Category Archives: Walking with God

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.

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.

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

Your Father Is Always There

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I wrote last week before Fathers Day about the problem with fatherlessness and the struggles that many kids today face when their dads checkout emotionally or simply walk out completely.  It’s a cycle that is too common today.  It’s a problem of the heart.  There are many of us that may have experienced this or even lost their dad like I did and left in a state of loss, not knowing where they can turn too.  For many, their life turns to complete self-reliance and thinking they have to trudge through life on their own and figure things out on their own.

The fact is that we were never meant to go through life alone and in fact we are never alone.  You see the main mission of a dad is to raise up their children so that they learn to live a life with a heart for God.  Dads are meant to raise kids up part of the way and teach them to lean to the real Father.  But what happens when this does not happen?  Kids grow with a life fixed on the world, distant from the father and chasing after things of this world.

As I’ve shared before, when I lost my dad, I was lost.  I didn’t have a heart for God to where I learned to let Him guide my heart and Father me.  I learned this in the years that followed his death. When I did learn this, it completely changed my life and my heart.  I realized that my real Father has always been there.  He was looking to pull me out of that pit whirlwind of bitterness, self-reliance, and world driven.  I was so worried about what I thought I was supposed to do and not on who I am as God’s son allowing Him to take control of my life.  When I figured it out though, just as the prodigal son, the Father was their with open arms ready to bring me back in.

We are his children.  His sons and daughters.  In his book Fathered by God, John Eldredge says, “When a man gives his life to Jesus Christ, when he turns as the prodigal son turned for home and is reconciled to the Father, many remarkable things take place. At the core of them is a coming into true sonship.”  I can testify this to be so true.  Coming into sonship and now asking God to Father me everyday has changed my life so dramatically.  I realized that it is not about me, but about Him, the real hero.  The Father has a place for me and all of us in His story, his larger story.  I learned to stop living in my small story and live for the larger, epic story of God.

The Father is always there for us.  He has always been there.  He waits for us to realize this though.  While his desire is for all of us to turn to Him, He gave us the will to freely choose.  We can choose everyday to live for Him.  We don’t have to live by what this world says we should do.  We don’t have to go through life trying to figure things out on our own, fatherless.  Our Father is there to guide, so walk with us, to counsel us, to heal us through His son Jesus Christ, and to armor us for the spiritual warfare we face everyday.   We don’t have to go alone.  Seek the heart of God and he will restore yours to Him.

Why Christian Counseling?

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So, as of last week, I am now through my first full month back in school.  Talk about a big adjustment to being back in school full time as I pursue a Masters in Professional Counseling.  It’s a big life change, but certainly one I cannot ignore.  I am thankful to have a family that fully supports my pursuits.  It’s a complete gear change.  I have been pursuing that corporate ladder for the last 15+ years and to completely shift gears has been a little nerve wracking but I can certainly say that just after this first month of study I feel more confident in this direction.  I refuse to ignore God’s calling any longer.

With that said, the question comes to mind of why Christian counseling?  It’s interesting to get the reactions of folks who don’t really know the journey God has me on.  You can tell that they think it’s a little odd.  To just go from where I have been, comfortable and with a growing career to completely change gears and direction.  First and foremost, I believe firmly that we are all broken.  This is fact and everyone of us, due to our fallen nature, is broken and has a story of struggle and brokenness and sin in our lives.  We can’t hide from it.  With that said, we have Good News in that Jesus Christ came to heal our brokenness and set us free.  This is the heart of His mission, not only to bring forgiveness us sins, but to truly set us free to find the life that God intended for us to have with our hearts new and focused on Him.

With that said, this year, I came to real terms with my own brokenness on a scale larger than I could have ever imagined.  When I opened to the door of my heart, Jesus came right on in and began a work on my heart that has been absolutely amazing.  Now, I have to continue inviting Him in each day to continue this healing as it can become so easy to fall back if we are not careful.

When this journey began, God put it on my heart, who He sees me as.  He brought me to connect with people.  To not live a life of a lone ranger, but to get in the midst of people and on the front lines.  He put it on my heart that there are many more that need to be able to find the healing of Jesus Christ.  It’s right there for everyone, but so many continue to struggle and just don’t know how to find their way to let Christ in, to let Him counsel them, and the Him heal their hearts.  This is why I am joining the growing masses of Christian counselors.  It’s not about trying to do something for my own self-gratification, but rather to bring glory to the Lord and help lead others to find the healing that Christ offers.

Trust me, I certainly did not have to do this.  I could have been content in my career, but when God calls, you have to go.  He called and I told Him I would go.  At this point, it’s about learning skills and methods that I know will be needed to counsel others from a Biblical point of view and to develop methods for incorporating the 4 Streams of Christ into counseling others to help people find the healing and life that Christ offers.

It’s going to be a challenging journey to be sure.  I don’t expect to come out of this making riches.  It’s not about that. I have a real heart to help people through counseling and ministry.  I full trust in God in where He is guiding me on this journey.  He is filling my round table with solid men to help guide and mentor me on this journey, some that have gone through similar journeys of their own to follow God’s calling.  The journey is just beginning and I will continue sharing as I progress.  I look forward to the day of getting in the trenches to help people through real soul care.  Stay tuned as God continues His work in my life.

18 Years: Beautiful Life and Beautiful Love

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Yesterday, my wife, Amber, and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  18 Years!  What an incredible journey we have been on so far.  We started out so young back in ’97.  Fresh out of high school, yet we knew that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together.  When I think back to the time when we married, you could probably count on one hand how many people thought we would even last six months being married so young.  We had a different plan though.  It was the two of us.  We were committed to each other and were going to make it through whatever obstacles that came our way.

