Sometimes in our relationship with God we reach times in our faith where we find ourselves in a dry season. I don't know if you have experenced this or not but shortly after I got saved ,about five years ago, I found myself quite on fire for the Lord. There was barely a time where I didn't read my bible or didn't spend time in prayer, but... as time went on I found it harder and harder.
Why is it? Why is it that we're on fire for the Lord at first but as time goes on we find ourselves struggling to spend time with Him? We tell ourselves, well I love the Lord and I know that I am saved but why do I struggle to spend time with Him? It is a question that I'm sure we all ask ourselves in frustration.
I believe one reason why we find ourselves in a dry season is because we are in a constant battle with our flesh. Paul describes it perfectly in Romans 7:18-20
18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Our flesh doesn't want to seek the Lord daily through prayer and the reading of the Word. The flesh wants the things of this world rather then the things of the Lord. It is a matter walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh (Galations 5:25)
The second reason why I think we enter dry seasons is because God may cease to be first in our lives. A warning about this was given in Revelation 2:3-5
3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Good was spoken of this church, about their perseverence and endurance through hardships, yet God wasn't first in their life. What idles have taken the place of Christ in your life? Is it a relationship? Maybe it is a job? Whatever it is, it does not desevere the throne that was meant for Christ to rule on. One motto that has stuck with me for a year now is, "Christ is either the Lord of all or not the Lord at all"
The third and last reason why I think we have dry seasons is because we have lost our gratitude in the cross. Paul gives us a reason why we should be thankful in Hebrews 12:27-29
27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29for our "God is a consuming fire."
In Christ we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and in response we are to be grateful, exceedingly grateful. Picture life without Christ. Picture a life with the same excruciating trials without a Christ to run to. Must I paint anymore pictures for you?
Thinking of all the things that Christ has done on our behalf gives us a deeper thankfulness of knowing Him as Lord, which leads us into wanting to spend more time with Him.
There is nothing more fulfilling, nothing more intimate then our relationship with the Lord. I hope this has motivated you to grown deeper in your relationship with the Lord and to hunger more for His Word.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Least Expected
God uses the least expected. I'm fully convinced of that just by looking into my own life. It says in 1 Corinthians 1:27 that God uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.
What I always enjoy hearing is the testimonies of people who formally had ship wrecked lives and someway or somehow God managed to pick up the remaining fragments of that life and turned around and used them to do something glorious for His Kingdom, something of eternal significance.
Don't count a shepherd boy out who was the youngest of his brothers and was forgotten by his father to see if he was the anointed king. Doing so you would be counting out King David.
Don't count out a fisherman who had a problem with his mouth and denied the one he followed three times. Doing so you would be counting out the Apostle Peter.
Don't count out a son of a carpenter who was from a despised placed called Nazareth. Doing so you would be rejecting our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Alright. We were created to bring God the glory, despite background, despite where we have gone, where we have been, it doesn't matter. We have been created to bring and give Him glory.
The question is, how will you approach this? Will you approach this with a broken surrendered heart declaring, "Lord, here I am, Send me!" Or will you say that God is incapable of using you and you are beyond being used by Him.
What I always enjoy hearing is the testimonies of people who formally had ship wrecked lives and someway or somehow God managed to pick up the remaining fragments of that life and turned around and used them to do something glorious for His Kingdom, something of eternal significance.
Don't count a shepherd boy out who was the youngest of his brothers and was forgotten by his father to see if he was the anointed king. Doing so you would be counting out King David.
Don't count out a fisherman who had a problem with his mouth and denied the one he followed three times. Doing so you would be counting out the Apostle Peter.
Don't count out a son of a carpenter who was from a despised placed called Nazareth. Doing so you would be rejecting our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, For we are His worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Alright. We were created to bring God the glory, despite background, despite where we have gone, where we have been, it doesn't matter. We have been created to bring and give Him glory.
The question is, how will you approach this? Will you approach this with a broken surrendered heart declaring, "Lord, here I am, Send me!" Or will you say that God is incapable of using you and you are beyond being used by Him.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Prosperity Gospel
There has been a false gospel that has been going around for quite a while now. This false gospel is called the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel promises you 1 of 3 things,
- Wealth - you will have plenty of financially, not necessarily that you will be rich, but God does desire that you will be able to have plenty, never to be poor.
