Honestly speaking

 The things i am seeing in my life right now are causing my heart to ache because these are things that have been dealt with in the past, and that i’ve grown more mature in, but they seem to be coming back in futile ways and I’ve been feeling sick about them, which in result make my heart feel very anxious, frustrated, irritated and angry, disappointed and defeated , which again, as a result they make me be restless, defensive and insecure.

These are patterns and/or cycles that can be devastating and can bring death and chaos to our lives and relationships. They make us begin to react to things in ways we don’t want to because we are distracted, allowing our emotions to dictate and rule over what we know it’s true, and that never brings life or healing or joy or peace.

It only brings darkness and death.

So, it also brings separation, disconnection, mistrust (as in my relationship with God and others), anger, discomfort, and the need and/or desire to look for quick fixes, to go to idols, to find a relief for our sorrow, and it makes us doubt God’s love and other’s love as well. We take everything as an attack, defensively cause we cannot discern the voices that are causing us to feel shame and guilt and torment from the voice that invites us to come to Him and abide in Him and experience His love and peace as he welcomes us into His presence.

How disturbing of a thought to think that we are not good enough for Him. It’s the most abhorring thought to God, that we will not believe that He has made us good enough, that His love is enough to make us whole, beautiful, accepted, wanted, valued, forgiven, etc.

How disturbing of a thought is to deny God of His love being received and embraced by those He intends to give it to because of mistrust and believing lies about who He is and His character.

It is but an insult and an offense to Him who so freely and unconditionally loves us.

It is like i tell my kids how i feel whenever i do something out of love for them and they don’t even notice it or acknowledge it. When they take it for granted because they are so absorbed in their own lives that they fail to see those things that are being offered and done in their favor out of love.

And how these things make the person that is doing them feel.

I tell them all the time that it hurts. That when everything within me does something out of sheer love for them and it goes unnoticed, it doesn’t mean I’ll stop doing it, but after a few of those things go unnoticed i began to feel hurt and wonder if they even care or realize they’re doing it.

But what God reveals to me today is that these things are meant to fill my heart, to communicate something to me about who i am, about how much i am loved, about my identity, about how someone feels about me, and how wanted and desired and loved I am. And how this love is meant to change me, to establish me, to give me a strong foundation, to transform me, to bring me peace and rest, and fulfill me!!!!

These are the things i need to be meditating on, when i am feeling down. To remember how loved I am, and allow this love to quiet my soul and give me rest, knowing that it is not what i do and what i can accomplish that makes me worthy and accepted before my Father, but who I am and how he sees me is what makes me acceptable in His presence. His love makes me whole!!!!

And that no matter what others say or do or not say or don't do, I can be confident that my worth and value come only from Him. He is the only source capable of filling me wholly!

CARE TO COMMENT?

trying to prove or disprove God based on our own wisdom and understanding is the most arrogant things ever.

You could say that then God is arrogant by trying to dictate what is true or not, but this is where the conflict is.

Trying to explain that the complexity of an atom, a cell, the human body, the miracle of conception and birth, or the seasons, or the growth of a plant, or the blooming of a flower, or whatever else you can think of about creation, and say that it happened all by chance, it takes more “faith and absolute craziness” than to actually believe that it all has a creator, that someone actually thought of that. 

And why? Because we boasts ourselves about our “great accomplishments and achievements” when we “create” something, and yet we are contradicting ourselves. What if we said that everything that humanity has accomplished actually happened by chance? 

It is like when God answered Job.

Who are we to think that we could debate God from within our own human limitations?

We are bound by time and space, our understanding is very limited and shallow and futile. 

Here we have a concept of a God who created everything, who made the sun and moon and stars and everything in the universe. If He’s true and real, then it makes sense that we cannot explain Him. 

If He’s not bound by space, by our own wisdom and by our own understanding, then of course we cannot make sense of injustice, or pain, or the future, or the present, or the human soul, or anything else. We are trying to understand it from our “human” wisdom. We are telling God that if it doesn’t make sense within our human wisdom then it must be false, or unreal, or fake, or far-fetched. 

But really? Is it really that way? 

