Can You Stay Up With Jesus For At Least One Hour?

Wow it’s been almost a year since I’ve updated this blog! Need to do it more often. Anyways here is my experience today with God using a joke to really get my attention:

What started as a joke today at work, God used to slap me in the face! Had a teacher friend quote the following scripture talking about Jesus and how He wanted his disciples to stay awake and pray right before He was captured. How many of y’all are convicted (as well as me) because of these scriptures?

“He came back and found his disciples sleeping. So he said to Peter, ‘Can’t any of you stay awake with me for just one hour? Stay awake and pray that you won’t be tested. You want to do what is right but you are weak.'” Matthew 26:40-41

How many times have you stayed up an extra hour at night and just prayed? Have you even prayed for one hour? Can you stay awake spiritually with Jesus for even ONE hour? Yeah…these are questions I’ve asked myself as well, and I wonder why I don’t have things completely right in my life. It’s simple…I don’t pray enough!! How can God truly move in our lives if we don’t talk and ask Him??

I’ll use my friend Jimmy Newby as an example. If I wanted Jimmy to move into my house, he’s not just gonna walk in and say “What’s up roomie?” No, I have to talk to him and ask him to move in before he will. I’ll ask it again, how can God truly move if we don’t talk and ask Him??? Can we even stay in conversation with Him for even ONE hour? Here’s what prayer is about: it’s talking with God. Just Him and you. So friends, as I sit here convicted tonight all over two verses, I feel God wants me to ask you these questions as well.

Is life falling apart? Talk to Him more often. Are things with your home life too much to bear? Talk to Him more often! Is life going really awesome and can’t ask for anything better? Talk to Him more often!! God wants to hear from you. Desperately. We all need to be spiritually awake and keep in touch with God more often. Period.

What’s the Difference between Sharing your Faith and Pushing your Beliefs?

It’s not an unusual thing for something random to pop in my mind, and then me wanting to write about it. It can be the littlest saying or idea, and it can make me go into “overanalyzing” mode pretty quickly. Well this question came around when I was driving to a friend’s house and saw the words “Happy Holidays” on the outside of a house just a few blocks down. Now all that is in me wants to say that it’s not “Happy Holidays” but instead “Merry Christmas.” But let’s look at the issue in relation to other people, especially Christians.. Finding the fine line between sharing your faith and pushing your beliefs haunts the minds of people, whether they know it or not. Most Christians’ attitudes today, unfortunately, can be summed up in this one sentence…”I don’t want to offend anybody.” Ok, so what is right and what is wrong? Is it okay to share our faith with people? Are we supposed to sit back and let the professionals (aka Pastors) handle it?

 

That is one HUGE way that Satan is working in today’s society. The line between right and wrong is becoming more blurred each and every day. We fall in this trap a whole lot. So let’s start asking questions one by one.

 

Is it okay to share our faith with people? This is the biggest absolute YES I can give! Our faith should be so woven into our lives that it should be one of the first things people see of us. Ephesians 1:13 says that “we are marked with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:14 that we are the “light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” So to bring up our faith in our conversations should be expected. 

 

Is it okay to corner someone and say something to the effect of “If you do not accept Jesus right now then you are going to hell!!!!!”  This is an absolute NO. People need to experience Jesus on their own, not force them. Remember it this way, we are not the ones that calls them to salvation…Jesus is the one that calls them. Each and every one of us had to realize our need for Christ on our own, so our role should be to just minister and counsel, and ‘especially’ be the example people desperately need to see.

 

What about this situation…if we are sharing our faith with a person, and they say they do not want to hear it and ask us to stop, should we? This should be an obvious answer, though several Christians would continue on. We should have enough respect for the other person’s opinions and beliefs that if they do not want to hear it, then we can stop and change the subject. Someone trying to drill Jesus into another person is like a gardener with a seed, planting it in the ground, and forcing it to grow in under a day. It’s impossible! God called us to plant and water the seed, not to do the work that only God can do. As in 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “Paul planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” And it doesn’t have to be just Pastors doing this. We are ALL called to be ministers of Christ. We each have that calling on our lives, and Him living in us to speak His words.

