The Vivid Child

So can I just say how awesome it is again to be able to share with you a small glimpse into how God moves? I was at my usual Tuesday night church service, Ember, when I  witnessed something that just put me right in my place. 

It was the end of the service, and the worship band was playing their last song before the main servant of the service came forth and prayed over the assembly.  His little niece was there last night and she wanted to be by him as he led that night. Her parents were worried she was going to be a distraction to some, but nobody was prepared for what happened next. Our humble servant walked to the front of the stage, placed his foot on the stairs and raised his hands to worship just briefly before he prayed over everyone. This little 2-3 year old girl followed him up to the stage, without him knowing, and watched him for a moment. She then walked back to her parents and stood by them, however she managed to keep her humble uncle in focus. She then did something I never expected. She left the side of her parents, and walked right to her uncle’s side. She then vividly looked at him from his feet all the way to his head as if to study him. She then placed her foot on the stair next to her uncle, an without hesitation….

raised both hands!

I was blown away but what I just saw. This little girl, who can’t even speak very well, who can’t even sing the songs we were singing, did everything she knew to do when it came to following her uncle’s example. She trusted that what he was doing was exactly what she needed to be doing, without fear of what anyone else thought. Think about it! Jesus speaks about this to His disciples in Luke 18:15-17.

“15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Take a deep look at this passage. Jesus knows that a child is very trusting. Furthermore, most children don’t have any care or concern for what people think about what it is they are doing. They could be singing in gibberish, they could be playing with imaginary figures, or they could be doing summersaults. The story on this little girl I told you is a shining example of what Jesus means. See we need to trust our Father in Heaven, and we need to worship Him with our lives with everything we know how to or we could be missing the whole point of Jesus’ coming. We could be missing our entrance to the Kingdom. I know it’s not about what we do, but what He did. What I’m saying here is that as American Christians, living our wealthy and blessed lives compared to the rest of the world, we can’t even get a grip on what it means to vividly study Jesus, let alone mimic him in our worship.

I think it’s time, Church, we let this lesson sink in deep. It’s time we ask the Lord to bring us to the point of child-like faith. 

Love you Beloved

Devoted To Open Doors

Again, God moved in a real fun way and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. My Amazing girlfriend and I were reading through Colossians 4 and something just struck a chord with me. The fun in the whole situation was seeing something in the passage that I normally overlook. See Colossians 4 is the part of the chapter where Paul is closing the letter, and he normally has his own prayer requests, repeated exhortations, and a small list of names of people and their qualities. Who want to read that? Well God showed me how alive his word really is and how everything is there for a reason.

“2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” COLOSSIANS 4:2-4

Now there is a lot more to this chapter, but this is what God blew my mind with. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul reminds the Colossian Church to be devoted to prayer.  In doing so, we are reminded to be watchful and thankful.  The ESV puts verse 2 like this, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”  This passage poses some questions. Are you steadfast in prayer? Are you devoted to watchful and thankful prayer? I know that this is an area where I could step up. It’s time for us to remember that we are called to pray. Jesus implies in the Sermon on the Mount that prayer is not something we can do when we feel like, it’s something we should do a lot (MATTHEW 6:5-14). Are you devoted to prayer?

Check this next part out! Paul asks, “pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.” This is something I really would just read past and not think twice, but read it again and see if something hits you like it did for me. God showed me that this should be a regular prayer that I pray in my life. Be honest with yourself, when is the last time you said a prayer like this before you went into work? How about before you went to the grocery store? How about when you hang out with your friends? Further, Paul reminds them that it’s because of sharing the “message” that he is in jail. What’s that all about? I know Paul was in jail, but what does that have to do with me. This passage was so convicting to me because here Paul has put his life on the line to share his faith and to help people rise to new life in Jesus, and here I am not even asking for God to open the door for me to share the truth with people who really aren’t even threatened by it! I feel like a lot of the time that there a bunch of us, me included, that just don’t get it! I have heard story after story as of late of people that are in other countries around the world that are doing exactly what Paul did, and we are too worried about why God isn’t fixing our little insignificant problems.

I’m not here to try and say that people’s problems aren’t hard or aren’t a big deal. What I am saying though is that the reason our walks feel mediocre is because we aren’t taking time to seek the heart of God in prayer. If we are making time to pray, we spend so much time talking and not enough time listening to God speak his heart. I think it’s time we get a little more DEVOTED to Prayer and listening to the heart and will of God. Paul gets it right, it is the will of God for us to share the “Mystery of Christ” to all. We can’t do this properly without Gods help (v. 4). 

Will today be the day you start asking Jesus to teach you how to pray?

Will today be the start of your journey to sharing the “Mystery of Christ” to everyone?

I know that today is the day for me, and Lord Jesus I pray that you remind me of this every single breath!

God bless you Beloved

A Gazelle That Abides

So I was a part of an awesome conversation last night that I figured I’d share with you something God reminded me of. Have you ever found yourself falling into some of your old ways and thinking to yourself, “Why is this happening?” Well I had friend who was going through that recently and God used a verse from 1 Peter to remind both her and me of something. 

“8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 PETER 5:8

See here’s the scoop. We tend to forget a few things. One of the things that we forget is that we have to live with our fleshly desires. Having said this, we are not called to let this be an excuse to walk in it. Paul reminds us in Colossians 3 that we are called to die to that and to live in the Spirit. With this in mind, we also tend to forget that the Devil knows what our flesh wants, craves, and desires. He knows how to prod at it in order for us to be tempted even harder than what our own sinful nature already does. He looks to “devour” us, as this verse states.