Could it be that pain, sorrow, trouble, evil, injustice, and all the other things we think about and complain about and debate about trying to so arrogantly decide whether there’s a God or not, trying to disprove him actually make sense in “divine wisdom” realm?

Seriously, think about it. That is why is called faith. But you tell me it’s “foolish faith”.

But i say your faith is “foolish” as well cause honestly i think it takes “more guts about being stupid and wrong” to believe that it all happens by chance. I cannot begin to fathom the idea of believing this way. It is ludacris!!!

Go ahead and live this way if you want. It doesn’t bother me. But when you question my faith, I’m sorry to say that this is where the buck stops. 

Arguing about God and his existence is so futile. He either exists or not. But is he doesn’t then life truly is worthless and meaningless, so why live? 

There’s no true purpose. No true sense. It’s all happening by chance. So forget truth, love, justice, kindness, forgiveness, family, loyalty, peace, etc. It doesn’t exist either. They’re all relevant subjects, subjected to our own application of the “concept”. Whatever i think it’s true is what matters. 

But whenever it messes with your definition or concept of truth then we have a problem. Cause each one of these topics are relevant to each person. 

The way each of us interprets it then makes it real. 

Forget about God and an intelligent design with an intelligent operations manual and with guidance for living and breathing and loving and being loved. Forget about a life with purpose and with a system of right and wrong, blessings and curses, and with a promise of life in abundance.

THat’s too far fetched.

You believe the wind cause you feel it. But you can’t see it.

The trinity makes no sense, right? Cause we have the ultimate wisdom that allows us to judge and put on trial that entity which whether you believe it or not ultimately made us and has our lives in his hands.

We are putting God on trial based on our own broken, flawed and twisted judgement. GOOD LUCK!!!

Rejecting God or the concept of God comes more from a desire of rejecting everything he stands for based on my perception of how things should be an look like and make sense. Again, based in my own wisdom.

And we reject these things so that we can be entitled to live life our own way under our own rules and control, claiming that we can live with no regrets and no consequences. But we find this impossible, cause no matter how we “choose to live” we cannot escape conscience and guilt and shame and torment. Because they’re things wisely designed to point us back to God, to our need for fulfillment and peace and wholeness. Crazy, uh? WE are designed to be accountable and to belong!!!

Thoughts on life as we look at the new year!

We cannot make growth happen

We cannot produce anything.

We cannot make it rain

We cannot make the sun come up

We cannot make the soil be rich (maybe a little bit)

We cannot make a single plant grow. We simply can’t

Only God, only His power, His love, His life can bring life to anything.

Our lives, our everyday struggles, our challenges, our decisions, our choices, fears, doubts, pain, sorrow, joys, victories, these things

they’re all known by our creator, and he’s very aware of every single detail of our lives.

All we can do is get to a place of awareness in our lives that in fact, this Creator, this God, this Father, is indeed watching, listening, working and doing His work in the midst of it all, and in being aware of these truths, encourage others to pause, to think, to give time to our hearts and souls to stop from all our doing and recognize and realize these things, and it’s in the midst of this pausing, this stopping, that then we can hear, see, think and receive what hope, what life, what joy and love he offers.

We are constantly full of ourselves and everything that pertains to us. Our own goals, ideas, thoughts, dreams, visions, filters, world views, convictions, beliefs, ways of doing things, etc.

We are taught to be this way. Yet we know His spirit is constantly asking us, begging us, crying out to us to come to the place of rest, of quietness, of peace, of hush, of stillness. Why?

Because it is our own voices and the voices of the world and all the pursuits and the rat race that fill us, and there’s very little truth, very little life, hope, grace, joy, love and life in these voices. 

They’re all geared to make us selfish, enclosed, isolated, to hide, to hold back, to protect, to cover up, to excuse, to defend, to run away, to separate, to divide, etc.

These voices are meant to drain us, with the promise to fill us. 

They are meant to destroy us, to steal from us, to scam us, to kill us little by little.

But to slow down it means to surrender. To let go. To trust. To believe God. TO believe His truth. To risk. To gamble. To bet. 

So, we have a choice. Is there hope in the way we’re going? The way we are living? In the things we are pursuing? In the way we’re leading our lives?

