Category Archives: 4 Stream Blog

Putting Christ Above All Else

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The Great Commission calls on us to go and make disciples.  What do you think about when you think discipleship?  For many it can be about going about and witnessing to others, sharing the Gospel, walking in fellowship with others, sharing ones testimony to the faith.  These are all critical aspects of discipleship.  It is partnering with others in a way that allows them to learn to grow in their own faith and walk in close relationship with Jesus.

In Luke 14:26-27, Jesus tells us something very profound about discipleship.  He says, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers’ and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”  This gave me something really profound to meditate on and think about when reading these versus.  What is real discipleship and what is is that Christ desires in us in becoming His disciples?

A definition of discipleship is “a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.”  So discipleship is following another to learn from them and grow through the process.  This is what Jesus is talking about about and this is the most critical aspect of discipleship.  Learning to walk with God in closeness.  Putting Him above all else and desiring an intimacy with Him that will allow you to grow even more on a spiritual level.  This is so critical to all of us.  Learning to walk with God, desiring that closeness with Jesus that allows us to grow from His life and allow His life to shine through our own.

I know I’m repeating myself, but of the 4 Streams, this is the foundation of it all.  Discipleship.  Walking in close intimacy with Jesus.  This is what He had with his boys.  He chose guys that were a wreck, but through their choosing to put Christ first and to follow Him, they learned from Him.  They learned to walk in closer fellowship and to draw nearer to God, eventually at Pentecost, being filled with the Holy Spirit to take the Good News across the world so others could also learn about Jesus and desire that same intimacy and discipleship in Walking with God.  This is critical.

As I mentioned from Luke 14, Jesus desires that we love Him first, above all else.  We cannot love things of this world more and still be His disciple and walking with Him.  It doesn’t work that way.  He came to free us from the bondage of this world, so that we may be able to see the Father and be given free access to the Father through Him.  The Father’s desire is to walk with all of us, but we must choose Him first.  We must choose God first.

Mark 1:17, Jesus says to Simon and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”  That’s the key to it all.  If we choose to follow Jesus, if we choose Him first and to walk with Him, He will use us for the Glory of the Father.  Walked with these guys for about 3 years.  Now, we have accounts of many things Jesus did during this time with them, but just think of the level of wisdom and teaching He bestowed about on the disciples.  In other words, choosing to follow God and walk with Him, does not make you the ultimate in wisdom in witnessing and teaching right off the bat.  It starts small.  How many times during those 3 years, did Jesus have to correct these guys.  Like I said, they were a wreck.

The choice, however, must be to be willing to put Him first.  To want a level of discipleship with God that allows you to learn through Him.  He will teach you and will use others to teach you along the way.  That’s the world He began in me this year.  It’s not an overnight thing, but choosing to put Him above all else has now put me in a position to where I can learn through discipleship with Him and those that He places in my life to help guide me in His name and glory.  God has placed to some awesome men in my life and the walk that is going to take place for His sake and His alone is going to be tremendous.  He is equipping me according to His purpose and He wants to do the same for everyone of you, if you are willing to turn to Him and place Him above all else in your life.

“Let this be thy whole endeavor, this thy prayer, this thy desire,–that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.” –Thomas à Kempis

Where Does Your Story Fit?

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Our life is one big story.  There are so many things in our lives that make up the person we choose to become and the decisions and directions we choose to go.  In my counseling studies the past couple of weeks, I’ve written a series of essays around human development and the impact of things such as trauma, abuse, and addiction to development.  These things that cause deep seeded wounds in each of and if not addressed can drastically impact where our story leads.  Larry Crabb provided that in the pursuit of satisfaction, people will often exchange one error for another in trying to find what feels good.  It’s often an issue of trying to cope with the problems and not knowing where it is they fit in the world due to the pains they have suffered.  This suffering is not new to any of us. We all have fallen and have been faced with tough choices and decisions that have drawn from wounds we have suffered.

