Archive for Discipleship
What Is Holding You Back? August 26, 2010
I don’t think people fall short of what God has for them because He isn’t revealing Himself…I think many do so because He does reveal Himself, but in Him doing so we are forced to face several things that MUST be overcame if we are going to achieve what He has for us…such as…
#1 – Fear
If you don’t say “oh crap” when God reveals what He wants for your life…then you probably didn’t hear from God!
We will never become who God has called us to be and do what He has called us to do if we do not face our fears.
- David faced his fear and stepped out to face Goliath.
- Moses faced his fear of not being able to speak and went before Pharoah.
- Noah faced his fear of not knowing how to build a boat
People that accomplish great things for God MUST fight through their fears because reality is than God has never asked anyone to do anything that was easy (other than receiving Christ!)
#2 – People
When you want to do something great for God there will always be LOTS of people who try to tell you why you can’t do what HE said you can do! My advice…never listen to anyone who is not doing anything tell you that you cannot do anything. OR…in other words, NEVER take dance instructions from a person who just stands against the wall and does nothing but criticize those who are trying to stay in rhythm.
#3 – The Procrastination Lie
I know so many people who swear that “one day” they are going to do what they “know” God has called them to do…but…”one day” for most people NEVER comes…because in their minds “one day” is when everything is in place and doing what God has called them to do does not require any step of faith at all.
“I will do it one day” is a lie that we tell ourselves in order to justify our disobedience. God doesn’t speak to hear Himself talk…His word is not to be considered but to be obeyed.
#4 – Underestimation of Him Working Through You!
If God has called you then He has also equipped you and will sustain you. Of course the task at hand is large and seems “impossible,” that is why Zechariah 4:6 says it is by HIS Spirit and II Corinthians 12:9 says that HIS power is made perfect in our weakness!!! He didn’t call us because we are “able,” we are nothing more than common jars of clay (see II Corinthians 4:7) that He wants to use for HIS glory…and He has a history of taking ordinary people (Acts 4:13) and doing extraordinary things through them!
13 Things I Believe About You August 18, 2010
#1 – I believe there is more God given potential in you than you realize. (See Ephesians 2:10)
#2 – I believe He has a plan for your life…one that He is revealing in steps because IF He revealed it all at one our minds would explode. (See I Corinthians 2:9)
#3 – I believe in order to achieve what God really wants for you then you will have to embrace both the uncomfortable and the unknown. (See Luke 9:23)
#4 – I believe God is after your heart, not just your behavior…and quite possible the reason He’s not taking you to the next step is because your current step is for you to let go of the idol that He has been exposing in your life. (See Ezekiel 14:1-5)
#5 – I believe whenever God asks us to give something up it is because He wants to replace it with something better.
#6 – I believe that God’s plan for your life IS going to include an “oh crap” moment, one where you finally realize that implications of Hebrews 11:6.
#7 – I believe that you can do exactly what God has equipped and empowered you to do. (See Philippians 4:13)
#8 – I believe that if you are faithful with the little things He will entrust you with many. (See Luke 12:48)
#9 – I believe you should ask yourself the question over and over again, “what would I be willing to attempt for God if I knew I could not fail” and allow Him to develop a holy discontent in your life. (See Romans 4:17)
#10 – I believe God uses ordinary people to accomplish extrordinary things. (See Acts 4:13)
#11 – I believe that as your view of God increase…so will our level of obedience. (See Isaiah 6:1-8)
#12 – I believe that true desperation for God will bring revelation from Him…that He wants us to know more than we actually want to know.
#13 – I believe when God sets your heart on fire with a desire that is from Him…you should not leave Him alone until you see that desire accomplished. (See Isaiah 62:6-7)
A Political Thought August 16, 2010
I tweeted last week in regards to the fact that it seems to be ok in America to have a political opinion…unless you are a Christian, then ANYTHING you say in the political realm is simply you alligning yourself with a hate group and being intollerant.
It’s the perfect argument really…if you are a Christian then you cannot say anything political…OR people accuse you of being too political. (All the while it seems to be perfectly fine for any other group in the country to have a strong opinion…as long as they are not Christian.)
Please do not misunderstand me on this…I am NOT saying that the church should pimp a particular political party. I am not saying that unless you vote one particular way then God’s wrath will fall upon you. I do not believe our main message is political, but rather spiritual…the fact is that you could give everyone in our country health care, we could pass some sort of immigration reform AND find a way to pay off the national debt…and none of that will change the fact that people are spiritually lost, blind and dead without Jesus.
