Category Archives: Walking with God

Subtle Reminders

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I love getting up each and every morning and getting to talk and walk with God and then open up his Word for whatever He has to reveal to me there that day.  It’s so hopeful in my growth and journey with the Lord.  This week was no exception to this.  While there seems to be a thousand things going on at one time each day, I am grateful for what God has opened my heart to this week in His Word, throughout my counseling studies, and in our lives in general.

I was writing response to a discussion question last night in one of my classes.  The topic was in writing out a treatment plan for a case study that integrated the use of Scripture and prayer. One thing that the Lord reminded me of through this writing and in the research around the question was that no matter how much I think I may know from my studies of the Word and experiences, I will never know everything.  I have to remember to humble myself in the fact that I do not and will not ever have all of the answers.  It requires the need to be receptive to what God may want to reveal and allow the Holy Spirit to come into any situation to guide us through.

This reminder was so huge and very humbling.  It can be so easy to become prideful in what we learn through consistent study.  We all encounter those people that are very prideful in their knowledge and appear to know all of the answers to everything.  First, this is impossible and when it comes to our faith and biblical knowledge, our knowledge and interpretation is so fallible and there is always the potential to jack up meaning and teaching.  This makes it important to continue being receptive to knew knowledge.  I’ve said before, every time open the Word, I feel like I learn something new, if not at least reminded of something important.

2-corinthians-1-3-4One more reminder that came through this week came as I began my study of 2 Corinthians the other morning.  Right out of the gate, Paul writes referring to the Father as “...the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NASB).  This was huge to me reminding me that the Father is the source of all comfort  and mercy.  As a developing Christian counselor and really when it comes to helping anyone with their pain, wounds, and struggles, it is vital to remember to seek our comfort and healing from the Father through Christ so that we can help others in the same light.  We cannot do this all ourselves.  Just as I wrote before, we do not and will not ever have all of the answers.

I’m so thankful for these things that God has continued to remind me about as I go about my days and with the constant chaos that comes with each passing day.  We are never beyond learning as we continued to grow and be sanctified in Christ daily and saints in the Body.  As Paul wrote, He is “…able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Ephesians 3:20 NASB).  Christ is the power working within us if we open ourselves up to allow Him to work within us and through us.

Have You Discovered Your Spiritual Gifts?

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We all have gifts.  Gifts that we are born with and given by God.  The beauty of it all is that each of our gifts is different from the next person.  We have a purpose in glorifying God and He has blessed us with specific gifts that enable us to further do work for His kingdom, to glorify Him, and help lead others to Him.  What’s wild to think about, and I was meditating and praying this morning, is that our gifts are sometimes staring us right in the face over the course of our lives, yet all too often we don’t realize it, or we may but not use those gifts to glorify God.

0dac4b5516447ef0ae7972149c5dddc5Something that I have found in my life is that these gifts we have don’t really come to fruition until we begin to come alive in our faith and truly seek out the Lord in full surrender to Jesus Christ.  When we come into our faith and are filled with the Holy Spirit, God can really begin to bring out those gifts.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:6 that “God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.” In verse 7 he continues with “A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.”  So each of our gifts we are given are meant to help our fellow man and to advance the Kingdom of God.  Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3 regarding the Father that He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”  Being in Christ brings us the blessing of the Father including bringing out our gifts.

Here is where my mind went this morning as I read through those verses and then reflected on my life in relation to these verses.  First the idea that God has already blessed us with spiritual gifts is quite something.  So here I am working on professional counseling degree to become a Christian counselor and my writing has continued to take-off.  All of this has happened over the last year as I really began to come alive in my faith and surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.  It was like a switch went off and the God said it was time to dive into those gifts.

mostimportant-01When I look back on life, they’ve always been there in some way, even before I came to my faith.  Going back to my teenage and early adulthood years, I have often been that person that people could confide in or help with various problems including marriage issues that people close to me had.  I was always a good sounding board and could provide some needed advice.  As far as writing, I have been doing this as long as I could write in some way, although it was not always shared.  I had small books in my elementary school that I wrote, one that won some cool recognition in the 2nd grade.  I wrote lyrics in high school to some degree and as an adult, I have been blogging in some capacity for the last 10-15 years about various things.  I now realize that it’s always been there.  I just didn’t know what to make of it all as life and the world was in the way.