All of this is very interesting to think about because I know people, myself included, that have gone through sufferings and struggles in life and unsure of where they fit and what purpose their story has in it all.  What do you make of everything that happens and how are our choices influenced by what we know in life.  Then one day, I realized something.  I realized that my life and story is simply a small section or even paragraph in the grand epic story of God.  He is the real hero of the story that we all belong to.  Then I realized that it was not even my story, but His.  I belong to the Father now and ransomed by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, I now get to live my life through the life of Christ.  I found out that all the things I purposed of this world were meaningless and futile if the motives did not come out of faith.  Ecclesiastes 2:11 says, “But as I looked at everything that I had world so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless–like chasing the wind.”  A new purpose and direction was shown to me.

This may seem a bit deep for some, but I often think about life in this way now.  For years, probably the first 33 years of my life, I didn’t realize where my story fit.  Yes, I knew the faith on a surface level, but I never sought to know Christ deeply and pursued things that I thought were going to bring me satisfaction in this life.  I had a false sense of life and the story I lived and direction I was headed.  I stayed lost in myself and my sin.  God began to wake me up nearly 4 years ago around my 33rd birthday.  He struck my curiosity to really try to know Him better and develop and deeper faith.

Fast forward 3 years, just turning 36 and I could feel the Spirit stirring in me again, and this time on a deeper level.  Deeper than anything I had ever noticed before.  I began to really see my life and who I was to the Father.  I was not going to let myself get caught up in a religious fog, but rather get to know Him and finally realized who I was as His son, bought through the redemptive blood of Christ.  I learned a critical thing that I had never been open to.  I found out why I was created.  Having fully surrendered my life, God revealed to me why.  He showed me that I am His beloved son, that I had what it takes to live out my life as a reborn warrior, and was now calling me to be a warrior for the Kingdom.

It was awesome having my thoughts around all of this, and then at worship yesterday, my pastor, Tim Cash, shared a great Mark Twain quote.  “The two most important days in your live are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”  I heard that, I was like, YES!  It’s like an awakening when I was able to truly see who I was in Christ and what it was I created for.

But, now that I realize this.  Now that I know who I am in Christ.  Now that I know that I am bought and justified through God’s grace with the goal of reaching glorification when I enter the Kingdom, there was no way in the world that I could sit by and not do something about it.  How can you?  When you know your purpose and where you fit in God’s story, how can you simply ignore Him when He calls?  I was no longer going to do that.  I belong to the Father now, and through the full works of Christ, I get to live my life in this light. While I know I won’t get it all right, I pray that my life stands as a reflection of Christ to others.  We should all pursue this. God is calling on everyone of us.  It just took me 36 years to FINALLY act on it.

You Have an Enemy That Fears You

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As many of you know, a great deal of what I write walks in the message of Ransomed Heart Ministries.   This ministry, along with my awesome church family, has been an intricate part of my rebirth and learning to walk with God fully, without compromise and unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  2015 has truly been the year of the Lord’s favor in my life.  God took hold of my heart in the mountains of Colorado and transformed me for good, more than I had ever thought possible or hoped for.  Is the transition done, no, but I now know where I stand in God’s epic story.  When I see Ransomed Heart’s daily readings, which are excerpts from various books, it is a daily reminder of who I am and of the great battle and story we live in.

There’s something very substantial about giving your life over to God that simply strikes fear into the enemy.  When God’s glory shines through us and we stand a beacon of light in a world of darkness, the enemy just fears us.  In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge says, “You are not what you think you are. There is a glory to your life that your Enemy fears, and he is hell-bent on destroying that glory before you act on it.” The stronger we stand on the Word of God and the closer we draw to an intimate relationship with Him, the more the enemy will try to destroy any part of that relationship.  Satan planned to go after what is most drawn to God’s heart, His own children.  His creation.  He wants to destroy that and when we pull closer to God, the more the enemy will try to strike us.  We are warned of this ongoing battle.  Jesus tells us the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy.  Peter tells believers that the enemy is prowling looking for someone to devour.  This is an ongoing threat to the believer and the stronger your faith, the more you have to battle.

