A heart of transformation: live free, but not easy

I often wonder what it truly means to endure. When I think of endure I realize that there is resistance I am turning away from something. I must ask myself lf what am I turning away from sin, evil, bad choices?  All of the above might be true but what if it is not that simple?  Paul says in Romans 12:2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." How do I transform the renewing of my mind? What am I going against? We often desire pleasure the feeling and pursuit of happiness. We want it we give it to ourselves. Yes there is satisfaction in this but if we are honest with ourselves it is momentary. If we are brutally honest with ourselves it is not even satisfaction but q numbing of pain. Pain from searching and search for a void in emptiness an unsettled desire for more. I believe this is for Christ followers and those who do not believe in Christ alike. To transform is a continuous fight a changing of mind and habits, but not set apart from each other but together you cannot experience one without the other.  "Biblical faith fights to believe the Gospel to such a degree that it is reflected in our practice." As we seek the truth of the Gospel and continually let our mind be transformed which cannot be done alone by our own effort, our lives change. Love becomes easier, stronger and freely flows without hesitation. The Gospel calls us to look at Jesus over and over again, To acknowledge we are blemished and we need a redeemer. To say yes to Jesus as Lord of our lives but acknowledge that this is done through grace and grace alone, no amount of good deeds or any earning behaviours can save us. We are transformed by grace. "Grace is opposed to earning not to effort". What if to endure it means we continue to acknowledge our inadequacies everywhere, accept the grace God so freely wants to give us through his son. What if to endure means to continue to make new what grace, love, obedience, righteousness, repentance, sanctification look like. What if it means to reclaim the words that are so abused in our journeys and stories. What if This is when our hearts truly begin to be set apart from the world. Not some sort of behavior modification or withholding myself from pleasures, but a heart that starts to desire them less and less, because we have grabbed a hold of something strong and enduring Christ our saviour.

Blessed to be a blessing

      What is our purpose? How do we play a part? Where can we go from here? Stay with me here. Keep some of these questions in mind as I step into something that really burns inside me.  I really feel no matter where you are at or what level this can speak to you. Even if you don't consider yourself a Christain or could care less about God. I still ask that you stay with me here me out. Genesis 12:2 God to Abraham says " I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. " We were created to be a blessing. We were created for a bigger story.

This post can truly hit on so many different levels I ask that you would think about it and allow it to do just that. Ask the what ifs? Have I really made a commitment? Where do I go? What is my part? hang with me this one is lil longer.

To be honest there is something so personal and so close to home with this idea . I fear that here is where so many people get stuck. I fear that so many people cannot move forward until they get this, until this truly sinks in. So many want freedom, so many want to pursue BIG dreams, want to conquer the world,  but they ayrent dealing with their right here or their right now. I know personally I have a lot of growth but I am finally starting to GET it . THe process might be slower then I want but I suppose that is why they call it a journey.So what holds us back? Mathew 6:21 says "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." To me this statement is so foundational for who were are and where we want to go. I think So much freedom or imprisonment is found here. So many of us honor God with our lips but not our actions.  Did I just go to money? Yes, Yes I did but I am here to say it is no about MONEY it is about the heart. Why is this such a sensitive subject within the Church. Why do so many people get so edgy, and uncomfortable. I beleive it is absolutely foundational to how we can be freely used by God and even find God in places we did not know we could. I mean think about it where you invest your passionate about, you get emotional about. Dont believe me ever watched a football game where someone has bet, ever bougt stock for a product, ever seen someone spill something on their new 100 dollar pair of jeans? Maybe it seems far fetched but is it really?I meant what if what could unlock our hearts is by giving to our house, our church? If you are not a believer and reading this thank you for still being here. If your not a believer you probably have heard so many twisted versions of what tithing is. Even if you are a believer I know you have and wrong motives, and wrong reasons eventually lead us farther away rather then closer.

So where can we go? Why give? what is it for? Yes there are aspects of the Church that are business like and there are expenses. That does not even start to scratch the surface of why Tithe. Why we give 10% So why should we ? Maybe just maybe giving away with God is better then 100 percent all yours.  Here is a list i saw the other day about Ten reasons we get to tithe by Steven Furtick.  Yes get to. Imagine if your heart got to this place where every week you were actually excited and looked forward to that time of the week. Its fun trust me ive experienced it at times. There is a wholeness here that opens our hearts in ways cant even fathom.
AS you read this list think about these things when they pass the offering.

