A New Battle

A New Battle
Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. This world fights for this dirt we stand on. It fights to save this broken world. In this world, man fights man to win a broken prize. Citizens of this world fight to fix this world. But they lack the resources. Repairing this world without God's love is like trying to repair a broken wristwatch with out glue or expertise. They can press the pieces together and rework the intricate parts all they want, but with out the knowledge of The Designer and the skill of the Watchmaker, they will fail. The citizens of this world fight to improve this world without hope. But we are citizens of heaven. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against evil and dark kingdoms that have set themselves up all of this world. the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. No, instead we have weapons with the divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We will be ready to punish every act of obedience, once our obedience itself is complete.

With prayer, we fight pride. With God's light, we fight the darkness. I don't know if you have sheltered from spiritual warfare all your life or not, but I can tell you it is as real as the hands typing these words. In fact, it is perhaps even more real than this world itself. Demons exist all over the place, yet in America it seems they good job of hiding themselves. But with the weapons of Christ and the armor of God, we can defeat these dark forces. If you want to hear some crazy stories of spiritual warfare, just ask me. I can enlighten you and hopefully shake your worldly view. Most of use judge by appearances, when we should judge by the heart.

Everyday is a battle. Your sword is the word of God. Your army is the Spirit. Your comrades are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Put on the Armor of God. Your enemy is not human, but the evil principalities and the Father of lies. And with everything, Prayer is your main weapon.

Be humble in judging
If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should remember that all true followers of Christ belong to Christ just as much as they do. So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority that the Lord has given me for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to seem to frighten you with this blog. I may seem forceful and weighty, but in person I may be unimpressive and I may blabber. I hope that what i am in this blog will be my actions when I am present. For how we act when no one is watching is who we are. What we think is who we are. And what we think about most is what we worship. So think about the Lord, be consistent in every situation, and be humble.

Do not classify or compare yourself with those who boast in themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves, they are not wise. Do not boast beyond proper limits and confine your boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to you. Rejoice in your good deeds, but do not boast in yourself. The trouble goes from saying "I have pleased the Father" to saying "well I must be a good person for having done it!" We are who we are by the grace of God.

My hope is that as your faith continues to grow, your sphere of influence will grow as well so that you can preach the gospel wherever you go. And finally, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

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You can give God the credit, but He also wants cash

You can give God the credit, but he also wants the cash

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, Paul compares the work of Corinthians to the work of the Macedon church to encourage them. The Corinthians excelled in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in love, but they did not excel in giving. They had everything together; they were "Good Christians". But they lacked the giving and sacrifice to back it up. Paul tests the sincerity of the love of the Corinthian church by comparing it with church in Macedon. For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might have become rich. Silly us for thinking that God only wants ten percent of our money or our possessions. It is ALL his; we should look to glorify God with all of it. That doesn’t mean give it all away, but it does mean stop being selfish in our spending and start glorifying God with our spending.

But we should not give because it is expected, but we should first cultivate the desire to give, for God loves a cheerful giver. Now we should finish the work, so that our eager willingness to give will be matched by our completion of it. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. It is all a matter of the heart. Our point is not to live on end’s meat while those we give to live luxuriously, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not gather little.” God is good as redistributing funds; the amount that you give will be returned to you, whether in this life or the next.

Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for god loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in ever good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” God will give you what you need when you need, if you will only trust him, not your own cunning and saving and plotting and toiling. If you trust Christ with your finance, you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion. Through your giving, your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Give generously; it’s the only way to truly live.

Godly Sorrow

Since God is faithful, since God is good, since God has promised us life with Him, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates both body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of our respect for Him. Make room for everyone in your heart. Wrong no one. Corrupt no one. Exploit no one. Act in such a way that other brothers and sisters and see how you are living and take pride in you. Act in such a way that other’s will experience your giving and respond with praise! Let God’s goodness lead to repentance. Let your sorrow from conviction lead you to change the way you are living. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret while worldly sorrow brings death. Godly sorrow gives you an earnestness and an eagerness to clear yourselves. It kicks you in the tail and gets you on the right track. It makes you long for righteousness and yearn for justice. Godly sorrow leads to encouragement. You are blessed if you realize you need to change. It’s the first step, and many never reach it. We are being sanctified, so let Christ guide you actions and unclog your ears with all the sin and junk in your life so you can hear the Spirit instruct you.