I don’t take this lightly.  You can see the enemy everywhere trying to influence this world, trying to destroy the hearts of men and of God’s children.  Through our pain, we can find the salvation that is in Christ, but even when we find that salvation, the pressure remains strong on us.  The enemy knows the hearts of men and knows it can be easily swayed.  This is where it becomes very important to stay equipped with the armor of God everyday.  To be prepared to face the spiritual warfare that abounds.

Just this week, I was faced with a situation that brought a great deal of anger and emotion. Being armored up with the Father, allowed me to see this attack for what it was.  The enemy was trying to take me out.  It could have been very easy and still would be very easy to deal with the situation in a way full of rage and anger.  This would have probably been the case previously.  I stopped what I was doing, dove into the Word, and sat in prayer alone and then with my wife.  I never felt stronger afterwards.  Yes, I was angry, but I knew I had to change how I managed the situation and my heart.  I was not going to allow the enemy to take me out in that way.

You see folks, the enemy fears us.  He sends his demons into our lives on a regular basis.  We have to be strong enough to recognize this, to bring the Cross of Jesus Christ between you and whatever is attacking you, and be diligent in guarding your heart from attack.  Spiritual Warfare is very real and is a part of life every day life whether we choose to accept it or not.  It is there.  The enemy fears the heart of anyone walking with God, so will try to attack it, sometimes viciously.  How you respond is your choice.  As I heard Eldredge say before, we get to the life of Jesus through 1,000 small choices.  Those choices make a difference on how we respond to the enemies attacks and if we choose to let it take us.  Jesus always stood firm on who He is as the Son of God.  Through Jesus we are now adopted into the Kingdom and can choose to stand firm on who we are in Christ.  We do not have to give in.  Be stronger and the enemy will fear you that much more.

“The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift up our hearts to God.” – Jim Cymbala

Hearing God In the Midst Of Daily Life

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It seems strange.  We’re only 1 month into what is officially summer on the calendar and yet my kids are getting ready to start back to school at the end of this week and next week.  It’s a very strange feeling to have what is summer vacation come to an end so quickly.  Anyway, I pray everyone has had a great summer.  For us, it has been a wild and busy summer.  For us, summer is usually marked with baseball and softball tournaments.  We spend a great deal of time running around with our kids to allow them to pursue what it is they love.  We also had the opportunity to take our oldest to visit the college he is hoping to attend a year from now.

In all of that busyness, we’ve tried to make sure we have down time as a family.  Time to get to the beach for an escape or just spend time vegging a home, fishing, or whatever else we may do.  It can certainly wear on you over time, but I love every bit of it as long as our kids love what it is their pursing and do.  I know we’re not the only ones that are faced with such busy lives.  I know plenty that do way more than we do.

We get faced with a challenge when it comes to these busy times.  Still being able to walk with God and hear Him through all of the noise and chaos of the busy life.  This has become a very important part of my life and I know that through the chaos, I need to able to focus on the Lord.  Not just on occasion, but daily.  He helps me to put it all back into focus.  To clear my brain and ensure I do my best to keep Him first in my daily life.  I find when I don’t, it can be real easy to fall away.

In the Sacred Romance, John Eldredge and Ben Curtis share, “God is not “out there somewhere” in some dramatic way, waiting to commune with us by earthquake or fire or signs in the sky. Instead, he desires to talk with us in the quietness of our own heart through his Spirit, who is in us. It is his voice that has whispered to us about a Sacred Romance.”  We have to learn to stop and listen for Him in our hearts.  To discern His voice from all of the other clutter that tries to flood our hearts and our minds everyday.