Some churches take the political thing WAY too far…and some pastors should run for office instead of working in the church because they talk about politics way more than they talk about Jesus.
BUT…on the flip side it is NOT wrong for a Christian to have a political opinion. In fact, I think if we are following Christ we should care about politics…we should vote…we should pray for our government officials and we should be willing to discuss our views in a gentle and respectful way with people who ask…
BUT…His church can NEVER allow politics to be our main message. because…
I’ve seen presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II and Obama all campaign…I watched all of them make promises, I watched all of them talk about hope…and I watched every single one of them, at some point, go back on their word, let people down and fall into the political trap known as Washington DC.
And then there is Jesus…whose power rises so far above a political system. He is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8) and reigns over everyone and everything! He has never broken a promise…and when the political system of today is talked about in history books 500 years from now as an outdated idea…HE will still reign, HE will still be changing lives…and HE will STILL have never broken a promise.
So…have a political opinion (even if you are a Christian.) And VOTE (if you don’t vote then SHUT UP about how you feel about politics.) But let’s not EVER forget that Jesus died for us…HE should be our obsession…HE didn’t just want our vote but rather wanted to pay for our sins so we could be reconciled to God. HE, and not some political system, is our Savior.
Why We Fall Short Of Ephesians 3:20 August 5, 2010
If Ephesians 3:20 is true then why do we fall short of it so many times, here are a few thoughts…
#1 – We believe that God has great plans for other people but not for us. (Believe it or not…He has Ephesians 3:20 plans for YOU!!!!)
#2 – We want a detailed explanation from God, expecting a complete/detailed outline that lets us know what is going to happen. (Uh…this never happens, that is why it requires faith to follow Him!)
#3 – We desire to “take up our mattress” rather than taking up our cross, believing that God would NEVER ask us to do anything that might be uncomfortable! (Truth…the resurrection came AFTER the crucifixion!)
#4 – The fear of man…when we embrace God’s plan for our lives and refuse to be normal people don’t like it…so we allow what others say and think about us lead us to the place where they are rather than the place that God desires for us to be.
#5 – We don’t fully understand Matthew 7:9-11, that HE is THE PERFECT FATHER and desires to give us things that will BLOW our minds!
#6 – We think God blesses us for our glory and not His.
#7 – We have a season of regret in our lives and allow the pain of our past to dominate us rather than the potential of our future! Romans 8:1 is TRUE about YOU if you are in Christ…and if you don’t let your past die then it won’t let you live! Get over it…HE has!
#8 – We try to accomplish things in our own strength rather than being desperate for His! (Zechariah 4:6)
#9 – We refuse to dream big with OTHERS, thinking that, for some reason, God has asked us to do life alone! (When the church and the people in the church work together and do not care who gets the credit as long as God gets the glory then HIS CHURCH becomes UNSTOPPABLE!)
#10 – We always say “one day” when it comes to taking the step of faith we know we need to take…but we don’t say it because we intend to do it…but rather to make us feel better about ourselves. Why would you put off until tomorrow what God has clearly called you to do today? Delayed obedience is immediate disobedience!
Why I Believe You Can Do Exactly What God Has Called You To Do! July 28, 2010
I believe you can do exactly what God has called you to do!
We serve a God who is a MASTER at calling those who are not “qualified” to do things that seem “impossible!”
I believe that when a person becomes obsessed with the character of God by reading the Word of God and then gets empowered by the Spirit of God…that person is unstoppable and his/her potential is unlimited as long as they will dare to continually follow Jesus and refuse to play it safe! (See Zechariah 4:6-7)
(A quick note on this…you’ve GOT to make sure you’ve heard from God and are not simply getting ready to do something and then begging Him to work!)
I believe God puts dreams and visions in our hearts that are so HUGE that it causes great desperation for HIM and HIS power…thus leading to the world seeing what HE can do through us rather than what we can do “for Him!” (The bigger the revelation the greater the desperation!)
I believe we are all GIFTED to make an impact on the world and NOT simply sit and watch it pass us by.
I believe we are ALL EMPOWERED to make a difference…that fear and timidity does not come from Him, but the power and discipline to execute what He has called us to does. (II Timothy 1:7)
I believe that YOU are NOT an accident…that He created you with a divine design in mind…that His plans for your life are GREATER than you could imagine, and that by surrendering to HIS plans is the GREATEST freedom on the planet.
I believe that they KEY to discovering what it is that God wants for us is found in Proverbs 3:5-6, that we’ve got to trust Him with EVERYTHING…and if we “hold out on Him” we are actually holding out on ourselves.
