More Than a Fresh Start

Is two and a half months off long enough? I would say so. It's so easy to start something and have all kinds of good intentions and then after a short, short while totally be off of it. I hate that part of my personality. It's such an ugly part of who I am. Which brings me to this posting's topic. Sometimes it's so easy to think, well, I'm just going to start over on this blog, I'm going to start blogging again and really keep up on it and be really committed to it. We think along these lines with so many issues in our life. We convince ourselves that I'm just going to give this another try, and this time I'll make it work. Totally void of the idea that, if this going to work this time, maybe I need to change my approach. Maybe you need more than just a fresh shot at the same situation, the same situation that you keep screwing up, maybe you need to get with God, change your outlook, change your heart, change your thought process, change your love walk, fix the prescription on your eyes of faith, change everything, and then go at your problem again. You need more than just a fresh start, you need a new heart.

This I believe..

Sometimes it's necessary to just remind yourself of the purest form of your faith. At times life can seem a little overwhelming, even the monotony of life can drag you under, and when you get in that position it is hard to remember the reason that you're even in the position that you are in. We, assuming that you believe in Jesus and are trying to follow His plan for your life, are in the position that we are in because we believe in someone greater than ourselves. We see through the lie that the world tries to sell of trying to fix things on our own, and realize that the mess that we are in will only get worse the harder we try to fix it. So we lean on Mark 10:27. That even though things we may face are impossible for us to overcome, there is nothing that is impossible for God. He is able to help you through anything. There is no obstacle to high, there is no gap to wide, no problem to hard, no question unsolvable. We believe that the bible says that if we have faith even just the size of a mustard seed, if we say to the mountain, be removed and tossed into the sea, it will move. I know, it's a preposterous statement, but to those of us with just a mustard seed size of faith, it's all the backing that we need.

Looking for more . . . .

I read a quote from Relevant magazine Sunday night, to a very inappreciative audience, but none the less I will say it again.

"I hate to break it to you, but if you talk big plans about your "mission" or "calling", but lack any forward motion, you are a massive tool."
(Mark Steele, RELEVANT Magazine, Issue 21)

To sit and complain about wanting more of something, but lacking any ambition to get the things that you are desiring, makes you a total loser. Because, if you truly wanted something you would invest at least some energy in an effort to get it. If you think you want something, but you lack any forward motion towards getting what you want, I would suggest that you re-evaluate what it is you think you want. You may spend time thinking about what you want, but I'm asking you what you actually do to get closer to what you want. Even things that you may want that are miles away, or things that you believe are God given desires, are you willing to even invest time in prayer or in meditation concerning those things? The first step, and really the easiest step in many ways, would be to pray about the things that you would like to see happen. You could call prayer the first step in establishing forward motion, but are you willing to give even that much? If not, you are a massive tool, and you need to get with God and adjust what it is that you are pursuing. God help us to put your priorities as our priorities, help us to put you at the forefront of our lives.

Where heaven encounters earth

All throughout the bible there are various places where heaven, i.e. the place where God is, touches earth, the place where we are. Instances such as Abraham and his three guests, Jacob and his ladder and then later when he actually wrestles with God. Moses and the encounter with the burning bush, the children of Israel with the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Numerous times throughout the establishing of the nation of Israel, they get in the middle of a huge fight and somehow God "comes down", heaven, i.e. where God is, encounters earth, i.e. the place we are. What awesome moments those much have been. What powerful moments those must have been. To have the very presence of God somehow interact with what you are doing and making all of the difference. When the Israelites built the temple they had a built a home for God to live, a place where God would always encounter earth. If they needed anything, they would pray towards the temple. They would pray towards the place where they knew God encountered the earth. They knew that having God encountering the earth, showing up in the circumstances would make all the difference. Countless people have fought all throughout history for the chance to have God on their side. If you can get God to encounter you, an amazing thing has taken place.