I’ve shared this before, and some of you may do this, but one of the best ways I have found to lock onto God each day is to start my morning in conversation and prayer with Him first thing, before I do anything else.  When all else is quite around you, and before the clutter of the day begins to flood your mind, this is such a great time to just meditate on the Word, journal my thoughts, and just pray.  It’s sets the pace for the whole day.  So through the busy life of the summer months, I have found it important to start my mornings this way.  If I don’t, and there are some mornings where I’ve missed my morning meeting with God, it weighs on me through the day and I feel like I am not as equipped and armored for the day.

Throughout our year, we are faced with such busy lives.  We keep on going day in and day out.  We may forget that we need that time with God to hear Him, talk with Him, and walk with Him.  He desires this from each of us.  To be an intimate part of our lives as His children.  The stream of Walking with God in discipleship sets the pace for everything else in our lives and the other 3 streams.  It enables us to armor for the spiritual warfare we face, to hear God’s counsel for our lives, and know the deep restoration that is offered through Jesus.  All 4 streams are important, but we need this one to really set the tone.

Find a way in our daily life to hear God and talk with Him.  Just you and Him.  It is possible to find that time if we are just willing to do so.  The rest of the world can wait.  I promise you that.  There is nothing so important in this life that it should distract you from an intimate and conversational relationship with God.  He wants that intimacy with you and we need to allow Him to come in.  Don’t let busyness and task after task run your life ahead of that.

“Whether or not God will speak to and through you, and how often, depends largely on how regular you are in making time for personal communion with God and on how faithful you are in submitting yourself to Him and waiting for Him.” – Basilea Schlink

Unearned Freedom Given Out of Love

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Paul tells us something very substantial in Galatians 5:1; “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don’t get tied up in slavery to the law.”  This freedom that was given to us, unearned and unmerited is something so huge and substantial to our lives, but for us and our fallen nature we still can’t fully fathom and understand the depths of this freedom.  We still live lives that try to jump through religious hoops and trying to keep up with the world and a false sense of who we are.  We continue hiding, feeling ashamed if we stand out in the world on our faith and in the freedom given in Christ.

In his book, Beautiful Outlaw, a book that I highly, highly recommend, John Eldredge shares something substantial about the extraordinary freedom in Christ.  He says, “How much of what we do is motivated by fear of man?  Think of it – to be entirely free of false guilt, free from pressure, from false allegiances.  It would be absolutely extraordinary.  This is what gives Jesus the ability to say such startling honest things to people.”  Think about this.  Jesus is able to, without any fear, stare right back at the religious leaders and call them out for their hypocrisy.  Jesus is able to rebuke Peter saying, “get away from me Satan” when Peter talks of not allowing Jesus to die.  He clears the temple with a whip in hand causing utter chaos when he sees they turned the temple into a market place.  Those are just a few examples.  Jesus is direct and free from the feeling of guilt for being straight-up and honest with everyone.  He does not worry about this world.  Does not worry about what people think.  He is free from that.  He knows who He is.  He knows His purpose from the Father and set out to fulfill that purpose.

Eldredge adds something else to this.  “Neither success nor opposition have power over him.  One day the crowds love Him, the next they are shouting for his crucifixion.  Jesus in the same man – the same personality – through the whole swirling tempest. Jesus is free from the fear of man.  It is something more than integrity, though it certainly encompasses that.  He is true to himself, true to His Father, true to what the moment most requires, true to love.  In this forest of fig leaves, where you are never sure you are getting the true person, there is nothing false about Jesus.”

This is so substantial for all of us.  Jesus is the second Adam.  He is the example of what man was meant to be and how we were meant to live, with a life fully surrendered and fixed on the will of the Father.  Our world has fallen so much and this is what Jesus came for.  To set us free from our fallen self.  To set us free from sin, this world, death, judgement, and the evil one.

How much greater our lives would be if we could just put aside our worry about what the world thinks.  Free from the pressures of what going with the crowd.  Free from the religious non-sense that Jesus also confronted and tore the veil to free us from, but man through the enemies influence has tried to keep strong and keep a veil between us and the Father.  How much greater this life would be.