Is there? Hope? Joy? Fulfillment? Life? Peace? Rest? Healing?

ANXIOUS? TIRED? STRESSED OUT?

heavy hearted? anxious? weighed down?

have you ever felt this way?

irritated without knowing why?

Just out of whack?

Anxious?

Just plain tired mentally, emotionally, physically? 

Drained?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, chances are that you are pretty normal. These feelings come naturally as life happens everyday.

Life is filled with email writing, texting, schedule running, errands, bills, work, kids and their activities, groceries, cooking, family hosting, holidays, parties, parent teacher conferences, cleaning, laundry, relationships and friendships, raising kids, homework, being married, financial stress, etc. You name it, life is filled with all kinds of things that take our time, energy, emotions, resources, and everything else we are made of. 

It’s noise, blur, distractions, confusion and unrest that it’s meant to keep us numb, disconnected, always running, flying by the seat of our pants from one activity to another, never stopping to listen, to calm down, to refuel, to recharge, to slow down and rest, to contemplate, meditate, take a good look around, the evaluate, to be aware, etc.

Our hearts are always rushing, always just reacting, readjusting, and trying our best to keep ourselves together in the midst of chaos, and more often than not we are not able to truly function the way we are supposed to, so we end up just barely making it every day. Our hearts are so tired that we flare up at the smallest of things. We yell at our kids cause we are in turmoil inside of us already. Our spouses feel the weight of our fury! Filters that we have developed through the years that make us hear things that are not said that mess with us. Or maybe those things are being meant to hurt us, but even more so because of our filters they seem and feel a lot deeper and heavier. A financial setback or the worries or our mortgage payment or something else that make us lose control and either take it out on someone we love or someone we despise or it makes us run to things that will take away the feeling momentarily, whether is TV binging, shopping, drugs, alcohol, porn, more work, more activities that make our schedule fuller, or whatever drug of our choice we pick.  WE are running on fumes. We are running on empty. And where do we get refueled? Where do you go to refill? What is your source of filling up? 

What do you fill your heart and soul up with?

The everyday life struggles and things that make it noisy and keep us distracted makes us zombies that just go through life barely making it. We are so distracted, confused, like chickens with our heads cut off and we are barely hanging on.

Yet stopping seems too complicated, too risky, too time wasting, too inefficient, too worthless.

But what is our other option? Do we even realize how much noise we have going on? How can we expect to know the one who whispers, the one who speaks in the secret, in the quiet, in the stillness?

How can we learn to live a life of listening to Jesus and His Spirit and His voice and guidance and leading when the only way we could do this is by quieting our crazy lives and sitting down and listening and abiding and just basking in His presence, feeding on every word and insight and wisdom that he gives?

What other way is there? Really. Seriously. What other option do we have that is better? Who else offers us the kind of promises, rewards and life that he does?

What does the world offer you? Let’s look at the things it does offer us compared to the way of Jesus.

Let’s take an honest look.

For me, i truly need to think about these things and remember them every day of my life cause i easily get caught up in the trap of performance and doing and trying to prove i am worth it and that i produce, etc. I can start thinking and living and believing that the busier i am the more justified is my presence in this world. The more i do, the more i accomplish should make me feel better, yet i see a different rule in my life. The more i do, the busier i get, the more i produce and the more i accomplish seem to not satisfy but the opposite. These things make me feel drained, unfulfilled, dissatisfied, like i’m not enough, like i need to do more, etc. It is a trap. 

And yet, when i abide in Christ, when i am spending time resting in his presence, looking and gazing upon him, loving and being loved by him, listening to his word and meditating on it, the fuller, the better, the more fulfilled i feel, and the times when i connect with others, and the things that i do out of the flow of being in his presence, the people he connects me with and the things he gives me to do every day, whether many of them or just one, they fill my heart and make it glad, cause i know i am living out of the flow of my relationship with him, and whatever i accomplish everyday is enough cause it came out of my obedience to him. I do and say only what he asks me to do and say. Nothing more, nothing less. And that is all he is asking me to do. 