Fast forward to 2015 and into 2016.  My life is transformed and God is beginning to bring out those gifts how.  All of our gifts are different, but we may not get to truly realize them and their potential for the Kingdom without coming into our faith.  It may not even have to do with a profession or assignment we are in.  It could be how we relate to others in a variety of capacities.  Just as Paul wrote though, it is all meant to help one another.  That’s what we have to do as followers of Jesus Christ.

spiritual-gifts-page-image-1So take some time and look at your life.  Have you found or realized the gifts that God has blessed you with.  We are all His image bearers, imago dei.  He has created each one of us as relational beings to live out our lives seeking Him and to help each other seek Him.  Make disciples.  Realizing our gifts and how we can use them to advance the Kingdom and make disciples of Jesus Christ is huge and goes a great deal to bring healing and restoration to more and more people.  This is freely given to everyone through Christ, but we have to be willing to seek it out. Each of you has a gift…Have you found your spiritual gift(s) and are you using them?

Still Buzzing! Unforgettable Time

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How in the world do I even begin to describe the elation, excitement, and joy that I have felt this week since this past Sunday.  As I shared last week, I was afforded the honor of baptizing my wife, Amber, and our three teenagers on Sunday.  I’ve spoken in front of various sized groups in the past on different things, but this experience was something that was so different.  It was by far the largest crowd I’ve ever been in front of.  People I know and love.  Usually nerves would hit me with something like that, but in this case, it was was like the Holy Spirit took a hold of me and led me through it all.  I had no worries, no nerves, just pure excitement and joy.

What was even bigger was the impact, not only in the statement we made as a family and I as the head of my home, but in the way this ministered to so many people who needed something like this.  My friend and pastor, Tim, called me afterwards telling me that this would go down as the most memorable moment of my life and the power of the moment was huge.  The impact that this moment made to people was immense.  God really used our family to send a message that we can be united in Him.  We can come alive in Christ and forge ahead as a family and with our own individual identities in Christ.

I write this and share this not to boast about my own doings, but to share just what the power of the Holy Spirit and being fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus can do, not just for your life, but for others.  It has made my family light-up and I firmly believe that this one act.  This 5 minute moment sent a ripple effect that I’m certain will last across the Body.

I’m standing on cloud nine from the events of this week. I look forward to a continued life of growth and sanctification with my wife and as our children move forward.  I’m glad to have been able to share this and I wanted to share this with all of you as well.  God Bless!

Exciting Growth

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WAH_BootCampI get amazed every day at the works of the God and how He works in our lives and in those around us.  As I wrote the other day, a year ago, my life was forever transformed when I venture out to Colorado for the Wild at Heart Boot Camp. The Lord transformed me in such a way, causing me to change the way I live and the way I look at life.  It also changed my outlook and approach as a husband and dad.  I had always done the best I thought I knew as a husband and father, but I was still falling way short in many ways.  I didn’t know how to truly be godly husband and father and lead my family the way they deserved to be led and the way God has called me to lead them.

The transformation has been tremendous in that it has resonated from my life to my wife and children.  They are the most precious people in this world to me and to see them respond has been so amazing.  I think we’ve always had a strong marriage, but I truly believe that my wife, Amber, and I are closer than we have ever been with a truly Christ centered relationship.  To see Amber grow has been so amazing.  It used to be that we would argue over matters of faith, because I was dragging her along in it.  I didn’t know how to approach it.  Now she is so alive.  In God’s Word daily getting to know Him personally and then our conversations on what we read and just life are so full of substance and life.

For my kids, they have grown a great deal as well.  They are all very quite and reserved like their parents, but they have responded in so many great ways as well in their desire to learn more.  Our conversations have deeper substance about life and faith.  It’s not just about superficial things.  They are realizing the priorities in life and are each excited about using the gifts God has blessed them with out in the world in a such a way that glorifies Him.

baptism_deadtosin_0005_group-1-e1321461157261With all this life change, this Sunday, January 31, one year to the day from when I nailed the stake in the ground to follow Christ no matter the cost, I will be Baptizing my wife and our 3 children.  It’s such an exciting time for our family and huge testimony and statement to how far we’ve come in just the last year.  To stand before our church family with my family as they also have nailed that stake in the ground is just beyond any words I can really put together.  I am proud of each of them for being willing to take this step in obedience in their walk with Christ.

