Prayer

Matthew 7: 7-12:"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

I don't know why it still surprises me when the Word of God rings true in my life, but it does. You would think that I would have caught on to the fact that the truth contained in Scripture is actually applicable to everyday life. However, God continues to amaze me with the power and grace contained in Scripture.

I have been praying for the past few weeks that God would bring a dramatic change to the college and career class that I teach on Sunday mornings. I wanted so badly for this Bible study to go so far beyond my knowledge and my teaching to a place that could only be explained by the power of God. However, week after week, the boring drudgery of me doing all the talking continued.

James 4: 2-3 comes to mind. I was asking for God's power in Sunday school, but I was not acknowledging his power in my own life.

Then, God showed up. Now, do I mean that God had been on vacation for the first half of the semester? To quote Paul, "by no means!" God had been here. God had not changed. What had changed was the way I was living and thinking about the Lord and his work in and through me. God got my attention, and I began to acknowledge his Lordship over my life.

He changed my perspective, ignited my passion, and provided a very direct and practical answer to my prayer.

Prayer works. I promise. More importantly, God promises.

Long Time No See

Wow!

It has been over 6 months since I have blogged...

Does this say something about where I have been the past few months? Very possibly.

Suffice to say, this form of accountability has been lacking in my life, and my relationship with the Lord has suffered as a result. My walk has not been what it should be. However, that part of my life is now behind me, and I am moving forward.

God set me on fire today.

It wasn't a singular event, but a long series of events that led me to a point of absolute spiritual desperation. I felt like everything I thought and believed was caving in around me. I am by no means claiming that some major catastrophic event happened in my life. This was all internal. A war has been waging inside of me for months, and God broke through the line today. Again, it wasn't some great worship moment or life-shattering tragedy, but simply sitting in class and pondering what has gone on in my life lately.

Things are changing.

Things have changed.

More to come...

News Flash:

GOD IS AWESOME!!!

Details to follow...

Rain

"At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'" Job 1: 20-21

As American Bible Belt Christians, we might make the assumption that Job spoke these words after his dog died or he was in a fender-bender. In reality, Job made this, one of the greatest statements of praise to God ever written, after being told that he had lost everything that he owned and that all of his children were dead. The question I have is, could any of us have the same reaction to a personal catastrophe of this magnitude? When we sing the words, "Blessed be the name of the Lord," do we realize the kind of pain these words came out of?

Over the past 9 hours or so, I have seen two different kinds of rain.

The first came when I got my second job opportunity in the last two days. As a bit of background, to say that I have gone through a "dry season" financially over the past few months would be a huge understatement. I have waited and waited for God to provide a job, trusting the whole time that He would. And now, after months waiting, God opens not one, but two doors over the span of 24 hours. I have been relying on God for financial security like the farmer relies on the rain to grow his crops and feed his family. Well, when it rains, it pours! Praise the Lord!

The other type of rain that I have seen was not nearly as pleasant and definitely hadn't been asked for in prayer. I found out a few hours ago that one of my sister's teachers died. She was pregnant, miscarried, then died in surgery a short time after. She was a young, passionate teacher who invested herself in her students. She had her whole life ahead of her, and now, in a matter of hours, it's over. I can't even begin to imagine what her husband and her parents are going through. What do you say to someone who is going through something like that? This type of rain comes sometimes at the most unexpected times and can be crippling. I ask that everyone reading this would be praying for the Marks family and for the students at Ovilla Christian School.

Job's reaction is one that I think we all would like to say we would have, but how many of us really would? Imagine the kind of faith and reliance on God that it takes to praise Him during the darkest moment of your life. The wonderful thing is, however, that the verses I quoted earlier are not the end of the story. God rewards Job's faith and obedience restoring everything he had and more. Does everyone's story end this way? No, but God promises in Romans 8 that "all things work for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose." You see, Job realized something that God made abundantly clear to me tonight: He is so much bigger than this temporary world we live in and all that we see. Anything good we have in our lives was given to us by Him and is His to take away if He so chooses. Bottom line: God is God, we are not, and He will take care of us no matter what. I pray that if God chooses to allow something like this to happen to me, that He would find me as faithful and obedient as Job.

No matter what kind of rain you are experiencing, just know that the other kind could happen at any time. Be thankful for what you have and have faith that God is still on His throne and that His power and will are perfect.

Resurrection

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. - Ephesians 2: 1-9

Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but what does it really mean to you and me?

Victory over death? Yes!

The end of Satan's reign in the hearts of man? Absolutely!

However, this Easter the resurrection has a different meaning for me. If Christ indeed has the power to be victorious over death, then surely he has the power to give me victory over the sin in my life. If he could endure the most severe beating ever given, then hang on a cross for three hours, be buried, then rise again three days later, I think he can handle my shortcomings. If he could take on the sin of the world, I'm quite sure he can help me conquer mine.

But do I let him?

The short answer is no. I am so selfish and arrogant that I won't allow God himself to strengthen me. I would rather (at best) try to beat sin under my own strength, or (more likely) revel in my sin. I am prideful, lustful, and I struggle with anger. And what do I do about it? I tell God that I want Him to change me, but am unwilling to make the sacrifice necessary to do so.