The beauty of it all is that we can choose to live this way.  The choice is ours to make. We can choose Jesus and choose to follow His lead seeking the Father’s will.  We are free and alive in Christ and we don’t have to be slaves to this world and to our sin.  My challenge to everyone is to choose to come alive.  Choose to live in the freedom and holiness that Jesus brought us and has given us.  We no longer have to bow to this world.  He don’t have to feel pressured by false guilt given by others to live how others think we should.  Seek God the Father’s will in all that you do and He will show you the freedom that is yours in Christ.

It’s an amazing feeling to know the freedom I have in Christ.  I know the freedom I can now live in and not subject myself to the will of others.  I live for my God alone through the freedom that was undeserved but is freely mind in Christ.  It is available to all of us who choose to accept it.  I will fight for this freedom everyday day as we all should.  Live in freedom!

My Identity is Found In Christ Alone

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What defines you?  Where do you get your identity from as the driving force of how you live your life?  I used to to question this for myself for many years.  I questioned my purpose, questioned my being, and what it was I am here for.  I also used to to think that my identity as a man was bent purely on my ability to work hard to make more money to support my family.  It seemed like this was going to be the call of my life to just work and achieve “success” in that light.  I was blinded for many years unsure of who I was or not wanting to come face to face with the false-self I had created in my brokenness.

I’ve discovered a new Truth however.  My life is not defined by my career successes, it’s not defined by how much money I can make, it’s not defined by my social status in any light.  No…my identity as a man is found in Jesus Christ and Him alone.  My first identity through Christ is son.  I have been adopted, into sonship with the Father through Christ, as all of you have who have come to real faith in Jesus.  As Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 1 verse 5, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention His will.”  God identified me as his son through Jesus and in Him I am alive.

1 John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” It all hinges on our faith in Christ.  Our willingness to accept Him and all His works.  We have the life of Christ in us if we accept Him in our life.  If we don’t, as John said, we do not have life.  This is what I can say Christ has done for me.  I see this world and God’s epic story in such a different light now.  Before it was through blinded vision.  I was dead.  I saw only what this world had to offer and although I knew of Christ and believed to a certain degree.  Augustine said, “He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent,” however, I never opened the door of my heart to Christ who was there for years pounding away hoping I would let Him in.  I didn’t listen for a long time nor give my consent to come in.

Now that I have opened the door for Christ, it is through Him alone that I am made new and made the man I am meant to be.  My old self is now dead.  As Paul said in Romans 6:6, “…our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we no longer are slaves to sin.”

I will never let anything else in this world define me in any way.  My identity is now found in Christ and Christ alone.  As the song says, “In Christ alone, my hope is found.”  I look to Him for every aspect of my life.  I look for His guidance through the Holy Spirit.  I know now that I am no longer dead, I am alive.  I pray the same for your life.  I pray that you will allow Christ to enter your heart.  He wants to come in.  Christ says in Revelation 3:20,”Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”  Christ is asking that we open our hearts to Him now.  He came so that our hearts could be restored and made new, but it is purely by our choice.

Never let this world define you.  Never let your circumstances, your job or lack there of, your home situation, your friends, or anyone around you define who you are.  If you open your heart to Christ and are sanctified in Him, He is who identifies you in sonship and as a saint.  It through Him alone that we have life.  I will live my life in this way as a son of the Father raised to a new life through my Big Brother, Jesus Christ and restored in union with the Father.

We Were Never Meant To Fight Alone

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Life is a constant battlefield that continually tries to make us slip up.  Everywhere we turn, there is a new battle to be fought with an enemy that tries every single day to take us out.  Do you recognize this?  Do you see the battle that is before us?  It’s very real.  Don’t believe me?  Just look at all the pain, suffering, and sorrow that is going on this world.  Look at your life.  I can guarantee you that every single one of us has had to deal with struggles of all types.  Some seem so small, while we more readily recognize the major things that come along.  Either way, we are in constant battle.  There’s no use denying it.  It’s real.  God reveals it in His Word through his 66 book love letter that shows everything God does to restore the hearts of man to Himself.