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Homefront vs. Battlefront

It’s not polite to reject a gift…

If we do well not to reject a simple Christmas gift, how can we then reject the greatest gift? As a brother in Christ, I urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. His goodness leads us to repentance, and we shouldn’t be surprised that if we reject his grace, He will remove His blessings. If blessings lead us closer to us, they will come. If pain leads us closer to Him, it will come. His goal isn’t to make us happy, it is to make us His. Now is the time to turn to Christ. We do what we can so that all may experience God’s presence. As servants and children of God, we rejoice in everything: in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonment and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left; through flory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet people will call us imposters; known, yet people will not understand us; dying, yet we live on; beaten, yet we will not be killed; sorrowful for the world, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, yet he possess everything in Christ. We are people of delightful paradoxes. Christ flipped this world upside down. The poor are rich. The downtrodden are uplifted. Those who die to themselves are those who truly live!

Love first, ask questions later

Speak freely and open your hearts to everyone. Make a decision everyday to love and serve those around you. Do not hold your affection or encouragement for anyone, but instead, encourage freely and love boldly. Open your heart to others, and they will open their hearts to you. It is the only way.

Homefront vs. Battlefront

Do not link yourselves with those who are not children of God. You do not want your homefront to be your battlefront. Surround yourself with those who are striving for holiness, not their own personal gain. If you are living with people who bring you down, it makes it so much harder for you to bring others up. You can’t carry everyone’s weight. How can you move forward in relationships when you are going two different directions? What do righteousness and wicked have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? We should find ourselves among the lost, but we should not let the blind lead those who can see. I am not suggesting isolating yourself from the world; I am suggesting you bring God’s light into it. Walk strongly in the light. Do not let and idol or person attempt to remove you from it. Pursue holiness in every relationship because every relationship is a chance to make others more like Christ and to love others like Christ.

But some of us do not have the option to separate the homefront from the battlefront. We are stuck we families, friends, and relationships that drain us. Sometimes it’s easier said than done to love those who make us want to pull our hair out. Should we run away? Should we just let it take its toll on our live? By no means! When you're jolted, what spills out is whatever is filling you. Fill yourself with the Fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Constantly renew your mind and pray for those who annoy you, for those who persecute. When you are insulted, respond with grace and patience. When there is pain, respond with joy. With selfishness, respond with kindness. With ingratitude, respond with faithfulness. With anger, respond with gentleness. With disruption, respond with peace. With high tempers, respond with self control. Fill yourself with the fruit each day.

Accept His grace. Encourage his people. Fight the good fight.

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Do you decorate your tent?

Do you decorate your tent?

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.” All that we have on this earth is a temporary dwelling. We are living in a tent. We are not meant to remain here forever, only until this world is renewed. So if the earth right now is not a home, but a tent, why do we decorate our tent? Do you install mahogany furniture and granite counter tops in a tent? Do you dress your tent with decoration and ornament? Do you have a room in your tent that you don’t use? This world in not out home. We shouldn't spend our time buying things for this world.

Think about the American Dream. Isn't it simply an attempt to make a tent into a home? Instead of storing up treasure after treasure in this world, we should store up our treasure in heaven. Your wealth here is temporary. Which would you rather do: use your money to feed the guy outside your tent that is starving or use it to install a new air conditioning system in your tent?

Are we home yet?

Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly home, because we know that when we are clothed in Christ, we will no longer be naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be naked here without Christ’s glory. We are waiting for this temporary world to be swallowed up by the Kingdom of God (Which is already here), where we will reign as kings and priests forever. God has fashioned for us this purpose, and He has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Are you homesick? Open up your life to the Holy Spirit. God has given us the spirit to guide us home, to comfort us, to help us, and to help others find the way. We should be absolutely reliant on the spirit, not on our stuff. Is your life dependent on the Spirit? If the Holy Spirit left you, would anything change?

Therefore, because of the Spirit—God’s power in us—we are always confident. We know that as long as we are at home in this body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. In a sense, believing is seeing, not the other way around. I would prefer to be away from this body and home with the Lord. But I know that God is not done with me here and He has put me here for a purpose. I am invincible in this body until God is done with me. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. In the end—which is really the beginning—we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the good thing done in the body, whether good or bad. Perhaps the most sobering thought we can remember is that we will have to give an account of everything we did with our lives. The Father will ask us “Child, what did you do with all that I gave you?” Let me make this clear, what you do or don’t do matters. You are saved by Christ by no doing of yourself, but your sanctification does not end there. We are to become like the ones we will be at the end of this world: rulers of this earth once again, returning to our original purpose (ruling over the earth for the Glory of the Lord). Are you become the king or queen that the Father would trust to rule his creation?

Camping Activities

So if we are out here, what do we do in the meantime? Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. Do good deeds, so that others might see your life and praise God. If we are “out of our minds, as some would claim, then we are crazy for Christ. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that “one died for all, and therefore all died.” He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly view. You have never met an ordinary person; each individual is an eternal being.

If Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important than a state, or nation, or civilization, but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment. –C. S. Lewis-

Though some regard Christ in the worldly view, we do not. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation: the old has gone and the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We get to take part in God’s renewal of this world. With the Spirit, we can bring peace, healing, justice, grace, forgiveness, power, praise, and God’s glory here to this world. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal to the world through us! God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that that we might take part in the righteousness of God.

In its simplest form: John 3:16. So let’s live and love as Christ did. 

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The Guiding Light

The Guiding Light

Since we have been given such a purpose—such a reason to live—we do not lose heart. We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. We can see through the guise of this world. In fact, the kingdom of God is more real than this world around us. Wealth, fame, respect, danger, death… It is all an illusion. We know the truth. Rather than having to sugar coat our experiences or invent meanings, we simply present the truth itself. By setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscious in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is misunderstood, it is misunderstood by those who are perishing. So do not be afraid to pronounce the truth boldly. God has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Therefore, let’s stop judging those who don’t believe. We were worse than them at one point. Let us instead pray and love them, so that they might see the truth that has been so graciously shown to us. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as each other’s servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. Let the light of Christ in your heart shine. Let the joy of Christ in your heart shine. Let the Love of Christ in your heart shine.

We are strong, because we are weak

We are challenged and hard pressed from this world from every angle, but we are not crushed. We cannot see where to go next, but we are not in despair. We are persecuted by this world, but not abandoned. We are struck down for Christ, but we are not destroyed. What can man do to us? We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. We have died to our self to that we may live in Christ. It is the only way to truly live. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. More people have been killed for Jesus in the last century than in all the centuries before it combined. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. If we die, we get to see the face of our savior and king and live with him forever. If we live, we get to continue to worship and praise Him, so that others might be saved. It is a win-win situation. Kill me? More of Jesus. Let me live? More of Jesus.

Speak

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause you to give overflowing thanks to the glory of God. Praise God for who He is. Praise God for what He has done. Who you are and what you've done only matter if they glorify Him. Don’t waste your life.

Therefore, we take heart! Though our bodies are slowly wasting away with this world, our souls are being renewed each day in the love and joy of Jesus! Each day is a new adventure. Each day is a new victory, so long as we choose to fight the battle. For the light and momentary troubles are achieving us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Your suffering now will lead to riches you cannot even imagine. Cancer, pain, evil, injustice will all pass away and we will see God’s glory revealed in all of it. So we fix our eyes not what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal.

The Man on the way to his inheritance

Think of it like this: a man gets word that he has a billion dollar inheritance coming to him and that he can now go and receive it downtown in the city. So he gets in his car and he goes, but just a mile out, his car breaks down. The man then begins to grumble, saying my car is broken! In fact, he grumbles and complains the whole way there. “Why does this always happen to me?! How could God let this happen?! Why this suffering?!” He has a billion dollar inheritance coming to him and yet he is in despair! Instead he should respond “I have legs! I can run to receive my inheritance!” You are going to inherit the world, so why grumble? I don’t need this! I’ve got an inheritance!!!! I don’t need all the other things I have an appetite for: food, sex, progress, acceptance, responsibility, fame, respect, recognition, winning, to be envied, love, or things. I don’t need to feed those appetites because I (a worthless sinner) HAVE (it has been given to me) AN INHERITANCE (far greater than I can conceive) in Christ Jesus! Those appetites whisper NOW NOW NOW, and never later. But I don’t need them. All I need or want to do is to glorify the King who is fully worthy and to rejoice that he has enabled me to do so. Rejoice! I will say it again, Rejoice!

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The Joy of Romance

Did the title catch you? Don’t stop reading now. Whether you have an incredible romantic relationship, incredible baggage from a relationship, or an incredible amount of time without one, I want to propose an incredible idea to you.

Think about the bliss of romance. Think about the absolute giddiness of having someone that you enjoy every second with. Think about the idea of being “crazy in love”. Do you have it? Sounds good right? Feels good, doesn’t it? Here's the cool thing: The maximum love you feel towards another guy or girl is only a shadow of Christ’s love for you. Jesus is absolutely giddy to be with the one he loves: His church, His people.

When you want nothing more to talk to that special someone, how much more does Christ want to talk with you!

When you yearn to be in that person’s presence no matter what it entails or costs, how much more does Christ yearn to be with you!

When that loved one is so far away and it absolutely drives you crazy, how much more does Christ hate it when His people are far from Him!

When you wish to share a moment, a touch, a passion with someone, how much more does Christ wish to share his presence with you!

When you create something special and you just want to show your loved one what you made for them, how much more does Christ woo you with His blessings, with the beauty of His creation, with the majesty of His presence!

When every thought of that person brings you joy, how much more does the thought of you bring joy to Christ!