This is a testament of what can happen when, as men, we take the steps to truly lead our wives and our children in a real and godly manner.  I have this resolution on a wall in my house that concludes with “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” Joshua 24:15.  That was hung up nearly 4 year ago, but it was not until 3 years later that it became real truth.  That I shed the poser and false self and begin walking with God as I was supposed to be and my family has responded to this.  My wife just glows with the light of Holy Spirit now.  Her beauty is even more tremendous than it has ever been.  Our children, while they still battle as teenagers with daily life, have really come a great distance as well and you can see the Lord’s work in them.

HisFavorite-01We are all God’s favorite.  He has had us in mind from before the beginning.  In John 17:22-23 Jesus, in His prayer to the Father says, “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me.  May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”  I’m thankful to have realized that through Christ we are united now with the Father and that He loves us as much as He loves the Son.  To now reflect the love of the Father with my family, they now know they are also loved deeply by me and the Father.  They know where I stand now, no longer waffling back and forth unsure of life, but now with the confidence of 10 men knowing where I stand now alive in Christ and they are responding.  It’s tremendous and the Lord’s work will continue as we are now stronger than ever before.

“A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian… and most of all, his family ought to know.” – D.L. Moody

Daring To Risk

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There seems to be a theme that has been building in my life that has really began to come full circle as we begin this year.  I wrote about this last week when talking about living an adventure and that theme falls back to risk.  Throughout life there is the challenge to enter into risk or to avoid it.  To try things that are dangerous with an uncertain outcome or to play it safe and follow the straight and narrow.  There are good risks and bad risks.  When I was a kid, we didn’t think twice about stacking all kinds of junk and leaning a long board against it for a ramp to jump our bikes.  What was probably even less genius about it is that the ramp was on the driveway and the landing point was the road.  We certainly had our share of close calls with cars flying through.

There’s another type of risk that is good risk.  It may still be dangerous.  It can leave you with a lot of uncertainty, but the outcome in the end will be more wonderful than you can imagine.  That is the risk to follow Christ.  The risk to say to the world that I don’t belong to you and I am going to follow where God leads.  This may not seem like a risky thing on the surface to some, but this type of risk is more opposed than anything in this world.  There is so much spiritual warfare pitted against anyone that wants to follow God’s lead.

I remember this time last year.  I was just a couple of weeks out from flying to Colorado for the Wild at Heart Boot Camp.  As the day drew near, I came under attack, although I didn’t know it at the time.  Every single day for the weeks prior, I suffered continuous headaches.  It bothered me a random times of day.  When I was working out, when I was reading, when working, and other strange random times.  It continued so persistently that I was contemplating cancelling the trip.  I was worried about what was going on.  I had never suffered those kind of headaches and haven’t since then.

I fly out and it’s still bothering me.  I get to Denver and board the buses out to Crooked Creek Ranch, it’s still there.  Thinking this may also be altitude, I ignored it, but it still worried me.  Then we get to the first session on Thursday evening.  We prayed as a group.  Me and 400+ other men.  Then John Eldredge says, “Congratulations men, you made it.” The rest of the time there, the headaches were gone.  I came home, the headaches were gone.  I didn’t realize this until later that this was spiritual warfare.  The enemy was trying to stop me.  I took the risk however and followed God and life hasn’t been the same sense.  That was a good risk.

Risk is such a powerful thing and God calls each of us into risk.  Being willing to risk it all, no matter the cost, to seek out His will and allow Christ to come in and transform us.  Risk is always opposed by the enemy when we are following God, but God has been taking a risk on us from the very beginning, first in creating us, and now in his pursuit of us.  Then we see stories of people risking it all for the Lord.  All the way from the beginning.  Abraham followed God to Canaan.  Moses stood against Pharaoh to free Israel.  David stood against the giant, Goliath.  Jesus lived His life on earth following the Father’s will even to the point of His death.  Then we have the apostles, most of whom lost their lives in service of Christ Jesus.  Such amazing stories of incredible risk.

