When Data leads to Sin

 We live in a data driven world.   We are collecting and recording more data than we ever have in all of history thanks to technology.   Data is a very power tool when used correctly.  It can be very helpful, and can help you personally or your business to improve greatly.  Now, there are some common misuses uses of data like stealing a person's  identity, or tracking people without their true consent.   While I think that is sinful, that is not what I want to focus on today.   

Despite the amount of data we have today, data has always been around and gathered in different ways.  There is an example in the Bible in 2 Samuel 24, and also recorded in 1 Chronicles 21 about David taking a census to gather data on how big his army was.  The result was that this census was a sin that David admitted to after it had been committed, but it does not describe what exactly the sin is.   There are 2 common theories, both of which are pitfalls for us to watch out for today.   

The 1st Theory is that David was filled with pride and he wanted to feed even more into that pride by boasting great numbers for his army.   "look at me, and how powerful my kingdom is!"   We don't really know if this is right, but I think this the most likely theory as this seems to have happened towards the end of David's reign and my perception was the fighting was slowing down as Solomon takes over for a peaceful reign.  When data is used to point at how great "we" are, that is a case when data leads to sin.

The 2nd theory is that David wanted to know how big his Army was to determine what he was capable of doing with it.  Based on what I said above about the 1st theory, this seems less likely in this particular scenario.  However, I think this type of sinful use of data is a bigger problem for us today.  We need to understand that data is amoral, just as guns, or money is amoral.  It is neither good nor bad, it is how it is used by the individual or business that determines if it is righteous or sinful.   

Let's play with theory #2 a bit, but lets put David into the present culture.  He wants to know how many troops he has so he can make an informed decision about a military move he is considering making.  No one for a second would think there is anything wrong with this approach today, in fact it would be expected that the census be taken along with many other data points.

This is how we operate in normal life today.  So much so that for David NOT to gather the data would be considered sinful to our culture.  He would be labeled a reckless leader, irresponsible, and not fit to hold the position of king if he didn't gather and analyze the data. So, if  we so blindly go down the path of data analysis without a second thought for every decision we make, is it possible that the use of our data is sinful and we don't even realize it?  What would God be upset about, and what are we not considering today as use data to make almost every decision? 

It's easy to see where God would have a problem with running a completely data driven life if we look at other stories in the Bible.  There are so many stories I can't even begin to scratch the surface of them in this blog, but lets take a look at a few of them real quick.   Noah.  The data did not support putting effort into building an Ark.  Good thing he didn't listen to the data.   When Israelites were first going to enter the promised land, the spy's went and gathered data about the land and the military forces their.  The data showed that the land was great, but the people were too strong for the Israelites to defeat.  It just didn't look good on paper (or maybe a stone tablet).  So they didn't go in when they should have.  To bad, they listened to the data...   When the Israelites went into the promised land a generation later, they marched around Jericho 1 time per day for 6 days, and then 7 times on the 7th day, and the walls came down and captured the city!   This was not a "data driven" military decision!

So, what is the message here?  Well, I think the message is, if we are not careful data becomes a false idol.  It replaces God's leading in our lives, and limits what we can do.  It takes away our faith that God can do anything despite the circumstances or the data.  It leads us to believe that we are all knowing with the data that we have.   Our culture has lifted data to a position it should not be in.  Data might be all the atheist has to lean on for guidance, but lets not let that limit Christian leadership and decision making.  Let's put data in its rightful spot!       

Standing your ground when others retreat

 Was reading 2 Samuel 23 this morning.  The second half of the chapter talks about David's Mighty Men.   These guys didn't mess around and it is encouraging to read about men of courage!   I have read an entire book on Beniah, one of the men mentioned in this chapter several years ago called "In a pit with a lion on a snowy day"  by Mark Batterson.   That is a great account of courage and masculinity at its finest, but it is not the part of the chapter that stuck out to me today.   

Today I read about Eleazar, who in a battle with the Philistines stood his ground.   When the Philistines attacked the Israelites retreated, but the Bible says that Eleazar stood his ground.    So, if you picture this you see that the enemy is coming at you, which is frightening enough, but then you look to your right and your left and you see your fellow Israelites running away.   

