I recently heard an incredible message by renowned Christian author, Francis Chan entitled "Passionately Loving God in a Luke-Warm Church." As I listened to his message something struck a chord inside of me, something I hadn't felt in a while: Conviction.
I've been in church my entire life. I love God with all my heart and I live to serve Him. I try my best to do all the right things, but not often do I hear a message that really hits me hard, something I've never thought of before or something that truly convicts me. I know that is really sad. I'm disgusted by it. But Francis Chan said something in his message that hit me hard, sent me to my knees in prayer.
In the very beginning of his message, his opening story, he tells about a time he was at a lakers game and they won and the crowd went wild. He said he believed that stadium was the loudest place on earth at that moment, but instead of that making him happy, it made him sad.
Imagine God looking down on that basketball arena and thinking, "yep, that's the loudest place on earth right now, but oh its OK, I mean he just sent that orange ball through that hoop and yeah, that's exciting."
WHAT!?!?!
It sounds so ridiculous doesn't it!?!?! Why on earth would that be the loudest place on earth? Why couldn't God's praise be so much louder? This thought, though I have heard it a thousand times, convicted me.
I guess lately I have felt very alone. But here's the important thought, and I just want to make it quick and simple:
Does it really even matter what anyone else is doing? Does it matter who comes and goes? Would it matter if every single person was complacent and did not care about the will of God if you did? No, it wouldn't.
And this is the anthem that is going to sing true throughout my life from here on out: No matter what anyone else does, no matter who comes and goes out of my life, no matter how complacent or Luke warm every single person I know is, I will serve the Lord. Not just averagely, but passionately, with everything that is within me, my life will glorify him, because guess what? Though people come and go, God told us He would NEVER leave us or forsake us. NEVER. and I believe Him.
I am reminded of Noah. Noah lived in a time when the earth was full of evil and sin. God looked down on the world and saw darkness, He was completely ready to destroy it, but He saw one man. ONE MAN. And because of this one man, he spared the earth, God put Noah and his family on an ark and destroyed everything else. I want to be like Noah. If no one else around me is willing to love God with everything they have, I will. When God looks down on his children and sees wickedness and darkness in this world, He will see at least one light, because I will passionately love God in this Luke-Warm world.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Confusion
Our God is not a God of confusion. I tell myself this constantly. I don't know, maybe its just me, but I feel like the whole world is confused, and I'm swimming in it. Its not something I've thought about a whole lot, but just recently I feel that God has revealed to me what a strong tactic of the enemy confusion is.
That's right, the enemy is using confusion to hinder God's people everywhere. If he can confuse us, he can stop us from doing the work of the Lord. There are so many instances I could give of confusion; I feel that there are two levels of confusion: we are confused on a personal level and we are confused as a church.
Lets first tackle the personal level. I have seen in my life and the lives of my closest friends that confusion is something Satan is throwing our way everyday. He has confused me about my relationships with other people, he has confused me about what I should do with my future, and he has confused my identity. Why would he do this? Because he knows if he can confuse me he can stall my ministry, but let me be very clear, all he is doing is stalling me, he cannot stop the will of God.
Secondly, he is confusing us as a church. I recently learned in my New Testament class that the reason the book of Matthew was written is because the church was undergoing somewhat of a identity crisis. I feel that the same thing is going on today. We have become so divided that we have strayed away from the scripture that tells us there is only one truth. We have all conceived in our minds our own versions of the truth and when there are so many different versions of the truth it becomes one thing: confusing.
How on earth are we supposed to win others to Christ when there are so many different versions of the truth? Its almost impossible.
However, we should not be dismayed by all of this. Just like any other tactic of the enemy, confusion can be fought off by prayer and fasting. God will open our eyes to the truth because, like I said before, He is not the author of confusion. Instead He is the author of peace.
More than anything, we should drill into the Word of God. It is only in his words that we find truth that cannot be shattered. This is what we read in I Timothy 4:
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving the spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.... If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Train yourselves to be godly."
This should be our prayer, that we would not be tossed by the winds of false doctrines, that we would be firm in our faith and that we would hear God's voice in our lives so that we may lead others to Christ.
That's right, the enemy is using confusion to hinder God's people everywhere. If he can confuse us, he can stop us from doing the work of the Lord. There are so many instances I could give of confusion; I feel that there are two levels of confusion: we are confused on a personal level and we are confused as a church.