 

Talking about Jesus is not a crime, and no one can truly accuse you of pushing your beliefs on them unless you continually force them to make a decision. There will be some people that will absolutely not listen to anything you have to say about Jesus…that’s fine. As the bible says, “wipe the dust off your feet and move on,” Matthew 10:14. We are here to be the light of the world. As St. Francis of Assisi said so awesomely, “Preach the gospel to the ends of the earth…use words if necessary.” People should see something different in us. We don’t have to live in the grey shades of the truth. We can be black and white, yet not force it down peoples’ throats. Let’s be the salt of the earth and be the example this earth so badly needs!!

 

In the meantime, when I talk to people I will continue to say Merry Christmas everywhere I go. So… an early Merry Christmas to each of you!! 🙂

Can We Be Honest With Our Friends?

Luke 11:37-39. Luke 10:38-40

When was the last time I was honest with a friend? I mean really honest. If I have a friend that is getting on my last nerve or one that has an addiction that is hurting them, would I tell them? I can tell you exactly what I probably would do, and the majority of other people would do the same thing too…I wouldn’t say a thing.  I wouldn’t want to start a “confrontation” or “hurt anyone’s feelings.” I do not stand alone; probably 90% of others out there would remain silent on the issue to their face. Some things we are forced to watch how we answer, for example, “Does this dress make me look fat?” That is a completely unfair question, since either answer gets us guys in trouble!! Questions like that should be illegal to ask!!

Here’s another thought…what about something of a spiritual matter, where a friend is heading down the wrong road. Is it the best for us to stay out of their business and let them handle it on their own? Is it rude to jump in your friend’s business? I can give you one HUGE piece of advice…the best friend someone can have is one who will be honest and intervene in a loving and gentle attitude. A friend that is able to confront and bring up flaws in someone without coming across as judgmental. Yea I thought the same thing…easier said than done.

So how do we do it?? Let’s look at our greatest example we have had, Jesus. A lot of people portray and paint Jesus as a gentle, kind, not causing trouble, kind of guy. Jesus was indeed gentle and kind, but He wasn’t afraid to stir the pot when it was needed. He wasn’t afraid to be the very thing that all people look and yearn for…the truth. Reading through the scripture on top, I believe there are five points that we can learn and apply to our lives to be the friend we need to be, and to be the one to show truth to someone who needs it. The questions in the asterisks are what I thought after each point.

1. We avoid confrontation, yet that was something Jesus was not afraid to do. But He always did it in love. It was always intended to bring the best out of that person.

   ***Okay I see it’s to bring the best out, but what if that person saw me as being judgmental and wouldn’t like me afterwards?***

2. He wasn’t necessarily concerned with how He would look. He was concerned about the other person.

   ***Got you there. Well how do I know the right time to be stern with someone when telling the truth??***

3. He was stern with the Pharisee (Luke 11), yet was soft with Martha (Luke 10). Sometimes a hard reality check is needed for certain people. He knew exactly what was needed for the right person to get his/her attention.

   ***I feel like I can’t know what is needed for others though, so how can I be the right vessel that God needs me to be to tell the truth to people?***

4. We are naturally cowardly in unknown areas in life. We need His courage. He is in us, so it’s in us.

   ***But I don’t have the courage and confidence, and a lot of times I feel like I don’t have the right words to say.***

5. “In those times, You don’t look to me—you look to yourself.” –God

         ***…Yes sir.***

Never argue with God, He will always win lol. Simply trust in Him for the direction and words. In Luke 12:12 He gives each of us a promise, “for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” Why don’t we all rely on Jesus more? He is our source, our supply. So next time one of us feels like we need to talk to someone about something going on in their life, look to Jesus. He will guide us on what to do and say. You will feel it in your heart in the right time. Just trust Him, and let Him be the “truth” in your life first. That’s the best honesty anyone can ask for.