1)We document Gods blessing when we give
2) We get to train ourselves to obey Gods instructions more immediately and completely
3)When we give we get to participate in Gods higher purpose by connecting more deeply to his heart
4) I get to build something much bigger then me , that will last much longer then me
5)When I give I get to break the back of greed and escape the change of selfishness
6)When I give I get to wage war on worry by placing Gods protection over my possesions
7)When I give I get to order and enjoy whats left because Ive given God my first and my best
8)When I give I get to send a spiritual reminder to myself and my circumstances that my God is more then enough.
9)When we give we get to spread the Gospel to the world and preach the Gospel to ourselves
10) When I give I get to open my hands to a God who will not be outgiven.

Our heart is so complexed and it is so easily pursuaded when we try to please it ourselves. I am so passionate here because Churches around the world arent reaching their potential. Ya more resources you can do more things that seems logical. But but but it doesnt even end there and it isnt about there. I am pasionate here because the Church cannot reach its potential because so many cant give there whole heart to it. They cant dive into it or be all in even if they want to, because they simply said are serving something else. God does not need what we have, but we desperately need what he wants to give us.  We are all blessed to be a blessing.

Retraining the heart: A change that must be made

Have we really drifted do far as a people that the first thing we notice is someones flaws our shortcomings. I truly believe that none of us are exempt from this. We have desensitized our own hearts in this regard to the extent that we flaunt the "mistakes" of others socially and publicly. Maybe some of us don't engage in these actions first hand but is sitting quietly any different? I myself am as guilty as anyone. When Is enough, enough? When do you cross the so called line of insensitivity? It is no wonder the next generation is labeled as disrespectful, selfish and demanding of self entitlement. Do we really as a people model anything different? It has gotten to the point where it has become awkward or even worse burdensome to become encouraging and uplifting.

  The "Church" is not exempt here. In fact at times I wonder if the greatest struggles do not belong to us. We know better,Love calls for it and our Gospel demands it. Add if our response as a church in this regard isn't bad enough. The Church within the church is probably as bad as it gets. We try to walk in community together, but if they do not do it our way, or think our way it stirs up conflict. Which in amongst itself isn't entirely a bad thing. It really comes down to do you hold your views for yourself or do you desire somehow to draw them closer to God. To reveal a new peace and understanding that maybe they have never experienced before. So often our own churches have become competitive like only a brother and sister can be. The difference we do not treat them as a brother or a sister. We treat them as outlaws, outcasts unworthy of our compassion. They often become the brunt of our jokes or the center of our gossip.

 So what can we do? What I'd we took a stand retained ourselves to have an EYE for the beauty. We visualized or gratitude and our praise. What if we chose to honor everyone. Honor and respect are different to an extent respect is earned but Honor we are called to always give. Everyone is worthy of honor. What if we became a people that for once quit viewing others through our own eyes of selfishness, shame and hurt. Maybe if we started to step up and change the game others would follow suit. America is a selfish nation, a depressed nation a nation that is worn out. We suck the life out of ourselves by sucking it out of each other. When we give life we gain life. Could you bee the one that decides to take a stand and retrain your heart. AMERICA needs us.

quietness and confidence

               Tonight I am going to do it a little different. Tonight I just want to talk to you guys give you a glimpse of my life in hope that some how it can bring something to your life. Even the name i picked is far different then it normally would be.

     Do you ever have those nights where you crawl in to bed lay down and you cannot help but smile. You are so just flat out grateful you cannot help but smile. Not because today was easy, or you were rewarded or recieved something. In fact in a lot of ways it was exactly the opposite. The day was a grind it was tough for a lot of different reasons but that is not the point. I do not want to complain. I used to look at those events or those circumstances and allow it to define my day. Now I am realizing my days are far bigger then that. Back to my point. Life happened today. Every interaction I had today with someone close to me left a very special mark in fact far beyond what they even realize. I know this is and will be scattered but tonight that is who I am. Forgive me if it is hard to follow.

