held captive

We are so easily held captive by the world almost every single day.

I am not saying the world literally captures us and ties us up somewhere, that usually doesn't happen. We are held captive by our minds because we are constantly being deceived by the world. 

It's like driving down a highway in the middle of nowhere...on the left side of the road...you have everything that you have ever wanted...nice clothes...lots of money...the apple store (lol)...and a lot of the people that you want to be friends with based off of popularity...On the right side of the road...it's a little more quiet...you see some of the things that fulfill you...a book store...bibles...small group members...mentors...calamity...peace...a few less people.

We drive down that road daily. We see what we know can fulfill us forever on the right side, and on the left side, we see what will give us some joy and excitement...but only for a brief period of time. The world wants us to go to the left all of the time, because that is what is engraved in our minds...the world teaches us that the most important things can and should happen right away and make us feel a certain way almost instantly! The world says..."come on! come this way! It's easier!" Christ says..."follow me, I will give you rest...I will lead you to paradise."

See to it that no one takes you captive through hallow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. 

(Colossians 1:8)

wholehearted work

To work in such a way that benefits all those around you...that is what I think of when I hear 'wholehearted work.' It makes me think of someone who is genuinely doing everything they can to help others achieve a certain goal.

Paul worked wholeheartedly for so many people...he rejoiced in his suffering and was persecuted more than we will ever be able to understand. You see...Paul had a goal in mind where he wanted to see all believers mature spiritually. 

I don't suffer any persecution and I wholeheartedly write these post for you everyday. It's great to read and write for my growth, but I do it for everyone else. I don't write these post for my own personal satisfaction. I write for you. I know what it is like firsthand to have my life changed simply because I started reading my bible on a consistent basis. That is all I want for each and every person. 

Coming up in a month or so I will complete my 600th post. The time I put in when I write these is for other people. It's not always easy to do either. Even tonight...I typically write in the mornings, and I had some meetings this morning so I had to wait....when I got home...I so badly wanted to do my own thing...like shower and get ready for bed...but deep down, I knew that I some work to do, and that was to encourage others. 

It's honestly so amazing when you fight through that battle in your head, choose God and see what happens because of that...this post and everything I am writing is because I sat down and opened up my bible tonight..

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (Colossians 1:28-29)

Paul wanted to see each believer mature spiritually. Like Paul, we must work wholeheartedly like an athlete, but we should not strive in our own strength alone. We have the power of God's spirit working in us.

We can learn and grow daily, motivated by love, and not by fear or pride, knowing that God gives the energy to become mature. 

Wholehearted work always comes from the strength of the Holy Spirit. If I was allowing what my own flesh wanted tonight, I would be showered, in bed, and watching a movie...WE must rely on the Holy Sprit to give us the strength to help love, encourage, and motivate other believers. 

I encourage you all to rely on the Holy Spirit to do wholehearted work...I believe that deep down...we all want to do amazing things...that there is so much untapped potential inside of us...and the only way to get to is his relying on the Holy Spirit.

character

The one thing that we are going to be able to take with us to heaven is our character. We aren't going to be able to take our phones, vehicles, money, gaming devices, etc. You are taking you and that's final.

God is more interested in our character development than our comfort. We have eternity to get comfortable in heaven, so this is the get ready stage. This is the learning stage. This is the warm-up act.

Our character is everything. When I was looking for jobs, the best companies were the ones that would ask me about my character in the interview. With my job now, I grow my business based off people of high character.

Having good character is so incredibly important, I can't stress it enough. Most of the time, the people with the best character are the ones who will have the most significant impact on others. You could have all the skills in the world, but if your character sucks, you really won't have much of an impact.

So how do we build our character to where it would be a good spot to be at?

I believe it's strongly based on our minds and the things that we think about and focus on.

What we put into our minds determines what comes out in our words and actions..

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

From my experience this hard. When I look at my life from a 30,000 foot view, when my mind ins't focused on those things is when I get on social media and spend too much time on my phone. Outside of that, for me, it's really not that difficult.

Think about it this way...I don't like to keep bringing up this example, but think of what has happened the past couple days about Kobe and Gigi. (everyone else involved)  It's horrific. I am heartbroken. Every time I have gotten on social media, it's all that we see. It's great because everyone is sharing their memoirs about these amazing two people...But seeing it so much, makes me think about it more...If I didn't have a smart phone, and just saw the new article pop up on TV, I would've still been heartbroken, but not as badly.

My point with that, is that our minds are consumed by what we fill them with. If we fill our minds with everything that we see on social media, we are going to be consumed by those things. I am not saying that social media is the worst thing ever...with social media, you're literally one click or even one search away from seeing things that we have no need to see. It's crazy! You're one click away from is being useful and one away from falling into sin.

If you have problems with what you are putting into your mind, think about the things that you are putting in there on a day-to-day basis.

Examine what you are putting in your mind through television, internet, books, conversations, movies, and magazines. Replace the harmful input with wholesome material.

Above all, read God's word and pray. Ask God to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure. It takes practice, but it can be done.

It takes a lot of practice. I really can't put it into words, but from the time I started reading my bible consistently, my growth and character just took off! It wasn't like some crazy thing happened...the more time I spent reading it, the more my mind became focused on the things that Paul encouraged us to focus on. It just took time, and a lot of patience. My hope and prayer is for everyone to get to that point.

What we fill our minds with, most of the time determines our character. My challenge to you is to evaluate what your are consumed with on a day to day basis...if it's something that isn't developing your character, it's probably not worth it.

Christian Maturity

Oftentimes when I hear the words 'Christian maturity' I don't think I could ever get to the point. It's something that sounds really serious, and has a lot of significance...I am right in saying that, but we make it way more of a big deal that we ought to.