Consider it a life goal, cause for most of us it will be a life-long process. Thank you Lord for being patient with us and taking it day by day 🙂

Want to Hear From God?

I’ve been frustrated lately for the past few months, and it’s been something simple but hard to do…

Why am I not hearing from God regularly like I have in the past?

It’s made me feel like I’m almost not worthy of being a Christian, like I’m failing at life in this area. Well while preparing for a Sunday school lesson, the main scripture was James 1:19-21, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

I stopped what I was doing, went to take a shower and asked God, “Talk to me during this time. I’m wanting to hear You.”  It could not have been any quicker than what happened next. I continued to repeat these verses out loud, and opening my mind to application. I felt these words in my heart…”You sure do think too much, don’t you?” I spoke out loud that I do, for that is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses…overanalyzation.  It was then I heard in my heart this sentence…”How can you be angry that you don’t hear from Me unless you stop and listen to Me?” Boom, that was it. I am continually talking, thinking, overanalyzing, that I forget to stop. To apply my favorite scripture, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). How often we go through life and doing doing doing, yet sometimes we need to be still, be still, be still. We need to meditate on His word. Not doing anything but sitting and focusing on God. How often we miss that in our walk with Christ.

He got the message to me for sure today, someone that has been frustrated because I feel like I was at a road block to getting closer to Him…when it was me doing “too much” and not “sitting still.”

A life with God is a two-way street. You may be doing your part, but are you letting God do His part?

Shadows

Days come and go. Most days are bright and can find positive in everything, and then some days just trouble you. Tonight was one of those troublesome nights..

Church went great, no problem. Had some youth that never heard the story of David and Goliath, which blew my mind! It’s a great honor to tell a bible story to someone that has never heard it. But then the rest of the night a couple things happened simultaneously to trouble me. We all went to KFC on Midland drive to eat, and we noticed a man standing kinda by our window. It was a tall man with a hoodie over his head. A few minutes later we noticed that the car alarm went off on a car right by our window. I noticed that he got in, and after a couple minutes drove off. Thoughts raced through my head, “Did I just see this car get stolen?” It was an Oldsmobile of some type (another red flag), and I saw there were a couple older ladies sitting across the restaurant, so I went to talk to them to make sure it wasn’t their car. Praise God it wasn’t. (The car ended up not being stolen, just looked very suspicious). With my senses hyped up, I started to observe people coming in. Some with very depressed faces, with not a hint of hope shining through. One lady looked like she was crying from a hard day, who knows if she just got fired from work or got in a bad argument with her husband.. Another person walked in with just a blank stare and not talking to anyone. Then around that time I get a text message from NewsWest9 Breaking News that started off saying “If you live at (my apartment name) then probably…”. Talk about an unsettling feeling when you see something like that. Thoughts of fire, theft, vandalism ran through my mind. Coming to find out, someone vandalized the rent drop off box and stole checks and money orders, which I used a couple days before. Even now I’m not sure if my check was involved or not.

With all of this uneasiness going on, and feeling like shadows of evil and darkness are over me, I heard a song that reaches out to me. “Shadows” by David Crowder. Here’s some lyrics from the song:

“Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
And yet will He bring Dark to light
And yet will He bring Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear, We will remember.
The shadow of the cross.”

Evil happens in this world. Nothing we can do to stop or slow it down. So what else can we do? Stressing about it won’t cure it, but finding where your faith is will help indeed. If you trust in your own strength, or on others, it will crumble down eventually. Why do we decide to trust our petty strength when we can put it in the strongest force known to all history? When we put it on Jesus Christ, we can then go through whatever is faced. Not because of what we’ve done, but of what He has already done. Want peace in an evil-stormed world…go to the one that will eventually put an end to the evil, once and for all. He has your trail planned out already, why not trust Him to guide you through it?

Do We Expect Too Much?

I was thinking today…living in a fast paced world, where everything we need is available at the touch of a finger…where food is available in under 5 minutes (which most of us can’t wait even that long), and we can have entertainment on our PC or Mac in literally seconds. What a life, right? Since things come by so quickly, it should make our live SO much simpler, shouldn’t it??

