Tired of the Word?

I am pretty sure all of us have been there at some point in our lives.  Where we THINK that we are tired of the word... Or in other words, just don't have the appetite to go open it up and dive in.
Its obvious that we all have this problem, or else our churches would be looking a lot healthier today.

Well, I must admit that I have been in a weird funk the past week that has broken my heart.
The finals, the stress of graduation etc, for some reason made me excuse myself from the word of God.
I would think of excuses every time I had the opportunity to really dive in. Of course, I read some but it was only at face value.  Towards the end of the week, I was truly hurt that my heart was not hungry.

But then tonight, my eyes were opened. I listened to a sermon by my favorite preacher, Adrian Rogers, called "Welcoming the Word"

In it, he talked about how there are 4 ways/steps to welcome the word and make it come alive in your life. Using James 1:21-25 as his text.


1. Repentant Heart.  
We must come before the Lord clean in order for us to hear him.  In the book of James, it translates in Greek that the sin in our lives is like wax in our ears.  It must simply be removed in order for us to hear anything.
He also made the illustration, that before you plant the seed for a garden, you weed the garden first. Same with us in our spiritual lives.


2. Receptive Heart.
God wants you to be meek, to be sensitive to His commands.
First clean, then meek. 
The minute you open your heart, God displays Himself.


3. Responsive Heart
Once clean, surrendered, you must begin to obey.
So many church goers sit, soak, and sour. They never apply the word.
BE DOERS!


"The best way to understand the part of the bible you don't understand, is to follow the part of the bible you already understand"
He makes the point, "Why should God show anybody understanding if they aren't acting upon what He was already shown them?!"


Study of the bible gives you knowledge about God, obedience gives you knowledge OF God.


4. Reflective Heart
James 1:23-25


Don't just glance at the Word, see the problem but not do anything about it.
That is just like a man seeing a dirty spot on his face in the mirror, but then leaving without wiping it off.
its absurd.  See the problem, and wipe it clean.


Apply it to your life.  Reflect upon it.  Look intently into yourself.
Read the word of God, and let the word of God read you.


Bring your heart, mind, everything to the bible when you are reading, and it will become real to you.




This gave me so much comfort, such a boost I needed.
I suggest printing out these 4 ways to welcome the Word and remind yourself daily.
We forget things O so quickly.  How we need not forget the importance of actively being in the word of God!!

Come Home

So I have not been on here for a very long time. For my 2 readers or so, I apologize :)

But now that I am winding down from my last message etc. I just felt like blogging to encourage others. My past blogs lately have been very heartbroken. Asking for those to stop acting fake and start living for Christ. And I still stand by that. But I feel I need to be thankful always, as I feel I am, I have not been on my blog!

I just want to encourage you that the Gospel is so loving and just as passionate as it was 2,000 years ago... It NEVER gets old! I just am so in love with Jesus, because He loved me first.

I encourage you to check out this video thats on the bottom of my blog. Maybe a little wake up call to the reality of how much God truly loves us.

Jonathan Edwards

These words were written by the great Jonathan Edwards, and have really impacted my life.

As I ponder my life, I realize that this is my goal.  This is not a long post, I just want you to linger on this quote.

Take this bit by bit and examine your own life.

"As he has more boldness, so he has less of self-confidence… and more modesty. As he is more sure than others of deliverance of hell, so he has more of a sense of the desert of it.  He is less apt than others to be shaken in faith, but more apt than others to be moved with solemn warnings, and with God’s frowns, and with the calamities of others.  He has the firmest comfort, but the softest heart: richer than others, but poorest of all in spirit; the tallest and the strongest saint, but the least and tederest child among them"

Crushed

I am currently going through a struggle right now in my life.
I admit that it has been a long time since I have been down like this.  But I am excited for God to pull through as He always does.
I really don't know what college I am going to anymore :/ CBU has always stacked scholarships, but has changed the policy THIS year.  So, if I was just a year older I would not have to deal with any of this. Now I have to deal with expenses, and loans are not my preference... Not large loans. And my girlfriend is going through the same situation.  Its funny how a week ago, I thought a major chunk of my life was planned out.  But now I must rely on God.
I ask you to please remember me in your prayers. That Gods will will be done.

Psalm 34:18
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.


O, how only Christians can rejoice in their trials!


Thank you Father for giving us victory through the blood!

Did You Hear The Voice?

I am honestly so speechless at this moment.

I keep reciting Psalm 100:5 "For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations!" 