It's can feel like an unending pursuit.

It seems like to be a mature Christian, you have to understand everything, be an almost perfect person, and never make mistakes. It just feels like it's a hard thing to be able to accomplish. 

We are filled with lies in thinking that we have to know everything in oder to be a mature Christian. 

Only let us live up to what we have already attained. (Philippians 3:16)

Christian maturity involves acting on the guidance that you have already received. We can always make excuses that we still have so much to learn. The instruction for us is to live by what we already know and live out what we have already learned. We do not have to be sidetracked by an unending search for truth. 

We have already attained a lot of knowledge, we just have to act on it. That is what Christian maturity is. Acting on what we already know. 

It's like anything in life, when I didn't obey my parents when I was growing up, there was nothing mature about me. I didn't become mature until I started living in such a way that was honoring and loving towards them.

It's an easy excuse to say that there is too much to learn. There is a ton to learn, and if we had to learn everything to become a mature Christian, we could never do that. Again, if we knew the answers to all the questions that we have, there wouldn't be a need for God. We have already attained so much knowledge. 

My challenge to you all is to live by what you know and have an excitement for learning new things. Christian maturity is living by what we already know. I encourage you on your path to Christian maturity. We are there...we just have to realize it and live out what we have learned. 

the right question?

How can God be good and permit evil?

I believe we too often ask the wrong question when it comes to God and his goodness. Most of the time, bad questions are always ones that can be answered with either 'yes' or 'no.'

We live in a world full of evil and we too often let this evil affect how we view God. Bad things happen all of the time and how often do we sit and wonder if God is still good?

Instead of asking if God is good, we should be asking if he has done good things for us?

When you start asking that, it completely changes the game. I mean if you look at the tragedy that happened yesterday...a lot of people might be wondering how in the world is God still good for letting something so horrible happen?

But if we look at all the good things God did for Kobe and his daughter, and all the other people on the helicopter, we would be able to see that God has done good things in all of their lives.

We are wired to find answers. We have crazy technology to be able to find answers to so many things. If we keep asking ourself the question is God good? We are going to keep finding answers that would show he is and answers that shows he might not be based on outcomes and circumstances of certain happenings.

If we knew all of the answers to everything, there wouldn't be a God.

We need to focus on all the good that God has done in our lives because that is when we know that God is good. Because I promise you that God has done something good for every person.

My challenge to you is to start asking the question 'has God done good things for me?' and you will find out really quickly that GOD is GOOD.

you're where you need to be

I believe that we are all meant to be where we are at right now until God tells you otherwise. 

I have a feeling that a lot of people go through each day wondering why they have the job they have and why they do what they do. I feel like once you get caught up in that, it's a viscous never ending cycle. 

Whatever it is you are doing this very second, I believe that is what you are meant to be doing. 

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go to heaven right now...There wouldn't be any more worries, no more pain, no more suffering. Just crazy love for Jesus and for others! Forever and ever! That seems like it would be the more fulfilling option right? 

I actually don't believe that and neither did Paul. 

"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me." (Philippians 1:21-26)

To be with Christ would be better, but not entirely necessary for us right now. We have the opportunity at hand to be very fruitful in our labor. There are so many people out there right now who need us to be good examples to them and help lead them to Christ. 

That is why you are where you need to be right now. No matter what type of job you have or whatever it is that you do...look around at all of the people that you could have an impact on. If you tried to have an impact on at least one person a day, you would never run out of people. 

Where we are at is so incredibly important and we should never take it for granted by wishing that we were somewhere else. 

I understand that there are a lot of bad situations out there. You're where you are until God tells you otherwise. Life is going to change. I can promise you that. We are fortunate enough to be able to make many decisions.

If you are the person in a bad situation right now, I promise that you will get out of it because you are always going to be where you need to be.

My challenge to you is to not take for granted where you are at in life right now. You are all so incredibly blessed and where you are meant to be. Don't forget that! 

God talks to us?

How many times have you felt like God doesn't talk to you as much as you would expect? 

Honestly, I bet it's most of the time. 

Did you know that God talk to us through his word when we read our bibles? 

You pray. You talk to God, and you let him talk to you by reading the bible. That's how you get God's wisdom. 

This is so realistic it's almost hard to believe. It's why certain verses mean different things to different people. The truth is never changed, but the Holy Spirit equips us to understand verses in the ways that we need to.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

I bet if you asked 10 people what they thought that verse meant and told them all to write it down, put their answers in a hat, and draw each answer out one at a time, they would all be different and not one answer would be exactly the same. 

God gets the same message across, but talks to us all differently! 

I really can't stress the importance of getting into reading your bibles. It's why I started writing blogs in the first place. I stunk at reading my bible until the end of my sophomore year in college. I honestly bet that I went a year without reading it outside of church. In all the time I knew that I was missing something. 

When I finally started reading my bible on a consistent basis that is when my life changed because I was learning so many things and God was talking to me everyday! 

I know there are a lot of things in there that might not make any sense. I know that there are books of the bible that are kinda boring. Trust me! I have been there. But God will always talk to you when you read your bible.

You having the ability to understand what you read is God talking to you. It's not you being smart, it's not just easy to understand. Literally anything we read in the bible God is using to talk to us. The entire word of God is God-breathed meaning it was spoken and written for us! \

When you become disciplined in reading your bible that is when your relationship with God will begin to skyrocket. You are investing your time, and God is speaking to you through that! 

What other areas of your life is God speaking to you? I know prayer is one of the other really important ways, but there aren't a ton more. The word of God is the best way to grow and strengthen your relationship with Christ, I promise. 

Next time you read your bible, think of it as God talking to you and things will begin to make so much more sense.