In Waking the Dead, John Eldredge shared that, “Any movement toward freedom and life, any movement toward God or others, will be opposed. Marriage, friendship, beauty, rest—the thief wants it all.”  From A.W. Tozer, Eldredge added, “So, it becomes the devil’s business to keep the Christian’s spirit imprisoned. He knows that the believing and justified Christian has been raised up out of the grave of his sins and trespasses. From that point on, Satan works that much harder to keep us bound and gagged, actually imprisoned in our own grave clothes. He knows that if we continue in this kind of bondage. . . we are not much better off than when we were spiritually dead.”

This war and daily battle is real and the closer you draw to God in your faith, the harder the enemy will push at you to try to take you out.  William Gurnall added that, “It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this at which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons.”

With this battle that is going on, even when I recognized it, I used to try to deal with it alone.  Living life as a lone ranger, I never shared my struggles with people, except maybe my wife.  But even with the ability to share with her, that wasn’t enough.  I found that I needed more.  I needed to build real, solid, Christ-filled connections with others that also recognized this battle and with whom I could do life and reach out too for prayer and added weaponry in the arsenal of God.  We are not meant to fight through our battles alone.  Yes there are things that require complete solitude and one-on-one connection and intimacy with God.  God made us for intimacy and closeness with Him, not to just wander the world aimlessly.  We also need others to do life with.  For men, we need other men that we can connect with and live out the masculine journey of our lives with.  Women need the same connection with other women for the feminine journey.  I’m so grateful that God opened my heart to this reality.

This year, God has allowed me to make so real connections with other men.  Not just surface level friendships, but real, Christ driven connections.  You want to talk about a game changer.  I’ve written about the awesome guys I connected with at Wild At Heart.  That was just the beginning.  Getting to continue those friendships, is something I look forward to.  Now with that, I can already see the enemy trying to infiltrate and pull us away.  It becomes easier and easier with time to go back to what you were used to and if we are not careful, the enemy will set up shop in those agreements that we just have too much going on, or we’re busy this month, how about next month.  This includes me.  I’ve been guilty here too.

I had lunch today with a gentleman that ran across this blog through Ransomed Heart ministries Allies Network.  It was great to make this connection and prayerfully we’ll get to hang again and be able to do life walking in this ministry and message that we both believe in.  That being said, it was a huge reminder for of just how important it is to keep those connections.  We need those friendships.  Proverbs 4:23, God tells us to guard our hearts above all else.  This will determine the course of our life.  Having those friendships and real masculine connections enables me to better guard my masculine heart and keep the enemy from taking me out.  I can’t do it all alone.

Don’t deny the battle that we face.  It is very real and if we are not careful, the enemy is there to take us out in an instant.  Don’t try to go through the battlefield alone, either.  Recognize that we are made for intimacy with God and with each other.  We need people in our lives to walk in the faith.  I liken it to games like Call of Duty where you can earn your way to be stronger and withstand more.  Connecting with and doing life with people gives you added strength to the armor that God has given us, should we accept it.  I’m not saying just make friends with everyone because then the armor can get weaker the more you stretch it out.  You have to keep it tight.  Even Jesus had His 12 boys and then His inner circle from there of Peter, John and James who got to witness the transfiguration.

You need that round table of men, or women for you ladies.  I may be a broken record in this, but I cannot not talk about it over and over, because I feel it is such a central part of our faith and being able to stand strong and resist the devil.  It can’t all be done alone.

Why Are You Scared To Be Different?

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There is so much pressure in this world today to get along.  To follow along with what everyone else thinks.  To believe as they do.  We have become a society filled with robots who have lost who they are and try live a life that’s under the radar and as long as they can get along, then all is well.  There is so much fear to be different.  So much fear to stand up and be alive.  I’ve been reflecting on this the past few days.  I was reflecting on my own life and how I lived a life that just wanted to get along.  To live secure in the world I knew and tried to be good husband and dad while working to make a success out of myself.