Just minutes ago I completed quiet time with the Lord. I started by rehearsing my sermon, and I found the Holy Spirit speaking to me. Teaching me about true suffering and the reward of it. I found that I learned a lot from the sermon (sounds funny I know) but God truly spoke to me.  He told me to give it all for Him, absolutely everything in every area. And I have had this sort of moment before, but not in such a great degree as today.  I really felt His grace. I really felt surrender of my own heart. And I really felt His presence. O how I wish to suffer for His name!


After the sermon, I prayed for an extended period of time.  But time seemed to not be an issue at all.   He spoke to me. It was such a powerful voice that I have never experienced before.  I can still recollect the voice and I know that it was very real.  Its an answer to a prayer that I have been shouting to Him for months now.  I begged to experience Him at such a deep level, and God's timing was perfect.
I found myself crying before the feet of my Father, asking for His power! That He will use me, a small vessel, for His huge story of His glory! 

God's grace is truly...  I don't even know how to describe it.  My prayer is that others in Arizona, America, and the world find that grace as I have. I did not deserve a single ounce of it, but I have received it! O Lord, how everlasting is Your mercy. 

I felt led to writing this to encourage the believers.  God is merciful and we (myself included) need to be CONSISTENTLY reminded of that.  








I encourage you to come to the Gathering this Sunday night. I am very passionate about what I will be talking about and I am reassured that God will truly speak through me.

Suffer

Howard Guinness wrote a book called Sacrifice.

“Where are the young men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap? And be faithful unto death. Who will lose their lives for Christ. Flinging them away for the love of Him. Where are those who will live dangerously and will be reckless in His service. Where are the men of prayer? Where are the men who count God’s word as more important to them than their daily food?! Where are the men who like Moses of old commune with God face to face. As a man speaks with his friend. Where are God’s men, in this day of God’s power?”

This is such a burden on my heart! This is so true! Why are we not modeling what the Bible has set out for us? It is so clear in the bible that we will suffer for His name! The early Christian's clearly set the precedent that we will do anything to bring glory to the Father!

What has happened to that radical attitude? That is why we no longer look different in this world. That is why we have nothing to offer, because we have lost the edge. We have lost what Christ has commanded us. If we are to live for Christ, we are to die for Christ. I am tired of American Christianity, aka convenient christianity.

We can start a revolution. We just have to be all out for Christ. We need to go back to our roots and see that Jesus suffered. We need to see that Jesus said, If they persecute me, they will persecute you.  Being crucified on the cross is persecution to me, thus I know I will be persecuted.  I want to suffer for His name!

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas

My answer: NO! Why would we want that? Why would we want to go to heaven without fighting for His name? In every other area of our lives we take pride in fighting for something. Why do we think that the christian life is any different?!

As for me, I want to serve the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I am burdened that I have not searched for ways to stand up for Jesus in face of persecution. I don't know what you feel about this, but I want to look for suffering. I don't want to just get by and take persecution if it comes. I want to blaze ahead, sharing the gospel to the ones who need it. I want to share it to the ones who are forbidden to hear it! I want to be persecuted for our Lord Jesus Christ. What could be better than dying for His name?!?!

Obedience.
It seems like a word that we love to say, but hate to act out.
I mean, if we really were obedient to Christ, imagine what our community would look like?  I have been examining myself and am realizing that I have hindered the mission of God. He has called us to make disciples. But how many have I really made?
Examine yourself.
This is not a post to teach, but to just ask to examine yourself.
Are you a leader and living in sin? Do you find yourself amening passages in scripture and using them against people, but completely being disobedient to another passage?

I see christians tell people to show the love of Christ, but are unequally yoked.
I see christians stress the importance of worship, but find prayer a thing we are forced to do.
I see christians wanting blessings from Christ, but will not suffer for Him.
I see christians know just as much about the word as the day they were saved.

Why aren't we waking up! Obey the WHOLE WORD!
But I guess it's hard to obey the word, when you don't open it and read it yourself.


My heart is hurting. As I see Christians walking around living the life of chasing material goods, chasing physical needs, and never desiring to give Christ their all.
It honestly makes me sick when I hear of people who have not prayed to God regularly every hour. It makes me sick when I ask my peers if they are in the word, and their reply is simply "no". And it never changes.
What must we do to bring about this change?
What needs to happen to make people wake up and realize that Jesus is all they have!!

This post is not for unbelievers, but for believers... Have you made ministry your Jesus? Have you forgotten that its all about growing in Christ?