.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between the spirits, to another speaking in different types of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of the one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.  (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

No natter what gift(s) a person had, all spiritual gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit decides which gifts each believer should have. So the spiritual gifts that you have were given to you for a reason. You didn't get to choose them.

We have the unique opportunity to be responsible about how we use the gifts that we have been given. We are also responsible for sharpening those gifts. I will always remember one of my basketball coaches telling the team that we should really work on what we are good at it. I knew that I was a good stretch 4 so I could step outside and shoot 3's and midrange jumpers. I made it a priority to be good at that because it was something I was uniquely good at doing for being my height. Our coach told us that if everyone became experts at what they did well, the team would be successful because we all had a key role to play.

With that being said, we all have different spiritual gifts that we are responsible for sharpening and using to honor God and serve people.

When spiritual gifts are discussed among believers there are usually two points that are overlooked.

1 - properly used spiritual gifts are not self-serving but serve the whole body of Christ

It's easy to think that we should use our gifts for ourselves and for our benefit. We can become prideful with the gifts that we have been given and have the mindset of "hey look at me and my spiritual gift." Spiritual gifts are given to us in order to serve the whole body of Christ. We are fortunate that God willingly gives us such amazing gifts.

2 - each gift becomes practically useless when used without love

Having a spiritual gift and not using it out of love makes it pointless. Without love you can't truly serve people. An example that I think of is me writing this blog. I believe that some of what I write comes completely from God. Maybe words of wisdom is my gift, I am not sure. I don't think that I am very wise. But whenever I look back at something that I write in one of my posts I will be blown away by it. I look back and think that there is no way that I write these things. I write everyday because I love using my gift to impact the lives of other people. If I wrote these post for myself because I thought that I was a good writer, I would never feel fulfilled. I would be writing just to put words on a page and having the mindset of "hey look at what I do, I write a whole lot." Every time I write, I do it because I absolutely love sharing about things that I have read in the Bible and what God is doing in my life. Consistently spending time in the word has changed my life and I love you all enough to write and hope that your lives might be changed by reading your Bible on a daily basis as well.

I want you to know this. You have been given a spiritual gifts by God. You are loved. You have the responsibility to use those gifts to serve others and honor God. Please don't ever take your spiritual gifts for granted. They will last forever and will not ever depreciate like gifts that we are given on earth.

One more thing, I didn't just wake up one day and love to write. I did't wake up one day filled with things that I want to share with people. All of this started when I began reading my Bible consistently and on a daily basis. If you read this post and are thinking that you don't have any of these gifts, get into the Word of God and may a gift be given to you. I never thought I would write. The Word of God changed my life in so many different ways.

A mutual commitment

Submission - the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person. 

But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

This verse might seem a little questionable to some. It's easy to read through it and it looks like what Paul is saying is that the man is greater than the woman. I believe that one of the things you have to look at is the idea of submission. 

Submission is a key element in the smooth functioning of any business, government, family, or relationship. God ordained submission to prevent chaos. Imagine if we didn't submit to others. We would never be able to make decisions about anything and we would all think that we are better than one another. That is chaos. 

I believe that some people view submission as surrender, withdrawal, or apathy. Submitting to someone never means that you are the inferiority, because God created all people in his image and because all have equal value. Submission is mutual commitment and cooperation.

The previous two summers I had spent a couple weeks in China. When we would have large dinners after our basketball games the opposing teams would eat with us, along with all of the individuals who were responsible for putting the games on. The individuals who put the games on would always come to our tables and offer a toast. We would raise our glasses and toast to the Chinese. We were taught to put our glass lower than theirs because it was showing them that we thought of them above ourselves. It would always turn into a competition every time we toasted because the Chinese men always thought we were greater than them. 

God calls us to have submission among equals. He did not make the man superior; he made a way for the man and woman to work together. Jesus Christ, although qual with God the Father, submitted to him to carry out the plan for salvation. 

Likewise, although equal to man under God, the wife should submit to her husband for the sake of their marriage and family. I believe that this can go both ways. My wide someday will be right about something and I will be wrong. The will most likely happen a lot! But I need to respect and listen to what she has to sat as much as she is going to respect and listen to what I have to say. 

Submission between quals is submission by choice, not be force. We serve God in these relationships by willingly submitting to others in our church, to your spouses, and to our leaders. 