When you are so quick to forgive that person you love, how much more is Christ willing to forgive you!

When you can’t stand a day without communicating with that person, how much more does Christ want to talk with you.

When just the slightest sight of that person makes every fiber of your body tingle, how much more beautiful are to you Christ!

When you are willing to spend anything to bring joy to that person, how much more is Christ willing to give to you (He gave you his life and eternally separated Himself from the Father’s love on your behalf)!

When the thought of that person you love with someone else brings you to a rage, how much more is Christ hurt and upset when you seek others before Him!

When you feel every ounce of happiness or pain of that person, how much more does Christ feel your emotion!

When you hate to see your loved one criticized, beleaguered or insulted, how much more does Christ hate to see his loved ones abused and assaulted by the father of lies! He took the cross so that no condemnation or criticism can hold us down.

Do you see what I am getting at? Can you smell what I am stepping in? The way we love a significant other is a mere drop of water in the Niagara Falls that is Christ’s love for us. When we are reading His word, we are reading it with him. When we are praying we are spending “quality time” with him. When we are worshipping, we are serenading him. It is a sacred romance. Think about all the little giddy joys you have ever had—or wanted to have—from a relationship, then apply them to Christ’s love for you. He loves you intimately. He knows you. He wants you to know Him back. To put it bluntly, we are unfaithful whores when it comes to being faithful to Christ. If we made our bed in Hell, he would come and stay the night. Do you understand just how much Christ loves you?

Even though my love for Rachel will fail her, Christ's love for me will never fail.Christ loves you more than you could ever love someone romantically. Christ is giddy to be with you. Does that shock your idea of who He is? Does that bring color to His face? Affection to his eyes?

I Like You

In romantic relationships, you often find yourself professing what you adore about each other. I like the way you do this. I like this about you or I like your passion to do this. I like when you do this or I like how you are this way. We all have an inner desire to adore and encourage the ones in which we feel affection towards. It doesn’t matter if they already know that you like their hair or beauty or patience, you feel compelled to tell them and they are delighted to hear. So if God is our greatest love and our strongest relationship, wouldn’t it make sense to tell Him what we like about Him? It seems I don’t do that enough. Here are a few things I like about my greatest love:

-          I like that He loves me for who I am, not how I perform.

-          I like how He never gets tired or weary.

-          I like how He understands the way every process in my body works.

-          I like the way He is patient with my stupidity.

-          I like that He is compassionate for the poor, the sick, the impaired, the least of these.

-          I like that He is such a mystery.

-          I like that the more I get to know Him, the more I want to know Him.

-          I like that though He is the most powerful, He is still humble.

-          I like that He has perfect humor. Sometimes we forget this.

-          I like when He comforts me when I feel horrible.

-          I like when he encourages me to be the best I can be.

-          I like that He frustrates the wisdom of the wise and allows the child to understand things so profound.

-          I like that He is just. I can trust that He we always take care of any situation fairly and fully.

-          I like that He is in control. There is no one else I would rather have as King.

-          I like that He takes delight in blessing me. I never deserve it.

-          I like how He is always three steps ahead of me (or more).

-          I like how He gives me what I need, not what I want.

-          I like that He is Holy. He is so worthy that no amount of my praise will do justice.

-          I like that He cares enough about me to discipline me.

-          I like that He actually listens to me, even if I don’t deserve an audience

-          I like that He is faithful. He never breaks His promises.

-          I like His love. The more I love His love, the more I seek His love, thus giving me more of His love. It is a beautiful cycle.

-          I like that He is victorious. He has already won the battle and I get to live in victory because of it.

-          I like that His thoughts, intentions, desires, and plans are always for my good and never for my harm.

-          I like that He is kind, open, approachable, frank, and eager to be my friend.

-          I like that He allows me to love others as well. He isn’t negatively jealous.

-          I like that if I start loving other idols, He brings me back to Himself. He is positively jealous.

-          I like that He is actively and creatively orchestrating people, circumstances, and events to express his affection and correction to provide for my highest good.

-          I like that He is strong in my weakness.

-          I like that He casts my sin as far as the east is from the west, never to return again.

-          I like that He is God and I am not.

-          I like that I can’t understand Him or control Him.

-          I like that He gives me a choice to love Him

-          I like that He gives me an opportunity to serve Him.

-          I like that He allows me in His presence to worship Him.

-          I like that He protects me from evils that I am not even aware of.

-          I like how He speaks to me, kind and gentle. Never loud or boisterous like the enemy.

-          I like how He constantly blows my mind, even when I think I have Him down.

-          I like that He is three personalities in one being. He is constant love and self-giving community.