Lets first tackle the personal level. I have seen in my life and the lives of my closest friends that confusion is something Satan is throwing our way everyday. He has confused me about my relationships with other people, he has confused me about what I should do with my future, and he has confused my identity. Why would he do this? Because he knows if he can confuse me he can stall my ministry, but let me be very clear, all he is doing is stalling me, he cannot stop the will of God.
Secondly, he is confusing us as a church. I recently learned in my New Testament class that the reason the book of Matthew was written is because the church was undergoing somewhat of a identity crisis. I feel that the same thing is going on today. We have become so divided that we have strayed away from the scripture that tells us there is only one truth. We have all conceived in our minds our own versions of the truth and when there are so many different versions of the truth it becomes one thing: confusing.
How on earth are we supposed to win others to Christ when there are so many different versions of the truth? Its almost impossible.
However, we should not be dismayed by all of this. Just like any other tactic of the enemy, confusion can be fought off by prayer and fasting. God will open our eyes to the truth because, like I said before, He is not the author of confusion. Instead He is the author of peace.
More than anything, we should drill into the Word of God. It is only in his words that we find truth that cannot be shattered. This is what we read in I Timothy 4:
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving the spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.... If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Train yourselves to be godly."
This should be our prayer, that we would not be tossed by the winds of false doctrines, that we would be firm in our faith and that we would hear God's voice in our lives so that we may lead others to Christ.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Seeing God's Glory at Home
To quote our favorite girl in a blue dress and red heels, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home."
Home is especially wonderful after a long hard week. I told one a my friends this past week that home is the best medicine. Its the place you can go to re-coup, get yourself together, and find healing. This past week that was exactly what I needed. By Friday afternoon I was so ready to go home, wild horses couldn't stop me. But a flat tire definitely did.
That's right, I was 30 minutes away from home and got the worst flat tire that has ever been seen. Turns out I had run over a nail about two inches long and had probably been running on a flat for a while. Not only that, but I didn't have a spare tire with me, even if I did, I wouldn't know how to change it. So I called on my wonderful grandfather who came to get me and patched the hole (as best he could) and filled up my tire with air. We were on the road home not for 10 minutes and the tire went flat again; the patch hadn't worked. This happened several times on the way home and every time I sat in the truck while my grandad filled it up once more and I tried to think of what God was trying to teach me through all of this. I got nothing.
You heard me, God wasn't really speaking anything profound to me through this whole flat tire deal. But then I began to think of the story in the gospel of John about a blind man who received his sight. The story is found in chapter nine:
"As he (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this is done that the Glory of God may be revealed in his life."
Basically his disciples were asking him, "Why did this happen?" And Jesus' answer was very simple, "For my Glory." Sometimes things happen in our lives that we really don't understand. I've always been under the impression that everything happens for a reason, but the reason is not always complex or profound. Sometimes the only reason things happen to us is simply so that God may receive the glory.
My mind goes back to the story of Ruth and Naomi in the old testament. Naomi was a faithful, God-fearing woman. She loved the Lord and was in his will, then, out of nowhere, BOOM! Her husband dies and her two sons die, and one of her daughters-in-law leave her. She lost everything. What could God possibly have been trying to teach her?
The answer: Nothing. God wasn't trying to teach her anything. He was simply using her situation to bring him glory. The rest of the story goes a little like this: Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth move back to Moab and Ruth meets a handsome man named Boaz. They get married and have a son named Obed, who has a son named Jesse. And guess what? Jesse has a son named David, who becomes king and out of whose lineage comes Jesus. Now what better way to glorify God than to be his great great great great great great great great great great great (you get the picture) great grandma?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that God isn't always trying to teach us a lesson, sometimes he just uses our situation to show us his glory.
Home is especially wonderful after a long hard week. I told one a my friends this past week that home is the best medicine. Its the place you can go to re-coup, get yourself together, and find healing. This past week that was exactly what I needed. By Friday afternoon I was so ready to go home, wild horses couldn't stop me. But a flat tire definitely did.
That's right, I was 30 minutes away from home and got the worst flat tire that has ever been seen. Turns out I had run over a nail about two inches long and had probably been running on a flat for a while. Not only that, but I didn't have a spare tire with me, even if I did, I wouldn't know how to change it. So I called on my wonderful grandfather who came to get me and patched the hole (as best he could) and filled up my tire with air. We were on the road home not for 10 minutes and the tire went flat again; the patch hadn't worked. This happened several times on the way home and every time I sat in the truck while my grandad filled it up once more and I tried to think of what God was trying to teach me through all of this. I got nothing.
