Today I was reading in Jeremiah 6 and came across verses 13-15 that read:

¹³ “From the least to the greatest,
   all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike,
   all practice deceit.
¹⁴ They dress the wound of my people
   as though it were not serious.
‘Peace, peace,’ they say,
   when there is no peace.
¹⁵ Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush.
So they will fall among the fallen;
   they will be brought down when I punish them,”
            says the LORD.

As I read this passage I couldn't help but think about myself and all the other leaders within the church.

Do we conduct ourselves in such a way that God is pleased with us? Do we blush when we do something that we shouldn't? Or do we go about like nothing ever happened?

I want to read this and say "That's not me! I would never do something wrong and do nothing about it." Yet I can't. Every day I am sure I miss an opportunity to be a light in another person's life. I am sure that I miss divine appointments from God to minister. I am confident that at some point in time a friend has come to me with something that was laying on them heavy and I simply dulled it down and said "Peace, Peace" when actually there was no peace for them at the time.

I want to make the most of every opportunity presented to me.

I want to make sure that I am allowing God to move in my life at all times. Not just when I WANT Him to move. God is ALWAYS at work. He is always reaching out to other people through His children. It's about high time for me to realize that everyday, God has some form of ministry for me to accomplish. God does not want us to have dry, bland, and ordinary lives. He wants us to have excitement and adventure, otherwise He wouldn't have created us to desire those things.

So my challenge from reading this passage is this: To blush when I don't act in accordance with God's word. To blush when I fall short of God's glory. To not simply say "Peace, Peace" to people, but to truly listen to them and minister to them. To take time every day to begin reaching out to those around me that may be hurting or suffering in this life.

THAT is what God has placed us here for. THAT is what we, as children of God, are called to do. God has BIG things in store for every single one of us, we just need to open our eyes and see the opportunities God is placing in front of us!

God Bless You!

Be My...

God,

Be my strength in my weakness
Be my security in the dangers of life
Be my light in the darkness
Be my provision in times of need
Be my comfort in times of pain
Be my patience in times of waiting
Be my everything in my life

Not a Captive

I have recently been thinking about what happens whenever we are tempted and fall in our sinful nature as believers. Previously I wrote about us all being soldiers and how we are constantly in need of being prepared for battle. With that in mind I want to progress in my thoughts.

If we are all soldiers fighting in a war day in and day out we need to look at our actions in the light of such a situation. When we let our guard down we are highly susceptible to any form of attack. We need to be constantly focused on protecting our weaknesses in our armor. Every soldier has a weak spot in their armor. It is our duty as soldiers to find our personal weak spot and do whatever necessary to protect that particular area.

However, in this war, we do not die once we are attacked. So we may think, "well I'm not really hurting anybody" or "I'll recover from this one blow." But the thing about it is that several attacks over and over to the same weakness can result in death, although it is not immediate. One thing you can surely bet on is that the devil (our enemy) will go to whatever measure necessary to hit us in our weak spot over, and over, and over, and over again.

His goal is to kill us slowly. His goal is to assure that we are injured just enough to feel defeated. Once we feel defeated, that is when he moves in for the kill. When we lose all hope and when we lose focus on being strong and courageous in the Lord when we let our guard down, that is when he will attack.

We need to make sure we are watching out for that weak spot. We need to make sure that once he knows where and what it is that we put up our guard. We need to stand firm against those attacks and pay more attention to that area. We may be sore and have scars, but scars make our exterior tougher, if they heal. So we need to make sure that we allow our wounds to heal by heightening our guard.

We cannot allow ourselves to continue to be beaten by the devil. Every time he hits us it is going to be harder than the last time, it is going to penetrate deeper than the last time. His attacks become more and more relentless every time. The more he beats us down the weaker we become until he is able to drag us away and do with us whatever he finds pleasing.

We need to not allow ourselves to become captives to the devil and his schemes. We need to make sure that we are standing secure in the way of the Lord. We need to plant our feet solidly in the Word of God so that we will not be shaken when we are attacked.

Jesus answered the devil with the Word of God when He was tempted in the desert. We need to follow suit and answer the devil in the same manner when he comes against us.