Our life together has not been without struggle.  We essentially grew-up together.  I worked 50-60+ hours per week, plus attended college full-time to take care of our family.  Our first son came later that year and we had to figure things out.  We had to learn about each other and adapt to life together.  We lost a lot of friends in the process as everyone drifted to college and their own lives.  Through it all, though, we stuck together and stayed committed to the life we set out to have together, no matter what came our way.

We stand here today, however, 18 years later, even more in love than we were then.  We were united as one just as the Lord calls us when we marry and we have lived our lives that way.  She is my life and my love.  She is the other half of me and I know God destined the two of us to be together for life.  She brings out the best of me being around her.  She has supported me in all my schooling and career and now that God has really taken over our lives she is even more behind where He’s leading us now.  Our lives being committed to the Lord has drawn us even closer together and seeing the light of the Lord shine in her is so beautiful.  She glows with the beauty of a daughter of God.

I’ve been so blessed to have Amber as my wife.  To have a wife that loves me unconditionally is so amazing.  Sure we have our ups and downs, but we our still madly in love and that grows with each passing day, week, month, and year.  I look forward to many, many more years with my bride.  She is a beautiful woman, and beautiful and loving wife, a great mom to our 3 children, and the best part of my day, every single day.  I pray God’s hand in our marriage everyday and that as we grow together in love and faith that our hope in Him shines in our lives and reflects in how we glorify the Lord through our marriage.  It’s a beautiful life!

“Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise – the same kind Jesus made with His bride when He died for her.” – John Piper

I’m Alive…Because He Lives!

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I was driving back home from the gym this morning and this song came on in my truck from Matt Maher called “Because He Lives.”  I’ve heard this song numerous times and everyone morning I workout I have worship music or some Christ center hip-hop blaring.  A great way to get motivated, start the day, find clarity, and get the heart and mind focused on Christ for that day.  Can’t just do it Sunday morning.

Anyway, when this song came, it just hit me hard.  I could feel the Holy Spirit fill me and my heart leaped with joy.  The words of this song are a stark reminder of the offer of life that we have in Jesus Christ.  The chorus says…”Amen, Amen, I’m alive, I’m alive because He lives.”  It’s quite amazing how God will use certain things to fill you and remind you even when it’s things that are a little more common in your life.

The words of this song were a stark reminder of that because of Christ we are alive.  This is such an awesome and powerful thing to think about for our lives.  We are alive through Christ.  Paul said in Ephesians 2:5,”He gave us live when he raised Christ from the dead.”  If it were not for God’s love and grace, we were dead.  We would be doomed to our sins.  There would be no life.

Because we have this offer of life, what else do we need to worry about.  Yes, we face struggles, we face difficult, pain, suffering, and heartache.  That’s a part of the evil of this world and our fallen nature.  But with all that, if you know Christ and know that He is victorious and is alive so that we can live, we have much greater things to live for.  What a glorious and awesome thing it is to have a God that loves us so much that He was willing to go to the depths of hell in order to rescue us, and bring us back to the life that we were always meant to have.

I’m going to keep this short today, but this is all so simple.  We are alive in Christ!  We are alive because He lives!  When we recognize this and learn that we can now live for the life that Christ has for us and live a life with our hearts full turned to God, what else matters.  Let’s live the life that Christ offered.  He offers life and life abundantly (John 10:10).  It’s right there for us.  We have to chose to accept that offer, stop living for this world, living a life that self-reliant and self-driven.  Live today.

Do I Need Special Training?

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As I begin my journey into school and the pursuit of professional counseling licensing, the thought often comes to mind of the type of training needed to be able to counsel and provide the soul care to people.  For many who pursue specialized areas in ministry and discipleship work, there is often the need for schooling and training.  For me, there is a requirement by my state to meet certain qualifications in order to be licensed to practice as a Christian counselor.  A lot of hoops, but a necessary part of the journey.

Now, the question often comes for individuals of what they need in order to talk about the Good News, to disciple and share about Christ.  Do we need special training to do so?  The answer to its core, is no.  Once we have received Christ, repent of our sins, and receive the Holy Spirit, that is all you need to begin to share.  We all have a story.  We all have a testimony that is a powerful part of God’s larger story and can be powerful examples of where Christ is working in our lives.  This part does not take schooling to do so.

A little over a year ago, feeling called to do so, I made a video that is now posted to this site that shared a bit of my testimony in coming to faith in Jesus.  I shared some of the darkness I had gone through, especially the sudden loss of my Dad, the confusion I dealt with in religious practices and denominations, and never living a life fully surrendered.  This was just a surface look into my life, but this is a big part of what we stand on.  We don’t need special training to share about Jesus and the work He does in our lives.

I look to Acts 4:13 when it talk about the council observing Peter and John and noticing they were just ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.  This is significant to us now.  Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles received their power to teach from the Holy Spirit and through Jesus training them while He was here for those that walked with Him on earth.  These were ragamuffins.  They were a ragtag bunch of fishermen, tax collectors, and more.  Ordinary, fallen men and women.  The Scriptures are full of people who were ordinary who were called to do the extraordinary.

Just think about this in your life if you question your own abilities to share and disciple.  Jesus commissioned us all to share the Good News.  We don’t need special training to do so.  Yes, there are certain fields that may need some additional specialized training, but your testimony is the basis of it all.  Stand on the Truth and what Jesus has done in your life and let Him do the rest.  He will lead you and guide your words if you surrender to Him.  Don’t feel like you are to insignificant to do so.  Know that you are enough and that your faith in Christ is enough.