But do you realize that that is exactly what has already happened? Saying that Jesus has come to live in your heart is not just some cute saying that we teach little kids to say when they believe in Jesus and his ability to save them. It is a bibilcal truth. Paul writing to the church in Corinth says in 3:16, that they, corporately and individually are the temple of God. He tells them that they are the place where heaven encounters earth. He says that they are the place where God shows up. How awesome is that? Do you need to encounter God? Are you a believer in Jesus Christ yet still sometimes find yourself longing for God to move in certain cirmcustances in your life? Are there things in your life or people in your life that you just know need a touch from God? You know that they need an encounter? Here's the shocker, you are the place where that is going to happen. Somehow, if you'll have it, God will come in and encounter the earth through you. After all, you are now the temple of God's Holy Spirit, you are the place where God encounters the earth.

Now ask yourself, if God is not encountering the world around me in the way that I think He should, could it be that the temple is not operating in the way it should?
Let me know what you think.

The God who was ... is

The stories in the bible that we talk about in Sunday School and on Sunday Mornings and on Sunday nights and on Wednesday nights, are not just cute little stories that we are trying to get you to remember. My goal is not to equip you with all of the right tools so that you can pass some sort of bible trivia game. Knowing facts about something doesn't necessarily qualify you as knowing something. For instance, you can know a lot of information about a certain celebrity, but that doesn't mean you know the celebrity. However, by knowing that person, and spending time with that person, you will begin to know about that person, and to actually know the person. Is that to confusing? My point is that there comes a time when you hear the stories of God's history and they become more that just stories about someone, but stories that actually help you personally know Him. There will come a point where these amazing, awesome stories become a revelation of God's awesome ability in your own life. If your not there yet, that's fine, everyone is at their own level of faith, all I'm encouraging you to do is spend the time to ask God to be that real to you. God answered those kinds of prayers to His people way back in bible times, and the God that was then, is the God that is now.

Jesus Says . . No Problem

What's up guys!

Don't forget the jingle, sing it all day long if you have to.

When you got issues,
and you can't solve 'em,
Jesus Says . . No Problem.

There isn't a problem that you face that Jesus doesn't have a solution to. Pursue God in such a way that every time you face something you take it to God. Don't hesitate, immediately take it to Him. God is able to respond to you. God wants to respond to you, many times He is just waiting on you to cry out. Remember the example of King Hezekiah (2Kings, 2Chronicles, Isaiah 37), who went to God as soon as he faced his problems. When he received the prognosis of certain death even, he turned his face to the wall, cried out to God, and God heard his cry. When he had an issue he sought God to get it fixed. Are you seeking God to see your problems fixed? Why not? What are the other things you are relying on? If you are a person that has other crutches, other things you rely on, get with God about even that. God wants you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He wants to be first in your life. He wants to be the first thing you seek. Ask Him for help, God is not as far off as you may think He is.

The Lords Prayer

Hey guys...
Don't forget to memorize the Lord's Prayer for next wednesday night.

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,
give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kindgdom, the power and the
glory forever, Amen."

Praying will change your life! Don't forget it! Remember how important prayer was to Jesus during his life here on earth. He was always sneaking away to try to be alone so He could pray. If Jesus prayed and prayed and prayed, and He's fully God, don't you think maybe you should spend some time praying? Remember the impact of Jesus' prayer on the disciples. When He got done praying and the disciples saw Him, they couldn't help but to ask, "Teach me to pray like that." (Luke 11:1). How life changing is your prayer time? Enough for others to notice? Well, maybe that will come later, right now just start by spending some time praying. There isn't a prayer that God doesn't want to hear. He just wants you to come to Him.

A Change of Heart

There is more to walking with God than just changing the things that you do. Christianity, truly following God is not just a changing of your actions and changing the things that you say. An encounter with God is truly a change on the inside of you, to the point that who you are on the inside is someone completely different than when you began. If there are areas of your life that need change, if you have certain circumstances that you would like to see different in your life, don't try to fix them by forcing a different reaction out of yourself, but get with God and ask for a true change on the inside of you.

You can change your conditions and even have encounters with God, but none of it counts if you haven't changed your heart.