God revealed something to me though.  I was walking down an ice covered road in the mountains of Colorado and He showed me that I have spent way too much time staying on the wide open path that the world had laid out before me.  I was spending too much time on the simple road with my eyes closed to God and blinded by a world that made it okay minimize my faith.  He had been spending the past few years tugging on my heart, but I did not listen fully.  I knew I needed to change, but I was scared.  Scared of the worlds response and what that would mean for my family and me.

I realize this year what I was being called to do and I had to realize that I could no longer live a life of fear of what others would think.  I am now working on transforming my entire life including eventually leaving a career I have spent 15 years building to counsel and disciple for the Kingdom.  I realized that I could no longer ignore the calling of God.  When He calls, you have to go.  It is a calling that has become way too strong.

With that said, making this change has had its challenges.  Try telling people your making a change because God called you and they look at you like you have lobsters crawling out of your ears.  There are many that are just as pumped as I am, but there are instances of those that just don’t get it.  Often times, especially if it’s people closer you can easily fall back.  The enemy tried many times to get me to stop this change.  I have spent many days calling to God bring the Cross of Jesus over my life to take on this battle.  It’s spiritual warfare at its finest and the enemy will use even those close to you to try to stop you.

This world and the enemy will continually try to assault our identity and who we are in the Lord.  Look at Jesus.  The greatest assault against Him was on his identity from His time in the wilderness being tempted by the devil, to his battles with the religious elite.  A constant assault.  Coming into faith with Christ and being called as God’s sons, we now face an assault on our identity in this world and from Satan as well.   We have to fear to not live in fear and not fear to be different than what those in this world expect of you.

So I ask, what fears do you have?  Are you scared to be different?  If so, why?  Do you feel the calling and the urging of God on your heart, but not sure what to do with it?  I tell you this, its not easy to move away from the norms of life.  It can be very difficult and painful. You have to learn to stop being defense and let Christ be your advocate in life.  Surrender to Him and learn to live a life where your motives are driven by your faith in Him.  Don’t make agreements with the enemy that you can’t live out your story in Christ.  Those agreement include telling yourself that you can’t change or that you just need to be happy where you are even if you feel in your heart that God is calling you out.  Don’t let him deceive you.  That’s his game.

Don’t be scared to be different.  Don’t be afraid to stand on faith against all else to live for God’s full glory.

“Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks to God alone; Laughs at impossibilities, And cries it shall be done.” –  Charles Wesley

Through It All, My Eyes Stay Fixed

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I have lived through many challenges over the course of my life.  Many of them are from my own decisions and others through circumstances and struggles that come through the result of others.  It’s a mix bag as it is for all of us.  Many of these challenges resulted in my own wounds and sins, some that festered for years and years, although I became good at hiding behind my false self.  Jesus did something in me though.  He brought me to the end of myself.  He brought me to the end of my self-reliance and self-righteousness.  I realized that no matter what I struggle with and what may come in the future, I can stay present in the presence of Jesus Christ and in his holiness and righteousness.  I can now thankfully say that I am dead to myself, to sin, to my flesh, and to the enemy.

Now with that said, we know very well there will be continued strife in this life.  Continued trouble.  Continued bouts with evil, with the flesh, and this world.  There’s a realization I’ve learned and now feel it whenever these things encounter me again, I can stay remained fixed on Jesus and bring all His works over my life.  His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  His life is the example we have of how to live a life fully fixed on God and for His glory and His glory alone.  His death on the cross is the atonement for all of our sin as He willingly shed His blood for us to bring us forgiveness for our wins.  His resurrection brings us to a new life as Jesus conquered death being raised to a new life and now we are alive to God through Him. His ascension to the Father’s right hand gave Jesus full authority over the heavens and earth and Satan has been cast down so we now can live in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Think about all of those elements.  It is simply amazing and powerful.  Because of all His works, we can now live free from the struggles of this world.  By this I mean, we can now live a life that is fixed on Jesus above all and we can bring Him and all His work over our lives.  So through all the struggles of this world, we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and we can live free.  He is the one and only answer for all that we face in this life.  As the song says, in Christ alone, my hope is found.