        Isaiah 32:17 "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace: its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. "  I know my days will never be perfect and I know so often they will be hard, they will be a grind and in the midst of them it will seem so often like war and for many of us at times hell.  My days are defined different now. Isaiah 32:17 "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace: its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. " Isaiah 32:17 "The fruit of that righteousness will be peace: its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. " Let it sink in. I truly believe with all my heart when we seek jesus with a pure heart and a heart without selfish motives we slowly but sure start to understand the steps of our Journeys. It is as if we recieve a revelation and something goes off in our mind and finally e might understand or we might get something we hadnt before. Hold on to those moments. But When we seek him the fruit of that righteousness in our lives is peace, quietness and confidence. We have confidence in knowing know matter the day we had our God is still the same, his love in know way has changed and our journey will still continue. There is a peace and a freedom in knowing our days are not judged or graded by the things we got right. The days are not defined byt the circumstances we are facing. Their is joy in every day, their is peace in every day. When we start to live life with the intention of being MINDFUL of the opportunities to seize and create life our days take on a whole new meaning. Something that is so far beyond ourselves . We see life where we did not before. We are blessed in ways that previously we walked right past. When we step into the life that jesus has for us you begin to expeirence a new peace and quitness. your heart calms and you can see the blessings and experiences the life that is brought about in your day in a new way. We miss this in our lives so many times. We get so caught up in us our hurts, our pains, our wants, our desires, that we miss the true Joys of life. We get caught up in us. We get caught up in defining our day and our life on things that are truly small. Today I was able to end my night lay my head down and know that I experienced life in a new way. Will you allow yourself to?

Day of honor: True meaning of freedom.

Days like today are moving for me as I ponder my life and hte opportunities given to me. There have been so many that have put their lives down for our freedom. Even before the existence of America. This day goes far beyong U.S.A do not get me wrong I love my country and am proud of who I am and where my roots are. So many have lost their lives for our freedom but it is more then just war. The fight is far bigger then that. There are so many that fight for food, survival, water, decency,and love. People have put their lives on the line for a far greater cause then us just having the right to do whatever we want or to not do anyting at all. They fight to give us the opportunities to change the world. They fight for us to grab hold of the day to day gifts that we have been given. They fight so that we will stand up and say enough is enough. It is time to care for the pour, the lost, the wounded and the wronged. True freedom is found when we look outside ourselves and we invest in the lives of others. When we give our time and resources to something other then personal gratification and satisfaction. Every day we have opportunities whether it be at work, home, school, out in public we have the chances to live large. To step outside ourselves and change the world or at the very least the lives around us. Investing into the lives of the youth to shape who they are and what they will fight for espeically with our own kids. True change starts from the inside out. I know it must first start with me and it is something I am finally being intentional to step into. I often suck at it but I give my all in doing so. So for me today on this memorial day has a new meaning. As so many have given up there lives and normalcy for us. To pave the road for us to live outside ourselves and to truly Live large. Living a life bigger then yourself is true freedom. So lets honor those before us by living a life worth living and preparing the way for those after us. Let us not take another day for granted. Be the change you were created to be.

THe Golden calf: The heart that is hindered

Most of us know the Old Testament sotry of worship. The Golden calf when Moses went up to get the ten commandemnts. Israel and its people melted all the Gold and other medals they had and forged a calf out of gold and worshipped it. Even the total heart behind it might have not been totally wrong. After all you cannot wroship something you cannot see right? They just wanted something visible. But it is not that simple. "Sin is fundamentally idolatrous. I do wrong things because my heart desires something more than the Lord." Paul david tripp from his book Instruments in the hands of the Redeemer. We will always worship something. The Lord or everything else. Anything that draws our focus or any desires that come before our desire of Christ is an idol. Why is idolatry such an important issue? "Worship is more fundamental to our essential nature than the pain, pressures or pleasure of our experiences. what we worship determines our responses to all our experiences." (Tripp 67) We were created to worship. We were created to glorify God. Anything that gets in the way of our ultimate purpose on this earth and in our lives is devastating. Even as I write this it is convicting me. I do not believe we have a big enough sense of urgency about idolatry in our own lives. How many of us can truly say that Christ is at the core of our desires. Some of us may say he is but does our actions, time and finances back that up. Where do we invest? Where do I spend the most time? What do I write the most or biggest checks to every week? Some of us would naturally say work we spend hte most time at work . I am sure you are asking so your saying work is an idle? What I am asking why do you work? To fulfill your simplest needs? Or is it for everything else that comes with it? The glitz the glamour. when was the last time we offered our work day up to God? THe last time we went to work thankful for the opportunity that it porvides my daily needs and from that and after that I get to give and bless others. Where we invest our heart will follow. We cannot serve two masters. It is impossible so if were not in total service of our Lord we are living for and serving for other things. AMERICA this is us. We do not get it we cannot get it. If we did tehre would not be so many hurting and so many needs even on our blocks right now. The churches would not be empty. Why because our lives our checkbooks, our time would reflect what we say our desire for the Lord is. I am not sure we value this thought near enough. If we put our time, money and heart where our mouths are things would change. Revival would happen. The Church would be the hope. We would feed the needy, resuce hearts from so much pain and terror.. Free those in bondage, rescue so man y from fear. WE WOULD BE THE PROVIDER. We were created for one purpose and one purpose alone. How much of your life do you invest there?