I have to remember that. I cannot worry about that which i am not doing or accomplishing if that’s not what he has asked me or showed me or invited me to do. Only living this way can i be free, fulfilled, at peace, at rest, with joy, with abundant life.

And why would i want to live any other way???

VULNERABLE...A WINDOW INTO REAL LIFE LIVING

So, I am going to share with you from my own personal, very real, very tangible life today!
It is one thing to really be inspired, to receive revelation from God, to hear and to study His word and to have His Spirit reveal things to you and then writing about them and posting them online as a means to encourage and exhort brothers and sisters in their walk with God. I love it! I feel so good and excited and blessed and thankful to receive this gift of inspiration and writing about His word and His promises and power and hope.

But it is another thing to put it into practice. To be real. To let it reach into my everyday life and different situations that i get faced with on a regular basis. Things that you and I face everyday. Choices we are faced with. Temptations. You and I are not very different. These things come in different ways or packaged differently, but they are basically all the same and have the same purpose. TO bring shame. Torment. Guilt. To make us hide. Run. Not be authentic. To excuse. To defend.

And we are faced with the choice of what we are going to do about it. What will our response be?

Today, I was faced with one of those choices earlier this morning.

This morning Gary (my lead pastor) called me to share with me how awesome he thought the Christmas program went yesterday, which i agree! 

Seeing new families come and the connections that happened because of the program were God ordained. Lots of good things!

But also he called to see if we would be meeting today as we usually do on Mondays.

I told him that i had a few things going on today, some errands to run, lunch with someone and then Micah's singing thing at school and picking up my truck from the shop, etc. 

So, he understood and then asked me out of curiosity who i was having lunch with.

So, for whatever reason i am still contemplating, i lied to him. OMG!!!   I KNOW! I lied.

Well, kind of, i might excuse it. But really, there's no excuse. It might sound like a little lie or a white lie, but the reason i am sharing it is so that maybe it can be a blessing to you sometime down the road. 

I am having lunch with someone. I am having lunch with Micah. My son. He asked me if he could have cold lunch for today and since i didn't have time this morning to make one for lunch, i told him i would just bring it over at his lunch time. Nothing wrong with it, right?

But when Gary asked me, i felt like hiding, like ashamed, like i needed to make something up of "more importance" or of more "ministerial value" so that he wouldn't think i was not "pastoral enough" or "spiritual enough" or whatever crap was going through my heart at the time.

SO i told him i was having lunch with Joe instead, and that i was doing that to be with him but that also that helped me connect with his friends. Which it is true. I have done that and i love it. Just being there and hanging out with his friends gives me the opportunity to get to know them.

But that is not the case today. So i told him that so that it sounded more "important" or "spiritual".

How silly. So, i called him back but he didn't answer so i wrote him an email and shared with him this very thing, and confessed my lie to him and repented from it.

But i thought i'd do that with you as well, cause above all things, i want to always walk in complete transparency and freedom with everyone, and this was going to be bugging me all day. I am not saying i will confess all of my stupid choices with you all the time (you don't want to know... :)))

But it is a practice that heals my heart and this time i felt i needed to share it with you.

SO, there i am, vulnerable about my stupid "little lie" or "white lie" for your amusement, maybe. Maybe you'll laugh about it. or raise your eyebrows and open your mouth in disbelief that the associate pastor lied!!!!

Either way, i consider you important enough in my life to let you have a look into my "real life" struggles as well as victories and "insights'. 

That is how i want to live His word everyday, not only write about it. 

So, you see, I am wanting to let His word really have an impact in my life. Living it out through every situation and being real with others about it. 

I don't just want to "sound" spiritual in what i write about. I want to live it out. So, I am giving you a window into my soul to let you see that, reality is, we are all broken. We are all susceptible to lying, cheating, sinning and falling into temptation. None is exempt. But as we allow His light to always shine, no matter how ugly the truth about who we are is, His love and forgiveness will keep us free!

Have a blessed day!