Eleazar had a choice to make.   The natural thing to do would be to retreat with the rest of the Israelites, but something inside of him caused him to make a different choice.  As I said before the Bible records that Eleazar stood his ground.    You might think Eleazar just wanted to die an honorable death, but it appears he had no intention of dying!    Eleazar seems to have killed all of Philistines on his own!   It says to fought so long his hand was frozen to the sword, as in he was gripping that sword so hard, for so long his joints kind of locked up and he couldn't loosen his grip.    It doesn't say how many he killed but the context of the story seems pretty clear that the odds were not in his favor!  We need more men like Eleazar today.   

It was not "wise" for him to stay and fight.  We have lots of wise sayings and philosophies that lead us to peace and safety.  The phrase "live to fight another day" is one of them.  Good thing Eleazar didn't follow that one.  I'm certainly not  throwing wisdom out the door, but I think we need a little less wisdom and little more bravery.  Or maybe it is better said, a little less wisdom that is self centered and all about avoiding any risk.    

Eleazar defied the odds, and that is what makes him great.   Something inside of us loves a story like this.  It is inspiring!   As of this writing I don't see this physical battle scenario unfolding in my life.  But you never know.  What I do see though is a culture war, where Gods ways are under attack.  So much so, that I much our society retreating as the ways of the enemy are main stream now.   Do we retreat?  Do we just go with the flow?  Or do we stand our ground like Eleazar?  God is looking for Eleazars to not be shaken.  To stand their ground.  To stand for what is right and not be intimidated by what seems to be a battle we are not going to win.   The odds are always on your side when you are aligned with God.  Stand strong!  

Maintaining Personal Peace in Chaotic Times

 It is easy to find peace in peaceful times.  When our environment has order in it, it naturally produces peace in us.   It is great when that happens.  (kind of)   Jordan Petersen says that order is "when we set out to do something, we do it, and the result is what we expected"  That makes a lot of sense.  Order=Peace. The challenge comes when we try to maintain peace when our culture is chaotic.  In our post-Christian culture the world is increasingly chaotic.  

So, how did we get here?  What I think happens is throughout peaceful/orderly times we get lazy and look to the environment/society to sustain order and peace.  The problem is that we begin to think peace comes from the culture, and we put our faith and trust in the culture.  It is a mistake to put faith in a human culture.  Even a good one.  But even worse than that is expecting to continually receive peace from a society without putting anything into it. that is very foolish.   It would be like planting a field the 1st year and not planting it ever again and expecting to reap a continual harvest.  When we stop sowing seed, and stop pulling weeds it is not going to end well.   The culture soon becomes more weeds than crops.  There are no Christian freebies handed out by society today.  And even though this change did not happen overnight, every person comes to a point of  realization where it hits them that they can't go with the flow of society any longer.  It can be a rude awakening!   

We have been riding on an innertube in the lazy river of what was a Christian culture.   Everything was flowing just fine, but over time it slowed down and eventually started flowing backwards.  

Physically speaking over the last couple of years I have been intentional about staying in shape and looking for ways to make sure I am capable if strength, endurance, and survival skills are required.  The thing is, none of these things are required right now, so it seems like a waste of time to many people because our technology world takes care of everything for us.  We are terribly dependent on technology.   We are slave to it if we don't have an option to survive without it.  But.. that may be a blog for another day.  However, this physical example parallels exactly what we should have been doing spiritually/morally/ethically within our society instead of just floating along.  The society we were dependent on has turned on us and does not serve Christians well any longer.   

So, now we are floating in the lazy river that is now flowing the wrong way,  So, what do we do when we can't ride the innertube around the lazy river of a Christian culture?   We need to ditch the innertube and start swimming against the flow of the culture.   Sadly, many won't commit to that.  It is to hard and they are not conditioned to do that kind of work.  Many were born in the lazy river and have no idea what it means or how to even start to swim upstream.

Spiritually speaking, it is chaos right now in the culture.  Things are not happening as we would expect them to.  When we are in chaos we go into a survival mode.  survival mode is a struggle to establish some basic level of personal order.  in a physical scenario, you need food, water, shelter, and an area that is protected.  While it is tempting to just go off grid and go live in the woods or the mountains somewhere, that isn't our calling.  So, what does it look like to meet those survival needs spiritually establish order/peace without dis-engaging entirely from the culture?    