God is calling each of us into risk as well.  He called me to Colorado and is now calling me to do Kingdom work seeking the lost through counseling.  I pray about this change everyday.  I don’t know what God will have in store as this work truly begins.  He is using the gifts He granted me for His glory now and I have surrendered to that.  That is a big risk.  It’s going to bring about massive changes for my family, but it’s something having a renewed heart, mind, and spirit that we welcome wholeheartedly.

Too many people are complacent in where they are in life.  Especially many Christians.  God calls us into risk and into spiritual growth and maturity.  We can’t be stranded in stale adolescence.  David Wilkerson wrote, “Today, some Christians are content to merely exist until they die. They don’t want to risk anything, to believe God, to grow or mature. They refuse to believe his Word, and have become hardened in their unbelief. Now they’re living just to die.”  Don’t live life to just die.  As one of my friends, Jeff, wrote today on Facebook, live to live.  God has so much in store when we enter his Kingdom.  Be willing to risk now so that you can live life and not just live to die.

Let’s get out of mediocrity.  Let’s get out of stagnant and stale adolescence and risk it to follow Christ no matter the cost.  The enemy will oppose you.  His demons will oppose you. The world, even including people you love, will oppose you.  You, however, need to be willing to oppose all of that in order to live for the Kingdom.  To win for the Kingdom.  To be sanctified by Christ daily in your walk with Him.  To follow Him no matter the cost and if He is calling you to move, being willing to move into the unknown.  Dare to risk!

I want a lifetime of holy moments. Every day I want to be in dangerous proximity to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning and is filled with adventure, wonder, risk, and danger. I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.” – Mike Yaconelli

Willing To Live An Adventure

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What comes to your mind when you think of risk and adventure?  When I think of this, there are often images of being a kid, jumping on the bike and riding around town, through the woods down trails, and exploring everything.  When your a kid, everything seems to be an adventure as you are starting to try new things.  You’re willing to get out there and try new things, go new places unsure about what lies ahead, but still you want to go.  For my kids, they love to get out and explore.  We have a river that runs along our neighborhood and they will get out there and explore through the woods, even stretching the limits to follow the river to see where it goes.  That’s a part of being a kid.  God set in us the desire to explore and take on adventure. The desire for adventure.

Something happens though.  We grow older.  We become tainted by the world and we lose the adventure.  Some become stranded in adolescence and try to keep it going, while many of us grow older and begin to do what the world expects of us.  We begin to lose the adventure.  We fall into complacency in our lives and start to do ‘the right thing.’  For me, I know that is definitely the case.  I’ve mentioned this a bunch, but I went college have multiple degrees in areas I really didn’t have a passion for, but thought, “Hey, that’s how to make more money and be successful.”  I thought that was what mattered.

Sitting in our men’s study this week I was reminded of things I learned reading through Wild At Heart and at the Boot Camp last year.  We all have an adventure to live.  As I mentioned before, God set adventure in our hearts.  The desire to risk and follow the desires of our hearts.  I was listening to a recording with Bart Hansen from Ransomed Heart where he talked about the adventure and risk.  Something he shared with us a Boot Camp.  Psalm 37:4, which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Life is meant to be lived as an adventure.  This comes with living with faith in where God is leading us and being willing to follow wherever He is leading.  I read this in Wild at Heart, but at first didn’t know what this meant to me.  Risk. That’s a scary word for many.  It was for me.  I was so complacent and comfortable for so long.  I felt I was doing what I was supposed to and was able to provide adequately for my family.  We started so young, Amber and I, and I wanted to prove I could do it.

I realized that God had another plan for me though.  I had been feeling this calling on my heart for a while, that there was something more I needed to do.  I didn’t know what that was.  I began writing on this blog.  I knew I was being called to help people in someway, but didn’t know how.  Ideas came and went.  Then it all happened last year.  I realized that God was calling me deeper to help seek the lost and help them find breakthrough and restoration as I did.  This led to counseling.

When this first came up, I really looked at it like, “Really God?  Counseling?”  He affirmed this, not only in my heart, but in the conversations I later had with Amber and then with my pastor and friend, Tim, as well as others.  So I did it.  I jumped in.  It was time to go on an adventure.