I believe God’s plan for your life will not always be easy…but He will always be with you. (Isaiah 43:1-3)
So…what is it that God is calling you to do? OR…put another way, “What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?” (I blogged about that here!)
Life is short…we should get to the end of it with NO REGRETS…so…GO FOR IT!!!
Do We Want Comfort or Christ? July 26, 2010
I woke Charisse up from her nap the other day and asked her, “can daddy have a hug?”
“Nope,” she said.
“What,” I asked, “you are not going to give daddy a hug?”
“No-sir-ree” she replied.
“Why not,” I asked.
“Because to give you a hug I would have to get out from under my blanket and I am comfortable right now…so you’re going to have to wait,” she said.
I had this thought a few seconds later…I wonder how many times I’ve done the exact same thing to God.
He calls me to Him and I refuse to move because, well, I am comfortable…and moving would cause me to have to live out Luke 9:23-25. I can remember one of THE most uncomfortable things HE ever commanded me to do was start NewSpring Church!
- It did not make sense…
- It did not work out financially on paper…
- I had ZERO experience…
- I was 28 years old…
- I was engaged to be married and didn’t want us to start our marriage off homeless…
The list of reasons could go on and on…yet in my heart I knew that He was calling me to an uncomfortable step in order to conform me more and more to Himself.
So…quick question, what is it that He is calling you to lay aside that is a “comfort” for you in order that you may move closer to Him?
As my friend Pete said a few weeks ago…God has NEVER asked any of us to do anything that is easy! However, laying aside our comforts and taking up the cross He leads us to take ALWAYS leads to a victory that we could never even imagine.
What We Can Learn From The iPhone 4 “Situation” July 20, 2010
I really need to put a disclaimer out before writing this post – I LOVE APPLE PRODUCTS! I have an ipad AND a MAC (and would have an iphone…but I blogged about as to why I do not here and compared it to lessons we should learn in the church.)
Saying that…the recent problems with the iphone 4 have been interesting to watch.
Basically…there was/is a design flaw. (I can see/hear the Apple evangelists screaming “you don’t understand” as I type this!) The antenna was placed into the phone in such a way that it is concealed; however, the design of this phone also lends to the antenna being covered up and calls being lost/dropped.
SO…Apple called a HUGE conference last Friday and announced their solution – they are going to provide free cases to cover up the phone (that will force the user to hold the phone differently, thus “fixing” the problem.)
As I watched this scenario develop I sighed (NOT because of the phone deal, I have a Blackberry…it works really great.) The reason I think this was a really bad idea is that it didn’t address the problem…it just covered it up! At the end of the day the product is still flawed, no matter how “pretty” the cover that the iphone users get!
We do the same thing SO many times as followers of Christ…we try to cover up the problem instead of dealing with it. (Isaiah 29:13)
We cover up the fact that we are addicted to porn by refusing to repent…instead we go to church and sing as loud as we can, thinking we can “cover up our problem” rather than dealing with it.
We cover up the fact that we are dating someone that we know God doesn’t want us to be with…instead we justify what we are doing by at least getting them to come to church with us. We won’t “deal” with our disobedience…rather we try to cover it up with our made up morality.
We cover up the fact that we are living in disobedience by surrounding ourselves with people who will affirm our dysfunction rather that lovingly call us out. (See Hebrews 10:24-25)
We tell Jesus that we will follow Him…that we will do “whatever” He asks–but then He hits on “THAT” issue, you know, the one we’ve always struggled with…and instead of dealing with it, repenting, asking for help–we begin to cover up our sin with religious phrases and copying and pasting Scripture.
I really could go on and on here…but the question is this (for all of us) – is there anything that you are trying to cover up that God is specifically trying to deal with? Because…the thing I’ve learned about God is that HE is relentless, He is AFTER our hearts…and our rituals and religion is worthless in His sight if we are refusing to submit and obey to what HE is saying. (See Ezekiel 14:1-6)
I know its hard when God comes after our hearts…and PRIDE is a reason many people choose to cover up their sin rather than confess it. People FEAR the consequences of confession; however, the consequences of concealing our sin are SO MUCH GREATER than the consequences of confession.
God didn’t send Jesus to die on a cross so we can cover things up but rather so that we could confess, repent and THEN live in freedom! (Romans 8:1)
BTW…Jon’s post on “Maggots” goes along tremendously with what I just wrote about…you should read it–CLICK HERE!