We have to establish ourselves on something secure and stable.  Something orderly.  For Christians that is the word of God.   The culture used to be aligned with the word of God, so we jumped in the lazy river and the culture became our source and our comfort and what we were guided by.  Again, we should not have made that mistake, but we did.  Now, we now need to independently establish/reestablish that foundation in God's word.  That, with a vibrant relationship with the living God, provides firm footing for us even when the waters are rushing against us.   What does that look like?    It looks like Steven in the book of Acts before he is murdered for opposing the culture.   He finds bliss in a vision of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the father.  The fear, the intimidation, the pressure to back down had no effect.  There was something greater than any threat this world could dish out to him.  It also looks like Paul and Silas in prison singing joyful songs and worshiping God in the most miserable of circumstances.   Both of these examples were NOT going with the flow of the culture.  They found peace outside of the culture and in the hope provided by Jesus Christ.  (where our peace should have been the whole time)     

In all things the culture throws at us, we must view them through the lens of the Bible.  Does it flow against the word of God?  We must look past the surface of what is presented and have discernment to see what is happening underneath, to be able to judge what is truly happening.   Not everything that happens is evil, but sadly we can no longer can we trust institutions are just going to do what is right.  

So, maintaining personal peace and order in our lives through the truth of the living word of God is right where we need to be.  It pulls us out of the matrix that our culture has had us in.   Yes, we need to swim upstream, we need to reverse the flow, but we will not be able to do this without maintaining our foundation, and our personal peace found only in Jesus.  It will take a supernatural peace that passes all understanding for us to endure this fight against the evil one.  We will be victorious!   

Stepping into Greatness

Change is hard.   I like change most of the time, but it is still hard.  I spent pretty much most of 2012 working on changing the only one I can change.  Me.   I would listen to ideas and try to comprehend.  At first the ideas would go way over my head.  After listening again, I would kind of get it, then I would get it, but not know how to apply it.   Then I would apply it, but it would be awkward like the first time you ride a bike.   Then you start to get a good handle on it.   Next thing you know what you thought you were getting good at in reality was just level 1 out of 1000 on the scale of greatness.  :)   Its frustrating and motivating all at the same time.  I love that humbling moment, and I think God enjoys it to.  I feel like I have it figured out then he opens up a new revelation.  A new perspective and it changes everything.  I am thankful for those that God puts in my life to show me those things. 

I need to be working harder to try to stay uninvolved from the things that can steal time from the things I need to be focused on.  There are always a million things that need done, but I believe that God only gives us just enough things to fill our day.  Chances are if I don't have enough time in the day to do what I need to do, then I am doing some things I shouldn't be doing.  The enemy is great at providing those distractions.  He doesn't just provide evil distractions either.  He provides nice things to do.  Ways that you can help people and ways that you can do many other wonderful things.  We have to be listening closely to Holy Spirt to know what is right.  If we settle for good, we can never be great.   Stepping into "greatness" means stepping away from "good".  Greatness never seems to stay in one spot either.  If we get a hold of it and think we can stop we are kidding ourselves.  What is great today is good tomorrow and worthless the next.   I just want to keep moving forward and striving for greatness in all of the areas of life.   David could have been satisfied with killing Goliath, and not become a great king.  What would this world be if Jesus wasn't willing to go to the cross, but instead just kept doing good things for the people he came in contact with?   I'm praying for vision to see past good into great!  

Stepping Out Of The Past But Not Forgetting It

I read in Ezekiel this morning. It shows great symbolism in how God saved Israel and raised her into a beautiful queen. God rescued her. She was abandoned as a newborn. Still covered in blood from her birth, no one even bothered to clean her up. God found her and cared for her, and adorned her with precious gifts and jewels. What was left on the ground as worthless was transformed by God into royalty; into someone who was priceless. If only the story ended there...

All of the love and the blessing they received was out of the relationship they had with God. They turned from God and worshiped idols, and commit terrible sins. Worse sins than Sodom. With great blessing comes great responsibility. We must be able to manage the freedom, power, and relationship that God gives us. A huge part of that is remembering what God has done for us and where he has brought us from.

-Ezekiel 16:22 2 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

Israel forgot who loved them when they were nothing, and forgotten by the rest of the world. They forgot the one that brought them to the place of prosperity. People deal with blessing in different ways. Some people in their walk with God choose to stay in the state they were when God found them. They refuse to seek or accept anything good from God. Their life is lived barley getting by. They have no authority, no power, and no blessing other than the gift of eternal life. Others step out of the old life and into the new, but never learn responsibility. They take the blessings, and don't know how to handle them. Like the person who has been poor there whole life and then wins the lottery. They spend every penny and don't plan for the future. Soon they are more poor than before they won the lottery. They get so caught up in the the here and now that they have forgotten where they came from. This is what happened to Israel. I was taught when I was little, to work for things, because then you will appreciate them more. And there is definitely some truth to that. While we do contend for things in prayer, we always get far more than we have earned. It's called grace, and living in a world of grace requires great maturity.

