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Showing posts from February, 2008

Counting the Cost

Dallas Willard said there is a cost to discipleship, and we often resist entering into a place with Christ where we have to pay that cost, but the real question we need to ask ourself is how much will it cost me to not follow Christ? Do we want to remain in our self and follow our own way, or do we want to deny our selves and loose our own life for the abundant life and amazing grace that the Father desires to lavish upon us through Christ Jesus? I am willing to give up what I cannot hold on to, for that which I cannot loose. I want to follow my Master, I want to be His apprentice and submit myself wholly to Him to learn from Him and grow under His teaching.

The Cross and Discipleship

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I highly recommend you download the these sessions from Dallas Willard from Christian Audio . It's a free download. We must become true apprentices of the Master and move ever closer to a life of complete surrender to His will just as Jesus modeled for us. The cross is a place of life that Jesus has made available to us. Don't deny the cross. Deny self and allow the life and love of God to fill your every moment. "The Cross and Discipleship"

Take My Life and Let it Be

We sang this old Hymn Sunday and the words are powerful and convicting. God has been speaking to me about how we need to commit our selves to apprentice under the Master, realizing that following Christ will require a lifetime of service and devotion to Him. There is no other way to answer His call. Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose. Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ev

Can You Hear Me Now?

As I have been more intentional these past few weeks about my prayer time with the Lord, He has been teaching me a few things. One thing as I have mentioned before is that we think we will just jump in where we left off when we last got sidetracked by the cares of life and the daily grind. That doesn't happen. The Holy Spirit is patient to acclimate us slowly to His presence. The thing He is showing me now is that I really don't know how to listen and really hear what He is speaking to my heart. One of my biggest pet peeves is that people don't listen when you are talking to them, but Jesus is always listening and its us who rush in with preconceived ideas of what He wants to say to us or how He will work our situation out or answer our prayer. We have to let all that go, let go of our desire to have our prayer answered the way we want and trust in His plan. Hearing takes some mental effort and discipline and conditioning and waiting to get to a productive place. Go

Cultivating Jesus

I had an opportunity to hear an excellent teacher last night, professor Don Martin from Continental Theological Seminary in Belgium. He shared about how Jesus was always cultivating His relationship with the Father. Jesus give us the perfect pattern because the cultivation of true relationship with our Heavenly Father is not just reading the Word, or spending time in prayer, or even doing the will of the Father, but it is the wholeness of all of those disciplines. Jesus spent time learning the scriptures, He spent time alone with the Father, and he walked out a submissive life in obedience everyday. We try to put everything in a nice neat package and tell people if they just know the Word their OK, or of they have a good prayer life, thats all you need, or if we just get connected and have relationship with people and live it out, then we're on the mark, but none of those things in and of themselves are enough. Jesus is wholeness, He is the beginning and the end, He is the lif

Be Careful What You Pray For ...

Well, its been an interesting week for me so far. One of those times when if your not careful stress from one thing after another keeps building up. The Lord has a way of allowing circumstances to bring things to the surface that you wouldn't see or deal with otherwise. Just when I was about to handle a few situations wrong, even though I knew better, the Lord says "Mmmmm, what is that?" and puts his finger on that not so loving, not so Christlike attitude. Then He says "It seems like I remember you praying 'Search me Lord, examine my heart, let me be open to the work of your Holy Spirit in my life' ". So, if your sincere about following Christ go ahead and pray and ask for His help, but then brace yourself because He always answers.

Why Pray

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I highly recommend this latest message from Bill Johnson at Bethel Church . This message about prayer is necessary for believers who are sincere about following Christ. There is no way for us to go to the next level God has for us if we do not pray. The substance and fruit of the Kingdom will only be produced through a life and atmosphere of prayer. Why Pray

Ten Feet to Jesus

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I was teaching Sunday morning and using Peter walking on water as an illustration of leaving the dependencies of our own life and stepping out into God's grace. For some reason I said Jesus was Oh, lets say ten feet away. Not sure where that came from because the Bible doesn't say, but I guess they were close enough to hear each other. For me, it would have been pretty close because Jesus would have almost been in the boat before I decided to shout out and ask Him if I could do what I knew I needed to do. You know that knot you get in your stomach right before you take that plunge into obedience? That would be me. I also think I would have waited until He was close enough that someone could through me a line or something if I sank. How many times do we do this in life? We hedge our obedience and try to bring Jesus just a little closer to our comfort zone. I'm telling you, that ten feet makes all the difference in the world. Will I hesitate or be relentless? The lo

