Oh just more randomness!!!!

I have spent my life wondering what I was meant for. Now after five years of praying I find my faith strong and willing. Even if the obstacles are larger than me and my understanding I know He has it. It is so tough to focus on Heavenly Things sometimes when the world is forcing it's opinion down your throat. When it is telling you no an you can't do it. I know that nothing is above God and He is in every situation but if you think it is not tough to continue to move forward then you never put your focus on heaven. So in the process of finding my purpose or should I say the next step in my growth of focusing on Him I am learning that God uses people in helping us to achieve these steps but as well the enemy will use people to hinder you in the steps as well. I am tryin to focus forward on the calling at hand and not let the rules, traditions, and the logical rational wordly thinking affect my walk and faith. So many times people try and dilute the Word and the truth that it speaks. Now I know all this is so random but this is the mind that wrestles with focus. It is never easy but always worth it. No matter the risk of losing "friends" or knowing that people will reject everything that God leads me to do. I mean how many times can a person really be called an idiot before they snap. Well I guess that is why Christ was our example. I hope that people will see that we need to put our focus on Him. Peace!

How do you believe!?

This is a post that my buddy and brother in Christ re-posted from Acts 29 network.

-We are not theological post-moderns who embrace culture without discernment and compromise the distinctives of the gospel, but rather Christians who believe the truths of the Bible are eternal and therefore fitting for every time, place, and people.
-We are not fundamentalists who retreat from cultural involvement and transformation, but rather missionaries faithful both to the content of Scripture and context of ministry.
-We are not hyper-Calvinists who get mired down in secondary matters, but rather pray, evangelize, and do good works because we believe that the sovereign plan of God is accomplished through us, His people.
-We are not eschatological Theonomists or Classic Dispensationalists and believe that divisive and dogmatic certainty surrounding particular details of Jesus Second Coming are unprofitable speculation, because the timing and exact details of His return are unclear to us.
-We are not Open Theists and believe in the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God in all things.
-We are not religious relativists and do believe that there is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ alone.
-We are not nationalists seeking to simply improve one nation but instead ambassadors of the King of Kings commissioned to proclaim and demonstrate the coming of His kingdom to all nations of the earth.
-We are not moralists seeking to help people live good lives, but instead evangelists laboring that people would become new creations in Christ.
-We are not relativists and do gladly embrace Scripture as our highest authority above such things as culture, experience, philosophy, and other forms of revelation.
-We are not Universalists and do believe that many people will spend eternity in the torments of hell as the Bible teaches.
-We are not naturalists and do believe that Satan and demons are real enemies at work in this world and subject to God.
-We are not rationalists and do believe that not everything can be known but that God calls us to live by faith with mystery and partial knowledge regarding many things.
-We are not evangelical feminists and do believe that God reveals Himself as a Father and is to be honored by the names He reveals to us without apology.
-We are not embarrassed by the bloody death of Jesus Christ and do believe He died as a substitute for the sins of His people in selfless love.
-We are not ashamed and do proclaim a loving gospel of grace which sounds like foolishness and offensiveness to the unrepentant while also saving multitudes with ears to hear good news.
-We are not polemicists who believe that it is our task to combat every false teaching but are passionate about preserving the integrity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 Well how do you believe?

Drought

Well as I was reading Jeremiah 14 today it got me thinking about the rain we have had this year. We have had an abundance of rain, so much so that the ground can barely soak it up. But in Jeremiah 14 they didn't have an abundance they had a drought. God was punishing the land for their wicked ways. His wrath was being shown by holding back the rain. He even told Jeremiah not to intercede on their behalf, because the people had totally turned their backs on God and went to find their hope in false Gods.

Jeremiah on the other hand could no longer take it and started to plead with God. In verses 19 - 22 he is really trying to reach God on Israel's behalf. He is asking God why and please for your Glory turn the rains back on. He is begging God to forgive the people. He even tells God that it is only Him that makes the rain fall, no false god or ritual or dance will bring rain from the sky. Then at the end of his plea he says "So we will wait for you to help us."

So that got me thinking how we have complained so much about how much rain has fallen this past year. Then I thought about a couple of years ago when we didn't have a drop. When lakes that supplied people's drinking water was about dried up. When people couldn't even water their yards because we had to conserve it for other more important uses. Through all those hardships of that drought we now find ourselves complaining now when the Lord is giving an abundance.

When will we ever be happy with God? See I think we forget how great God is! God has provided for abundantly and I believe when we soon forget that He can stop that abundance. He says we are to have life, an abundant life, but only if we do it in Christ and through Christ. When we start to turn away form Him you can surly count on the abundance to stop. Jeremiah sought God out to pray on the behalf of those who have turned away even when God said don't do it. That is a pretty bold love that he had for Israel.

Will we turn to God and start to thank Him for this abundant life that He is have given to us? Or will we complain at every turn of the road?

Let's give God the glory and praise He deserves in every aspect of our lives! Let's also not be impatient with God either if we ask in Christ then we know He will answer us. We just have to wait for His time.

Random Thought maybe....

Love is the Reason!

Reflect Obsession

For the past few weeks I have been leading this study from Francis Chan's book " Crazy Love". It has been interesting especially since this is my second time doing the study but we are now in chapter 8 and we are talking about obsessed people with God. It is a great chapter and very thought provoking but also a whole lot to swallow at the same time. Francis lists these different characteristics of being obsessed with God, well if that is what you want to call them; or maybe we can say different types of people who are obsessed with God. He talks about people who are lovers, risk takers, friends of all, crazy ones, the humble, servers, givers, sojourners, the engrossed, unguarded ones, the rooted, the dedicated, and sacrificers. I know that doesn't sound like people obsessed with God and maybe what you have to do is pick up this book and see for yourself. Chan talks about these people in their different lights but they all boil down to one thing; they are willing to do whatever it takes to love God obsessively. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to be obsessed with God. I mean these are not things you have to do to love Him; these are things you do because He loves you.

See it's not about us working to prove our love to Him, or trying really hard to show the world that we love Him. It is simply just loving Him and out of that love we develop these attitudes that the world sees as radical and crazy.

Loving God will make you so different from the world, people will know it, but not by the way we dress or how our hair is cut. It is in the way we love others and how we live our lives. (Oh by the way I am not talking about how morally good we live it. I mean it is a part but not to the point that we use our morality as superiority over everyone else.) Basically being truly in love with God is that God is not just number one but He is everything and at the center of everything.

We talk about how much we love God but there is always something else that is taking our time, someone else that is sharing that space with God. Yeah of course God is number one but is He the center of number 2, 3, 4, and so on, or is God all alone in the that first position. Also, even though He is first how much time do spend in that first spot or is it a passing by, or obligation that you do because He is first.

See when we truly focus on a real love for God we have to first see the real love He has for us. We have to understand that His love is not something we earned or something we worked hard at achieving. He just simply loved us. That is exaclty what we are supposed to do, just love.

You might ask how are we supposed to just love God, well it is in our love for others that do it. In how we live our lives in relationship to God, not in law to God. We are to love those who won't love us back; reflection of Jesus! We are to give to those who won't give back; reflection of Jesus! We are to serve those who won't serve us back; reflection of Jesus! We are to be to everybody else what we want from everybody else; reflection of Jesus! If you haven't got it yet we are just to be a reflection of Jesus!

If you truly reflect Christ then you are truly loving God!