We are responsible for the way we manage the resources that God gives us. No blessing is greater than the blessing of relationship with the creator. This relationship must continually be cultivated and poured into. Not just so God stays happy, and not so we can get what we want. Here is the deal... God is all powerful - all knowing - and is everywhere at the same time. pretty impressive huh? What I think is more impressive is how he completes us. Everywhere that we fall short in our own abilities is where there is a piece of God that can fit into your life and make it whole. And that is not just a spot here or a couple spots over there. Its everywhere. It is how it was always supposed to be! It is unnatural for us not to have God. He is not an add-on to your life. He is the critical part in the core of your being. He is a perfect fit, and when we are together a new world is before us, with rules that are different than the world we came from. It is realm where anything is possible. It is a place where dreams are not only dreamed, but fullfilled. It is our job to explore and learn and enjoy, but never forgetting where we came from or how we got where we are. Stay aware of your past, but don't live in it!

The Joy of Repentance

1 Samuel 15:22 22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

This verse came to my mind last night during Bible study, and I think as we study repentance it is important. I think this is pretty easy to understand. God delights more in our obedience than he does in our sacrifice/repentance. However, something happens when we don't live up to that standard. It is almost like we would rather fake the obedience thing and not repent for our sin. Yes, obedience is better than sin, but sin with repentance is much better than sin with fake obedience! There is a bitter sweet joy that comes with repentance. But lets think about why repentance is bitter and hard to do, and also why it is sweet and an amazing thing to do. It is bitter and hard to do only for our flesh. It is painful for our pride and our ego. It is sweet and joyful, because our spirit comes alive again in the area where it was cut off from God. God immediately comes and breaths life over us where sin had separated us from God. Repentance is the first righteous thing that we can do in response to our sin. Certainly God would rather we not sin and not have to repent, but should we fall short his delight is in our repentance. It is the enemies plan not only cause us to sin, but to put such shame and condemnation on us that we don't feel like we can go to God and get this straightened out. The enemy knows that causing sin is only half of the battle after what Jesus has done for us. After sin he continues to bring an unhealthy guilt, with bombardments of accusations. He tears us down to the point where we do not feel worthy to go to God, or we are scared of God. I really feel that this lie needs to be exposed. We can always go to God. His response to our sin when we approach him in humble repentance is always to love - heal - and restore. So there is joy in repentance, and we should be quick and eager to repent should we fall short in our obedience to him. Have a great day!

Living only for God

I seem to find it difficult to keep my focus where it should be. It's sorta like a spiritual ADD or something I guess. He opens a door for me, and I go for it. I start out good, working for God and good things happen. But I become so passionate about it that it consumes me, and instead of my eyes being on God and his purposes, I have focused my eyes on the task at hand. Eventually I identify myself so closely to the task at hand that I cannot seperate the two. I become the task and the task becomes God. I feel like a leach that sucks the glory out of what God is doing sometimes. Not that I openingly say "this is becuase of me", but there is something inside of me that says it is. We have to be so careful! I don't think God's desire is for us to have no joy or have no satisfaction in serving him. It seems to be such a fine line sometimes though. First of all, we need to remember that we don't have to earn our salvation, we don't have to do good things to make it to heaven. From a human standpoint, I think I have worked my whole life to impress people, and I feel like I have to do that with God too, and that is not the case. But I want God to be proud of me you know...? "Well done my good and faithful servant"... That's what I want to hear. To me that verse translated says, "I'm proud of you". So naturally, I want to help my cause so that I can hear that. but there I go again, back to works to try to earn my place. I get that God loves us, and that love is unconditional, but something inside wants me to do more to earn more. Being competitive does not help this situation at all... It seems to be the satisfaction and success of what I do that motivates me to work so hard. I need a perspective change. The love I have for God needs to be my motivation. Doing work to get something back is not God's kind of love. His love is selfless. I suppose we need that we are so spirtually wealthy, that we don't have to do anything, because we have all that we could ever want, but we still work just because we love God. And in addition to this, I probably love God for what he has done for me. that's probably not right either. I mean, he has certainly done enough to earn my love, but should it be like that...? I dont' think so. I think my task is to look at God for who he is, and get to know his person, not his works. I need to fall in love with God on a new level. hmm... interesting... Didn't see this blog ending up this way. lol Thanks God ;)