- Health - that if you are in God's favor, he promises to give you great health and to not be plagued with sickness because it is not his will for you to be sick.
- Prosperity - God has made you to succeed always, not to fail and it is not his will for you to fail but it is his will that you succeed in everything you do.
Many of the prosperity gospel preachers that you find are on the TBN channel (Trinity Broadcast Network). The preachers that promote prosperity gospel on this network are Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, and T.D Jakes. The preacher that I am most familar with is Joel Osteen.
Joel Osteen is the pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston Texas. In an interview with Osteen, Business Week asked him how he would describe his message. He replied and said that,
"It's a message of encouragement" The problem behind having a message of encouragement like this one is that people set unrealistic expectations of what they want to see happen in their life, whether it is prosperity, health or wealth.
Let's be realistic, it is not God's will for everyone to be prosperous, wealthy or to be healthy always. Look at Jesus' life for example, he was not somone that rolled up in a Rolls Royce with a diamond ring on his finger when he entered the triumphal entry, he was on a donkey! If anyone is to prosper, why didn't the Son of God? He did not even come close to prospering; he was nailed to a cross!
Prosperity gospel preachers in a way make God out to be a fairy or genie. If people think and wish enough, things will come their way and they will start to see God's favor in their life. The problem is that God puts us through trials and tribulations, despite what our attitude or approach.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Christian Cannibalism
We eat each other up and spit each other out, bones and all. (Relient K) We go into a church service sometimes for criticism rather than for spiritual food.
I believe at times we treat preachers or other workers in the ministry as a movie critic does to movies, "well there was not enough pazazz in the message" or "It was just too boring"
Whether you like it or not, they are part of the body of Christ, but no, we treat them as out casts, dogs, while they are our fellow workers in the faith. We allow personal preference to take priority over respect towards a fellow believer, that is just wrong!
Are we really living out Philippians 2 when we treat each other in this way? Can we really say that we are of one accord? I hardly doubt it, Christ didn't mean for it to be this way, but to rather be edifying to one of another.
I mean what did our Savior say? He said that they will know that you are my disciples when you love one another. Are we honestly doing that? If so, are we doing it whole heartedly, sincerely?
Why would the sinner want to be a part of the Body of Christ if all he saw was hatered and criticism towards one another? I certainly wouldn't want to be a part of that assembly.
Something's got to give Church, something's got to change!
I believe at times we treat preachers or other workers in the ministry as a movie critic does to movies, "well there was not enough pazazz in the message" or "It was just too boring"
Whether you like it or not, they are part of the body of Christ, but no, we treat them as out casts, dogs, while they are our fellow workers in the faith. We allow personal preference to take priority over respect towards a fellow believer, that is just wrong!
Are we really living out Philippians 2 when we treat each other in this way? Can we really say that we are of one accord? I hardly doubt it, Christ didn't mean for it to be this way, but to rather be edifying to one of another.
I mean what did our Savior say? He said that they will know that you are my disciples when you love one another. Are we honestly doing that? If so, are we doing it whole heartedly, sincerely?
Why would the sinner want to be a part of the Body of Christ if all he saw was hatered and criticism towards one another? I certainly wouldn't want to be a part of that assembly.
Something's got to give Church, something's got to change!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Leper That Would Not Keep Quiet
Each of us can say that we have encountered some interesting people in our life time. Probably the most memorable encounters would be with those that are famous. I would say the closest encounter I have had with a famous person would either have to be with the band, Skillet or the famous author of the book, Case for Christ, Lee Strobel.
It was neat meeting Lee Strobel after an evening service at TRBC. As I waited in anicipation to meet him, thoughts raced through my mind of what to say, it being someone that is well known, the last thing you want to do is make a fool of yourself by saying the wrong thing. I'm sure most of us can say that we have felt that way at some point or another, whether it is with a famous person or with someone that we highly admire.