-          I like that He isn’t even a he, but instead all the best qualities of both genders.

-          I like how He saved us all from ourselves, and created the greatest story ever known.

The list goes on and on.

Let’s tell God what we like about Him. If He is anything my fiance Rachel, He will be delighted to hear it even if He already knows it.

Let’s be madly in love with Christ, because He is madly in love with us.

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You are a Letter from Christ

You are a letter from Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. We are a message from Christ to this world. Christ has chosen his people as the method to heal and speak and work until His return. We are the best method to heal this world. We do not strive to write our deeds and words on paper, but on human hearts. Therefore, we shouldn’t judge our success by how many people we speak to, or how much we give, or how far we travel to spread the gospel, but instead, how many hearts we have writing Christ on. Each and every one of our lives is pen and paper to tell the story of Christ. We are a letter from Christ himself, so what we say and do should reflect our Lord. The messenger should reflect the message and the one who sends it.

Whose life are you speaking the life of Christ into? Whose heart are you writing on? Because too often as Christians, we get so complacent with our friends and our community that we forget that we are the letter! Why would a letter get sent to someone who has already heard the message? I am not discounting the value of serving and spending time with your friends; in fact, the Christian brothers and sisters in our community are a priority. But I have noticed in my own life and in the lives of my friends that we are spending all our time with each other that the message of Christ is not reaching its destination. We should be writing on the hearts around us with the spirit: praying for those in our lives, serving without the need for recognition, speaking and being the message of Christ.

We have such confidence in Christ! Why are we remaining amongst our confidants? Go! We are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as carriers of the Holy Spirit, ambassadors for the new kingdom. The law of the land kills, but the Spirit gives life. We are the light. We are the salt. We are the lifegivers!

If the ministry of following the law had glory with it, will not eh ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! Therefore, since we have such confidence in Christ, we are meant to be very bold. We are meant to be a bold faced letter to the world pronouncing the good news of the King. We are not making bad people good; we are making dead people alive by the spirit! Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! We, who are in his glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. We don’t need to sit around amongst each other; we need to go out!

So are you a good letter of Christ? Do people read your life and proclaim praise to the King? Are you writing on the hearts of men and women or are you sitting around and reaping the benefits of Christian community? I challenge us because there is no time to simply enjoy the friendship of only those in Christ. We will have an eternity to do that. Right now we must use our short lives to bring life as the Letter of Christ, writing on hearts with the Spirit. Maybe it is time to change your font, italicize a few things in your life and send yourself into a lost and broken world.

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Let them throw stones...We smell good

Forgive those who trespass against others

“If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely.” Sin affects the community not just the individual. Likewise, it is up to the community to forgive the individual. As if forgiveness for other’s transgressions against us wasn't hard enough, forgiveness for those who hurt our loved ones is even harder. Very often, we are willing to forgive those that hurt us, but we struggle forgiving those that hurt others. We think “Yeah, I’ll forgive you because Jesus forgave me.” Yet turn around and say “I will never forgive them for what they did to them.” The punishment of guilt is sufficient for those who sin. It is our role to forgive and comfort them so that they will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. We are to reaffirm our love for those who have wronged us.

O give us hearts to love like Thee

     Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve

Far more for others’ sins than all

    The wrongs that we receive

-Author Unknown-

Let em throw stones

For those who merely like to throw stones at us, let them. "Jesus’ greatest miracle is that he did not retaliate." The stones usually come when we least need them; the critics usually come when we least deserve them; the criticism usually comes from those least qualified to give it. The best in life can be swallowed up by the worst, and sometimes the worst comes in the form of mean-spirited attacks on our character. But the wisest of souls have always informed us not to expect too much of people. I live in a broken world with broken people who will frequently break my heart. Nevertheless, I am deeply loved by God. It is up to Him to give me what I need, when He thinks I need it. In the meantime, I am steadfastly kept in his care.

But God uses the worst that men can say about us to shape our character and strengthen us.  There may be more truth in your enemy’s words than in the counsel of your friends. We should expect every hostile comment to bring us closer to God. And remember, a calm man is more macho than an angry man.

Besides, why do we care so much about what other people say about of us? It is because we place too much value on our own reputations and the favor and appreciation of people.

“Get your friend to tell you your faults, or better still, welcome an enemy who will watch you keenly and sting you savagely. What a blessing such an irritating critic will be to a wise man. What an intolerable nuisance to a fool.” –Spurgeon-

“If your ambition is to avoid the troubles in life, the recipe is simple: shed your ambitions in every direction, cut the wings of every soaring purpose, and seek a little life with the fewest contacts and relations… Tiny souls can dodge through life; bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as men and women begin to enlarge their lives, their resistance is multiplied.” –Charles Briggs-

“This must be your retaliation—

Love and truth for hatred and lies”

—Rudolph Stier

We are a pleasing aroma

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.”