I challenge you to submit yourself to others in order to prevent chaos. Next time you disagree with somebody, remember this post. Next time you have a hard time making a decision, remember this post. My prayer is that this post applies to so many things.  I hope it really encourages you to mutual commit yourselves to each other. 

Gloria from Panera

I met a new friend at Panera this evening - Gloria.

The one thing that I want you to get out of this post tonight is that you have the power to learn somebody's story. God will create this divine moments, but it is up to you to listen and take action.

I had a meeting at Panera this evening with a good friend of mine and after every meeting we pray together. Wes is way more bold than I am so he wanted to hold hands with me, which is fine! A majority of the time, I won't hold a dude's hand in public.

When we finished praying together, we got up and started to walk out the door. While we were heading to the door and older lady (Gloria) stopped us and told us how encouraged she was to see young men praying and not being ashamed...We introduced ourselves and thanked her for her encouragement and walked out.

As I walked to my car I felt like I needed go sit down and learn a little bit more about Gloria. I got all the way to my car, opened my door and was conflicted on what do to. Part of me wanted to go and talk to her and the other half was ready to head home since it had been such a long day.

This was a battle between the flesh and the Spirit. Gloria wasn't positioned there just out of happenstance. She was there for a reason and I made the decision that I was going to go sit down and talk with her.

When I walked back into Panera the first thing I said to her was "thank you so much for your encouragement." She told me that watching Wes and I pray together brought tears to her eyes. I asked her some questions and found out a little bit more about her. I learned that she attends Granger Community Church and is a part of the prayer team there. Gloria made it known that she is a prayer warrior. She lost her husband to cancer 8 years ago and recently the company where she worked shut down. Despite things that had happened in Gloria's life she just kept telling me over and over again how good God has been to her. She told me that God is way more good to her than she is to him and yet, He still amazes her everyday.

I walked away feeling extremely encouraged by Gloria. So much so that I had to share the story with you all in this post tonight.

I challenge you to think about all the people that you have an interaction with everyday...how well do you know those people? Honestly, probably not much. I believe the reason for that is because we are often so focused on what is best for us.

What's best for us is building relationships and loving people like God does. I pray that you are able to learn somebody's story in the near future. Who knows the story you might learn might change your perspective on your entire day.

It's not about you...

A slave to everyone

Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 9:19: Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a salve to everyone, to win as many as possible. 

Paul asserts that he has the freedom to do anything, much like you and I. He emphasizes living a life full of strict discipline. The Christian life involves both freedom and discipline. The goals of Paul's life were to glorify God and bring people to Christ. For Paul - both freedom and discipline were important tools to be used in God's service.

With the mess of me trying to get my insurance exam scheduled/passed I have felt a lot of stress lately. I cannot get paid without a license so I have been working for about three weeks so that when I am able to start getting paid, I will be in a great situation. Everything I have been doing has been positioning me for success.

Today I struggled - I let it get to me that I am spending all of this time at work without getting paid. But that wasn't the main issue...I am more stressed about the exam...there were a couple of times this morning where I was just sitting and looking at my computer screen. I was slowly starting to become more concerned about myself then I was at the big picture at hand and that is impacting the lives of people who I will do business and build relationships with.

I forgot why I do what I do. When I was deciding what career path I was going to take, God made it very clear to me that whatever I was going to do was something where I could impact the lives of the people around me.

There were two things that happened to me today that God used to help me remember what my purpose is.

1 - I was grabbing coffee with one of my really good friends and while we were talking about my job, she asked me if it was really something that I see myself doing. We both know that I have the relationships part down, but what about everything else?

I told her absolutely. People need to have financial security. Everybody has things that they want to do and goals they want to accomplish. In this life, money isn't everything, but you need it to live. If I am able to help families accomplish their goals and build lots of relationships by helping them finically,  I can't imagine doing anything more fulfilling.

Allie said this to me as soon as I said that - "there is your pitch...use that."

2. - Reading about Paul tonight in 1 Corinthians. Paul became like everyone else so that he would win as many as possible. Everything that Paul did was for the advancement of the gospel. Paul was called to try and save as many as possible.

Why do I want to impact lives in all that I do. That is what God wants from us. I love people because God loves us so much that he gave his one and only Son.  I will do anything for the kingdom and that is my job.

