How Can I Aim If I Can't See?

The past few weeks we have been going over the Gospel of John, specifically chapter 9. I ask that you take a few minutes and read the whole chapter to catch the context of what it is I’m about to share. Beloved, I want to focus on a few things Jesus does and says and how it applies to us.

The Big Little Words

Hello all! Back for another week of diving into the Word of God and I cant begin to explain how excited I was that I had a chance to read through a particular part of Scripture with my weekly bible study this week! You’d think after about 11 weeks we’d be about halfway through the Gospel of John, but we are slowly moving along and are currently at the end of chapter 8.  Today we are going to dissect John 8:30-59.

Arise Oh Sleeper

Today I wanted to piggyback off of my recent blog post All Day, Everyday. Last post I was reminded how God calls us to be submitted more than just an hour a week, one day a week, or even part of the week. He wants us submitted every breath of our lives. See here in America it's very hard to see the point in fully surrendering. We have so many distractions. Video games, television, Facebook, Twitter, cell phones, work, let alone our own family and friends. I can see how someone could read my last post and think, "I get what you're saying Bryan, but you don't know the chaos that goes on in my life! You don't know the limited time I have to even do what I want, not to mention what God wants." 

All Day, Everyday!

As we have read through the book of John, there is a common theme that has recently come up in the past two chapters that cannot be overlooked. In chapters 6-7 we find that there are people constantly expecting Jesus to do something one way, yet Jesus does it another way. On top of that, his way was the better way! This theme boils down to the idea that we must not only believe with our mouth in Jesus, but we must live it. Living it s a little different. This is because we must be submitted to His Holy Spirit's abilities and not our own! I love this theme, even though it's my own struggle from time to time. 


But as I have talked about it with others I have come to the realization that the American Church is in a world of hurt. Questions like, "How often must we submit?" or, " is there a better time than others to submit?" I feel like we sometimes miss the point! See if Jesus would be asked this question he would answer the way he did in Luke 9:23...

" 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." 

What's this mean you ask? Look we all have a cross to carry. For some of us it's depression. For others it's the fear of rejection or failure. Maybe even others struggle with drugs or sexual immorality. We all have a cross to bear. In this passage Jesus says that those things that bring you joy, it's time to crucify them, put them to death. Not only that but carry that cross of submission DAILY. Let's break down that word real quick. There are 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute. This means every 86,400 seconds of the day we should be submitted. That means basically every breath of your life should be his! 


"Bryan, being a Christian isn't always appealing to everyone else though!" Look I get that Christianity sometimes won't win you popularity points, sometimes it can make people uneasy, but know that it's God's desire that we are walking in his Spirit all day long. "Bryan, I don't think you know my coworkers! I don't think that you know my friends! I don't think you know my family!..." the list could go on and on. You're right, I may not know these people, but I do know the heart of Jesus. 

"32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10:32-33 

It's a hard saying, I get that. I share it with you because I check myself with it. And no, I'm not the greatest at it all the time, but I will keep fighting to be the person God calls me to be! You should too! You see when you are submitted, the Spirit will give you the words and opportunities. He will give you the wisdom and the guidance to know what to do. He will give you the love and compassion to communicate him! It all starts with 86,400 seconds. 


You see my heart hurts that we as a church have decided to be all about Jesus for one hour a week and then set our bibles on the shelf the rest of the week. When is the last time you spent an hour eating food and said that was everything you needed for the week? I'm assuming never! Why then do we think we can live this Christian walk daily without feeding ourselves? God has given us the tools. He's given us his Spirit. He's given us his Son! It's time brothers and sisters to rise to the challenge. I don't care if you just started, or have been walking with Christ for years, the time is now to fully submit to Jesus! I promise you that you will feel a sense of purpose, a sense of joy, and a sense power that you've never felt before. However, the cost of it all is your life, your way of doing things everyday and all day! 


 I love you beloved!

Get Your Weight Up!

I’m not a guy who likes to promote my life, but for this blog I have to slightly to give context to the story. Recently I have been working out more regularly than I have in the past few years. This past week alone I ran roughly 5 out of the 7 days. After all, I am getting married this summer to and amazing and Godly woman. Anyone getting married could tell ya, they have a slight desire to look their best for such a special day. I’m no different. Further, anyone who has wants to slim down will do some crazy things in order to lose the weight. Now I’m not a person who would ever do anything unhealthy to lose weight, but I do take tips from time to time about how to lose some stomach fat.

I realized something the other day while I was praying earlier today, God showed me something in a new perspective. I was at the gym earlier this week and there was an older gentleman doing an intense ab workout. It’s super hard to explain, but I can tell you that after seeing him do this workout and seeing the results it had on him, I instantly tried it out. “How was it,” you ask! All I can say is ouch. I’ve been hurting all week even when I do the workout again, it still leaves me sore. That’s the funny thing about working out though, it hurts sometimes. Sometimes, it can seem to be harder than you anticipate, and the struggle can make you want to quit, but any regular person who works out can tell you that when you push through the pain and struggle it’s all worth it when you see the results.

“Okay Bryan, nice story. I thought this was a devotional blog?” Check this out… God blew my mind with two different avenues today.