PRESS PAUSE...THEN RESUME PLAY

ABOVE ALL -  NOTHING ELSE MATTERS

THE INCOMPARABLE GIFT OF GOD’S PRESENCE

“In repentance and rest is your salvation; in quietness and trust is your strength” Isaiah 30:15

I have been so blessed by this verse and it has meant so much at different times in my life, but always brings me back to realizing that no matter what my life looks like, feels like, what all is going on, how busy, how stressful, filled with all kinds of things, finances, parenting, training, loving, forgiving, leading, etc, etc, etc, there’s nothing, absolutely nothing that compares to the beautiful gift of being in His presence in a beautiful and intimate connection, even if for just a few minutes. 

This morning I had lots of things going through my mind and the last few weeks have also been quite different due to the fact that in a matter of very little time we found ourselves buying a new house and making arrangements to move and close on our mortgage loan and all that fun stuff. 

And the craziness that those events bring to our lives and the adjustments and the details can make someone go crazy, and lose focus, or get all turn around!!!

And i have felt that way for sure. Not only does someone have to deal with the personal, everyday, regular life events with your own family things, like moving and teaching and parenting and attitudes and teenagers and little babies, schedules, practices, games, homework, and all that jazz. But then people have jobs, whether it’d be a teacher, a construction worker, contractor, pilot, doctor, banker, restaurant owner, pastor, etc. You have mortgages, loans, bills, expenses, car problems, etc. 

And it all is legitimate life things. We cannot avoid them. We cannot forsake them per se. We cannot hide from them or wait for someone else to take care of them. 

IT IS JUST LIFE!

So, how can we expect to have time to reflect, to meditate, to slow down, to think about and to allow God to make himself known to us? How can we develop a sweet, close, intimate and meaningful relationship with the creator of our souls who so desperately desires us and pursues us? How can we, in the midst of what we know as LIFE, experience this “abundant life” and “intimacy” that he calls us into and offers and promises?

As crazy as you think this might sound, i know and believe that it is possible to experience this everyday. It is not always easy, and to be honest, sometimes it escapes me and i get caught up in the busyness of life and miss the beauty of these “windows of opportunity” that are available to me everyday.

But His word encourages us to stop, to slow down, to pause, to make time to allow God to help us become AWARE of His sweet love and presence. And it doesn’t have to be this mystical experience or “weird” out of this world instance. Rather, it is a practice that can become a habit as we learn to tune our hearts with the melody, the song, the tune being played everyday in the little details. 

The practice i am talking about is the practice of believing and choosing to see everything though the lens of God’s word and His creation as it speaks to us in the very small things of life. 

Training our hearts to lift our eyes to heaven in quietness and to let His all encompassing glory to surround us and embrace us as we take that little time. 

Yes, life keeps going. Life is knocking at our door, banging on the doors of our hearts for our attention. All the things we talked about before. And they’re all necessary. But guess what? They are not the things that give us life. And they’ll always be there. They’re not going away. They demand our attention. They demand our all. But they have absolutely no power to fill us, to fulfill us, to give us life, joy and love and peace. They only take from us. And if we’re constantly being drained by these things, where are we being filled up or what are we filling our hearts and minds and souls with? Where is our source? 

Yes, we need to work to make money to provide for our families. Yes, we need to work in order to see things happen. Yes, we need to drive here and there to bring our kids to their activities. Yes, we need to take care of al these things. 

But there’s one that knows all these things, and that we need all these things. He said it in his word…”i know you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these other things will be added and given to you…”

But we need to believe this. We need to trust. We need to embrace the truth of His all-sufficient provision for us, our families and our well being. We need to believe that if we take the time to be with him, to pause, to stop, to meditate, to be in His presence, that it is NOT WASTED TIME. That He will take that time and multiply the supply to our every need according to HIS RICHES IN GLORY.

What awesome promises he gives us. But for the love of donuts, will we finally be brave and courageous enough to believe him and live them out???

Nothing like His presence. That’s the ONLY PLACE WHERE WE CAN BE COMPLETE!!!

He told Martha…”Martha, Martha, you are worried about al these things, but only one thing is necessary, and Mary has chosen the right thing…”

TO BE IN HIS PRESENCE. Let’s take the time today to be with Him, even if it is just a little “window” of time. It will be special. And once you taste and see that the Lord is good, I pray you will get hooked and addicted to the experience.