You can do that in whatever profession you have. That is my challenge to you - remember why you are here. When you do everything for the kingdom of God you are being obedient. With that - enjoy what you do. God gave us the things that we do for a reason and when we enjoy whatever it is that we do, that is pleasing to God.

Completely aware

There were numerous times in college when my buddies would go through something and I would want to help them out by the advice that I could give them. On the other hand, there were times that I would go through something and they would try to come up with the things to say to me. My three best friends and I were really close. We all had different traits that we brought to our friendship. Whenever we had something serious to talk about, we would all go into the bedroom or sit in the living room and we would just talk things out. It was always special even though sometimes they had to confront me about things or I would have to confront them. One of the best parts about those moments we had was that we would get rid of all distractions. We would shut off the TV, the video games, and put away our phones. We had each others undivided attention.

When I look back it, these memories were some of the best and most meaningful I had in college. Too often things are just written out in a text. No with my friends. We had high expectations for each other and wanted nothing but the very best out of each other.

To initiate these conversations, all we had to send to the group text was that we needed to talk tonight. That is all it took and when we all knew that, we were going to make every effort to be there for each other.

Although these conversations were some of the most meaningful I had with my friends, there was always one thing that irritated me. When my buddies were not completely aware of the information. That doesn't mean the conversation didn't go well...for me I was frustrated because they were giving my advice that wasn't working, accusing me of something I didn't do, etc. They just didn't know - so nothing against them!

I believe that we have a tendency to want to give advice to people before we know all of the information. We want to help so we try and we usually do help! Just sometimes you might trigger something in somebody that really bothers them.

Blessed is the one who God disciplines.

"Blesses is the one whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty."  (Job 5:17)

In Job, Eliphaz was correct about what he said in verse 17. (above)  It is a blessing to be disciplined by God when we do wrong. Eliphaz thought that Job was suffering for something that he had did wrong, making his advice to Job incorrect. Eliphaz was giving excellent advice only to learn that it did not apply to Job.

Just like how my friends would give me excellent advice but it wouldn't apply to me because they were't completely aware of the situation.

All who offer counsel from God's Word should take care to throughly understand a person's situation before giving advice. 

Next time that you have advice to give, make sure that you are completely aware of the situation.

You can't limit God

I want you to think about anytime that you have learned something in class, church, or a seminar and then changed what you learned to your own words. What do I mean by that? It is way too easy to learn a little knowledge from the Bible for example and then completely change it to make you sound like you know what you are talking about it.

We live in a media consumed culture where a little bit of truth can be completely twisted. We thrive on knowing information that others don't and then we tell everybody what we learn and make it our own. It feels cool to be the source of some much wanted information right? We want people to come to us because we know something that they don't. You know what isn't cool? Changing the truth.

One of the ways that you can think about this is gossiping. When we gossip information spreads like wildfire and next thing you know there isn't even truth anymore. All of the information has been twisted around to please our human ears.

Honestly though, I am not concerned about gossip - it was just an example I used that might help you understand what point I am trying to make.

I am concerned about limiting God because of our own perspective. It's easy for teachers, counselors and well-meaning friends to begin with a portion of God's truth but then go off on a tangent. We can't ever limit God because of our own perspective and finite understanding.

I wonder if I do this with my blog posts. I am sure that I don't. I make sure that I put scripture into every post I have and then I talk about it in such a way that I hope it makes sense to you. I also know that the Holy Spirit helps us interpret scripture so that we may fully understand it. Every time I open my Bible I pray that the Holy Spirit gives me something I can encourage others with.

Remember how I told you that Job had three friends who traveled to see him and they mourned with him? Well they had advice for him and God later criticized them for what they had to say. Job's friend Eliphaz was the perfect example of someone who started with God's truth and then limited God with the rest of the things that he had to say.

"A word was secretly brought to me,
my ears caught a whisper of it.
Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
when deep sleep falls on people." (Job 4:12-13)

The things that Eliphaz were saying were true at first, but he changed what he had to say to Job because of the things that he had learned in his life. He thought that if he learned things a certain way, that is how Job must be taught too.

I really hope that this post made sense to you. The one thing that I want you to take away from it is that we can never limit God. We can't limit God by saying things to people that they want to hear. We must tell the truth.