#1 Our faith journey is like an extended workout. We should never think of our faith as those twenty-minute “best abs you can have” workouts. It’s a series of daily workouts that help you gain stamina and endurance as you grow. Yeah certain muscles can be sculpted quicker than others, sometimes the workout for a day, or two days, or even weeks can feel awkward and super hard… but just like working out, you’ll gain spiritual muscle that will help sustain you during that time.

“4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:4-6

“1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Both of these passages show that faith is a process and persistence is necessary. Further, they also so our dependency upon Jesus, our perfecter and originator of our faith! We are in this life still, we still struggle with sin, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us. But with the end means in mind, similar to the workouts we do, it’s all worth it!

#2 This guy at the gym not once speak with me. Not once did he come and show me how to do his workout. Not once did he ask if I wanted his help. He just went through his regular routine of his workout. He didn’t care who was watching, didn’t care how much pain he looked like he was in, didn’t know he was impacting my workout plan, and didn’t anticipate being this example. Check this out, it was through his persistence in his own workout plan that he impacted me. Moreover, I was telling a friend this guy’s workout for abs and how it really was a good workout when I did it, and she looked at me and said he had already been doing that because she saw the same guy doing it, and also saw the results it produced on him.  You see, TALK IS CHEAP. But his actions spoke far greater than his words. In one week I found that a man impacted two peoples workout plans by simply working on himself.

You see there is a world of people who think that the Christian lifestyle isn’t worth it.  It would have been one thing if this guy told me the workout, or pulled out a paper showing me the workout, but instead he just did what he knew he needed to do! Now the paper he could have given me could have shown me the proper form, and his words could have be very helpful, but watching him do it sucked me right into it!

“2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

We should aim to be the living version of the Gospel. What if you are the only Gospel somebody ever reads? He lived it!

Are you aiming for a speed workout or the extended daily routine?

Are you a living example of the faith you claim to have?

Be blessed Beloved

That Sounds Interesting

Today we continue our trip through sections of John’s Gospel and today is no different then before. This passage may be small, but God has big plans for this word. Now normally verse 15 is the end note of the previous story but it has it’s place here so as to enlighten us to a characteristic of Jesus. Remember, Jesus just fed the 5,000 (closer to 7,000 or 10,000) right before this section.

15 Therefore, when Jesus knew that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself. 16 When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them. 18 Then a high wind arose, and the sea began to churn. 19 After they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid. 20 But He said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid!” 21 Then they were willing to take Him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading. John 6:15-21 HCSB

We first find Jesus, after doing the unthinkable feeding, somewhat fleeing from people to the hillside by himself. Many biblical scholars will agree that this was a moment that our Savior was praying. His Apostles were most likely near by, but he was alone with His Father. Now he just fed the people around mid day and now after retreating to prayer I found something interesting. Verse 16 alludes to the idea that from his mid day rendezvous with his Father, has now turned into a 4 to 5 hour prayer and quiet time with him. From the mid afternoon all the way through verse 17 we are given the impression that Jesus prays until darkness. So involved in his prayer, that His disciples find it okay to leave him there. When is the last time we found ourselves in this situation. Did you ever think about how Jesus, being perfect, never had to ask for forgiveness, yet he is spending this much time with God. Some Christians wouldn’t know what to pray for that could last that amount of time. I struggle with this very same thing at times. We say we’re Christian, yet we don’t strive sometimes to seek God like Jesus.

Another crazy thought is who of the disciple first decided, “Hey guys, I think we waited for him enough, it’s time to go.” Not only did they suggest the idea, they were able to put it in motion. Jesus’ twelve best friends decide they don’t want to wait for him, and give the impression that they can get across that lake without Jesus. If it were me, I’d say, “How about we get far enough off shore to get Jesus’ attention, then when he sees us and comes… we go back and get him.” But that’s not what happens. They go 3 to 4 miles out into the lake.(The average person can take 20-30mins to run this distance, let alone row a boat this distance) When you row a boat, that’s a long time! On top of that, the water is getting rough and it’s dark outside. In my opinion, something is not adding up. They just left the miraculous Jesus and are in the middle of the dark and rough lake with no way to find land.. Then the word pointed the finger at me, how often do you misunderstand Jesus and decide that you know the easier way to do something? You may call these Apostles idiots, but you must remember you do the same thing sometimes! How often do we leave our self worse than we started sometimes.

Lastly, Jesus does something, which I will love him for, yet never understand. After being somewhat forgotten, Left behind, and utterly disrespected by his closest friends, he walks on water the whole distance to reach them. Notice his greeting is not one of frustration, not one disappointment, but one of joy and grace. This shadowy figure comes closer to the boat and cries out, “it’s only me, Jesus, don’t worry!” Jesus in spite of the right to let them perish in the lake, he pursues after them, and gently guides them to the right path.  He chose to love them in this time. Look for some of you reading this, you’re in the middle of what this story calls the rocky lake, it’s dark, and you’re terrified of what could happen next. Be encouraged because what may seem like a far off shadowy figure will turn out to be the Lover of our soul walking on water toward you. Literally acting in the supernatural and radically trying to grasp your attention. If that’s you today, give in to him. Be willing to let him in your boat!

How often are you praying?

How often are you telling Jesus to wait on the shore of your life while you think you can make it across the lake?

How often are you letting him in the boat?

I love you Beloved