The question that begs to be answered is, out of everyone you have met, out of all the most prestige people you have encountered, have they changed your life? If it were not for meeting them, would your life be different? I can say with confidence that you are not going to find a more dynamic, life changing enounter than an encounter with Jesus Christ.
The Gospels give numerous accounts of people encountering Christ and being changed due to the encounter. The one encounter that comes to mind is the healing of the leper in Mark 1:39-45. What is interesting about this passage is that Jesus told the leper after healing him to not tell anyone of what had just happened, rather, to just show himself to the priest. Well as you may expect, the leper did not listen to Jesus, instead, he told the whole town, so much so that Jesus could not even go back to town.
Lets face it, the leper had a life changing encounter the Messiah, so much so that he could not help but to share what had happened to him. Anyone who has an encounter with Jesus Christ can not help but to share the encounter with others, something internally drives them to do so. You see even till this day people having encounters with the Messiah, granted they are not lepers, rather they are sin sickened people. People who have lives that are going in a downward spiral, a downward spiral with drug addiction, broken families, loneliness, even a sense of unfulfillment in their lives. Then, after encountering Christ, something moves them to share their encounter.
Sadly after time passes, the desire to get the word out fades away, why is that? Why do we grow apathetic about sharing our encounter with Christ? Think about, we are quick to return from a concert and share with our friends the snap shot we got with the band and just how cool the drummer was in person. Yet, we are slow to share the glorious encounter we have experience with Christ.
After writing this I was convicted because I myself am guilty of this, it is a challenge for us all. I believe by recalling our encounter with Christ, we are able to refuel our urgency, our desire to get the word out about our encounter and how those that we share with can have the same encounter too. We should learn from the leper, to be so overwhelmed by our encounter with Christ that we can't help but to get the word out. I close with the words of Jeremiah, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more of his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay."
Are we as passionate as Jeremiah, or have we allowed the fire that is shut up in our bones to burn out? Don't let the fire burn out Church.
It was neat meeting Lee Strobel after an evening service at TRBC. As I waited in anicipation to meet him, thoughts raced through my mind of what to say, it being someone that is well known, the last thing you want to do is make a fool of yourself by saying the wrong thing. I'm sure most of us can say that we have felt that way at some point or another, whether it is with a famous person or with someone that we highly admire.
The question that begs to be answered is, out of everyone you have met, out of all the most prestige people you have encountered, have they changed your life? If it were not for meeting them, would your life be different? I can say with confidence that you are not going to find a more dynamic, life changing enounter than an encounter with Jesus Christ.
The Gospels give numerous accounts of people encountering Christ and being changed due to the encounter. The one encounter that comes to mind is the healing of the leper in Mark 1:39-45. What is interesting about this passage is that Jesus told the leper after healing him to not tell anyone of what had just happened, rather, to just show himself to the priest. Well as you may expect, the leper did not listen to Jesus, instead, he told the whole town, so much so that Jesus could not even go back to town.
Lets face it, the leper had a life changing encounter the Messiah, so much so that he could not help but to share what had happened to him. Anyone who has an encounter with Jesus Christ can not help but to share the encounter with others, something internally drives them to do so. You see even till this day people having encounters with the Messiah, granted they are not lepers, rather they are sin sickened people. People who have lives that are going in a downward spiral, a downward spiral with drug addiction, broken families, loneliness, even a sense of unfulfillment in their lives. Then, after encountering Christ, something moves them to share their encounter.
Sadly after time passes, the desire to get the word out fades away, why is that? Why do we grow apathetic about sharing our encounter with Christ? Think about, we are quick to return from a concert and share with our friends the snap shot we got with the band and just how cool the drummer was in person. Yet, we are slow to share the glorious encounter we have experience with Christ.
After writing this I was convicted because I myself am guilty of this, it is a challenge for us all. I believe by recalling our encounter with Christ, we are able to refuel our urgency, our desire to get the word out about our encounter and how those that we share with can have the same encounter too. We should learn from the leper, to be so overwhelmed by our encounter with Christ that we can't help but to get the word out. I close with the words of Jeremiah, "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more of his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay."
Are we as passionate as Jeremiah, or have we allowed the fire that is shut up in our bones to burn out? Don't let the fire burn out Church.
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