Yeah if you’re like me you just made a chuckle under your breath. Life seems so much more complicated than ever. We can accomplish so much more than people did as recent as 25 years ago, so what’s up with that? We should be stress-free. What makes life so stressful and complicated now? This is where I feel we “expect” too much from life. Here’s three examples from different views…

One, compare and contrast the life of someone in the city compared to someone that has lived in the country or a small town all their lives. Yes the person from the city accomplishes more general tasks, yet the small town country person has less to worry about. They complete their small tasks for the day then go on. They realize the work will always be there, and spread it out to where they can accomplish it in the time they allot for the day. Studies show that those people with more on their plate who try to complete too many tasks within a short amount of time end up having more health problems, both short term and long term. They stress out more easily, which leads to the release of hormones from the adrenal gland. Too much of this wears on your body, then Voila! Welcome home health problems…

Something else we can relate to. Once someone or something starts to do stuff for us, no matter the task, we naturally tend to expect it from that person or thing. We are creatures of habit—of pattern–and it’s very easy to start seeing this in all aspects of life and start expecting it from there.  Am I the only one that has sat in front of a computer with numerous problems, and end up frustrated because it’s not doing the stuff it should be doing???

And what about that one special person, boyfriend/girlfriend, fiance, wife/husband, that we get frustrated…tired…angry with, all because of something that they don’t do anymore. Just about every person on this side blames the spouse or partner because of something they did. Yet “could” it be that we have certain expectations (high or low) of people, and when they don’t meet it we end up dissatisfied and stressed with the results?

One lesson through this is obvious…people–or a better word is “life”–will never fulfill all of our expectations. That’s where we turn down the wrong road. What can we do about it? Learn to “expect” the simple thinking:

1. Everything in this world will eventually fade away–including that obnoxious computer 😉

2. Problems in life will always be there. It’s about your attitude towards those problems.

3. Work will always be there. If your work hours are 8 to 5, don’t spend time outside of work fretting on getting paper work done. It will be more than willing to wait for you until you get there the next day 😉

4. Spread your day evenly. An example is the 8-8-8 rule. 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, 8 hours play.

5. The most important thing we can learn for sure is this…that we can always depend on God. We can always “expect” Him to follow through with what He says. My favorite verse in this subject is this:

Psalm 37:7-9 “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.” (NLT)

So what can you do to not be living life on the expectant side? What can you do with your life to “stop and smell the roses?” Trust me, life gets so much easier, and more joyful, if you live it one day at a time. That’s your challenge of the week!

Are you a “pew-sitter?”

It’s frightening how easy it is to sit back and be one of those people they call “pew-sitters.” Sit back at church in the comfy seat…listen to the preacher…say an amen or two…then go home unchanged and unchallenged.  They can come up with some great excuses as well. “Someone else has it covered.” “We’ve always done it like this before.” And the very common – “It’s not my calling to do that.” It’s easy to go to church and play the games, and some people can play it like Michael Jordan plays Basketball.  But what’s so frightening about this?  You and I tend to be these people.

Was this what happened when the original Church was founded? Did this go on when the disciples were organizing the first Church?  We are witnessing a pandemic of unbiblical action in the American Church today. It has been going on for several years now, but we are now in the mindset that “we” are the center of the church. People ask the question, “What can the church do for ME?”  Now lets get this issue out of the way since it is brought up…is that a question that the Bible backs up? Absolutely not!  We forgot the reason why we go to church in the first place.  The Lord hit me hard yesterday when I heard a service that talked about the “original church” and the reasons why to go to church in the first place. They read scripture out of Revelation 2:1-7, which is the letter to the church in Ephesus:

Vs. 1-3 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands: I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. you have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.” Reading all that, the church in Ephesus definitely knew the right things to do, and they had the right actions. What a great place to be at, right? Well now the hard part is next:

Vs. 4-5 “But I have this complaint against you. you don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.”  OUCH! Talk about stomping on some feet! And I was one of the feet that was stomped last night. We become experts at going through the motions that we lose the whole reason we are even a part of the church… it’s about HIM! God does not center Himself around us, He centers Himself around Him! Only He is the center of all creation, and even though he deeply, truly, passionately loves us so…we are not the center of Him. We as the American Church has lost the love of God, and the whole reason why we go.