Augustine stated that, “Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without Grace.”  This is powerful.  We are alive through God’s undeserved Grace.  Paul said in Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.” It has been revealed through Jesus and all His works.  Without Jesus, we are nothing in this life.  What would the point of anything if we did not have faith of the hope of the grace and love that is anchored in Christ alone.  So many people try to figure out there life and their circumstances on their own and are lost to the hope of in Jesus Christ.  It can’t be done.  Maybe temporary, but in the end, without being fixed on Jesus you will eventually fall right back.

Keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus through everything we encounter now is the only hope I have left in this life and let me tell you; it’s all I need.  Having a God that is willing to walk with me through all of my pains and struggles of this fallen life gives me so much joy and hope.  I know the inheritance that awaits in Jesus and I pray I can cross into eternity be able to hear “well done faithful servant.”  So thankful to have been called into service for the Kingdom and with my heart and eyes on Jesus I am ready to take it on.

I know what it is like to not live my life with eyes on Jesus.  It’s empty.  I have lived there in this life and I never want to go back there again.  Jesus has brought me to life and I can live my life through Him now with the armor and strength to take on the evil of this world and whatever the enemy will try to through my way.

So look to Jesus in your life and through all that you struggle with.  When you learn to let go of yourself and live for Him, it is a game changer.  Choose to be a game changer.  Choose to be different than whatever anyone in this world tells you.  He is all that matters.  All eyes on Jesus.

“Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.”  – Theodore Epp

A Much Needed Disconnect and Reconnect

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It’s felt strange not writing at all these past couple of weeks.  I just returned with my family from some much needed rest at the beach.  For my family and me, the gulf coast is like a second home.  That is our typical escape from the busyness of everyday life.  I look at this time as a moment to let go and just live, enjoying being in the presence of the Lord.  Being able to wake up each morning and on the waters edge, looking out over the expansive waters of the Gulf, it reminds me of just how small we are in God’s larger creation and larger story.  All the while, despite how small we are, God pursues us and loves each of us just the same.  Psalm 23:3, “He restores my soul.”

I recall being in Colorado earlier this year and being able to, for the first time, letting go and unplugging.  This time around, I tried to do the same, leaving my phone in our room when we went on the beach.  Not wanting to be bogged down with social media or news or anything else.  It’s still amazing to me how difficult that becomes for us these days.  To let go of our shackles that is our phones and connections and just live.  I did my best to do that this time around and it was very freeing.  It truly gave me a chance to let go for a bit.

I just can’t stress how important it is to let go.  To unplug and get away from the routines of life.  We all get so bogged down and busy that many of us just find it impossible to get away, let alone unplug from the matrix.  I was finishing up one of my first classes and writing a paper relating this issue of a counselor, while successful getting near the edge of burnout and abruptly taking a vacation.  Reaching burnout can affect your judgement as I have studied, so we have to take the time to take care of ourselves.  Take care of ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally.  We need our time to just let our minds break free and not think about work and our buys lives for a bit.  A week hardly seems like enough, but when we can, we need to do this.

This week, I also reconnected deeper with the Lord.  Getting to just spend more time in Scripture and prayer than I’ve allowed myself too sometimes was amazing.  I have loved being more connect with Him and this week away allowed me more time to dive deeper into that connection with Him.  We face so much in this world and there is so much chaos around us, but just knowing that God is there always and has always been the same as he was and will always be the same, is awesome.  I know I can always go to Him and he will restore me; spirit, soul, and body, heart mind, and will.

Thankful for the time I had with my family on vacation.  Would love to have more of that time, but I am pumped to restored and renewed for what is to come.  Ready to dive back in.