The Thing We Need the Most

Prayer is the one thing we neglect more than anything else, yet prayer is the thing we need the most. No words can express the wholeness and completeness and joy of spending intimate time with the Lord and letting Him fill our being with His Spirit. I come to Him with brokenness and frustration and a thousand questions that fill my mind, yet in Him I not only find the answers to all the questions, but I find the answer Himself and He renews me and fills me with purpose and worship. I feel like I have not yet even tasted of what God wants to pour out into my heart. I have not given myself wholly to this place of prayer, but I intend to.

Being His - Walking in Faith

Being entirely His will require us to walk in faith. You can count on it. We all say we have faith, but God wants us to live in faith and exercise our faith so He gives us opportunities to do that. I was reminded about Abraham tonight. God called to Abram and his faith was tested many times. I know for me, I want to walk in faith and see God do the miraculous by His grace, but sometimes I'd rather have it without all the testing. Those moments are difficult, but we have to keep walking through if we want to be His. Faith is seeing the unseen, seeing past the natural facts and choosing rather to see the spiritual facts. Only then will we walk through these testing times by faith and not by sight.

Being His - The Journey

This idea of Being His is starting to consume my thoughts. I know becoming more like Christ is the whole idea, but there is more, there is love and intimacy and a profound sense of fulfillment when we step into a place of being wholly devoted to Jesus. We are His most treasured possession. There is no doubt of that, but is He my most treasured possession? Its a journey to get there. We have to be relentless about it and let that desire consume our thoughts and control the outflow of our life. Jesus is calling to you. "Come, take the journey with Me"

Living in Poverty

I have to be honest, the spiritual state of the church today weighs on me. We live in poverty when we should live like princes in the Kingdom of Almighty God. I read of mighty men like Peter and John in Acts. I don't care how much we talk like it and put programs together to convince ourselves, we look nothing like this early church. These men lived in the wealth and treasures of Jesus Christ. They freely allowed the Precious Holy Spirit to flow through their lives to a dying world. These men certainly knew the call on their lives and Christ's commission for them to go share the gospel and make disciples, but more importantly (Yes I did say more importantly) they were absolutely in love with Jesus. Please hear me. The only way to reach this lost world for Jesus is for God's people to be entirely His . The more we let this truth sink deep into our hearts and minds,the more we will see His power and His truth and His saving grace released in the world today.

Wait God, Your Not Doing That Right

Yeah, you read that title right. Have you ever come to those moments with God when He asks you to surrender to Him your ministry or your hopes or your dreams or whatever it is that is near your heart? Has He ever asked you to trust Him with those things that are precious to you? Has He ever asked you to let go of the things you hold on to the most? Have you ever said yes to Him and reluctantly, but with a good feeling in your heart, let go of that thing He has asked for? Then have you watched as God begins to tear it apart and change it and reform it and rebuilt it as He sees fit? Have you ever then felt this desperate need to take it back and say "Wait God, Your not doing that right!" ? Have you ever then reached out your hand to take it back with some sense of righteous justification and spiritual pride like you know better how these things need to be done? Have you then tried to do it yourself and fail while God is standing there patiently waiting for you to exhaust

Washing Dishes with Jesus

A few months ago, my cousin Randy began attending one our church plants, LIFE House Church East and the Lord began to work in his life. A few weeks after that he got a job washing dishes at the Olive Garden. Randy is a hard worker and he takes his time to do things right. Recently some Hispanics joined his dish washing crew and apparently those guys can really move. Randy was feeling bad about not being as fast as these guys. Then he found out they do not have a car and they walk over a mile to get home late at night after closing. So Randy offered to give them a ride and of course he then had an opportunity to share with them what Christ has been doing in his life and he invites them to the LIFE House. Now their helping him learn how to do the dishes faster. So you never know when you may be doing dishes with someone who is ready to be Jesus and let their light shine.

Be Entirely His

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I'll be posting more on this, but for now, read OC's daily reading from September 4th "His!" They were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . —John 17:6 A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: "You are not your own" ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ). To say, "I am not my own," is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, "Go" (Matth