Saturday, June 20, 2009

do you know

I want to share something that the Lord has answered for me. Tonight, He answered a prayer “Lord, I want to be brought to my knees with how much you love me”. I was praying, pouring my heart out before the Lord. I realized how much I don’t deserve His grace. He says that anyone who has been forgiven much, loves much. It makes sense to me for the Lord to save people who have led homosexual lifestyles, drug addicts, porn stars (thepinkcross.org), alcoholics, rapists, murders, and the like. The sins that often bear worse consequences in this life, the ones that are just as deadly to our eternity as lying, stealing, or a crude comment. Indeed, it doesn’t take much to send us to Hell. As I began to pray, I began to see how much it didn’t make sense for the Lord to save me. I have nothing to offer Him compared to someone saved from so dark a past. I could see His mercy so clearly. There I was, with what little sin I had, enough to condemn for all of eternity. But I know the Scriptures: that those who are His have been chosen from the foundations of the world. So somewhere in there, He had a choice. To save me, with my little, but fatal sin, or to save someone else…someone who could love Him more than me. Someone who would preach louder, someone who would tell everyone how much God loves them, someone who would follow closer, hold on tighter, be bolder, more radical, and more in love with Him as He so rightly deserves. Than me. With tears in my eyes, I write this: THE LORD STILL CHOSE ME, if you don’t have an awful background then you should be relating to me a lot right now. If you grew up in a Christian home, then these words are just as true for you as they are for me. SEE HIS GRACE. DON’T MISS IT!!! DON’T be hard hearted. Let Him melt you to nothing. It doesn’t depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on the Lord who has mercy…and after a few conversations, I realize that I have been spared of so much. He has been infinitely merciful to me. He had absolutely no reason whatsoever to die for me, but He chose to anyway. While I was still a sinner even. Christ died for the ungodly. He died for me. When I was dead in my transgressions. He died for me. When I was clicking away at pornography. He died for me. When I hide away and don’t share what He is doing. He died for me. He died for me. He is good. He is good. He is good. He is good. He is good. He is good. Oh, I can’t write it enough beloved. Do you know that? Do you know how much He loves you? Do you realize the degree of mercy shown to you? Please don’t miss it. Please trust Him. He is worth it. He has changed me forever. No one else can do that. No one else wants to do that. Not only did He, but He did so with wanting . He pursued me relentlessly . He loves me unconditionally. He wanted to. He wanted to. He died because He wanted to. He sacrificed Himself, bled and died, because He wanted to. He wanted to save us. It’s His heart for us to know Him. To believe Him. To give our lives away to Him. To trust Him with everything. Do you know that? Do you know that life is just a construct of His to communicate His love for us? It’s difficult, impossible, ridiculous situations are there because He wants to show us that He is the ONLY thing that can pull us through them. He doesn’t want us to just think . He desires us to know. He just asks that we believe with all our heart, that we love Him with everything, and that we deeply love each other.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

What do you mean there's war?

Hold on tight...or let go if you have the courage.

1 Samuel 17:45-48
"The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field."Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands."

"Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine."


Are
you running towards the battle line? Do you even know where the battle is?


Saint listen. The reality is that time is of the essence (Eph 5:16), the reality is that we are engaged in spiritual warfare (Eph 6:12), the reality is that there is an enemy (1 Peter 5:8), the reality is that Satan is at work (Eph 2:2), and we must stand, fight, and live (Eph 6:10, 1 Thess 3:8).

Satan has lulled us to sleep with the 'I go to class, I listen, and I leave' mentality. He has experienced success on nearly every front in the lives of Christians to incapacitate, immobilize, and render ineffective the calling Christ has placed on us. But even Satan can't hold us, his success can't last (Rom 8:37). Saint listen, we must pray. Pray, pray, pray (1 Thess 5:17). We must believe in the power of prayer (James 1:6) and fight. I fear that many of you are succumbing to the lies of the enemy are buying in bulk into the distractions of this world. Let me ask you this: is Christ your treasure? I mean, do you consider Him to be the supremely valuable thing in your life? If you are unsure as to the answer of this question then might I invite you to examine the things you currently want. Think about the way that money is spent. Think about the other uses of your time. Think about how often you've thought of others exclusively this past week. You may ask is such selflessness Biblical? The answer is YES, resoundingly so!

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;" Philippians 2:3

More than being Biblical is the reality that this is the cornerstone to boldness. If you don’t believe me then remind me to introduce you to my mother. I come from a bold family, and it’s time I shared the little I know as to how it operates.

Most people view boldness as a task, a mindset in which they must distance themselves from the individual they are approaching and make their statements and (hopefully) get out before weapons appear. However, boldness works based on Philippians 2:3 – it begins with being others oriented. Love, breathe, work for, be taken advantage of by, study, other people. This is the key to boldness. It’s seeing a harsh comment made by them as a potential sign of deep seated pain. It’s looking at what they wear and seeing a lost soul in search of an identity. It’s observing their attitude and noting when they pause, when you might have an in. It’s realizing that your pride isn’t worth their eternity. Are you sitting by them? Let your heart break. Let yourself ask enough questions about them mentally until you can’t take it anymore. For example:

I was waiting for a bus at the Trigon bus stop at around 830 at night. I noticed a kid sitting next to me that was obviously not American. I’m not too good with cultural backgrounds, but I thought to myself “that guy is just not attractive”, and about half a second later, my Spirit chimes in and reminds me “but Jesus loves him”. I thought about some words someone said to me a long time ago that most likely triggered the insecurity and began to think about this kid sitting next to me. I began to place myself in his shoes. Foreign, possibly few friends (which means alone), maybe a freshman…I tried to relate with my own feelings of loneliness and realized that this guy has probably felt on a deeper level what I’ve only scratched the surface on. I realized then and there that sitting next to him wasn’t a coincidence, but an opportunity. This is my thought process before I approach someone, I think about all the suicides I’ve heard about and wondered if they could have been stopped if only someone had had the courage to say ‘howdy’ or ‘how’s school?’ I mean, think about it: we get lied to by Satan into not saying these simple phrases just because we don’t want to feel awkward. Just so we don’t look stupid for not knowing what to say. What if that saves someone’s life? Okay, so maybe 98% of the time the person you talk to will be like SuHendra, the guy at the bus stop. While he was a freshman, he had lots of friends, and was plugged into a Chinese church – the Spirit let me know that he was going to be fine. That’s all I really feel called to look for, just get them to a Church, get them to a spiritual safe-haven where the Spirit of Grace can minister to them. Sometimes that’s Breakaway, sometimes it’s my own homegroup, just somewhere with good doctrine. I have my favorites depending on how the Spirit leads me.

My point is that the first line to open a conversation is often the hardest. To do it we are breaking the cultural norms with the express intent to share the gospel. Really? I’m just trying to get you to open your mouth. Welcome to the front lines friend. Run!