Bart Hansen shared something significant when it comes to adventure and risk.  We can risk all day long, but if we don’t follow God in faith through it, we will have nothing.  Also, we can spend our days trying to follow God and putting in the study and work, but if we don’t jump out and risk when He is calling us to adventure, then we are left with nothing as well. Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Follow God, no matter where He is leading.  Follow in faith. Be willing to risk it all, but to risk it all for Him and Him alone.  That’s the kicker.

In Wild At Heart, John Eldredge wrote, “Life is not a problem to be solved, it is an adventure to be lived. That’s the nature of it and has been since the beginning when God set the dangerious stage for this high-stakes drama and called the whole wild enterprise GOOD. He rigged the world in such a way that it only works when we embrace risk as the theme of our lives, which is to say, only when we live by faith. A man just won’t be happy until he’s got adventure in his work, in his love, and in his spiritual life.”

The drama that is playing out in front of us in God’s epic story is full of danger.  Risk is ingrained in our every being.  Every part of us.  We are meant to live a life in faith that is willing to follow God, to follow Christ, no matter the cost.

I still look at the work that lies ahead of me.  I don’t know what God will have in store as time moves forward and as I complete my studies.  I know there is a tremendous amount of risk and change that will come our way.  The difference however, and Amber and I both see it this way, we are now following what God’s call is for us.  We are willing to go on this adventure, because we know following Him is what we are meant to do.  It’s what all of us are meant to do, but sadly only a few do it.  It took us until our mid-30s to figure it out, but that’s how He worked it out.

If you trust Him, He will lay the path before you.  Jesus calls us to follow Him.  Living a life that is unscripted and lived by faith, is the only life worth living.  As John Eldredge wrote in Fathered by God, “This is the time for a young man to stop saying, ‘Why is life so hard?’ He takes the hardness as the call to fight, to rise up, to take it on.”  

It’s time to stop standing still.  Time to stop letting the world dictate what you do and how you live.  Rather, it’s time to start following the desires of your heart which is where God is leading.  Follow Him on the adventure that is being laid out in front of you.   Be willing to risk it all for Jesus.  It won’t always be easy, but the cost will be worth it.

Humility So Genuine

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Humility.  This is a word that has been on my heart for a number of days now.  As we started the New Year, I’ve continued to dive deeper into Scripture and working hard at walking with God deeper with scripture, prayer, and journaling my thoughts as I role through the morning.  On Saturday, as I continued my read through Philippians.  Something big stood out to me from Philippians 2.  The humility of Jesus.  Paul tells us to be humble, thinking of others over ourselves. In verse 5 that he writes that we must have the attitude that Jesus had.  Verses 6-8 from the NLT read:humility

“Though He was God, he did not think of equality with as something to cling to.  Instead, He gave up his divine privileges (emptied himself); He took the humble position of a slave and He was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”

This thought has crossed my mind before, but God really spoke this into my heart this week.  Humility.  The true humility of Jesus is something that we should look to have in our own lives.  I just found this so powerful to think about.  Here is Jesus.  As Paul writes, He is God, yet, Jesus came as fully man.  In his book, Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge, lays it out this way…

“The eternal Son of God, ‘Light of Light, Very God of Very God…one substance with the Father, spent nine months developing in Mary’s uterus.  Jesus passed through her birth canal. He had to learn to walk. The Word of God had to learn talk.  He who calls the stars by name had to learn the names of everything, just as you did. ‘This is a cup. Can you say cup? Cuuup.'”

It’s so fascinating to think about how this man, Jesus, humbled himself so much to walk on even playing field.  But think about it.  In order to open the way for us all, He needed to.  We were lost before Jesus, but the Father had us in mind from before the foundations of the earth and has been pursuing us since.  Jesus walking as the perfect lamb of God, fully human, although He was God showed us what we were always meant to be as God’s sons and daughters.  Our story did not begin at the Fall.  It goes way before that, to what we were created to be, inheriting a kingdom created and set aside for us.  Jesus came to restore us, so that we could once again claim that inheritance if we choose to follow Him.washing-feet-statue-2

As this was on my heart, it was very cool to hear the teaching Sunday morning, which went into John 13.  When I learned we were going there, I was floored, I knew God was really speaking this to me.  Here, Jesus gives us an example of his humility as he washes the feet of his disciples including Judas, even though Jesus knew he would betray Him.  Jesus humbled himself to serve others in this manner.  He says in verse 14 and 15, “And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to was each other’s feet. I have give you an example to follow.  Do as I have done to you.”  Jesus is showing us the humility that we should have in our lives.  Not putting ourselves above others.  Not striving for position or title, but rather living as who we are in Christ.