THE REALITY OF OUR JOURNEY - JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES

JESUS, HIS DISCIPLES AND HOW LONG IT TAKES

LOOKING AT THE TIME JESUS SPENT WITH HIS DISCIPLES, DAY IN AND DAY OUT, TAUGHT, FELLOWSHIPPED WITH, ATE WITH, SLEPT BY, WALKED WITH AND CRIED WITH, LAUGHED WITH, GOT ANGRY WITH, FRUSTRATED WITH, FELT PROUD OF, DISAPPOINTED WITH, CELEBRATED WITH, ETC.

AND FOR THREE YEARS HE FOCUSED ON THEIR LIVES, SPENT TIME TEACHING THEM, SHOWING THEM, HELPING THEM, REBUKING THEM, DISCIPLINING THEM GUIDING THEM, ETC

AND YET, AFTER THOSE THREE YEARS, THEY WERE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE. AND THEY HAD JESUS. THEY HAD THE SON OF GOD, GOD IN THE FLESH, WITH THEM ALL THE TIME!!!!!

THEIR WHOLE INFLUENCE FOR THREE LONG YEARS WAS JESUS. THEY BREATHED, LIVED, ATE, AND FOLLOWED JESUS SO CLOSELY AND YET THEIR HEARTS WERE NOT THERE YET.

THIS IS MIND BLOWING!!!! ALL THEY DID ALL DAY LONG WAS BE WITH JESUS. NOTHING ELSE.

JESUS IN THE MORNING. IN THE AFTERNOON. AT LUNCH TIME. AT DINNER TIME. AT NIGHT TIME. WHEN SLEEPING. IN THE BOAT.  ON THE SEA. AS THEY WALKED. AS THEY WITNESSED MIRACLES.

HEARD THE TRUTH FROM GOD’S MOUTH. SAW DEAD PEOPLE RISE UP. SAW HANDS OUTSTRETCHED AND HEALED. THE LAME WALK. THE BLIND SEE. THE DEMON-POSSESSED FREED. THE WHORES MADE WHOLE. THE CAPTIVES FREE.

YET, AFTER ALL THIS, THEY STILL DOUBTED. THEY FAILED. THEY SAID STUPID THINGS. THEY WANTED TO GIVE UP. THEY BETRAYED EACH OTHER. THEY BETRAYED HIM. THEY WERE SELFISH AND DESIRED EARTHLY THINGS, AND THEIR HEARTS WERE DECEIVED BY WANTING A DIFFERENT KINGDOM AND PRIVILEGES.

THEY ASKED FOR RIDICULOUS THINGS. THEY WERE AFRAID AND GOT SCARED. THEY COVETED POSITION AND STATUS. THEY WERE COWARDS.

AND THEY DIDN’T HAVE THE MEDIA, THE INTERNET, THE SOCIAL MEDIA, THE DISTRACTIONS AND BUSY SCHEDULES WE HAVE NOWADAYS.

AGAIN, ALL THEY DID WAS BE WITH JESUS.

SO, AS WE THINK ABOUT OUR ROLES HERE AS MINISTERS, AS LEADING PEOPLE IN BIBLE STUDIES, YOUTH GROUPS, CHURCHES, COUNSELING AND FAMILY MINISTRIES, MISSIONS AND OTHER EFFORTS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND TEACH THE TRUTH, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT AND HOW CAN WE APPROACH OUR CALLING AND THE USE OF OUR GIFTS AND HOW CAN WE MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF WHAT WE ARE INVESTING IN?

OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH ARE SWAMPED WITH ACTIVITIES, BUSYNESS AND SCHEDULES THAT RIVAL THE ATTENTION THEY CAN GIVE TO THE MATTERS OF TRUTH. THEY ARE BEING BOMBARDED WITH ALL KINDS OF OTHER MESSAGES THAT ARE 100% OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH OF GOD’S KINGDOM AND HIS SAVING GOSPEL POWER.