We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, and the potpourri of the land. Our very presence as Christians eases the tensest of situations and the darkest of places. A great example of this is the Christians in the Middle East who create a human barrier around Muslims who are praying.  The Holy Spirit in us works through us to shine, to liven up, to smell sweet. I am convinced that where we go, God’s power works even stronger. We are catalysts to His power and love. Likewise, we need to make sure we are rooted in good community bet spread throughout dark territory. Our homefront and our battlefront should be different places, but our time spent in each should be balanced. It is a constant motion of being filled up and poured out, filled up and poured out again. Rest is important. Service is important. Make sure you are living in a community that challenges and encourages you as well as a community that you bring life and light to.

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The God of All Comfort

The God of All Comfort

Praise be to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. He is the One who understand comfort and supplies it generously when asked. For Jesus does not promise Christians a comfortable life, but comfort itself. In this life, we will have trouble; Jesus promises it. But we know the One who is comfort, so we can face any pain or tragedy know that His grace is sufficient for us. When we are weak, then He is strong. When we are mourning (something we as Christians should learn to do), only the Lord know how to comfort. But don’t misunderstand comfort for numbness. The pain may not change, but how we use it will. Christ did not die so that his children wouldn’t suffer, but so that their sufferings would be like his. We have the opportunity for our suffering to be used to glorify the Father, to bring peace to others, to demonstrate God’s power and so on. God does not ultimately will for us to be in pain, but he does will for one more beneficial result over another where the process may include suffering. Satan on the other hand would delight to solve our problem by giving us a larger one in its place. All that we go through is designed to teach us holiness, pain included. Those who do not know God seek comfort through material things, but we know the God of all comfort. They seek alleviation from pain and maximization of pleasure, but we see the maximization of glory in pain and alleviation for unsatisfying, illusive pleasure.

Robinson Crusoe

But let’s not ignore the fact that the Lord richly blesses those who ask, according to will and with the right motives (material blessings included). If you’re reading this, you have so much to be thankful for. Think of it like this: simply look around you. How much more thankful would you be for the items in the room that you are sitting if they had been rescued from a ship wreck and washed up on the sure for your use on a stranded island like Robinson Crusoe? That cabinet over there becomes far more valuable when you see it as being saved from destruction and at your immediate use in a strange place. It seems the recognition of any blessing immediately makes one more thankful. And if you can be thankful for drink in your hand or the chair you’re sitting in, how much more thankful will you be for the richer blessings around you? We may have several things that can cause stress and instill pain or fear, but these affliction are certain to fall short of our many blessings. Instead of asking why asking why certain things are going wrong, let’s be thankful that anything at all is going right.

“Gratitude is the twin sister of contentment.” –Gary Black

We are comforted to comfort others

God comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. If you are comfortable, comfort others. If you are blessed, bless others. If you are loved, love others. But really I am just saying “comfort, bless and love others” because God has richly comforted, blessed, and loved us. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for others’ comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for others’ comfort, which produces in them a patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. Our hope is firm because we know that just as people share in our sufferings, so also they share in our comfort. Some of the most joyful people in this world have been through the most tragic and unjust situations. They have gone through the fire and come out, not even smelling of smoke. On Him we set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.

So let’s be thankful. Let’s be content. Let us comfort, bless and love others with the comfort blessings and love we ourselves have received.

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An Important Reminder

A reminder

Christ has risen! I need to remind myself of the gospel every day. By this gospel, I am saved if I hold firmly to the word. Otherwise I have believed in vain. For what I receive I pass on to others: Christ died for our sins in exact prediction to the scriptures and has risen. He appeared to more than five hundred people, most of whom were alive at the time the gospels were written. Moreover, he appeared to Paul, the greatest enemy of the gospel itself. We should remind ourselves that Christ is victorious; we are simply taking a part in his victory. The battle has already been won.

No fear in death

“Death has been swallowed up in victory! Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death, is you sting?” For to live is to enjoy Christ and make Him know, and to die is gain! When we die, we get to be with Christ, we get to see his face, we get to look upon the one we long for. Our life here is but two seconds long in the view of eternity. All pain is just a momentary affliction. I am invincible here until Christ is done with me.

What can I fear? Will it be death? But you know the Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth and all it's fullness is the Lord's. Will it be the loss of wealth? But we have brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out. Thus all the terrors in the world are contemptible in my eyes; and I smile at all it's good things. Poverty I do not fear; riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from." -Chrysostom-

So whatever you are going through, whatever affliction you are facing, know that Christ is risen. Our lives should be based around this sole event. Bad grades? Christ is risen! Death of a loved one? Christ is risen! Immense pain? Merely momentary affliction because Christ is risen! We have an unstoppable hope and an untamable joy!