Hanging by a Thread

I was overwhelmed at lunch today. I was reading in psalms, and I began to think about how fortunate I am to know Christ. Then I began to think how many things their are to throw us off course. God is strict. He is loving, but what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. The result of any sin; big or small is death. There is one thing and one thing along that helps us escape the result of sin. Salvation through Christ! I had this vision of me hanging over a pit. I was hanging onto a thread. there was a huge amount of area around me, and I could not see the bottom of the pit. All I knew is that I didn't want to go down, and I didn't want to let go of the thread. These are our lives. We hang by a thread. The thread of salvation. It will never break, and it will always be in reach if you want it to be. But it blew me away, that if God wanted to. If he really wanted to, he could cut that thread, and I would be gone forever. Do you have any idea how blessed we really are!!?? I mean really? He has lowered us a line. A life line, literally. And what do we do..? over and over again, we let go of the thread, and then grab a hold again. Some of us even tie the thread around our ankle and go bungee-jumping. Not that it would break, but perhaps the knot that WE tied, isn't quite as secure as we think it is... I have a feeling that if our eyes were opened up, to the pit of death that surrounds us we would think differently. The enemy puts things just at the end of our reach that are tempting. we reach with one hand on the thread and the other for what our flesh desires. He wants us to slip, he wants us to want what he has so much that we will loosen our grip on the thread and fall into the pit. I was clinging so hard to this rope, and I was thanking God so much for it as I gripped harder and harder. It was all I wanted. This sounds like a terrible position to be in, dangling over a pit. but considering the alternative, dangling is much better than falling. It is the best place we can be actually. Totally dependent upon God. Not just, "oh, I'm going to try my best to live for him" No, No.. dependent to point that your life depends on it, because guess what..? It does! I mean seriously... Are you getting this or is it just me? We are completely and utterly useless and dead without what Jesus did on the cross. As much as we mess around, and let go and fall for a bit, before we grab hold. Why doesn't he just cut the line? I certainly don't deserve it. All, I know is that his grace is unmatched, and his mercy is endless. I don't know know how this vision plays out doctrinally. Once saved always saved, predestination or any of that stuff. All I know is that I need Jesus, and so do you. I pray that today you will have an encounter with God that opens your eyes like he did mine.

Restoration

I read in Ezra this morning. What powerful moments there where when the Jews made the trip out of captivity to the time they offered sacrifices when they arrived, and when they finished laying the foundation of the temple. These people had learned lessons of the past, and had their hearts turned toward God. The old wept, and the young shouted for joy at the foundation being completed. Rebuilding/Restoration is a beautiful thing. Yes, it would have been better never to have had to rebuild. It would have been better if the Israelites would have stayed obedient to God. However, they did not. But God, who is full of grace and mercy takes our disobedience (sin) from us, as we humble ourselves before him and blesses the relationship between him and his people. There were no torn clothes, no sack clothe and ashes as they morned for what they and their fathers had done in the past. They new where they came from and they didn't just ignore the bad things of the past, but the time of mourning was over, and the time of celebration was here. It was time to get back to God. they made the sacrifices and worked on there relationship with God. One stone at a time was placed in it's spot. so that they could worship God the way they were commanded. After we accept Christ we are instantly restored, but still continue to improve the temple, to make it strong and beautiful. As we are restored and rebuilt in Christ, we remove the junk out of the way and place a solid foundation down. We should weep and be joyful as the Holy Spirit works in us. Don't stop building the temple. Don't stop at the foundation, but let Christ complete his edifying work in your life.

Ask Him

I read in 2 Kings this morning about Hezekiah. He is one of the few kings of Judah that was devoted to God, before they entered captivity in Babylon . When Hezekiah gets sick Isaiah comes and tells him that he will not recover but he will die from this illness. Isaiah leaves and Hezekiah prays to the Lord asking him to let him live. Isaiah gets a word from the Lord in the courtyard and turns around and tells the king he will live another 15 years. What just happened here?? Don't these words of the Lord conflict agaist each other? Can God not make up his mind? What changed? A prayer changed everything. Hezekiah reminded God (like he forgot or something) that he had lived his life for him. So why did Hezekiah telling God something he already knew change the outcome, and appear to show God changing his mind?? There seems to be an outcome that God has planned if we don't come to him, and an outcome that he has if we do. God is still in total control, because he knows if we will come to him or not before we know it. I think this is sounding really confusing, so I'm sorry. God has more than we can imagine for our lives, and I wonder how many times I could have come to him and great blessing would have been released, instead of suffering through something, or doing it the hard way. God like any good father wants to do things to bless his children. I believe he is eagar for our next break through into heaven. Don't be afraid to ask for something from God. His desire is to always do what is best for you.