Romans 8:18-39 is a great encouragement to us in our hard times. Whether it is physical persecution or spiritual temptation, we are always more than conquerors when we are established in Christ. Christ will always have the final word in our lives. We just need to submit our lives over to Him and not be so proud to think that we can defend ourselves on our own.

Christ is our protection, He is the living word of God and is the entire suit of armor in which we stand to protect ourselves. Let's take a stand and be the men and women of God that we have been called to be. No longer will we allow the devil to prevail with his schemes. God is greater than all things the world or the devil has for us.

We shall overcome!

Soldiers

As I read today in Philippians 2 I was drawn to verse 25 where Paul writes:

"But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphrodites, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs."

After reading that passage and seeing the word soldier in Paul's writing it made me think. Paul was not a soldier in the sense that we commonly associate the word. When I here soldier I think of a Roman centurion, or a Spartan, or a Marine. But that's not the type of soldier Paul was referring to himself as. He was referring to them being soldiers in the army of God.

The Greek meaning of this word is "an associate in labours and conflicts for the cause of Christ."

When I read that I couldn't help but think about ourselves and our need and calling to spread the message of Christ and to make disciples. The language that Paul uses here shows us that the carrying out of the Great Commission is not going to be simple. It is going to be tough and hard fought in order to accomplish the goals God has given us.

With that being said we are in great need of making sure we are always prepared for a battle, much like all the soldiers that come in to my head when I think of the word. They are always prepared to go to war at a moments notice. Are we?

See in Ephesians 6:10-20 Paul talks about our need for the armor of God. Armor, another thing that a soldier needs for battle.

These two passages together show us that there is a huge battle going on everyday for the souls of people. And we need to be readily prepared to go to battle at any moment in our day. The hardest part of all of this is found in verse 12 of Ephesians 6, " For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

If our battle was against flesh and blood, we would be able to readily see our enemy. We would be able to see them from a distance as they move in to attack. But we don't have that advantage in out spiritual warfare. We are unable to see them with our physical eyes, but we need to train to see them with our spiritual eyes.

We need to be true soldiers who are covered in the armor of God.

We need to be prepared at all times to go in to battle for what we believe and what we know is true. And that is the message of Jesus Christ

I want to challenge all of you, including myself, to get in the word of God and learn to put on the armor of God each and every day. We are all soldiers! We are all in standby, ready to go into battle at any moment. So are we prepared? Are we ready?

If not, let's start on a process in which we will prepare ourselves like a true soldier.

These are the things we need for battle: "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God"

We are given all these things as we begin to dig deeper into the word of God and spend time praying and listening to Him. I want to challenge you all to take an hour a day and read the Bible and spend time praying and asking God to make sure you are prepared for anything that the enemy, the devil, might through at you as a weapon of war.

This is of utmost importance. Seek God in all parts of life!

It's Been A While

So as you can see I'm sure you can tell it has been a while since I have actually posted something on my Blog. Right now I am thinking about how awesome God is and wanted to encourage you to look and see where you are in life and see how God can move you further in to His plan for you.

I don't care if you are at a mountain top experience right now or going through one of the darkest valleys you have every been in. I want you to look and find God in whatever season you are in right now. I have been encouraged by our speaker in chapel this past week to see in the dark times what isn't always visible in the light. He made the point that in the day light we can see only the sun and what is in front of us on earth. However, when it is dark out we are able to see the moon and also we are able to see the greatness of God's creation beyond the earth.

The darkness may feel like God is extremely far away and no where to be found but it is in those times that God is allowing us to see how great and awesome he is. All we need to do is trust Him to bring us through those things we are facing.

My prayer today is that you take time to THANK God for where you are in your walk. The great times that are happening, remember them and hold on to them for later on when you may be faced with trials. And for the trials, praise God for them because He is merely testing your faith so that you can prove to Him the greatness of your love and devotion to His call on your life.

Be encouraged today as you move along in your journey with Christ. Remember he is always there for you, He may have simply stepped away for a moment to pray for you.