All the material recored and quoted in the Bible is there by God's choice. Some is a record of what people said and did but is not an example to follow. The sins, the defeats, the evil thoughts, and misconceptions about God are all part of God's divinely inspired Word, but we should not follow those wrong examples just because they are in the Bible. The Bible gives us teachings and examples of what we should do as well as what we should not do. Eliphaz's comments are an example of what we should try to avoid-making false assumptions about others based on our own experiences.

We should never limit God.

Power > Talk

The things that we say are just words until we put them into action. In this world there is a lot of talk but no action. People say a lot of things that they are going to do but never do anything about it. 

We are talking a break from Job on the post because what I read in 1 Corinthians this evening seems like it needs talked about more than the story of Job.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

Some people talk a lot of faith but that is all it is. There are so many people who know the right words to say, but their lives don't reflect God's power. Paul says that the kingdom of God is to be lived, not just discussed. There is a big difference between knowing the right words and living them out. Don't be content to have the right answers about Christ. Let your life show that God's power is really working in you.

The best example that I have of this right now is the relationship I am in. What drew me to Rachel was her love for Jesus. That is the most attractive thing about her. Before we started dating we agreed that we were going to have a Christ centered relationship. We did too. I would get asked all the time what I liked most about Rachel and I would always tell people her love for Jesus. That was always my number one answer because that was the truth, and quite honestly that sounds the best. 

I have been in situations like this before where I would claim to be a part of a Christ centered relationship but it was either one way, or sometimes we would be Christ centered and other times we wouldn't. 

With Rachel, we wanted it to be Christ centered from the very beginning. The first month or so when we were dating, we would often talk about Jesus, often times it was daily. We would tell each other that we were praying for each other because that is something that we did. Things were super great! But we believed that we could do better. 

Would you believe me if I told you things could get better? 

Things got a whole lot better. About a month ago, Rachel recommended that we start doing bible plans on the Bible App. I didn't know you could do this, but I was down for it. I then told her that I wanted to start reading the Bible together and we both agreed that we should pray together as well. We started all of this at once. 

My love for her took off once we started doing these things. I had feelings for her like I have never had for anyone and that continues and strengthens everyday. There is so much power in actually having a Christ centered relationship rather than saying that you have one. That power comes from doing something about it and not just saying that we put God first. 

Our relationship has been a great way to share Jesus with others as well and the work that he is doing in both of our lives. Whenever I am asked about Rachel I get into talking about how we do devos, read our bibles and pray together. I believe that it's encouraging to other people. Plus, it's okay to boast about God. 

 

One thing that we have both learned and I know that Rachel can testify to this, is that our individual relationship with God is what comes first. When we are right with God, we are right for each other. Having our own personal Jesus time is more important than having it together. My faith is my own, and her faith is her own. I love Jesus more than anything with all my heart and she does too and when you are with somebody who really lives their life that way, there is nothing better. 

For example, yesterday afternoon I was really stressed out and I was FaceTiming Rachel in my car before I went into the grocery store. She could tell that I was stressed and she wanted to help. Instead of just telling me encouraging things to make me happy and feel better, she offered to pray. You can say all of that nice things you want to someone, but it won't mean nearly as much until you live out your faith. Rachel trusted that her and I praying together would help our stress and it did. Power is greater than talk...The power of Jesus and doing something about your faith is greater than any words that we will ever say. 

When it comes to relationships, there is no greater verse than this: Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness. (2 Corinthians 6:14)

There is one more example about this that I want to share. Another thing that I am very proud of about Rachel and I is that we created a relationship goals list. (one of the reasons I like this is because I don't like looking at other couples and thinking of them at "goals.") This list is full of the things that we want and are going to commit to the relationship. I made a list, Rachel made a list, and together we made one. There are things that we both promised and committed to doing and we also have things we have committed to do together. I was blown away by the power of doing something like this. When we first shared our lists together, I read mine with some tears in my eyes because what was happening between us was so powerful and it was like nothing I have have experienced with someone. 

I am not writing about this to tell everyone that we are perfect. We aren't perfect. Nobody is perfect, I am telling you all about how we do these things because there is so much more power in doing something rather than talking about it. You don't have to apply this only to a relationship that you might be in, you can apply it many ways to your faith.