Because He Said So

Reading about Elisha this morning 2 Kings 5. This chapter is about Naaman, a man who had leprosy. This was a terrible disease of the time. He hears about Elisha from an Israelite slave woman that was taken captive. He travels to him and Elisha says go into the Jordan river and wash yourself 7 times and you will be healed. Naaman was furious. He could of washed in a river at home, because he thought they were better anyway. Little did he understand, that these were the words of the Lord. And when he speaks what is ordinary becomes extraordinary. Naaman had an idea of what he wanted to happen. He wanted Elisha to come to him and call upon God, and wave his hand over him and he would be healed. He put God in a box, and said you can only move in this way. However God will move in whatever way he chooses to move. We so often hear of something great that has happened and then think, If I do the same thing I will get the same result. That may be true most of the time in the natural, but in the supernatural, I think this is rare. The supernatural world of God is predictable only in the sense that if we listen to God we will succeed in the task he gives us. How that happens is completely unpredictable. God seems to have a lot of fun with this! The point is that we must listen to Him and follow his lead. If Elisha would have done it the way Naaman wanted him to he would not have been healed. fortunately Naaman was convinced that he should wash in the Jordan. He did and he was healed. When God speaks, what is natural becomes supernatural, and we should do it. because he said so...

Open The Floodgates of Heaven

For years I have been singing the song "let it rain". It says: let it rain - let it rain - open the floodgates of Heaven. For years I have encountered God in powerful ways while that song is playing. Nothing special about the words, but the song is really a song of desperation to be in the presence of God. When we desire him and seek him we will find him. We enter into his grace and mercy. While those times of the past were amazing, and at the time I thought I had all that God could dish out in a moments time, however, it was not everything... Along with desire, along with all of our crying out to God. Never have the floodgates been opened more than when I was broken before God. You see, we are the floodgates... The more we hang on to who we are in ourselves the tighter the floodgates are closed. When we are broken, the floodgates are also broken. With a brokenness and a desire for God, you will see what it means to have the floodgates opened up. What I had before was only a splash of water over the floodgate. You are the only thing holding back what God wants to do. Repent. Come to God with no excuse, no explanation. don't pass the blame. Take responsibility and say "I have sinned" You may think, "I really don't want to make myself feel that bad" how can that be good?? When the floodgates are open, there is refreshing. God doesn't just say your forgiven, but he takes us in our rags that we dress ourselves in and our ruin, and he lifts us up, and clothes us in righteousness, and also, all the pressure of being a floodgate is removed. you no longer have to hold back the pressure of millions of pounds of God's grace. It just flows freely, and you too, will flow freely in his presence...

frustration or learning

I have been at a conference the last 2 days and I heard tons of information that I needed to apply. I found myself at times saying to myself "Am I doing anything right?" For a moment I hit a point of frustration, because it seemed like I had so much that needed to b done or changed. but then I remembered who I was surrounded by and the heart of the conference. it is to build up and teach. equip and encourage. to get frustrated would mean that I missed the whole point. after I realized this I was back on track. I know that Gods standards are very high and sometimes we can get frustrated when it feels like we r so far away from where we should b. We must keep the right perspective. just like the conference God wants to equip and encourage. keep striving for perfection and never give up! Proverbs 24:16 says that a righteous man falls 7 times but gets up again. if u have fallen, get up, and if u r up don't be afraid to try just because u may fall again.

I wrote this from my phone so excuse any typos... :) have a great day!

Relationship to Embrace The Truth

The truth is the truth. There is such thing as absolute truth. Things that we can believe in no matter what. Things that don't change on experiences or circumstances. We have faith in those things. Have you ever been through something that someone else hasn't, and had the opportunity to help them through it? You know what needs to be done because you lived through it. you know the way to be successful, and you explain what you have been through and how you made it through. Yet they don't trust God or they don't trust you. Something very important needs to be in place for that truth to be accepted. Relationship must be present. not just relationship, but a solid relationship that has much trust. The more uncomfortable the truth that your sharing the more trust there must be in the relationship. For me to walk up to a stranger, and give them advice on what they need to do in there life is typically not going to be successful, unless of course God has been preparing them to hear what I have to say. I can tell my close friends anything. and they can tell me anything. The value of their words are far greater than those I don't know, or don't know as well. What are the value of Gods words to you today? Do you trust him? Will you accept his truths? Is there relationship, and is it solid and full of trust? I am so grateful for my relationship with Christ! He never gives me bad advice, and I can trust him completely. I am also thankful for close friends who can speak truth into my life and in many ways mirror the relationship i have with Jesus in human form. guide every relationship and make them deeper today Lord.