Rack, Shack, and Benny

In my time of reading I have begun to look at the book of Daniel. So far, this book is spectacular, just in case you hadn't looked at it yet. I know that most people who have been in church have heard the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I know that I have. But upon reading their story again this morning in my devotional time, it was made new to me. As I began reading I was finishing the story before I had even gotten in to it knowing that God spares these men from the imminent death of the furnace. However, I decided to slow down and look more intently at what God was saying through their testimony.

These three men were brought before the king of the land and were facing a large challenge. They were asked to renounce their belief in their God and to worship this golden image before them. if they were to choose their God over the man made image they were surely going to face death. But what did these guys do? Without even a second thought they immediately replied to this threat from the king by saying "we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Now that statement was nothing but faith. These guys were standing in front of the most powerful person in their world and were being threatened with death. But what did they do? they stood firm in their belief, faith, and trust in the almighty God of heaven. As the story proceeds we see the three men thrown in to the fire yet are unharmed. That cannot be taken lightly knowing that the men who had thrown them in had died when exposed to the immense flames of the furnace.

I am greatly encouraged by this narrative. We walk through our days with very little if any testing of our faith before man. We are highly blessed in this but we take it for granted. God has called us in to His kingdom and now expects us to profess our faith in Him. We are not threatened with death because of our faith. We are able to possess this faith without worrying about our lives being taken from us. However, we shy away from professing our faith. Why is that? Why are we so afraid of letting people know we are followers of Christ? the only thing that we are faced with in exclaiming our faith is the rejection of people. It is not ourselves that they are rejecting but it is the one whom we profess. In that case we need not to be selfish and say "O well that person doesn't like me,"But we should be praying in turn that God will do a work on their heart and to soften their conscience so that they can experience the freedom and the grace that is within a love relationship with the Heavenly Father.

So my purpose of all this is for us to begin to have a passion for the God we serve. To make a stand for Him before all mankind. even when we are faced with adverse situations. These trials come to test our faith and our belief of who God is. when we persist in our way of living for God, He finds us worthy of honor. So let's take this story we may have heard hundreds of times before and live it out. Let us speak of how GREAT our God is in comparison to all the things of this world that fight for our attention. Let's go live a life dedicated to serving God and not ourselves, worrying more about the eternal positions of those around us and not our vapor-like being here on earth.

Let's profess our faith before all men so that through our actions God is glorified and not ourselves. Just as the king gave glory to God for His devoted protection of His servants Rack, Shack, and Benny.

Where are we going with our desires?

I really feel the need to ask the question: What are your desires for life and where are they going to take you?

Allow me to share a few words about myself concerning these questions.

Recently I have been blessed beyond anything I could have imagined when God began to give me the desires of my heart for my life. My ideas and wants for my ministry have slowly developed over the past year and a half but as soon as I knew what I wanted from my ministry God has given me more than I had ever expected so soon in my time of desire. I have wanted to minister anywhere God calls me or directs me since the time of my calling to youth. I had no clue that it would potentially involve my home area. God has placed in my heart a love and passion to serve the youth of the nation in whatever way he lead me. God has now given me the opportunity to work with an amazing group of people this summer in which we are starting a new church. I can't believe that God has found me able to do such a great task. But at the same time, this is the desire I have been having grow within my being for the past 18 months.

Now I write this not to boast about what God has done for me but I write this to encourage you to seek God and find out what He desires of you concerning the Desires you have. So What I am saying is begin to focus your desires and your wants for your life around the things of God and seek Him in all things and ask Him to give unto you the Godly desires to see His kingdom advanced through your desires. because when we focus our whole being and hold nothing from Him, that is when He will begin to see that you are serious about what you are asking for and He will give unto you more than you ever imagined possible when you started having those desires. The things He has given to me and in the time He has given me is humbling and astonishing.

So I encourage you, and myself, to continue seeking Him and ask Him to give you the desires of your heart and remember to keep Him as the center of these desires. After that, just sit back and watch what He does for you. I can guarantee you will be blown away not only by His faithfulness but also to the vastness of what He give unto you.

I encourage you to read Psalm 37 and let God speak to you through this passage. Below is a link to Biblegateway.com of that passage.

Take heart ad be encouraged in Christ today and allow Him to work in you and through you in all things.

Love you all and God Bless!

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+37&version=NIV