Maybe you believe this and think, okay, so I need to change who I am on the inside, now how in the world am I going to go about that? Change happens on the inside of you only by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 2:29) If you need a change of heart, you need to take the time to humbly come before God, get on your face before Him, and let Him know that you are powerless to change this part of you but that you believe He is able to. Refuse to stay the same, insist that an encounter with God changes your heart, insist that it changes who you are on the inside.

Do you need a resurrection?

We all have areas, rather we want to admit it or not, that need a shot of life. What are the areas of your life that you find less than satisfying? Do you have any areas of your life that are dead? Any relationships that have suffered death? Do you sometimes have that empty feeling inside, where you know that you are physically alive, but feel kind of dead inside? If you have, you need to come to life. You need a resurrection.
Many doctors and nurses today have the power, in a limited way, to bring dead people back to life. We have all heard the stories and read the articles of people who have been brought back to life, or of people who have brought someone else back from the dead, and I must admit, I find it amazing that we have the ability to do that to people. But are there any doctors or nurses or trained personel of any type that could bring themselves back to life after they had died? Hopefully you find that a ridiculous question, because the answer is an obvious no. You can't lock a dead doctor up in a room alone with a defibrillator, and think that they have any chance at opening the door and walking out. Man does not have the ability to give himself life on his own. But this is exactly what Jesus did. He died a horrible death on Friday, went into the tomb, spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning, three days total, dead in a tomb, alone, but yet on Sunday morning the stone was rolled away and Jesus was alive. Where you are limited in your ability to make life, God is Limitless and can do anything.

God can take death and turn it into life.

The bible says that it is by faith that the righteous gain life (Rom 1:17). So if there are areas of your life that are dead and need to come face to with life, take your dead things and present them to God. Get into prayer, get on your knees before Him, whatever, just find a way to connect with God and turn your deadness over to Him. Faith is then trusting that when I give this dead part of me to God, He can make me come to life. God is listening, He is waiting, and He is 100 percent able to take your death and turn it into life.

seek, aim at and strive after

Matthew 6:33
"But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His kingdon and His righteousness, and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."

What are you spending your time pursuing? You probably have alot of different things that you have your sights set on, probably have many things on your list of priorities. The world tells us that it is a good thing to have your priorities laid out, that it is good to have goals and certain "things" that you have your sights set on. While all of that is not necessarily bad, there is a part of that system of living that is in total opposition to the system of living for God. God has never desired for us to pursue things. It is not His intent, nor does He think it is a good idea to be giving all that you have in a pursuit of material things. He doesn't think it is healthy to pursue emotional enjoyment on your own terms. It is God's desire that your number one pursuit, the thing that you are going after full throttle, is Him. Take time out from your schedule, from your activities, and have some quite time just pursuing God. It isn't some mean trick that God is trying to pull, trying to keep you from recieving "things" or from getting any emotional enjoyment out of life, it is God's way to truly recieve those things. Through a connection with God, all these "things" will be taken together and given to you as well. He's not trying to leave you hanging, He just wants to be your number one so He can take care of the rest. Seek Him.

new hairdo!

So, let me have it.

In honor of our Academy Awards Night, I donned a new hairdo. Personally, I think it might be a keeper. And you think......

(if you think no one else is sportin' this do, check out the lead singer in the band "the Fray")

what about you?

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." Mark 8:29

Peter had an answer to who he thought Jesus was. Peter, after being filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts Chapter two, gives a very powerful confession on who he believes Jesus to be. The question is, who do you think Jesus is? What does Jesus mean to you? Give me a list of ten words as to what Jesus means to you if you would like. If not, at least spend some quiet time meditating on your own confession about who Jesus is. What does He mean to you?

Believe it or not this is not just some cute exercise that I'm trying to get you to do. This is, and will the very foundation of your faith. If your confession about Christ is unclear, your walk with God will be unclear. If it is a weak confession, your foundation will be weak. In order to build on a foundation, it needs to be solid, sturdy, and sure. Peter spoke of his own very solid foundation,
but what about you?