WE GET A COUPLE HOURS HERE AND THERE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK TO TEACH THEM A LITTLE BIT OF TRUTH WHILE THE REST OF THEIR TIMES IN THEIR WEEKS ARE BEING FILLED WITH SOCIAL MEDIA, OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS, SPORTS, ACTIVITIES, BUSY SCHEDULES, WORK, TEMPTATIONS TO MEDICATE OURSELVES, OTHER PHILOSOPHIES, LINES OF THOUGHT AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ONE AND ON.

AND SO IF JESUS’ DISCIPLES WERE WITH HIM 24/7, 365 FOR THREE YEARS AND WERE FALLING SHORT WITH ALL HIS INFLUENCE, THEN HOW CAN WE LOOK AT OUR WORLD AND CALLING AND THE PEOPLE WE’RE INVOLVED WITH AND BE ENCOURAGED AND NOT LOSE HEART AND NOT GET BOGGED DOWN BYT THE TEMPTATION TO PERFORM AND TO PRODUCE A CROP THAT IT IS NOT OUR T PRODUCE?

HOW CAN WE GET BACK TO THR TRUE THINKING AND BELIEVING THAT IT IS GOD WHO DRAWAS ALL MEN TO HIMSELF, AND THAT IS IT HIM ALONE WHO CAN PRODUCE THE CHANGE, AND THAT OUR CALLING IS NOT TO CHANGE PEOPLE AND TO TRANSFORM THEM OR TO REDEEM THEM?

OUR CALLING IS TO PRAY FOR THEM CONSTANTLY, LOVE THEM CONSISTENTLY, LISTEN TO THEM CAREFULLY, SPEAK ONLY OUT OF INVITATION FROM HIS SPIRIT AS HE LEADS US TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE, BE REAL WITH THEM, HONEST, VULNERABLE, TRANSPARENT AND GENUINE, AND SHOW THEM THE WAY TO JESUS THROUGH OUR LOVE AND ACTIONS.

OUR YOUTH, I CANNOT PRODUCE ONE OUNCE OF CHANGE IN THEM. I CANNOT MAKE DECISIONS FOR THEM. I CANNOT BELIEVE FOR THEM. I CANNOT MAKE THEM EMBRACE WHAT I SO FIERCEFULLY EMBRACE. I CANNOT MAKE THEM FEEL WHAT I FEEL. SEE HOW I SEE. BELIEVE HOW I BELIEVE.

BUT IF I CAN LIVE MY LIFE MODELING AND REALLY BEING TRUE, EVEN IN MY BROKENNESS, TO WHAT I BELIEVE, THEN GOD HAS A BETTER CHANCE OF USING ME TO DRAW THEM TO HIM.

REMEMBER, WE ARE HIS BODY, HIS HANDS, HIS EARS, HIS EYES, HIS FEET, HIS VOICE, HIS LOVE, HIS HEART, HIS ARMS.

WE ARE HIS REPRESENTATION HERE ON EARTH. WE HAVE NO POWER. WE ARE ONLY VESSELS. WE ARE ONLY CONDUITS. LET’S BE FILLED WITH HIM SO THAT WE CAN BE POURED OUT ON TO OTHERS TO BLESS, TO LOVE, TO LISTEN, TO EMBRACE AND HUG, TO FORGIVE, TO ENCOURAGE, TO WIPE TEARS AWAY, TO COMFORT BROKEN SOULS, TO BIND UP THE WOUNDED AND BROKEN HEARTED, TO WELCOME THE BROKEN, AND TO LIFT UP HIS NAME.

AMD REMEMBER TO NOT GET ANXIOUS ABOUT NUMBERS, RESULTS, PERFORMANCE AND OTHER TRAPS LIKE THOSE.

I HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS EVERYDAY AS I LIVE OUT THE CALL IN OUR LIVES RIGHT NOW TO LEAD THE YOUTH. I ONLY GET A COUPLE HOURS A WEEK WITH THEM, AND THE TRUTH I SHARE WITH THEM HAS MORE POWER THAN ANY OTHER LIES THEY GET FILLED WITH THE REST OF THE TIME. BUT I HAVE TO BE PATIENT. I HAVE TO BE OBEDIENT. I HAVE TO BE FAITHFUL. AND I HAVE TO LOVE ABOVE ALL THINGS.

QUITE THE CHALLENGE, DON’T YOU THINK???