It's almost funny when you think about it: He was willing to sacrifice his life and die for me, but I won't lay down my pride long enough to embrace his grace, power, and victory. Rather than be made alive in Christ, exalted to the heavens with Him in glory, I choose to remain rotting in the grave as he waits outside, knocking. Now that I think about it, it's not really funny at all.

But no longer.

As God and everyone reading this as my witness, I am through with mediocrity and inconsistency. With the power of Christ in me, I will flee from sin both public and private and pursue righteousness with all that is within me. I am sick and tired of living in partial obedience (rebellion) and hypocrisy. I want nothing less than total victory in Jesus Christ my Lord. I want my love and passion for God and His Word to surpass anything else in my life. I want to live not in the shadow of death and sin, but in the light of resurrection.

I would ask everyone reading this to hold me accountable to everything that I have written here.

God Bless.

Stop and Stare

It's been awhile, but here it goes:

Totally witnessed one of the craziest events I have ever seen this morning. A huge plant-watering truck rolled down a hill and took out two cars before its momentum was stopped by a rather fortuitously placed tree. No one was hurt, thank God, but it was just a crazy sight to see. I just wonder how I would have reacted if it had been my car. Would I have twisted off on the workers responsible? Would I have shown the love of Christ to those around me? Crazy things happen in this world, and I pray that my relationship with God is such that when, not if, something crazy or terrible happens to me that I will magnify the glory of God in the way that I react to it.

In the Name of Love

"Early morning, April 4.

Shot rings out in a Memphis Sky.

Free at last, they took your life,

But they could not take your pride."

Long live the dream.

White Washed Tombs

Matthew 23 is a scary chapter. Basically, Jesus twists off on the Pharisees and tells them everything that they are doing wrong and warns of the coming judgment if they will not repent. While much of what is said applies specifically to that group of "religious men," verses 27 and 28 have something very interesting to say to all Christians:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

From this description, I fail to see any difference between the Pharisees of Jesus' day and those "christians" (not capitalized for a reason) of our day that come into the church and claim to be followers of Christ, yet their lives do not show any sign of being different from this fallen, sinful world.

Before I go any further, let me be clear when I say that I am passing judgment on no one. I have been guilty of everything I will mention in this blog, but God has gotten a hold of me and given me a desire to be righteous in Him. I, a Christian for almost 13 years and called to the ministry, played the church game for a long time. Don't misunderstand me, I was saved, but I was not living like it. This post is simply what God has taught me about the consequences of playing games at the foot of the cross.

Back to the point. There is a widespread misconception running rampant in the church today that once a person is "saved," they can do anything they want and still get into heaven. Now theoretically, this is true, as the Word makes it abundantly clear that true salvation cannot be lost. There's the rub. If one is truly saved by God's grace and the Holy Spirit dwells within him, there will be conviction of sin and a desire to be righteous. Also, many think that simply because they ask for forgiveness, it will be granted to them. This is also a misconception about the nature of God. To ask for forgiveness and go on doing whatever needed to be forgiven will not bring forgiveness. We must repent if we desire forgiveness.

What the church needs today is not a bunch of post-modern relativists running around explaining why their sin is ok. What we need are men and women who are willing to put their faith, all their faith, in Jesus Christ and the Word of God. We need Christians who are willing to put their lives up against Scripture and see if the two match, and if not, then to have the faith to make serious changes until they do. What we need, in short, are people who are more concerned about what the Holy Creator God of the universe thinks about them than what a lost and dying world thinks about them.

The Apostle Paul said it best: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer 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." Romans 12: 1-2

I apologize if this came of a bit "fire-and-brimstoney," but I needed to get it out. God has been burdening me with this for a while, and I needed to say it so that I can move on from the mistakes of my past to the glorious future he has for me. In the same way, if you are struggling with sin in your life, I encourage you to offer it up to the Lord and let Him fix you like only He can. Allow the Holy Spirit to change you from the inside out so that you can do what you were made to do: glorify God Almighty.

Where to Start?

Well, I'm here. This is my first serious attempt at blogging (Xanga doesnt's count). I don't want this blog to be about me. While that may be a contradiction in terms, it's my desire. I want to share what is going on in my life and what the Lord is teaching me, so that I might be an encouragement to everyone who stumbles across it.

God has ignited a passion within me that I have never known before. Over the past few days, He has broken me to the point that I wasn't sure if I would recover. However, as He does every time, the Lord lifted me from the mirey pit that was my sin and rebellion and cradled me in His arms, restoring me to a daily love relationship with Him. I am so in love with Christ right now! I am utterly amazed that God could look down from heaven, see a wretched sinner like me who has slapped Him in the face and drug His name through the mud more times than I can count, and choose to love me as His own.

I think it was Jeff Berry who told the story (correct me if I'm wrong) about his baby boy taking a bath. He tells that he left the bathroom for a couple minutes to take care of something else. When he returned, he found that his son had, for lack of a better term, pooped all over the bathtub and all over himself. He was initially disgusted and taken aback by the sight of his son covered in his own filth. However, overcome by love for his little boy, Jeff stooped down and cleaned off his son. Now, how much more did God, who was and is perfect, stoop down and take the filth of sinful flesh on himself and to die the most painful death imaginable so that we might be clean. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Cor 5:21.

"How Deep the Father's Love for Us"

How deep the father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart-
His wounds have paid my ransom.