See this verse tells us to be alert and sober-minded because if the prey of a lion is these things, they would know to stay with the flock and keep in the right area. If we are not alert, we tend to wander in our faith journey. We tend to forget the simple yet important things like prayer, fellowship, and worshiping God. We forget how these things really do satisfy our Spirit. We become like a weak , lonely, gazelle in the Sahara sized life. We must remember what a lion does to us in this position. I once watched a lion stalk its prey on TV. A lion will blend in with its surroundings, out of sight of the gazelle. It’ll slowly creep up on the prey, and in their most vulnerable moment…

The lion will pounce

and devour the prey

Praise the Lord that we are not simply like the gazelle! If you are in this time right now, know that Jesus is there to help you back to the rest of the flock. He’s there to give you more strength. He’s there to bring you back to your brothers and sisters. If this isn’t enough, He’s there to do even more.

“9 Resist him (Satan), standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 PETER 5:9-10

He wants to help you have the endurance to always be where we need to be. He wants us to persevere. See we will always struggle with our wants, desires, and cravings. We can’t run from them and expect them to simply disappear. Satan wants you to think that so he can strike you down. 

Beloved, I ask that you take time to consider where you are. Take time to ask God if you are the wandering gazelle. If you are, take time to resist not just Satan, but yourself in Jesus’ name. If you are one who is learning to persevere, find someone to bring back to the flock. They need it as much as you do!

I love you beloved!

A Zacchaeus Heart

What’s up Brothers and Sisters? Today’s post is going to be interesting, yet applicable! I love it when God takes a passage and opens it a new way in my heart. Today I want to focus on showing you the story of Zacchaeus. For those of you that know the story this will be a refresh, for those who don’t you will probably read the following passage and see multiple things that you never knew about Jesus. 

“1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” LUKE 19:1-10

The thing I love about this passage is that is so much bigger than the Sunday school song we used to sing. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he!....” here is what the Lord showed me the other day about this passage. He showed me the heart of Zacchaeus. I wish I could have a Zacchaeus heart every day. Think about it! Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, and had a hard time doing so because of his height. In that moment, he noticed that he could do something about it and did. He ran farther down the road and climbed a tree. He Did Everything He Could To See Jesus.  Guess what? HE SAW JESUS!

Now as if that wasn’t enough to make this story amazing, God shows us more. Jesus is walking, and He doesn’t simply walk past, He sees Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus ran ahead, climed a tree, found Jesus, and in return Jesus acknowledged him and invited him to dine at table. Think about it, Jesus came into town, and asked an average man, a complete sinner to sit at table with him. Furthermore, at the dinner we see a transformation of that same sinner! Isn’t this supposed to be a picture of our everyday lives with Jesus? 

What if every day we realized that since we fall short in our sin, that we can’t truly see Jesus? What if we ran ahead of the rest, gave all we had and climbed a tree to see Jesus? This process could be anything from prayer, to fasting, or even serving. This passage shows that in seeking after Jesus with everything we have, even while we fall short in our sin, that Jesus will acknowledge us in front all and He will invite us to dine at table. In other words, He will have an intimate, deep, relational moment with us that very day. Praise the Lord!

Are you giving every day, every moment, every breath your all to “climb the tree” in order to see Christ even though you are short in your sin? Do you have a Zacchaeus Heart?

“13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” JEREMIAH 29:13

I love you Beloved!

Bond-Servants Of Christ

Today I want to take a quick look at a way we as believers should see ourselves when it comes to this Christian walk. The Apostle Paul always has extensive openings to his letters that depicts who he is for the reader. He calls himself Apostle, set apart or holy, called by the will of God, but there is one title he refers to himself as that strikes me as odd. Or at least it used to till recently. In Romans 1:1 Paul says the following:

“1Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”

That’s right he calls himself a Bond-Servant. This literally means a servant without pay, or a slave. Why would Paul call himself this? He’s a Slave of Christ? What does this mean for us? Think about this for a moment, Jesus said it himself:

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.”And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." MARK 10:43-45 

See Paul knows that he is free to make his own choices, but there is just something inside him that forces him to do the will of God. His love for Jesus enslaves him to walking according to His will. Think of it this way, the Bible says that we were a slave to sin, but set free. (Romans 6:18) In this we have become slaves to righteous living. What’s that mean? If I were a slave and someone came long and bout me with a price, and then told me, “You’re free to go.” I would act a little differently. In fact I would probably surrender my life to that person and choose to serve them for the rest of my life because I wouldn’t know how else to repay them. They set me free, which means they have what’s best for me in their heart. They would protect me. 

This is what Jesus did for us! He gave his life, the full payment for our lives, so that we could be free. We as believers are free to do what we want but we know that serving Him is what is best for us. He has the best things in store for us! This is what Paul means by this term.  Christian rapper Flame says it best in his song Surrender, “Jesus here's my white flag/I surrender right now…. Right now…. I surrender right now. Jesus here's my white flag/I surrender right now…. Right now…. I surrender right now.”

Remember, again, you were bought with a price. Christ came to serve. Are you going to follow in his footsteps? Are you going to be His Bond-Servant?

God Bless you Beloved!