When I look back on my life, there was a time when I was all about striving for my own successes.  Making it to those high positions.  Striving for higher success and thinking that this was what mattered in life.  More degrees, greater position, higher salary, etc.  I have been humbled so much though in realizing that all of that led me to nothing.  This is because none of my efforts were done with the motives of serving Jesus and serving others, other than my own success and supporting my family.

God has shown me another way and is leading me in a way to serve others, serve Him, and seek the lost for His kingdom.  How humbling that all becomes.  I was reading and journaling yesterday morning and I came up with this.  “A life of self-reliance leads to emptiness and death. A life reliant on Jesus leads to a life of freedom, breakthrough, restoration, and coming fully alive.”  If we put our own self-centered ambitions above everything else, we will be humbled very quickly in the end and will be left with nothing.

I think God put this on my heart to remind me that I all I am doing needs to be done with Him as my motive.  Helping me to remember to not put myself above others. As Tim shared on Sunday, to seek God, not titles or position.  Even as a developing counselor and with the work God is leading me toward, it can be so easy to exalt myself in that and seek position, whether in a counseling practice, church, or wherever simply to make myself standout.  God’s reminding me that my efforts need to be only to seek His glory and advance His kingdom, not my own.

I’m grateful for this reminder God gave me.  I pray that it helps you as well.  Look at the humility of Jesus.  He is the example to follow.  Don’t think yourself above others.  None of us are are greater than the other.  We are all fallen. We are all sinners given a chance to be restored in through the finished works of Jesus Christ.

“The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient.” – Augustine

Don’t Let Busyness Kill The Soul

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As we start the New Year, I was reminded this week about something that is very critical for all of us in this day and age.  I have been blessed to spend these last couple of weeks home with the family to enjoy the Christmas and New Years holidays  and some good down time from work and between semesters in my counseling studies.  What I was reminded of is the need to unplug from the matrix.  The need to slow down, be still, and spend time away from the chaos and noise of this world and what often encompasses our lives.

I was listening to a recording from Ransomed Heart Ministries the other day called “The Spirit of the Age.”  John Eldredge talked about how each age, each period of time is defined by something.  The spirit of this age we live in now, of this world, as John says, is drivenness or busyness.  We are in a world of now, now, now…go, go, go.  We are constantly plugged into social media and the news.  We spend our days trying to fill time with things to keep going.  We always feel like we have to multitask everything. Multitasking by the way, is the ultimate myth.  You cannot be fully present in any situation at any time to two or more people or tasks.  As the Christian musician Propaganda says, when multitasking, “You ain’t doing anything good, just everything awful.”  Lot’s of truth here.

We live in a very driven world.  We are always on the go.  I’ve been guilty of everything I’ve listed and more.  I have grown to believe that this driven nature.  This need to always stay busy is soul killing.  It is pulling us away from the priorities in life.  Not just in our families but also in our walk with God.  In our ability to have a real conversational relationship with the Father.  In our ability to really dive into His Word and study and get to know all that God has revealed to us.  busyness-01

Why do we always feel like we have to be so busy?  Why are we so driven to go, go, go?  Why can’t we unplug from the matrix?  Why can’t we put our phones down and just be present?  I believe it’s a scheme of the enemy.  He uses this need for busyness to keep us distracted.  Then when everyone else is always going, we feel like we have to do more and more to keep up.  It’s soul killing and it’s just what the enemy wants.

Look, I’m not saying it’s bad to be busy, but what I’m saying is that when it runs your life, and this day and age it does, with so much noise all around, that becomes a problem.  Like I said, this is something I’ve been guilty of.  I’ve been out at a restaurant with Amber and often times I have my work phone and my personal phone sitting right there.  How many of of you do the same?  It’s called a lunch break for reason, yet we never fully take a real break away.