Your Rafiki moment

Simba starts chasing rafiki in pursuit of learning about his father.He chases him through the trees and catches up to him. Rafiki tells him to look into the water he is dissapointed to see only his reflection, thinking it might be his father. Rafiki tells him to look closer and he then sees a reflection of his father. Rafiki says you see he lives in you. There is then a dialogue with his father and how he has forgotten who he was and who he was to become. I know there was a lot of hocus pocus and things involved in this but I think there is an important lesson for us all here if we are willing to be honest with ourselves. Dueteronomy 6;12 says "be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, our of the land of slavery." There are grumplings and complaints going throughout the wilderness. Moses heres chatter how they wish they were back in Egypt. Ya they had seen miracles, true they also saw the wrath God put on pharoh and his country. They saw the sees opened wide and they have witnessed God provide there every need. Yet still there is complainingthere is ungratefulness. How couldthis be? How could tehy forget that there life back there was far worse. How could they forgetthat life in Egypt was far worse. Do they not remember the promises God has for them to enter the promise land? Are we really that different? How often do we find ourselves complaining and longing to be able to indulge in the things we used to. How often do We forget who God says we are, the promises he has for us and where he has removed us from. You see our lives are not much different. We wereall living in slavery at one point. Trapped by the desires of the world. Trapped by our own selfish desires. God rescued us and when we beleived we were marked by him and entered into his grace. He has a promise land for us he is preparing the way.We are wondering in our desert until the time is right. We must REMEMBER that we are part of something bigger, we are part of a larger story. That we too were once slaves, but we have been rescued and all of our legitimate needs have been met. When the times get tough and when the world seems like it might be crashing down on you. We must remember who God is, who we are in him, where we were brought out of and where we are promised to end up. The story isnt about us. We are called to be ambassadors to our king. Every moment of every day we are called to be embassadors. Our opportunities are truly limitless. Simba had ran away from his destiny, he complained about the life he was supposed to be having and the hurt that was there. It is no longer his or he would rather go back to how it was or worse didnt want to go take what was rightfully his. He REMEMBERED HE HAD HIS RAFIKI moment. Will you?

Vitality or death: Is there a middle ground

I picked up a devotional today which I rarely do. I usually go straight to the Bible REVIVAL BEGINS WITH YOU." Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Mathew 4:17. ---If Christianity is important at all, then it is all-important. If it is anything at all then it is everything. It is either the most vital thing in your life, or it isn't worth bothering with. "Billy Graham. I have heard this a hundred times before and I get it but I wonder today is it all important everywhere. Is it "vital" in all places could today be the day in a new way that I choose to only live off of Jesus and the promise of the hope and future he brings. Will i truly forsake the world the bitterness, unforgiveness, selfishness, greed, envy, hate and the rest rhis world has to offer. Will I truly be consumed and engulfed by this promise. Will I love in the way Jesus called us to. The Love that never fails. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." When I do these things there is no choice but to take my eyes off myself, infact it is impossible to truly Love and not have a selfless heart. So the "Rutts" of this world and the "slumps" start to dissapear and shatter. Hear me out, I mean what causes those things? Is it not the moment where you decide you were owed that or that should not have happened to you, that our mind starts to spiral into what seems like an endless hole of guilt and doubt. Could it be that the only way to truly rise out of those places is to flip our eyes off ourselves. It is so easy to get caught up and entangled in the selfish mindset. It starts as a moment of weakness then all yhe guilt and shame of the world is poured onto us. We start to believe the lies of you are not good enough, you will never climb out if this, this is as strong as you will ever be, what is the point it is kust a tired circle of hopelessness, You so not truly think you can make a difference, I could go on and on. We Egrow weary we get tired and we sulk. So we know we must turn our eyes to the Hope we have in the promise that we are "small" in the trandensendence of oir Lord. That his promise is far bigger then anything we can fathom or understand. Isn't that what faith is? Believing and choosing to enter into a story that we do not comprehend or understand? Taking steps of action because ultimately we know hat the only story that matters is the one that started bwfore there was time. When the God head the Trinity Father, son and holy spirit de cided to create us not for our pleasure, but so that we could bring Him GLORY so that we could enter into LOVE in its truest for. That is vitality is there really any middle ground?