You heard me, God wasn't really speaking anything profound to me through this whole flat tire deal. But then I began to think of the story in the gospel of John about a blind man who received his sight. The story is found in chapter nine:
"As he (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind? Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this is done that the Glory of God may be revealed in his life."
Basically his disciples were asking him, "Why did this happen?" And Jesus' answer was very simple, "For my Glory." Sometimes things happen in our lives that we really don't understand. I've always been under the impression that everything happens for a reason, but the reason is not always complex or profound. Sometimes the only reason things happen to us is simply so that God may receive the glory.
My mind goes back to the story of Ruth and Naomi in the old testament. Naomi was a faithful, God-fearing woman. She loved the Lord and was in his will, then, out of nowhere, BOOM! Her husband dies and her two sons die, and one of her daughters-in-law leave her. She lost everything. What could God possibly have been trying to teach her?
The answer: Nothing. God wasn't trying to teach her anything. He was simply using her situation to bring him glory. The rest of the story goes a little like this: Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth move back to Moab and Ruth meets a handsome man named Boaz. They get married and have a son named Obed, who has a son named Jesse. And guess what? Jesse has a son named David, who becomes king and out of whose lineage comes Jesus. Now what better way to glorify God than to be his great great great great great great great great great great great (you get the picture) great grandma?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that God isn't always trying to teach us a lesson, sometimes he just uses our situation to show us his glory.
Monday, February 8, 2010
When Life Gets Icy... I need my Daddy
Last weekend was one of treacherous weather for those of us living in southern Kentucky. I know I have written about the weather here in some of my previous posts, but seriously, its crazy! I just can't help but talk about it.
So last weekend it snowed about 8 inches at my house. Unfortunately for me, when it started snowing I was at school. My mom was freaking out. For the first time in my life she gave me permission to skip class and come home. Of course, this was the one time I couldn't do that. I had a quiz in one of my classes and test prep in another. By the time I was done with classes the snow had already begun to stick.
Since it rarely ever snows here, I have absolutely no experience driving in that kind of weather. Therefore, my parents had devised a plan to get me home safely. I would drive as far as I could and then my grandad and dad would drive up and meet me, one of them driving my truck home. Of course, I've never really been good at accepting help, not even from my own family, and I thought I could make it home on my own. And I did... for the most part.
Somewhere along the road I ended up passing my grandad and dad, and I was driving a little faster than they were, I mean, the roads didn't really look that bad. However, the closer I got to home, the scarier the roads got. When I turned onto the road that leads to my house, my little pick up (with absolutely no weight in the back) started sliding all over the road and I started freaking out. So I pulled over in the closest driveway and called my dad to come rescue me. He was there before I could even get my wits together, and he got me home safely.
Here's the thing. Sometimes we find ourselves away from our spiritual "home." We're out on our own, doing our own thing when the storm hits. All of the sudden we realize how important it is we go home, but most of the time, the storm has already done its damage. So what do we do? We go it alone, thinking we can make it home on our own knowledge. But we can't! We so desperately need help to make it home, even more than that we need our heavenly father, He is the only one who can really rescue us and bring us home.
So last weekend it snowed about 8 inches at my house. Unfortunately for me, when it started snowing I was at school. My mom was freaking out. For the first time in my life she gave me permission to skip class and come home. Of course, this was the one time I couldn't do that. I had a quiz in one of my classes and test prep in another. By the time I was done with classes the snow had already begun to stick.
Since it rarely ever snows here, I have absolutely no experience driving in that kind of weather. Therefore, my parents had devised a plan to get me home safely. I would drive as far as I could and then my grandad and dad would drive up and meet me, one of them driving my truck home. Of course, I've never really been good at accepting help, not even from my own family, and I thought I could make it home on my own. And I did... for the most part.
Somewhere along the road I ended up passing my grandad and dad, and I was driving a little faster than they were, I mean, the roads didn't really look that bad. However, the closer I got to home, the scarier the roads got. When I turned onto the road that leads to my house, my little pick up (with absolutely no weight in the back) started sliding all over the road and I started freaking out. So I pulled over in the closest driveway and called my dad to come rescue me. He was there before I could even get my wits together, and he got me home safely.
Here's the thing. Sometimes we find ourselves away from our spiritual "home." We're out on our own, doing our own thing when the storm hits. All of the sudden we realize how important it is we go home, but most of the time, the storm has already done its damage. So what do we do? We go it alone, thinking we can make it home on our own knowledge. But we can't! We so desperately need help to make it home, even more than that we need our heavenly father, He is the only one who can really rescue us and bring us home.
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