I look at the life of Jesus when I think of this.  Jesus constantly had crowds following Him.  People wanted to be healed and have demons cast away.  Jesus could easily have just spent his time healing non-stop, but He didn’t.  Look at Mark 1.  Jesus heals Peter’s mom and then more and more people come for healing.

In verse 35, Jesus did something many of us don’t do.  It says, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”  Jesus left to be alone.  To be in solitude and pray.  Peter and the others find Jesus and tell Him everyone is looking for Him.

Now at this point, Jesus could have done what many of us do.  Do what others expect us to do.  Do what the world wants us to do.  Stay plugged in and keep busy.  Not Jesus.  You see He did not conform to this world and showed us that we don’t have to.  In verse 38, Jesus says, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”  Jesus left.  He was not going to let the demands of others control what He was doing or deter Him from what the Father sent Him for.busyness-the-thief-of-prayerblog

You see, busyness and constantly doing what the world expects will drain us completely.  It will take us away from what really matters in life.  This culture we live in will suck the life out of us if we allow ourselves to let the world consume us.

Paul tells us in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  This is so important.  We cannot live a life driven and controlled by the demands of this world.  Part of coming to faith in Christ is allowing our hearts and minds to be transformed.  We need to be renewed daily, as well, so there is a real need to find time away from the busyness of this life to just be present with God.

Just think about this as you start the New Year.  Think about the priorities of your life.  It is so vital that we find time to unplug from the matrix.  It is also vital to understand that you do not have to maintain the crazy pace the everyone else thinks you need to.  Slow down and live.  Be still and find time to be with God.  Find time to be completely unplugged.  Find time to converse with God daily.  Find time to be fully present with your family.  Don’t be conformed to this world and don’t let busyness kill your soul.   You will miss so much if you stay plugged in and let the busyness run your life.

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2015 – Transformed and Free

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We are closing the books on what I have to say has been the biggest year of my life.  There’s been some big years and events that have occurred over the years.  Getting married after graduating high school and having our first child all in 1997, our second child in 1999, our third in 2002, graduating college in 2003, and so on.  Some big events, some big moments.  Some moments that have been great and some like in 2009, that brought me down.  This time of year, we often look back on the year that was and then look ahead to the year that will be.  All I know, is that after the year I’ve had and the work God has done in my life, whatever He has in store next, I stand ready for it.

2015 was a year of complete transformation for my life, in so many ways.  I have written about so much of the journey and the changes over the past year.  There’s so much I could cover.  Just looking at what I have written on this site alone, I’ve written more posts than ever before.  This will be my 108th post for 2015.  In 2014, there were just 39.  It’s like the Lord took a hold of my life and my heart and drove me to continue sharing the journey with you all.  Just hear alone, it has been amazing to see the Lords work.  I take what I write very seriously and definitely don’t just post to post.

I look back over this year and I just think….WOW!!!!  I never imagined that my life would undertake the changes it has.  I never knew what it was like to live a life that is Spirit led.  I never knew I would be looking not just at a transformed heart and mind, a transformed family, a transformed walk with God, but also a complete transformed profession.  I took a major leap this year to follow God into the unknown and enrolled in counseling studies.  I knew God had been calling me for some time to help others and then once I surrendered to Him completely and opened my heart to the restoration of Jesus, He said it was now time.

As I have shared many times this year, this all began to take root last January as I stood in the mountains of Colorado realizing that I had let my sin and wounds run my life too far.  I realized I could no longer walk through life alone and needed to repent and surrender it all to Him.  Jesus took a hold of my heart like I never thought could happen.  He came into my heart and my wounds.  Exposed my false self and broke me down.  I hadn’t wept like that since my Dad’s passing.  It was raw exposure, men I didn’t know prayed with me and over me and I experienced restoration like I never thought possible.