Now what is the original purpose of the church? Yes we are there to fellowship, to build each other up in godly love, but we have an even higher calling…one that Jesus made sure to give to us before He went to Heaven. And it is found in Matthew 28:18-20. In that scripture He gives us a very powerful call. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” We aren’t at church to just sit in a building and hear a sermon…we are called to reach out! To go unto ALL (not some) of the nations, and bring people to Him! The calling is about Him, the reason we are here is for Him, and the reason we reach out to others is for Him! The gospel in a nutshell is what I like to call it. So if you say your calling is not to be a missionary (one who reaches out to people in other nations), you better think again, because that is all of our callings according to this Great Commission. Now realize that in today’s world, you can reach out in many other ways besides traveling to other countries. There is a wonderful thing called the Internet. It has brought information and people so close that we can instantly talk to someone that is clear across the other side of the world than us.  There is no excuse for us not to reach out, yet we settle being a “pew-sitter.”

Like my Pastor says, life is like a sports game. Either you are on the field or you are on the bench. If you will not do what Jesus called you to do, then get out of the game. So my challenge to you is…what can you do to help further the Kingdom of God? Remember His life is lived through you, no longer what you want or desire, but what He wants and desires. That is the true life of a Christian…

What If Prayer Doesn’t Work For Me??

Good question huh? I’ve recently been asked this question by someone. They say that they tried praying, yet when they did it felt like God didn’t answer. To sum up their feelings, He wasn’t listening to them.  And it has to make you wonder…how could the God that created the entire Universe actually care about a little speck on this earth like me??? How could he even be interested in me when I screw up all the time and can care less on spending time with Him???

Well, I could quote scripture to you all day about how God so loved the world, and that He sent His son to die on the cross so you can have a relationship with Him, and all of that..but I’m not here to do that. You will have to understand when it just comes down to it, if you feel like you are not loved, you’re going to have to experience His love to find out for yourself.  “Urgh, but how do I do that?!?” you may ask.

There was this girl one time that I had a crush on, and I was totally wanting to ask her out. But I felt the exact same way that the person above felt towards God.  How could she like me when I don’t look like Brad Pitt, or when I don’t talk like Obama (with the teleprompters of course HA)? She wouldn’t have any type of interest in me! Yet I struck a conversation with her one day, and then another one, then we started talking more and more. I started learning things about her that made me like her even more, and vice versa. After a few days I asked her out and we officially were a couple. It was there…a great relationship that I could tell her just about everything that crossed my mind, even when I “felt” like she could care less about me!  I got to know the real person behind the girl. Isn’t it the same way with us towards God?

The thing is we have to get to KNOW Him before we have a true relationship with Him…

You can’t have a friendship without communication. Without it, the relationship would almost cease to exist. Yet that’s the whole point in prayer! It’s not about asking for stuff and maybe getting and answer or two. It’s about talking!! Spending time together with the creator of the universe that has all the time in the world to give to you 100% of Himself.  Now some will say, “Well I’m not that great at praying. I can’t say all those big words and stuff.” Well I’m not good at praying either! It really is like you are talking to one of your best friends. I can call my best friend up, then in a matter of seconds we just start talking about anything and everything. Same with God. Your prayers don’t have to be 20 minutes long to be considered a prayer…just a quick sentence (or even a single word) is considered a prayer. Any type of communication is prayer. He doesn’t want you to pray long, exhaustive prayers. He wants you to pray whatever you can, often. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Just like if you are going to make a friend and you start to talk to him/her, you must do that with God to truly get to know Him.  You can believe in God and all, but when you get to know who He is, and how He really really really loves you, it changes your entire aspect of prayer. So does prayer not work for you? Try keeping a conversation up…I promise you it will change your life. Completely.