The resurrection is to be the foundation of our life

If it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of us say that there is no resurrection of the dead? Or even miracles for that matter? If only by my experiences alone, believe that Christ still works supernatural miracles here and now. If Christ did not rise from the grave, then everything we do is futile. We cannot live in this shadow between “He has Risen” and “He hasn’t risen”. Either we base our sole existence of the joy the glorifying of Christ and the advancement of His kingdom or we remove all of it from our lives. There should be no in between.

“We cannot worship the suffering God today and ignore him tomorrow. We cannot eat and drink the body and blood of the passionate and compassionate God today, and then refuse to live passionately and compassionately tomorrow. If we say or sing, as we so often do, 'Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit', we thereby commit ourselves, in love, to the work of making his love known to the world that still stands so sorely in need of it. This is not the god the world wants. This is the God the world needs.” N.T. Wright

But Christ has been resurrected. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

You have never met an ordinary person

 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You do not have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body. We are eternal beings in Christ. Kingdoms, governments and this earth will pass away, but we will remain. Therefore, each individual is far more important than any civilization. Treat each other as it is so.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear blog readers (if anyone at all), stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

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Do nothing without love

Do nothing without love

Anything done without love as the foundation is worth nothing. If I speak elegantly and with more power than angels, but do not have love, I am just noise. Without love, I just get in the way. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I have to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

I want to help change other’s lives, but I must know my intentions. If I am working and serving and speaking for the sake of feeling good, or taking pride in the results, or having others think well of me, I am not doing anything worthwhile. Love must be the foundation. When I walk into a room, I want my first thought to be “What does God want to do in each and every person in this room and how can I be used to accomplish that?” I want every person I come in contact with to come in contact with the Jesus in me, not just me. I want all who come near to feel God’s love. I want to be a fire burning bright, such that others can come close and light their candles.

What does love look like?

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Replace “love” with your name. Does it still hold true? We need love to become a part of everything we do. Every person we come in contact with should see this love, not just the ones who love us. Very often we find ourselves thinking: “well they don’t like me, they haven’t done anything for me, and they keep taking and taking and taking. They don’t deserve my love”. But we should have the mindset of Jesus. We shouldn’t hold our love from others. None of us deserve love. But we have been overflowed with it by The One Who Is Love.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. I began to love myself and others as God loves me. Little boys and girls are selfish and un-sacrificial. Real men and women know how to love, for while knowledge may make a man look large, it is love that makes him grow to his full stature. Today we have too many “boys who can shave” and “little girls in makeup”. They look like adults but inwardly they are selfish and self-centered. We must grow up. We must love with an unfailing love; a love that is not self-seeking, a love that understand sacrifice and discipline.

As we come to declare our love for God, we must face the unlovely and the lovely fellow sinners whom God loves and commands us to love. It requires very little of you to love a person who is pulled together and happy. Anybody can love someone who loves them back.

 Love never fails. Trust me. The only reason we can fail is because we are lacking love. I have seen love break down walls ever so thick. Love is the great conqueror. Where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

In the second Century AD, the Romans would take anyone who was contagious with a plague and hurl them outside the city. But there were Christians going and gathering up all the sick to take care of them. They were dying in other people’s places; For them, to live was Christ and to die was gain. Do you know what happened? The Faith exploded. Why? Because they were loving people, they were saving people, they were giving up themselves fully, knowing that they are loved by God and they are secure in the kingdom. In fact, there is documentation of a governor that tried to outlaw Christians because of how they were taking care of the poor; it made him angry. “They are loving their poor and our poor, and it’s growing like wildfire.” It revealed the evil and ineffectiveness of man. If we latch back on to loving people, evangelism in America will explode again.

Love is eternal

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in perfect loving community. These three persons are in a constant state of loving, serving, and glorifying each other. This love has always existed and will always exist. God has infinite happiness not through self-centeredness, but through self-giving, other-centered love. And the only way we, who have been created in his image, can have the same joy, is if we center our entire lives around him instead of ourselves. Within God is a community of persons pouring glorifying, joyful love into one another. We were made in the image of God; we were made to be in a community, for God is community Himself. When we refuse to love others and be a part of community, we are refusing who God made us to be.

In this world, we only see love as a faint glimpse of what it truly is. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Once all things are renewed, we will no longer need faith or hope. But we will still continue to love. Might as well practice now, since we will be doing it for eternity.

Father, who do you want for me to love for you today? Let’s make it a habit to let love permeate everything we do.