Bible study comments

"Come follow Me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Jesus called a variety of different people, but they all had the same challenges in front of them. All of them had to leave behind their own plan and their own idea of the future to follow someone else's. I'm sure that you all have your own plan, and have a certain way that you would like for your future to go, but what if God asked you to let your life go in a different direction than the one that you have in mind? Would you be willing to bend to the plan that He has laid out for you? To what extent would you be willing to change your life? The disciples had to make total changes, leaving everything they knew to follow God. Would you be able to do the same?

Most people would not be able to answer yes to this question, and really, who can blame them. There are very few models of people doing this in America today. Everywhere you look are people doing things "their way", and according to the expectation of this generation, lots of people are enjoying great success living their lives according to their plan. What would have happened if we would have been there to give counsel to the disciples when Jesus called them? If we would have brought this line of reasoning to them, what would have happened if they would have listened and decided not to follow God, but to follow their own desire? I think that it is easy to see that the disciples lives would have been considerably less successful if they had chosen to not follow God. I don't believe that we will get to the other side someday and hear all the regrets that the disciples have for following Jesus. And you know what? I don't think that anyone else, from the beginning of time till the end, will regret following God either. Were the disciples lives wasted because of their choice to follow Jesus? Of course not. Their choice to follow Jesus was really just the beginning of their lives.

I believe that it will be the same with any follower of Jesus. You can go with the plan that you have drawn up, and maybe even complete many of your plans, but the most important thing in life is not completing your own plan, but to complete the plan that God has for you.

Psalm 127:1
"Unless the Lord builds the house, the work of the builders is wasted."

the hunger for importance

Doesn't everyone want to matter to someone? Doesn't everyone want to be important to some cause or to some person or to something? I think that deep down, even though some may not want to admit it, there is a huge place that wants to be important. There is a deep, incessant, unforgiving hunger to matter. To a degree, it's healthy to want to matter. I would label someone as crazy if they absolutely had no desire to be something. The problem raises its head when that "want to" matter becomes a "need to" matter. People make huge life altering choices based solely on a false notion of being important. Thinking that maybe if I'll do this, then I'll matter to someone. Why? Why do so many people hunger for so much attention? The reasons are probably countless, but I believe the remedy is one thing. To need from anything here on the earth is a very scetchy situation. There is practically nothing here that is always the same. Everything is constantly changing. Relationships, bank accounts, governments, climate, property, worldviews, there isn't anything that's a sure bet every time. But I believe that the story is different with God.
You can look at the stories of those who've lived for Him throughout history, you'll find that God has always been a God who makes good on His promises. There is only one safe place to need from, that's God. Take a hard look at what it is you need so bad, and get with God about it. Let Him know that you want Him to be the only thing that you need. Believe that needing Him is okay, and that needing Him will not result in dissappointment, but that God will satisfy the hunger that burns inside you.

Honestly, my goal was not to preach here, but sometimes it seems overwhelming, the need to be important that is. Sometimes it feels as though if I don't matter somewhere here on earth, then I obviously don't matter anywhere. And even though I don't believe that, and believe strongly in storing up treasure in heaven, there is still very much a part of me that is connected to this life and it's ways, and needs to matter here. I know that I need to live my life in a way that matters to God, even if at times it may seem as though what I am doing matters no where here on earth. There will always, I hope, be a part of me that is reaching out for completion, for healing, for wholeness, I just pray that God gives me the strength and the wisdom to insure that my reach is not to the things of this world, but to Him.
Later

Can you tell what I'm thinking here?

I'm thinking, what in the world is good to eat at a place called the Horny Toad? I'm not making that up, we ate there when we went to the Lake of the Ozarks last fall.

The answer is that there is alot of good things to eat. But stay away from the toad.

lame? you ask
yes. I answer

Hey Everybody

Thanks for visiting the blog. Want to hear what I'm thinking?
Visit the website lighthouseonline.org
Later