With all of the changes this year from that point, going back to school, getting more connected and invested in my church family, being baptized, and on from there.  I now follow God into the unknown.  My pastor once said, that the unscripted life is the only one worth living.  I have now found that to be very true to life.  God knows the path, we have to follow Him. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will make known to me the path of life…”  God will show us the path if we just choose to follow Him and let Him lead.  In his book ‘Waking the Dead,’ John Eldredge wrote, “There are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God knows where, too much at stake. You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation.”  I learned I have to stop trying to figure it out on my own and let Him lead.

2015, the year of transformation.  What’s so awesome know, is that going into 2016 and beyond, I know the Lord will continue to work on my life.  The transformation and growth does not end with the end of the year.  My heart will be perfected with passing day as I am progressively sanctified through following Jesus and walking with Him daily as a disciple for the rest of my life.  I am justified now to seek Him and will be sanctified and restored daily.

There is so much to look forward to.  The funny thing is, I don’t know what that will be.  What I do know is that I will follow Christ as a disciple from here on out NO MATTER THE COST.  There is so much in this life that is poised to pull us away from a relationship with Christ.  The enemy is prowling around looking for someone to devour.  That includes followers of Christ.  I stand armed with the whole armor of God to defend my heart, and to fight for my family daily.

If you have not felt the call of Christ on your life.  If you have not surrendered every aspect of your life to Him and found the freedom that comes from walking as a disciple of Jesus Christ, it’s not too late.  I did it at 36 and I know many that did it even later.  The offer stands for us all, if we choose to open to it.  Start somewhere and get to know Him in His word and by conversing with others.  It’s not all sunshine and roses, but I can tell you, the unscripted life in Christ is the only one worth living.

I wish you all a very blessed and Happy New Year!  See you in 2016 as we move forward to continue winning for the Kingdom!

 

Test Everything

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If we ever want to know Truth, there is one source to learn this Truth.  That comes from the infallible Word of God.  The 66 book love letter that has been God breathed and inspired and given to us as the blueprint of life and the unveiling of God’s pursuit of our hearts and His desire to restore us to what we were meant to be.  This pursuit is laid out page-by-page and verse-by-verse.  If you truly get into the Word, to start studying it and knowing it, it’s life changing and give you a whole new perspective on things.  As Paul says in Romans 12:2, your mind will be renewed and you will become a new person.  That is the person you were meant to be all along as a child of God.  Trust me when I tell you that it is transformational.

It is also the source for which to test what people teach and say in this world.  Jesus warns us in Matthew 7:15, to be aware of false teaching in this world.  The difference here is that God’s Word is infallible, where as man is fallible.  It is our responsibility in the faith to truly get to learn what people are teaching and test what is being taught.  Test it against the Word.  This includes what I write here, any books that are written by man, and the teachings you get from church pastors on Sunday mornings.  I don’t care how great their sermon may be, how great the book is, or even how awesome my latest blog post is :).  You have to get to know the truth for yourself.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to test everything that is said.  Anything that comes from this world must be tested against the Truth laid out in God’s Word.  If they don’t past the test.  If it contradicts teaching, then you need to steer away from it.  Get to know the Truth for yourself.  One thing that I do is, after a Sunday sermon, I take all my notes and the notes for the sermon.  Then over the course of the week, I study it deeper and I look in the Word and pray on it and meditate on it and journal about it.  I get know what for myself what the Word says.

We build up a level of trust for people and believe everything they may teach in sermons or in writings in true.  Remember, however.  This is all delivered from man.  Yes, it may sometimes be inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it is still delivered by man.  We are not infallible, so we can just as easily make a mistake in teaching and writing.

1 John 4:1 says to not believe everyone that claims to speak by the Spirit, and that you must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from the God.  This is the other thing.  Just has Satan deceived Eve in the Eden, so to He will try to deceive man.  All with the goal of turning us away from God.  Test the spirits.  Test the fruit of what is teaching.  Just because something sounds great, does not mean it is Truth from God.  Take the prosperity gospel that some speak.  That is complete distortion of the truth of God and does not pass the test.  It is deceiving, yet people follow because it sounds great and do not test it for themselves.  I almost fell into that trap.

So I challenge you.  No matter what you hear on a Sunday, no matter what you read in the latest blog post, or latest book, test it.  The measuring rod is God’s Word.  Learn the Truth for yourself that is only revealed through His Word.  Then you will know the Truth that God has revealed.