Holiness is Obedience to God

I've been thinking about what exactly it means to be holy... Does it have to look a certain way? I thought about a couple of different examples from the Bible to look at. For instance, John the baptist was very separate from the world and lived what "we" would consider a very holy lifestyle. He got away from the world for the most part unless he was preaching and baptizing. He lived in the desert and ate locust and honey. He didn't drink wine and followed the law as "most people" thought it should be followed. Jesus on the other hand, did quite the opposite. He hung out with sinners, drank wine, touched the "unclean" which was considered an unholy thing to do. He and his disciples didn't wash their hands before they ate, which was a big no no in Jewish culture. So, what do we do with this... who is right? who is wrong? was Jesus right or was John the baptist? what is the holy way to live?

I think they were both right because they were obedient to God with the way they lived. God called John the baptist to be holy and separate. and Jesus lived a holy life among the sinners. There are things that are non-negotiable, like Christ died for our sins and he is the only way to eternal life. that does not change and is the hard fact. So, what is holy by God's standard is obedience to him, and he has different plans for all of our lives, and how we are obedient is different for each person. (except for the non-negotiable things that make up the foundation of our faith) I don't think being surrounded by worldly things is a sin. it can't be, otherwise Jesus was a sinner. I think this passage helps sum things up. Jesus said in Matthew 15:17-20 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'" I think also, the things we hear, touch, taste, and smell, do not make us unholy. they can influence us that way. that is for sure. And if the influence does cause unclean things to come from our heart, we better get away from the influence.

Peter put what he thought was holy above obedience to God in Acts 10:9-16 as well, when he wouldn't eat the "unclean" animals. We can do all of the stereotypical things that the "good" christian should do and be very unholy if we are not being obedient to God. We shouldn't argue with God. Look at Hosea. God said go marry and have a family with this woman that will cheat on you constantly. What God??? are you serious!!!? Hosea did what God asked, so was he holy? Absolutely, because he was obedient to God. Does that mean we should all do what Hosea did? NO! Let me say that again. NO! lol We must discover what God is calling us to do, and live in obedience to him according to his plan for us. The point of this blog post is not to tell you that you have the freedom to go do whatever you want. It is not an excuse to sin. The point is to make think about what holiness is, and to enable people the freedom to follow God without feeling like they have to fit the stereotype of years past. Have a good day! :)

Relationship in Praise

I got to watch an online service last night, that was going on in Orlando. It was a great service! One of the biggest things that hit me was during the praise service. I was talking on Sunday with my friend Mary about music and how some of our praise songs are not truly praise songs. Traditionally our praise time is meant to be a time when we lift up Gods name and praise him, for how great he is. It seemed that some of our songs have gotten off base from that concept. Not that they are bad by any means, because they are all christian songs. It is just that they had seemed to of gotten away from praising God, and one song in particular seemed to be focused on how much God loves us, which is opposite of what is considered a traditional praise service. So, last night in the service they sang a song that was praising God very directly and very obviously. then they went into the next song that says "How he loves us, oh how he loves us" at first I was a little thrown off because I recognized the shift in focus moving from God to us. I mean, I love the song, it is one of my favorites actually, but it didn't fit into the box I put around what I thought praise should be. All of the sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. That song wasn't about us praising God it was a prophetic response to our praise! God has always been about relationship. and relationship must be bi-directional. God ripped my box up, and took me to a new level. I LOVE THAT! I love new revelation! interactive relationship in praise opens up a whole new realm of experience. We sang to him "Bless the Lord oh my Soul, Bless the Lord!" and he returned our blessing by blessing us by reminding us "he loves us! oh how he loves us!" I am thankful for a God that desires a relationship with me! We serve an amazing God!

