HOW DOES SIN WORK?

You know, I have been thinking a lot about sin lately, because it seems that it is a topic that many of us are afraid of talking about, and I think it is because we are so afraid sometimes to deal with it, to face the truth that there's so much of it in our lives that has gone undealt with and ignored that it has made us numb and desensitized from its power and grip. And I know that in my life and my journey it has crept up on me so subtle and quietly that I have barely noticed it until it has claimed a grip on my life that it's hard to let go of and conquer. 

But I think it mostly because I have failed to stay alert, aware of where my worth and value come from, who my source for every need I have is, and have chosen to stay ignorant or turn a deaf ear and a blind eye for the sake of quick comfort and an easy escape that puts a bandaid on my problems instead of doing the hard work of looking into what the problem is, what God says about it and believing and trusting that what He offers me is better and can bring true healing and freedom to my life.

Sin is very sneaky, very subtle and very deceitful. It will bling, shine, entice, lure, woo, call out to us, seduce and trick us into thinking and believing it can give us the fix we need for the moment. 

That is what all the commercials advertising and media do to us. They show us all the great times we can have by being promiscuous, partying, drinking, doing drugs, cheating, lying, chasing after fame and fortune, getting rich, being successful, manipulating others, controlling, etc.

But they never show the consequences of those actions, where people end up after having cheated on their spouse, how kids are affected after a divorce due to financial stress, lying, cheating, anger, alcohol or drug related problems, selfishness and pride, etc. They never show people going to jail for drunk driving, murdering other innocent people because of a drunk driving accident, or because of bitterness in their hearts, anger issues, or girls being raped and abused due to sexual immorality and addiction, the porn industry, sex slavery, etc. 

But we don't like talking about those things, yet they affect our lives each and every day. Or racial issues. Or political intolerance or religious legalism or whatever you can think of. 

It affects us every day.

And as I have been thinking about this, I have been sharing with the youth @ IGNITE (our youth group) about what sin is, the effects of it in our lives, what God says about it, and what we need to know about it and our response to it and what God has done about it as well.

And we have been having some good discussions about it. One of the things that came up last time was that sin was defined as "missing the mark". And this means more than just missing the mark or not hitting the target. It means falling short of the standard. It means not making the cut. It means not being good enough. It means not making the team. Not measuring up. Coming up short in spite of our best efforts and attempts.

And as we are looking deeper into it this week, I found this verse that kinda clicked in my heart and mind today. 

It made so much sense. Do you want to know why we sin? Do you want to know how it works?

We think that maybe it is satan that is behind everything. WE like to blame our faults, our shortcomings, our messiness and brokenness on others. We like to think we are utterly helpless and lost, the victims of some grandiose but evil and malevolent and wicked plan. Ok, i grant you this. Satan is always trying to lure us and tempt us to do things that go contrary to God's heart and standards and His best for our lives. But he doesn't have the power to make us do anything. Now, God does has the power to make us do things, but he chooses not do impose His will and power over us, but instead makes all of this available if we so choose to accept it, receive and embrace it. But satan has no power. All he can do is tempt us, lure us and scam us. 

WE actually have to make a conscious decision, an intentional attempt at following those feelings or desires.

And here in the word of God we find it explained this way

It comes from James 

13 No one who is tempted should ever be confused and say that God is testing him. The One who created us is free from evil and can’t be tempted, so He doesn’t tempt anyone. 14-15 When a person is carried away with desire, lured by lust, and when desire becomes the focus and takes control, it gives birth to sin. When sin becomes fully grown, it produces death.

It says "when a person is CARRIED AWAY WITH DESIRE; LURED BY LUST; THEN DESIRE BECOMES THE FOCUS AND TAKES CONTROL, IT GIVES BIRTH TO SIN. AND SIN PRODUCES DEATH!!!"

So, very quickly, let's look at what He is telling us

1. God does not tempt us
2. A person is carried away with desire. We let ourselves feel these things deeply and strongly in us to the point of being carried away.
3. We are lured by lust. Lured means to be called upon, to be invited. It's an invitation. And the lust in us controls us.
4. Once we are carried away and lured by lust, then we completely loose focus, concentration, become distracted and this lost of focus and awareness rends us worthless and helpless to the situation, and we are then controlled by this desire that we no longer act with understanding and wisdom and knowledge. We are like animals. We are numbed down and dumbed down.
5. Then we give ourselves to these feelings and give birth to sin.
6. And then sin brings death to whatever areas of our lives it affects.

Easy, right?

I hope this helps you and me in some way, as we look at the truth of God's word and meditate upon it.

Have a blessed day, and together let's ask God to shine His light in those areas of our lives that we need Him to.

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.