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Doorways and Disciplines

Doorways and Disciplines

Spiritual Doorway: A way that you connect with God that comes natural, easy and with power. Your spiritual doorways are the methods that allow you to feel the heart of God, to delight in his goodness, to rejoice in his presence, etc.

Spiritual Discipline: A way in which you connect with God that may not come easy, but is still necessary. Spiritual disciplines don’t necessarily “feel” as good as doorways and require more work, but pay off in ways that doorways cannot.

Everyone has different doorways and disciplines.

-Relationships: Fellowship brings you close to God’s heart for those people. You feel God’s love through loving and being loved by others. You heart breaks for those closest to you. If you don’t get fellowship, you feel disconnected from the spirit. Regardless of whether this is a doorway or a discipline, every relationship you have is meant to make them more like Christ. Every relationship you have is meant to make you more like Christ.

-Intellectual: You find God through studying. Intellectual pursuit allows you to see God clearer, to hear his voice, to observe his actions. Whether you are studying how flowers are pollinated or the ancient Jewish texts or simply the bible itself, studying allows you to investigate who God is. Studying challenges both who you are and your conception of who God is. Your thoughts of how great God is expand through study.

-Worship: You come closest to God in corporate worship. You feel his presence when you are immersed in the body, singing as one voice. You feel connected to God and others when you are surrounded by a great host of praise. You catch a glimpse of heaven when you are singing, dancing, praising or what have you.

-Activist: You come closest to God in confrontation. You long for justice. You are most energized when you challenge church. You feel God’s heart when you are challenging and pushing others. In teaching and challenging, your own relationship with Christ is taken to a new level. You yearn to feed the hungry. You desire to comfort the heart-broken. You fight for the lost. You feel God’s heart when you fight for those he longs for. The Church of Jesus Christ should be passionate about the poor. God’s name is dishonored, if we let Christians go hungry. We live in a community with the blood of Christ poured on it; we have the responsibility to care for others.

 -Contemplative: You come close to God when you are alone, when you are silent, when you are in solitude. You seek God in deep and intimate prayer, where there are no distractions. It is just you and God. You sit in meditation and contemplate the greatness of God. You feel his presence and peace in being still and know He is God, He will fight for you.

-Service: You come close to God in helping others. You are energized just by setting up chairs in a room. You feel God’s delight when you are in the background and unseen. It brings you joy to bless others. By giving your love to others, God is pouring out even more love into you. It is a cycle that continues to grow and grow. Service identifies you with Jesus, the great servant.

-Creation: You are closest to God in nature, walking, reading. You see is power in the storms. You see his peace in the meadow. You feel his delight in the sunlight. You admire his creativity. You rejoice with all of his creatures.

*Prayer is not a doorway or discipline, because it should be practiced all the time. Why Pray? Communication. Lifeline. Requests. Thankfulness. Mourning. Raw Emotion. Community. Coming before the throne. Reconciliation. Shows dependence. Teaches us. Weapon. But this is a topic for another day.

We should all seek to know God, and the methods above are simple ways to understand how to do it. All of these can be abused. The one’s you’re the most comfortable with are the ones you’re going to judge others with. Just because someone else relates with God differently, doesn’t mean they are more or less connected with Christ. We are all different. You don’t need to do every discipline all the time. It should not be a burden.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 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 spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Spiritual gifts are not given for our sake, but for the sake of others. I think many of us do not use or even know about our gifts because we are simply trying to please ourselves with them. When the apostles prayed for healing and miracles and blessing, it was for the advancement of the kingdom.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Be you (as cliché as it sounds)

So often we can be envious of other’s roles in the kingdom. We can get so wrapped up in advancing the kingdom a certain way. But you cannot be anything you want to be. However, you can be everything God wants you to be. You are the only you God made. When we don’t get you, the world misses out, the kingdom misses out, the Body of Christ misses out. You need to be you. You can't be your hero, your parent, or your big brother. All you have to give is what you have been given to give. Your Father is too gracious to assign you to a life of misery.

You are a brand new idea

When you use the gifts and passions God gave you, you discover an uncommon joy. Rerelish your moments of success and satisfaction. Concentrate in who you are and what you have. At your best, who are you? When you do the most what you do best, you pop the pride buttons on the vest of God. When do you feel God's pleasure? If you am me, how can you mess you up? You were made for the part, so speak your lines with confidence. How you relate to God and his kingdom affects everything. Dread him and hate your work. Trust him and love it. Remember, no one else has your talents. No one. God elevates you from commonhood by matching your unique abilities to custom-made assignments. Don't see yourself as a product of your parents' DNA, but rather a brand new idea from heaven. 

So let’s seek God uniquely. Let’s use our gifts uniquely. Let’s be the brand new idea that God created us to be. 

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