Meaningless Without Jesus

I read through Ecclesiastes over the last few days. This book of the Bible is so different from most of the other books. It talks about how life is meaningless. We live, we work, we go through troubles, and we die. Whether we are righteous or not death awaits us all, nothing can change that fact. We work, and we work to gain wealth and when we die it gets handed off to someone who didn't earn it. Depressing huh? lol yet... it's true. All of the tasks that we do are meaningless... unless we can make a spiritual impact. That is the thing that is not meaningless. Even if I gave millions of dollars to help the poor, if I don't do it for God and draw people closer to God it is still meaningless; even though it is a wonderful thing to do. If I can fix a customer’s broken computer equipment, that in and of itself is meaningless, but if while doing so I can make a spiritual impact, suddenly I have purpose and meaning to what I am doing. So, if we feel like what we are doing today is meaningless, perhaps we need to re-evaluate our motives, and figure out how we can make a difference that will last for eternity for someone. I love the fact that it is possible make an impact on someone’s life, that not only changes there life on earth but literally affects the rest of eternity for them. The things that matter are the things that do not pass away. So, there is no need to hoard money, and be obsessed with climbing the corporate ladder, and having the new car, and a new home. I want to make sure that I don't hold on to tightly to the things that I can't take with me when I die, but instead cling desperately to Christ the one who was, and is, and is to come. the alpha and the omega. the one who conquered death and therefore extends past death forever and ever!

We Are Not Too Holy

I read in Isaiah chapter 5 and 6 today. Chapter 5 talks about how corrupt Israel is. Society was falling apart, and people had completely rejected God and his law. Isaiah 5:20 "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. "

In chapter 6, Isaiah, through a vision finds himself in the throne room of God. He knows the land where he just came from, and how evil it was. He says: "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then a seraph's flies over to Isaiah and touches his lips with the coal, and his sin is forgiven. I think it is important to not that the seraph does not have to touch the coal to his ears, or his eyes. think of all that Isaiah probably saw and heard other people doing. But the fact is that being around people that sin is not sin. God was concerned with Isaiah's own heart. Matthew 12:34 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Certainly being around such evil as Isaiah was, would have been tough to not let it affect you, and I am sure on some level it did.

Isaiah was now pure, and sinless before God. Then God says "who can I send?" God is asking who can go back to this people. Isaiah, now sinless and pure before God, says "send me, I will go!" I love that Isaiah is willing and ready! I also love that he DIDN'T say, "Well, I can't go back there, I'm too good for them now!" Let's make sure we don't conform to the stereotype that the world has for Christians. Let's be different. Let's make a difference!

Thankful for the Sacrifice

I am thankful for the sacrifice that was made and is continually made for my freedom here in the United States. As Robyn and I sat and watched with fireworks with friends and family that were able to join us (I missed those that couldn't be there by the way), I thought about the importance of showing Cyrus about sacrifice when he is old enough. It is a concept that I hope he will fully understand, and appreciate. As I watched the fireworks going off in the air, I was reminded what it must have been like. I don't think people sat in lawn chairs and said "awwww pretty..." When the real deal was happening, people were dying and, and at the same time freedom was being won. How bitter sweet it must have been! Those that died had something inside of them that said, if I don't make it out of here alive at least there is still a chance that my family and friends can enjoy freedom. dude... that is sacrifice. It is one thing to do something for your own gain. It is another to sacrifice your all, for someone elses gain. I am thankful that I have a cause worth dieing for today. Lord, help us to die to self so others can gain there Independence from the grip of the enemy.

Embracing the Imperfect

I love that God embraces us even though we are not perfect. How can he do that? Why would he do that? God has a unique way of looking at us. Past our fears, and failures and many imperfections, God looks... Deep inside, at the very core of who we are, he sees us! he sees the remnant of what he has created. He sees the heart of his son or daughter. Yes, it is corrupt, and it too is imperfect, but instead of throwing it out and starting over, we serve a God who is into restoring. Just like the mechanic that sees a beat up old car in the junk yard, but buys it and fixes it up to perfect condition, this what Jesus does. he's not so concerned about the current condition, but sees the potential condition that it could be restored too. I want to see people the way that God does! I want to do the ground work for him, and spot the potential treasures. Simply because I love to see that restoring process! It is amazing! It takes time, and it takes patience, but it's worth it! I love to tell those that are broken, how wonderful they are! Sometimes I do see what God sees, and others may think, "why is he excited over them. What is he wasting his time there for... They are a lost cause!" NO NO NO! They are not a lost cause... They are actually the greatest of treasures!!! Just wait, and you will see!!!